Maybe not enough to "take offense at" but that aspect of the character makes me groan almost every time.
Why is Tasha Yar hated?
- Thread starter GalaxyX
- Start date
Maybe not enough to "take offense at" but that aspect of the character makes me groan almost every time.
I don't want to make it like I hate Pulaski. My feelings are quite the reverse, actually. Diane Mauldar (sp.) was so friggin' CUTE on TOS, especially when she was in her miniskirt uniform, and it always makes me smile, to see Dr. Pulaski getting kissed up by Captain Kirk. Who could blame him? I sure as hell couldn't!
So, seeing her in TNG is sweet, it's just that old and crusty stuff that's only so much bullshit. Watching it in action was all the evidence Gene Roddenberry should've needed to understand - and realise - that he'd recycled maybe once too often and it was time to start tapping into some creativity. Pulaski only needed just a few modifications to work and be successful in the series.
One, which I would've advocated would be to bring back Gates, first off, but to have Pulaski be a doctor working under her. Just having them argue with eachother over patient diagnosis and stuff like that might've really been interesting. But ... we got what we got. It was still great to see her and I was happy that her history tied in with Riker's by way of his father. I could easily see her, because of TOS, turning a young Kyle Riker's head - ending up as close together as a bride and groom ...
So, seeing her in TNG is sweet, it's just that old and crusty stuff that's only so much bullshit. Watching it in action was all the evidence Gene Roddenberry should've needed to understand - and realise - that he'd recycled maybe once too often and it was time to start tapping into some creativity. Pulaski only needed just a few modifications to work and be successful in the series.
One, which I would've advocated would be to bring back Gates, first off, but to have Pulaski be a doctor working under her. Just having them argue with eachother over patient diagnosis and stuff like that might've really been interesting. But ... we got what we got. It was still great to see her and I was happy that her history tied in with Riker's by way of his father. I could easily see her, because of TOS, turning a young Kyle Riker's head - ending up as close together as a bride and groom ...
Even though Season 1 Was the shittiest sereis in TNG but for season 1 Yar/crsoby was good she just dint have the best storys
I was hoping it would end with her elevator (turbolift
) ride, or lack thereof.
But that was good enough
You didn't watch L.A. Law per chance?
I never had a problem with Tasha though it was a shame she was taken out of the show early on and well...The weirdness of the Sela storyline just made you think Tasha would never get a break even in other timelines.
The start of the series -- from Farpoint until at least the midpoint of Season 1 or so -- had to establish a lot of things, and first and foremost it had to establish this new, more (than TOS) futuristic landscape.
So there were a lot of things designed to shake things up:
1) Picard's first action in the pilot, basically, was to surrender ... which of course Kirk would never do. It's a "who is this new captain and wtf is he doing" moment from the start to help say there's a new (star) sheriff in town, so to speak, and a kinder, gentler one that the swashbuckling Kirk that everyone was accustomed to.
2) There's an android on the ship in a prominent role. A dude who can't see, only he can, thanks to his fantastical futuristic Google goggles. A freakin' KLINGON is on a Federation ship, and he's not a prisoner or an occupying force. An empath, even a KID for goodness sake.
3) Tasha fits into this -- a female security chief is a new twist and a signal of a 'more advanced' society as well as something to challenge conventional thinking and set TNG apart from the previous ST incarnation (both on TV and film).
So all of these things are part shock value (especially Picard as Captain Surrender Monkey) and 'hey, this is a whole new ST universe.' Yar is just part of that tapestry, and what did and didn't happen with her character going forward shows, to me, that litttle thought was put into her and some of these other things beyond 'we have to make clear that this is a different ST.'
So there were a lot of things designed to shake things up:
1) Picard's first action in the pilot, basically, was to surrender ... which of course Kirk would never do. It's a "who is this new captain and wtf is he doing" moment from the start to help say there's a new (star) sheriff in town, so to speak, and a kinder, gentler one that the swashbuckling Kirk that everyone was accustomed to.
2) There's an android on the ship in a prominent role. A dude who can't see, only he can, thanks to his fantastical futuristic Google goggles. A freakin' KLINGON is on a Federation ship, and he's not a prisoner or an occupying force. An empath, even a KID for goodness sake.
3) Tasha fits into this -- a female security chief is a new twist and a signal of a 'more advanced' society as well as something to challenge conventional thinking and set TNG apart from the previous ST incarnation (both on TV and film).
So all of these things are part shock value (especially Picard as Captain Surrender Monkey) and 'hey, this is a whole new ST universe.' Yar is just part of that tapestry, and what did and didn't happen with her character going forward shows, to me, that litttle thought was put into her and some of these other things beyond 'we have to make clear that this is a different ST.'
I think Tasha's kinda boring and I don't like Denise Crosby's acting much but that's probably because Season 1 is garbage. I think she was fine in "Yesterday's Enterprise". I think the Sela storyline didn't live up to it's potential.
Even the most ordinary character, Riker (Who occupied a new position on board) was still shown at 1st to be able to communicate telepathically with Troi.
I can only imagine Denise begging to be brought back after she discovered that TNG was actually a hit
It was steady series work. Actors have to make choices all the time. What was the ceiling of what she could expect to make if she stayed (and her happiness with the work, which was minimal given what her character was given to work with) vs. the potential of what she thought might be in front of her if she left. She made a choice and while she never became a superstar, neither have most of the cast who stayed. (Patrick Stewart excepted.)
There's two kinds of actors/actresses: working and wishing they were working. She seems to have sustained herself as a working actress.
It appears she's done all right for herself financially. Rent is getting paid. I don't gather that she has fallen into a decades-long "OMG WHAT DID I DO LEAVING TNG" depression.
She did attend a TNG reunion within the last few years-I mean really she must need the money I can't imagine her doing that out of any sort of attachment to the cast, crew, or show. Unlike Terry Farrel who despite her unfortunate exit still attends conventions.
One of the books way back when had a great thing on this wavelength -- "Q Squared" by Peter David. The book tracks a few different timelines, one of them has Tasha, and there's an absolutely devastating scene where Q tells her that out of all the alternate universes out there, she is the only living Tasha Yar. She's always felt a deep, gnawing emptiness at her core, and it's because, unlike everyone else, she has no doubles anywhere else in the infinite alternate universes. Q lists off a variety of ways the alternate Yar's have died, but they're always dead -- this Tasha he is speaking to now is really just a glitch in the system.
Of all the ST novels I read, this is the one scene that sticks in my mind the most (though I say that and maybe I've confused some details from it -- it has been awhile!)
I think the conventions are rarely an either/or proposition -- even if you have a real attachment to your time on Trek, you still want/need the money. No one's doing it for free.
Personally I liked Tasha Yar, she made for an interesting gender bender character. But I did have my issues with her. One of the reasons is Denise Crosby's initial acting - too emotional and forceful - certainly when the show just got started. That can in part be forgiven as the other cats members also struggled a little. That said, Tasha was an emotional character, she had temperament that some might not always find appealing. Crosby may have tried too hard to emphasize that. Other than that I only feel sadness that Crosby left the show, its one of those what-could-have-been things. Yesterday's Enterprise emphasizes that.
Actually, you're thinking of Trelane and Jack Crusher.
There are at least TWO versions of Tasha in that book. One from "Track A" (a universe where Jack is the captain of the Enterprise-D and Picard is his XO, and where James Kirk's middle initial is R
), and one from "Track C" (a "Yesterday's Enterprise" alternate where the Enterprise-C failed and the war with the Klingons continues).At one point, the universes start blending together, and Tasha-A sees Tasha-C and starts laughing because she thinks her counterpart's haircut makes her look like a boy.
No, it's Jack who apparently has only one living version and all the alternates are dead. Trelane starts taunting him about that, trying to drive Jack insane.
Ah, thanks! So I have been remembering that wrong all these years. I'm tempted to track that book down and reread...
It's still unbelievable, though. In an infinite multiverse, there's literally only ONE Jack Crusher left?
I prefer to think Trelane was lying the whole time. (He's the kind of person who would.) A subset of infinity is still infinity, after all.
I prefer to think Trelane was lying the whole time. (He's the kind of person who would.) A subset of infinity is still infinity, after all.
Either your doing because you need the money and treasure your time as a trek actor or your doing it only for the former. There is no third option.
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