Was Denise Crosby miscast ?

[SiorX]

I don't think she was miscast. Sure, her voice was softer than you'd expect for a "tough girl" character, but I found that a positive thing, because it kept her from being a stereotype.

I'm with you.

I agree with this. I liked Yar in S1. She had frustratingly little to do, but she's competent and Crosby managed to play that without reducing her to a stereotype.

Yes, she does suffer from bad writing at times which makes the character seem ludicrously weak, but I don't think that can be blamed on the casting or on the fact that she's a tiny blonde woman. TNG is notorious for robbing its characters of their professional competence in order to facilitate plot, especially in S1. Hell, by Best of Both Worlds, Worf is still able to fire at an unobstructed target five feet away and miss. Greedo couldn't have missed that shot.

 

[Michael]

I don't think she was miscast. Sure, her voice was softer than you'd expect for a "tough girl" character, but I found that a positive thing, because it kept her from being a stereotype.

I'm with you.

I agree with this. I liked Yar in S1. She had frustratingly little to do, but she's competent and Crosby managed to play that without reducing her to a stereotype.

Yes, she does suffer from bad writing at times which makes the character seem ludicrously weak, but I don't think that can be blamed on the casting or on the fact that she's a tiny blonde woman. TNG is notorious for robbing its characters of their professional competence in order to facilitate plot, especially in S1. Hell, by Best of Both Worlds, Worf is still able to fire at an unobstructed target five feet away and miss. Greedo couldn't have missed that shot.

Make that four. I liked Crosby as Tasha; she was a good character. Too bad the authors didn't find anything for her to do.

 

[Unicron]

Agreed. A lot of people complain about her being "weak" in the "penalty box" but I don't have a problem with it at all. How is it weak to show a little emotion when you realize you could die instantly if a crewmate gets a "penalty," and for what? Just so a manipulative alien can have a laugh at your misfortune? I think Tasha had every right to be scared, and I would have been too. She seemed embarrassed even to show it, but I'm glad Picard showed her a little empathy. I'd much rather have that than a character who doesn't seem to care that they might get snuffed out in the next minute. That's not tough to me, that's stupid.

 

[jimbtnp2]

That show only got better when she left. And her acting skills just were not up to the task.

Rob

Horseshit.

Tasha Yar was the only female member of the cast that I liked that first season. She was the only one with an actual job. Deanna's job was to walk around "feeling" things, and Dr. Crusher's sole purpose in life seemed to be to wallk up to Picard and emote things like "But, Jean-Luc, what about the children?" (swoon and exit, stage left) so of course, look who gets bumped off.

TNG suffered mightily when Denise Crosby left that first time (in one of the stupidest death scenarios I've ever seen on a TV show) and I was glad to see her come back as Yar in the alt-universe episode and as Sela. She played her parts just fine, and there was nothing wrong with either of the characters, writing or otherwise.

I agree tasha was a major loss to the show GR should have convinced her to stay through at least 3 years. She was like the Montgomery Scott of TNG, she had emotion, she felt real, something the show lacked after her departure

I did however really like Skin of Evil, the death scene was 'without meaning' but did have meaning for the episode, it showed how evil Armos was

 

[Nebusj]

Agreed. A lot of people complain about her being "weak" in the "penalty box" but I don't have a problem with it at all. How is it weak to show a little emotion when you realize you could die instantly if a crewmate gets a "penalty," and for what? Just so a manipulative alien can have a laugh at your misfortune? I think Tasha had every right to be scared, and I would have been too. She seemed embarrassed even to show it, but I'm glad Picard showed her a little empathy. I'd much rather have that than a character who doesn't seem to care that they might get snuffed out in the next minute. That's not tough to me, that's stupid.

If she had more really good scenes that established her professionalism and competence, then crying in the penalty box would have been a way of making her a more surprising and probably richer character. It would've added an edge to her: she puts so much energy into her security work because she's racing against failure, or something like that.

Unfortunately, she didn't have enough good scenes, and there were moments of annoying ineptness (eg, not checking out the punishment part of the law code in Justice, or not closing off turbolift access before taking the Klingons into custody in `Heart of Shouting We Are Klingons Every Ten Seconds') that the penalty box scene worked against her.

 

[TheMasterOfOrion]

If we're going to compare Worf and Yar let's at least compare them for episodes in which they both appeared. First season Worf was little more than a grunting background character, and Michael Dorn's portrayal was hardly, if at all, any more compelling than Crosby's over the course of the first season. For all we know, if Yar was given 11 seasons to grow that character would have been awesome too.

but it was her decision to leave the show ?

 

[Christopher]

As for the "penalty box" scene, I can't judge it too harshly, because it's one of the slightly less dreadful moments in "Hide and Q," an episode that was apparently rewritten by Roddenberry at his lowest ebb of ill health and/or intoxication and features some of the most agonizing dialogue in Trek history. (Honestly, since when is "macro head with a microbrain" the kind of repartee worthy of an omniscient being?)