Skin of Evil

[Melakon]

I was never that taken with the Yar character. Maybe it had to do with the "Macha Hernandez" concept for the character, in which case they should have just hired Jenette Goldstein.

It seems like Gene was a little sweet on Denise though, so I guess that's how Yar got a Queen for a Day moment.

 

[Timo]

I'm pretty sure killing a living, sentient, being in such a manner would violate some code of ethic.

Not sure about that. Picard is a soldier - he supposedly kills enemies for a living, and warrior code today seldom requires the enemy to be given a fair chance or anything silly like that. And Armus isn't an entire alien species that would come back to bite his ass because one individual was killed (say, the Crystalline Entity or the Space Amoeba or the Dikironide Cloud) - he's a single entity that ceases to be for good when killed.

But Armus is also immune to phaser fire, and capable of manipulating most away team and shuttlecraft technology at will (heck, odds are that he crashed that shuttle in the first place!). Blasting him to nothingness might be futile, and beaming him up would be taking an awful risk with him gaining access to a starship, a stated goal for the villain.

Stranding Armus was a pretty cruel thing to do, but it was also a practical way to deal with the menace. Although since our heroes never really examined the possibility and implications of Armus having caused the shuttle crash, we are left wondering if Picard's quarantine beacons were positioned sufficiently far away from the planet...

Timo Saloniemi

 

[2takesfrakes]

One thing about the scenes with Armus that I found offputting was how most of the time with him was spent on demonstrating how he was so EEEEEEEEVIL!!! You know, I'm pretty sure the audience got the idea, very early on, rather than eating the clock with all of this underlining, extrabolding and italicising the already established fact.

... Behold how Armus harasses the blind man! Marvel at how he controls Data into pointing his phaser at everyone! Witness how Armus tries to drown Riker in his own tar pit! I mean ... there's just no story there. Then this episode takes up the entire final act with Yar's Holo-messages to every. Single. Crewmember. I enjoy this episode for some of its over-the-topness, particularly the trashbag outfit Armus is in. Beverly trying desperately to save Yar's life was touching. Things like that. But there's actually very little content to this episode.

 

[jimbotron]

I'm glad she left, because it opened the door for Michael Dorn. Then giving Levar Burton a defined role on the show made everything else fall together.

 

[LMFAOschwarz]

One thing the earlier series did (including this episode) was use the holodeck for relatively "simple" environments. They did it from time to time...but sometimes I wish they had kept this approach...



Somehow it just seemed more believable that way, more like a futuristic, interactive planetarium.

 

[Timo]

I guess this one would be a matter of user experience, in-universe. Early on, our heroes would not bother with creating detailed settings, but they would learn by doing. And the holodeck would also learn to cater for their exact tastes, no longer having to go for generic and bland.

We did get a detailed setting from the get-go - the location shoot for "Encounter at Farpoint" - so it's apparently not a technology issue. While the technology might not be new, our specific TNG heroes would be new to it, so it would only be natural for the "quality" to take a plunge once the ship was off the hands of the original engineers and test crews... And then slowly recover to the location shoot level.

Timo Saloniemi

 

[Robert Comsol]

True, but unfortunately spoiled in Redemption.

Not necessarily, there is an alternate interpretation how Tasha actually kept her heroic death in the aftermath of "Yesterday's Enterprise".

Bob

*runs for the next cover and ducks"

 

[Marsden]

In conclusion, Yar just can't catch a break and is fated to have lame deaths.

Oh my god, they killed Tasha!

Those bastards!

 

[Alexiad]

I just finished watching this episode for the first time. I wasn’t expecting Yar to die *gasp and holds breath* and in such a fashion! *Exhales with disappointment*
Yes, she died in the line of duty but somehow it had such a boring “feel.” Especial after a whole dialogue going with Worf about combat and techniques. I was thinking she should have died with more meaning, more flare, more or a guts and glory as the chief security officer and warrior woman she was.
Perhaps it was the dialogue?
As for Armus, oily goo as a villain— mmk. He seemed indestructible, powerful and his words- evil , his only shortcomings came from himself. However, I was wondering from what “Beings” did Armus come from since it wasn’t clear? and will there be another appearance of him in later episodes of TNG?

Or is declaring the planet “off-limits” like the ultimate no-go for everyone and hence no (because nobody in all the galaxies will never go to an off-limits planet- like ever)?

Alex

 

[Timo]

We know our TOS heroes completely ignored the warning buoys of others in the first-ever regular episode filmed already, and kept doing that till the end of their adventures. Unless all alien species put their Kirk-equivalents to jail rather than in starship command, yes, somebody will meet Armus again...

Timo Saloniemi

 

[publiusr]

At least we all know where VENOM came from now...

 

[Melakon]

I was thinking she should have died with more meaning, more flare, more or a guts and glory as the chief security officer and warrior woman she was.

That was the point of the episode, that death can come quickly and unexpectedly, and with no grand heroics. Personally, I would have rather seen them build her up throughout the episode and then kill her off. The funeral scene felt like 5 pages of padding. The nature of her death is referenced a few times in later episodes.

 

[T'Girl]

Yes, she died in the line of duty but somehow it had such a boring “feel.”

But she was on duty, engaged in a rescue mission of two Starfleet officers, both injured, one quite badly.. This was a part of what she trained to do with her career.

Her death did in fact have meaning and purpose.

Guinan (on this matter) is full of feathers.

 

[2takesfrakes]

Was it just me, or does the crashed shuttle look like somebody working there just stopped caring? It looks like complete shit and I'm not even sure what it reminds me of, but it sure as hell isn't a shuttle. It looks like Therapy Art, of some kind ... "The Egg of Blah!". When Armus covers that shit up with his Metamucil® ... it's a relief.

 

[Marsden]

I just finished watching this episode for the first time. I wasn’t expecting Yar to die *gasp and holds breath* and in such a fashion! *Exhales with disappointment*
Yes, she died in the line of duty but somehow it had such a boring “feel.” Especial after a whole dialogue going with Worf about combat and techniques. I was thinking she should have died with more meaning, more flare, more or a guts and glory as the chief security officer and warrior woman she was.
Perhaps it was the dialogue?
As for Armus, oily goo as a villain— mmk. He seemed indestructible, powerful and his words- evil , his only shortcomings came from himself. However, I was wondering from what “Beings” did Armus come from since it wasn’t clear? and will there be another appearance of him in later episodes of TNG?

Or is declaring the planet “off-limits” like the ultimate no-go for everyone and hence no (because nobody in all the galaxies will never go to an off-limits planet- like ever)?

Alex

I think it had to do with the fact that "Star Trek" main characters never die, unless the actor wants to leave the show. It wasn't a story idea, there was never a feeling of risk for any of the other characters. They could easily transferred Yar to another ship. I don't know what was happening behind the scenes or what peoples attitudes were, but it smacks of "you want off, you're off for good." Killing her just because they can, which is exactly what Armus said, really.

I'm curious about these "beings" that left Armus there. He could have been lying. You would think these newly good "beings" would have done something more to contain that thing. So It could be found again.

 

[Kobayshi Maru]

Love this episode. I thought giving Tasha a 'meaningless death' was absolutely the right way to go, gave it a real impact that even a regular character can simply be alive one minute and dead the next. Armus despite his physical short-comings was also a terrific villain, he oozed with maliciousness (pun intended ) and it was great to have a bad-guy who is an evil bastard just because he IS evil. A refreshing change. On the whole it's a favourite of mine.

Shortcomings? I thought he was rather slick...

 

[Kobayshi Maru]

Aside from Tasha's poorly executed death, I thought it was an OK episode. It's Troi's best episode of season 1. Her and Picard's interactions with Armus were a highlight.

Funny that Spock's Brain is brought up as the quintessential "bad" episode. I found The Alternative Factor and And The Children Shall Lead to be on a completely different level of awfulness. Spock's Brain is tame and somewhat enjoyable by comparison.

I hate "And The Children Shall Lead". It's come to a point where I can't see even a part of it.

 

[Kobayshi Maru]

Ro > Yar. If they killed off Ro like that I would have been absolutely heart broken.

I wonder how different it would have been had she replaced Kira on DS9.

 

[Hober Mallow]

Yar is the Optimus Prime of TNG, destined to be killed again and again and again.

 

[publiusr]

That or to be Elliot Gould's mistress in Ray Donovan.

I'll take Armus for 500 Alex.