Something that bothered me about The Vengeance Factor

[John Vasiliou]

Why did Yuta have to die?

Couldn't she have been restrained?

I mean how many people we're on that ship? lol

And even if that wasn't an option why keep turning up the phaser settings ,why not just keep firing at her if each time she tries to move?

Wouldn't she run out of steam eventually?

So many questions.

 

[neogothboy74]

I don't think I've ever given this much thought before, but admittedly I've not seen the episode in several years.

I do know that the actress the playes 'Yuta', Lisa Wilcox, played Alice in 'A Nightmare on Elm Street' Parts 4 & 5. I used to be quite the horror buff, so going back and watching Next Gen again after those movies I looked on her character even more fondly.

 

[Jbarney]

Why did Yuta have to die?

Couldn't she have been restrained?

And even if that wasn't an option why keep turning up the phaser settings ,why not just keep firing at her if each time she tries to move?

Wouldn't she run out of steam eventually?

So many questions.

I read an interview with the director once and he said that they had some problems filming that seen. From a viewers perspective, obviously Trogan didn't want to move, as his life was endanger.

But what about Riker....as you pointed out, its pretty obvious that he had placed himself between Yuta and her target. He could have held her at arms length for a good long while. Why wouldn't Riker just order her beamed off, I mean he just beamed onto the ship.

Also what about Picard. Even if Riker thought he needed to kill her to protect the others, Picard is just sitting in the scene....watching everything unfold.

Don't get me wrong, I liked the episode and the 3rd season of TNG is one of my favorites, but the ending of the episode has some issues.

 

[WillsBabe]

I liked that he killed her. I don't have a problem with that. It's dramatic, adds sorrow to the story and gives Riker's character in intersting perspective. They could have filmed it better. Over the years I've heard loads of people ask why she had to die. From a dramatic point of view it makes sense - she's the last of her clan and she's going to die for a pointless mission. That's nice pathos. I like pathos.

 

[Timo]

Really, what would have been the alternative? Yuta only existed for the single purpose of committing murder. She'd claw her way out of any cell in order to get that murder done, or wear her nails, fingers, hands and arms out trying to do so. There'd be just two ways to stop that: kill Yuta, or kill Yuta's target.

In this case, the victim really was happier dead.

Starfleet officers kill Borg Drones, too, don't they? Without having to go through court martials afterwards. It would be no different here...

Timo Saloniemi

 

[RAMA]

You know, when someone demonstrably tries to kill someone on the street and there's law enforcement around, that gives them more than enough probable cause to respond with deadly force, which Riker did. Sad, but necessary.

RAMA

 

[Timo]

But the situation today often is that nonlethal force does not exist - a gunman cannot be stunned. And punishment for murder is likely to be countermurder anyway.

Yet in the 24th century, neither of these is true: Yuta withstood phaser levels up to five, but ramping up all the way to eight (total vaporization) wasn't technically necessary. One or two more shots at level five would apparently have toppled her, without necessarily killing her. And punishment for murder is not countermurder, it is six months of psychotherapy.

Of course, the Tech Manual claims that level five should be lethal already. So perhaps Riker did kill Yuta with one of his earlier shots already - and only disposed of the walking corpse in a painless manner when she still showed signs of proceeding with her crime despite the lethal wounds. Not firing the mercy shot, but instead repeating another painful and fatal level five shot, might have been a human rights violation on that occasion...

Timo Saloniemi

 

[StephanieFaith]

Maybe they had a bad day at scriptwriting...

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

Look at it this way. Better to kill Yuta now, because...

Spoiler: Destiny novels

Acamar is eventually destroyed by the Borg.