The Development of Tasha Yar

[Mojochi]

Does anyone think that Denise was a little bit hasty with her decision to leave if her character didn't get enough action in the first half of season 1?

Clearly. While I also think it worked out for the best that she left (I never like her acting much anyhow) it's obvious that her main complaint wasn't strong enough reason to stay away. Frankly, some of the development Tasha got after Denise began coming back was shit too (Specifically @Sakonna's points) leading me to think that the real primary reason she left is because she didn't think the show was going to make it (None of them did. Stewart didn't even unpack) So she figured to bail & spend her time focusing on trying to make it on the big screen, with a couple film roles of that time, (Skin Deep, & Pet Sematary)

When those didn't develop into anything, she came back to tv a lot more, & now that TNG was a hit, she took any chance they gave her to reappear. Honestly, is there anyone who thinks the character development that Tasha got after Denise came back was somehow better than what could've happened had she stayed a featured player? I don't. So it's not so much about the character development as it was the investment in a show she thought was doomed & kind of crappy

I feel this is false. I feel it was just poor thinking from a writing staff still finding their feet. But I wouldn't blame Crosby for, basically, seeing the tenth or eleventh time a script landed in her mailbox where Worf got to be brute force and Tasha was basically Uhura, standing at the horseshoe on the bridge pressing buttons and delivering trite hollow Trek-isms, before finally deciding enough is enough and quitting.

but by this metric, then Sirtis should've quit after a bunch of times someone used Guinan as a counselor, in season 2. They literally brought her on for that purpose, to take some of the interplay as a confidante from Troi, and give it to a celebrity. That undermined her role on the show way more than Worf undermined Tasha's in season 1, imho

Oddly, I think Tasha actually had as much to do as any of the cast apart from the nominal leads in that first year.

I do too. I'll agree that Worf crossed paths with her turf a little, & that TNG in general had real issues with knowing how to write decently for women, but almost nobody was written in season 1 the way they would eventually take the characters. There were a monumental amount of growing pains, that she didn't care to invest in, & just left, because frankly, the show seemed destined to fail, until it became a hit, & then she'd take whatever scraps they'd throw at her.

 

[jaime]

Clearly. While I also think it worked out for the best that she left (I never like her acting much anyhow) it's obvious that her main complaint wasn't strong enough reason to stay away. Frankly, some of the development Tasha got after Denise began coming back was shit too (Specifically @Sakonna's points) leading me to think that the real primary reason she left is because she didn't think the show was going to make it (None of them did. Stewart didn't even unpack) So she figured to bail & spend her time focusing on trying to make it on the big screen, with a couple film roles of that time, (Skin Deep, & Pet Sematary)

When those didn't develop into anything, she came back to tv a lot more, & now that TNG was a hit, she took any chance they gave her to reappear. Honestly, is there anyone who thinks the character development that Tasha got after Denise came back was somehow better than what could've happened had she stayed a featured player? I don't. So it's not so much about the character development as it was the investment in a show she thought was doomed & kind of crappy
but by this metric, then Sirtis should've quit after a bunch of times someone used Guinan as a counselor, in season 2. They literally brought her on for that purpose, to take some of the interplay as a confidante from Troi, and give it to a celebrity. That undermined her role on the show way more than Worf undermined Tasha's in season 1, imho
I do too. I'll agree that Worf crossed paths with her turf a little, & that TNG in general had real issues with knowing how to write decently for women, but almost nobody was written in season 1 the way they would eventually take the characters. There were a monumental amount of growing pains, that she didn't care to invest in, & just left, because frankly, the show seemed destined to fail, until it became a hit, & then she'd take whatever scraps they'd throw at her.

I think it was also the hope she would do better Hollywoodwise.
Ultimately, I think it’s almost possible she had the most character exposure, and for a given definition, development, of anyone on the show in series one...other than perhaps Data. We certainly knew more about her background and saw her take the lead as often. People may not like Code of Honour, but it is a Tasha episode. She gets one of the more overt flashbacks in where no one has gone before, and probably gets shot down for security based protests less than her replacement did.
Her segment in the Naked Now was also one of the more memorable bits. But that’s tied to Data. Even her death and funeral takes precedent over other aspects.

 

[Pauln6]

Pretty much the only saving grace of Code of Honour is that it's a Tasha episode.

I don't think she got more development than most though, just a few more allusions to her background than most. I think one of the issues in early Trek was limiting the agency of the supporting cast beyond Picard, Riker, Data and Wesley. How often did Picard follow Troi's advice? How often did Tasha do something useful on her own initiative?

Trek was quite poor at letting its women take the initiative until Ro and DS9 came along. Shelby had initiative but she was a dick and was portrayed as being wrong headed.

 

[Norsehound]

Re-watching Season 1 TNG again I find I'm missing the chance to see Tasha more often after these awkward starts. Where could she have gone if she stayed? Or what if Geordi stayed as an operations guy instead of engineering? But Trek can only happen once...

 

[Lance]

Re-watching Season 1 TNG again I find I'm missing the chance to see Tasha more often after these awkward starts. Where could she have gone if she stayed? Or what if Geordi stayed as an operations guy instead of engineering? But Trek can only happen once...

There is an intriguing "what could have been?" about TNG season one in hindsight. All these characters in unconventional roles, Worf and Geordi as junior officers, Data without a defined back story, Yar as security chief. It can be fun watching it back and wondering about all the paths not taken.

 

[Pauln6]

There is an intriguing "what could have been?" about TNG season one in hindsight. All these characters in unconventional roles, Worf and Geordi as junior officers, Data without a defined back story, Yar as security chief. It can be fun watching it back and wondering about all the paths not taken.

The most interesting thing for me is the decision not to have a regular chief engineer, which ran into trouble straight away when Brooke Bundy wasn't available to reprise her role. I felt she was a bit hard done by, in that they made her look stupid in order to make Wesley look smart. It would have been nice to see her redeemed somewhat is some later appearances.

 

[STEPhon IT]

I think we can all agree that the implementation of Tasha Yar in season one was poor but if Denise had stuck around until Season three they might have got the hang of a female security chief. I was wondering where people think they might have gone with her development.

She could have been a flawed, layered character, repressing childhood and adult trauma, taking risks. You can see shades of NuBSG's Starbuck, but with a sanitised, Federation, family friendly gloss.

I think that Trek wasn't ready to really tackle rape trauma head on, but Yar and Troi could have shared regular therapy sessions as part of a season wide character arc, possibly even leading Troi to become more of a risk taker; there could have been a cool double act with Worf, taking it in turns to criticise each other for taking excessive risks, while subconsciously trying to impress each other. There could even have been a gradual deepening relationship with Geordi building on the Naked Now, overcoming the scar tissue of her past life.

What do other people think could have developed?

Probably developing the possible relationship with Data, in season 2 he valued her importance and part of being human expressed in "The Measure of a Man". It's quite possible Yar could've transitioned into another position on the Enterprise; having her as Chief of Security was fine, she looked primed and capable. I liked the character, and with her personal demons the writing team could've written some interesting stories ahead. Sela could have still existed but in a different form -- still Romulan/still part of Tasha -- but Tasha's ending could've been chilling in Yesterday's Enterprise if she was wiped out of TNG's existence after the 1701-C returned to their timeline.

 

[Skipper]

I don't believe she would have a lot of development because, well, there were simply too many characters. And if she stayed, sooner or later they would have to explain exactly what was the role of Worf, because he, until the episode where Tasha dies, was just wandering on the bridge without any specific task ...

 

[Lynx]

I liked Tasha Yar and I would have liked her to remain in the series. I must admit that I was dissapointed when she was killed off in the otherwise good episode "Skin of evil".

But I did like that they never replaced Tasha with some weak copy. OK, they made an attempt with Ro Laren who is one of my favorites but that was years after Tasha left.

But I didn't like that Sela plot. It was ridiculous and confusing. If Crosby wanted to come back, they could have introduced her as Tasha's twin sister or someone from the Mirror Universe instead.

 

[Pauln6]

I agree that with so many characters, it works better (i .e. Cheaper and less cluttered) if some of them don't appear in every episode but they get a larger role when they do appear, like Garak and Gul Dukat. That said, it's not so great for the actors. Andrea Thompson left Babylon 5 because she was only guaranteed 7 out of 22 episodes and they kept her hanging on when she could have been doing other lucrative work in between.

 

[STEPhon IT]

I don't believe she would have a lot of development because, well, there were simply too many characters. And if she stayed, sooner or later they would have to explain exactly what was the role of Worf, because he, until the episode where Tasha dies, was just wandering on the bridge without any specific task ...

Worf's role was the guy you step on to prove a villain or character was either smart or was really strong. This was displayed all throughout TNG, whenever the main cast were in the conference room Worf had to be the one to say something wrong just for Troi or someone else to supersede him.

As for clutter, I couldn't have seen that as a problem since Patrick Stewart seemed to be really skilled at helping his cast members with some screen time. Stewart was a powerful performer and made everyone's job, including Denise, a lot easier.

 

[Skipper]

Worf's role was the guy you step on to prove a villain or character was either smart or was really strong. This was displayed all throughout TNG, whenever the main cast were in the conference room Worf had to be the one to say something wrong just for Troi or someone else to supersede him.

Well, his role from a narrative point of view is clear, but sooner or later they would have been forced to say something like "This is lieutenant Worf and he's responsible of... err, what exactly is your job lieutenant Worf..?

As for clutter, I couldn't have seen that as a problem since Patrick Stewart seemed to be really skilled at helping his cast members with some screen time. Stewart was a powerful performer and made everyone's job, including Denise, a lot easier.

I don't doubt it, but from a pure mathematical point of view, more characters means less time dedicated to each of them.

 

[Pauln6]

Worf's role was the guy you step on to prove a villain or character was either smart or was really strong. This was displayed all throughout TNG, whenever the main cast were in the conference room Worf had to be the one to say something wrong just for Troi or someone else to supersede him.

As for clutter, I couldn't have seen that as a problem since Patrick Stewart seemed to be really skilled at helping his cast members with some screen time. Stewart was a powerful performer and made everyone's job, including Denise, a lot easier.

It wasn't just Worf. Picard asked Troi for advice repeatedly and never once followed it.

 

[STEPhon IT]

Well, his role from a narrative point of view is clear, but sooner or later they would have been forced to say something like "This is lieutenant Worf and he's responsible of... err, what exactly is your job lieutenant Worf..?

Wow, that was something I thought would've been continually asked during his tour of duty on DS9.

 

[STEPhon IT]

It wasn't just Worf. Picard asked Troi for advice repeatedly and never once followed it.

I had never seen any other main character on TNG where his contribution in the conference room was wrong, just for the other character to say the right answer. He could've been more than just the muscle on the Enterprise, but that's what's displayed on the series. I wouldn't have minded Troi spurting out the wrong answers like how she did once in the episode "Disaster", but the studio would've received a lot of barking from PC police so give the crown of the stupid to Worf.

 

[Mojochi]

It wasn't just Worf. Picard asked Troi for advice repeatedly and never once followed it.

Picard followed advice all the time...………………….. Guinan's

 

[JirinPanthosa]

It's a shame writers in 1987 had no idea how to write a character like Tasha. Sam Carter in Stargate is basically a science-smart version of what Tasha was supposed to be.

 

[Norsehound]

I don't believe she would have a lot of development because, well, there were simply too many characters. And if she stayed, sooner or later they would have to explain exactly what was the role of Worf, because he, until the episode where Tasha dies, was just wandering on the bridge without any specific task ...

Well, we lost Tasha and got Guinan basically as a 1-for-1 slot replacement (which also happened with Crusher and Pulaski), and she got some decent development. Propping up Yar might have pushed Wesley to the sidelines if they had only so much "space" for the characters, and Guinan may have never appeared.

There is a wonder I have, if Crosby had stayed, whether the producers would have considered nixing Tasha anyway and putting Worf at that position? Being the muscle on the ship it would make sense for him to command the troops and fire the torpedoes, on top of his proud warrior race heritage to use in stories (which ultimately happened).

But between the two of them Tasha's role was better defined, and I gather she must have been popular otherwise she wouldn't be waving to her fans in the episode before she died. It's easier to punt Worf to some other position than replace one of the few officers who actually had a clearly defined role on the ship (compared to Geordi and Wesley, who first got ops and was then punted to conn once Geordi moved).

I can also imagine the producers deciding to milk Worf's heritage thing and make him go off to join his people, leaving Tasha in place and making Michael Dorn a guest star, if they needed to clear some of the cast out.

There is an intriguing "what could have been?" about TNG season one in hindsight. All these characters in unconventional roles, Worf and Geordi as junior officers, Data without a defined back story, Yar as security chief. It can be fun watching it back and wondering about all the paths not taken.

I like thinking about this all the time, which is why I enjoy gaming as much as I do (plotting and deciding your own paths for the same characters). I also like the Myriad universe stories that try to do this on occasion. Would love it if someone wrote some good, quality stories to explore TNG as if Tasha had not died.

 

[Skipper]

Well, we lost Tasha and got Guinan basically as a 1-for-1 slot replacement (which also happened with Crusher and Pulaski), and she got some decent development.

Well Guinan was little more than a guest star and often she was just a plot device.

 

[Bry_Sinclair]

I don't believe she would have a lot of development because, well, there were simply too many characters. And if she stayed, sooner or later they would have to explain exactly what was the role of Worf, because he, until the episode where Tasha dies, was just wandering on the bridge without any specific task ...

Geordi becomes Chief Engineer, Worf takes the Conn, problem solved. The way things were looking Troi was going to be axed at the end of S1, but with the loss of its two other lead female characters (and Sirtis raising her profile with fans through conventions) then she was saved from the chop.