Why is Tasha Yar hated?
- Thread starter GalaxyX
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I didn't even notice Jonathan Frakes was in the cast in season one. Forever etched in my memory, though, is the opening scene of The Child with Riker sat in the command chair. With the beard.
I can recall Tasha being unpopular. I thought she was poor -actress and character and I know a few fans I hung around with at the time didn't have much of a good word for her. Looking back, though, I think she is a wasted opportunity and I really would like to dip into the alternative reality where Denise Crosby stuck with it, to see how Tasha panned out. Nostalgia makes me like her a whole lot more than I did first time around. It's probably the case that we wouldn't have got the likes of Ro, and maybe even Shelby if Yar had stuck around, but I really would have liked to have seen them girls taking names and kicking ass together on the Enterprise!
Hmm, I think Jonathan Frakes was a really good looking man in his prime, same as William Shatner. I think the beard takes away from that handsomeness, but that's my opinion. If you think he's hotter with the beard, go nuts
As for Tasha, I just don't see her "bad acting". She wasn't stellar, but honestly 1st Season except Patrick Stewart was horrendous! Some never improved. I don't think Marina improved at all, just the show started writing more for her natural style. I'm not sure Levar improved either. Riker maybe a little, but the show massively molded to his natural personality as well.
Oh dear god no! I would have preferred an actual real greek accent as opposed to whatever that horrendous sound was in EAF. I think Marina considered herself british though. I remember watching a greek show on youtube where they were interviewing her, and they asked her if she was rooting for Greece in the soccer finals, and she said that, at the risk of getting some angry people (I think she was joking) that she was rooting for England.
I think guys can tell if another guy is attractive or not without getting aroused. I remember when I saw Mel Gibson in "Mad Max" and though "holy crap that guy is good looking". Ironic that he was originally going to be hired to be one of the ugly punk goons chasing the hero around in the story.
Beard might be a subjective thing. In my case, a full on beard, at least to me, is not really an attractive trait for us guys to do. A goatee or trimmed beard maybe. But hey, I'm sure there's girls and gay men that find bushy beards super hot?
In her first appearance, Lwaxana implies that the accent came from Troi's father. Then we finally meet him several years later and he's Joe America....
I see several thoughts here about Denise making the jump at the wrong time because the writing got better and the show got more popular...
but that's from a fan perspective. If you look from an employee/working perspective, and one is in a job they hate, then moving on to other work can be best for everybody.
We mention her coming back to the show and the "Trekkies" documentary thing; but the fact is she's managed to be employed almost every single year on non-trek stuff since she left the show. It's not like it stopped her from finding jobs where she could be more happy on a personal level. So I think she didn't screw herself over at all by leaving.
On the character thing; I liked Yar in the first season. The death episode was OK. In the fourth season, I thought it would have been great to not have Sela and just make it a bitter Tasha out for revenge on Picard and crew.
but that's from a fan perspective. If you look from an employee/working perspective, and one is in a job they hate, then moving on to other work can be best for everybody.
We mention her coming back to the show and the "Trekkies" documentary thing; but the fact is she's managed to be employed almost every single year on non-trek stuff since she left the show. It's not like it stopped her from finding jobs where she could be more happy on a personal level. So I think she didn't screw herself over at all by leaving.
On the character thing; I liked Yar in the first season. The death episode was OK. In the fourth season, I thought it would have been great to not have Sela and just make it a bitter Tasha out for revenge on Picard and crew.
Because, according to "Redemption II" and Guinan and Sela, (another) Picard sent (i.e. ordered) Tasha to the past with the Enterprise-C and therefore is responsible for the whole situation?
Yes, I could imagine an older and embittered Tasha. The Romulans surely would have aided to create such a mindset, assuming they could put it to good use (rather than to have her executed).
Bob
I read an article once, where Marina said that she based the accent off of her Israeli girlfriend? Not that it matters all that much, because it's true that Deanna Troi never needed the accent, as it turns out. Poor Marina was burdened with it because, apparently, having a sweet face and an amazing body wasn't enough to seperate her from the ordinary woman on the streets.
Whatever the actual story was, she was the only principal who had this imposed on them - with the possible exception of Brent Spiner. Data's soft vocal paterns were very reminiscent of the HAL9000. But Marina's English accent is very sexy and I'm glad that - somewhere along the line - she got to shed the made up one. Although, she still tended to call Riker "Wheel," instead of "Wil" so there was that one last holdout there, to remind us ...
My belief has always been that the accent was developed to make her seem 'exotically alien'... but then Mrs Roddenberry was cast as her mom in "Haven", and she didn't even bother trying to do the accent... so they threw some dialogue in there saying the accent came from her father... but when we see her father later in the show, he doesn't have the accent either. So it's just left completely unexplained.
Troi created the accent when she started college, as part of forming a new identity for herself when she was away from home for the first time. Everyone who knew her as an undergrad believes that her nickname really was ``Elly'', too, and they still call her that.
I hadn't really noticed this before. You're right, the phrase "sent" is used several times throughout "Redemption II" to describe what happened to alt!Tasha in "Yesterday's Enterprise", but while it's a loaded phrase that certainly can tally up fine with what we saw in "Yesterday's Enterprise" (ie, Tasha volunteered, but Picard does indeed approve the transfer, albeit with severe reservations), it also works in applying a little retcon of those events, with both Guinan and Sela inferring some kind of personal guilt on Picard for having 'sent' Tasha to her second death. In reality we know that alt!Picard was very wary about about the whole idea and had to be convinced by Tasha herself, but our Picard doesn't know that. He's left thinking that he did this terrible thing when he really didn't.
Honestly, I hadn't noticed it either and yet, when I started the disputed thread (otherwise I would have highlighted it from the very start, but all the criticism just compelled me to research further and deeper, and when I found this discrepancy it was like 
+ 
).
That discovery was a great foundation for what had been - admittedly - more speculation in the beginning, and here are the decisive reasons, IMHO.
Bob
+ ).That discovery was a great foundation for what had been - admittedly - more speculation in the beginning, and here are the decisive reasons, IMHO.
Bob
Actually, I'm not sure Picard does think that. From his perspective he never ordered Tasha to do any such thing - and no-one mentions time travel or alternate realities - Gunian levels the blame at this Picard personally, which is ridiculous. Fortunately, his crew are on hand to provide their suggestions:
Sela believes she is Tasha's daughter, but Geordi is personally only too aware of how effective the Romulans' brainwashing techniques are. Regardless of who Sela thinks she is, she is medically NOT Tasha's daughter. The Romulans' motivations are baffling to be sure - but I think Picard's final thoughts on the matter are clear:
Picard has rationalised Sela's existence to himself as a strange left-field attempt to distract him at a crucial time. He no doubt suspects there is more going on, but (despite Guinan's heartfelt accusations) he will not be drawn off course.
I recently listened to the "Redemption" feature-length audio commentary on the single Blu-ray disc and Ron Moore was very specific (he even cited the producers' green-light to go with this new story) that Sela's account was true.
Picard's "I'm full of doubts" rather seemed to me like a subtle suggestion along the lines "You should have some doubts, too."
I mean, there is Tasha Yar's daughter and all she does is accusing her mother for what was possibly a complicated childhood, while in fact it's her father (and/or the Romulan government) she should be accusing for having taken her mother away from her in the first place (and, of course, herself for turning her mother in, but I do not know if you could hold a four year old child - even though half-Romulan - accountable for that).
The delicious irony of the scene is that she accepts Picard's invitation and was probably looking forward to make him feel bad and miserable, but it turns out that the only one who leaves the scene feeling bad and miserable is actually her.
I also think Denise Crosby's Sela acting was impeccable, I think she had plenty of personal experience she really packed into her performance (her biological father, Dennis Crosby, committed suicide with a shotgun a couple of months before "Redemption"). Of course, in her personal life she hadn't been missing her mother but her father, as far as I can tell.
Bob
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I'd definitely be curious to see how TNG would have turned out had Yar not been killed, and I agree that in my experience she's not "hated".
I remember wondering once I saw "Skin of Evil" whether we should assume all bets are off regarding the survivability of the main characters. For better or worse, this obviously proved to be an exception rather than any sort of rule. Which tended to work against some later installments in the franchise.
I remember wondering once I saw "Skin of Evil" whether we should assume all bets are off regarding the survivability of the main characters. For better or worse, this obviously proved to be an exception rather than any sort of rule. Which tended to work against some later installments in the franchise.
Okay, it gets a bit confusing with all these Tasha Yar characters dying or having children.
Although apparently not for Worf. The Duras sisters try to seduce him:
LURSA: Join us, Worf, and usher in a new era for our people. WORF: An era where honour has no meaning? Where Klingons trade loyalties in dark rooms and where the Empire is ruled from Romulus.
SELA [on monitor]: Enough, Lursa. You failed. I need to know the strength and capabilities of the Federation fleet. I don't have time for this. Turn him over to the guard. B'Etor can have him back when they've finished with him.
Worf doesn't express any astonishment seeing Tasha Yar's alter ego on screen! Either he was incredibly cool or he already knew that Sela was behind all that...
Yet another issue Klingons don't discuss with outsiders?
Bob
^ It's an odd one, that. It's like nobody told Michael Dorn who Sela was going to be, so when it came time to composite her onto the viewscreen shot, he didn't give any kind of reaction shot which would make sense in-universe. When as you say you might expect Worf to at least show some curiosity at Sela's resemblance to Tasha.
They should've just had Sela as a voice on an intercom or something for that scene.
They should've just had Sela as a voice on an intercom or something for that scene.
This is somewhat off-topic, but I've been on kind of a TNG kick the last few weeks and have been watching a lot of random episodes. I've been paying special attention to Season 2, which it seems I have mostly forgotten about. I remember not liking Pulaski very much, but this time around I enjoyed her well enough. It seems weird that she never came back, even for a random guest appearance once or twice.
She was mentioned in "Who Watches the Watchers?"
Yes, IIRC Dr. Crusher tried to (unsuccessfully) duplicate Dr. Pulaski's mind erasing procedure that we saw in "Pen Pals."
There was also this scene cut from the beginning of the third season which explained Dr. Pulaski's departure.
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