Why is Tasha Yar hated?

[GalaxyX]

So ignoring the actress Denise Crosby, and whatever bs happened behind the scenes for her to decide to leave...

Why is it that so many people hate her character?

I'll admit that she probably wasn't the best choice to be a security officer if the other choice was Worf.

But as a character I though she did a decent job of portraying a person who has gone thru horrible abuses in her childhood, but found a "parent" organization who has cared for her and helped her heal her past wounds.

I think that character had potential, if the actress had decided to stick around for the rest of the series. What do you guys think?

 

[SchwEnt]

Beats me. I liked Tasha.

Crosby's acting was iffy (hey, pretty much everyone that first year was spotty) but I could live with it.

I thought it was a good change to see a security chief as a main character, and a woman! I found Tasha had an interesting background and story to her character.

That first season, I though Tasha as a character was more interesting than Geordi or Riker or Troi or some others.

I sure would have loved for Tasha to stick around and develop thru the seasons. No conflict with Worf at all. One could be ship's weapons/tactical officer, the other could be hands-on security officer with the redshirts. Could have been a really good team.

 

[Tosk]

I didn't hate her either. Did many people actually hate her, or are you starting from a faulty premise?

 

[Joel_Kirk]

Tasha was awesome.

(Had a little schoolboy crush on her when TNG started, and was upset when her character was killed off).

Sidenote: I was also upset when they had her in the TNG skirt and boots at the end of Encounter at Farpoint, and had the nerve to keep her behind her console rather than have her take a break...step around...and look at viewscreen with her crewmates while Picard said, 'Let's see what's out there.'

I liked the character returning in Yesterday's Enterprise and All Good Things...

 

[Smellincoffee]

I figure fans just hold a grudge against Denise Crosby for bailing on TNG so early and then trying to work back into Trekdom with the Trekkies movies. I like her fine, though.

 

[2takesfrakes]

For the record, I do not hate Tasha. Nor do I dislike Denise Crosby as an actress. In fact, I completely agree with her reasons for leaving The Next Generation, when she did. The writers started dismissing her character, making Tasha stand behind the rail just to look gorgeous and say stupid shit like "... there's a ship hailing us, sir," and "torpedoes armed." And then when she did have something meatier to do, whenever there was a fresh ear onboard, someone who just met her for the first time, or whatever, she's all like, "... I came from a planet of Rape Gangs!"

Enough with the rape gangs, I don't give a shit anymore, every minute with the rape gangs! Find Counselor Troi and some new subject matter to get hung up about. It was needlessly mentioned "all the time," and it just wasn't that interesting, to be honest. You've had a hard life, Tasha, I get it. But look around you, OK? Picard has a mechanical heart. Geordi is blind, except for use of his VISOR. Data was switched off and left out in the elements, when his entire colony was dessimated ... do I have to go on? Let the shit go and talk about something else, for a change. Like that hot sister of yours ...

 

[jimbotron]

I liked her, though her material was largely crap.

Thank goodness she did go though. If she had stayed, then Worf would have never had the chance to grow. And if she stayed and McFadden was fired, then maybe they don't bring in Muldaur and bring in another doctor who stays until the end, and then McFadden never gets the chance to return.

 

[Armored Saint]

Why is it that so many people hate her character?

Wesley is hated by many people, Tasha isn't liked by many people. It's not the same thing.

 

[Keith1701]

I didn't hate her either. Did many people actually hate her, or are you starting from a faulty premise?

Tasha was great and Denise did a great job acting the part.

 

[GalaxyX]

Enough with the rape gangs, I don't give a shit anymore, every minute with the rape gangs!

I can think of maybe twice the rape gangs were brought up. Maybe I'm not remembering properly.

Denise Crosby wasn't exactly a stellar actress, but she was pretty much on par with everyone else in the first Season except for Patrick Stewart. I thought the idea of her character was great (perhaps a way for the writers to bring in some sort of conflict into the series), and I think she did a good enough job of it.

I always got the idea that people hated her character just as much as Wesley. Wesley in itself gets more hate than he deserves IMO.

 

[MakeshiftPython]

Is Tasha hated at all? I never got that sense. Given how little she got to do and in only 20 something episodes, it's no surprise that she isn't a fan favorite like Data or Worf. Had Denise Crosby didn't quit and the role of Tasha was expanded like other characters, maybe it would be a different story. Given her background, I don't doubt that the writers starting with Piller would have loved to do more with her (especially since they gave her a better send off in "Yesterday's Enterprise"). I think it's too bad that after she left no one really filled in for her, the tough female officer that could hold her own like the rest of the boys. Ro Laren came close, though she only appeared in 8 episodes.

 

[GalaxyX]

the tough female that could hold her own like the rest of the boys. Ro Laren came close, though she only appeared in 8 episodes.

I think this is one of the reasons I like Tasha. She's portrayed as a realistic tough female. She's strong, knows how to fight and can hold on her own when needed, yet she's a sweet person and is vulnerable in the right moments, and is capable of building friendships with others. She's the ideal of what someone who's gone thru trauma can become if given the chance to thrive in an ideal environment.

Ro Laren was similar, with the difference that she was never able to get over her own traumas and trust anyone, which is why she ended up betraying Picard and the Federation.

 

[jimbotron]

My TNG unlikability index:

1. Lwaxana
2. Season 1+2 Wesley
3. Keiko
4. Tasha
5. Pulaski
6. Season 3+ Wesley

 

[GalaxyX]

Hmm, I wonder what mine is, let's see:

My TNG unlikability index:

1. Deanna Troi
2. Pulaski
3. Lwaxana


I don't "unlike" Geordi, but I don't really like him either. I started to "unlike" him when he only wanted to date the hottest women on the ship even though he's fucking blind.

Keiko seems to be the stereotypical nagging wife, but she's not so bad.

I don't hate Wesley except in that one moment when he says "Adults!" and the entire episode "Evolution" where his "mistakes" amount to his "genius" creations getting out of hand.

Other than that I have no issues with him. I think he redeemed himself quite well in "The First Duty" where he actually does a real fuck up and tries to cover it up.

 

[MakeshiftPython]

I always thought there was Season 1 Wesley and then Season 2+ Wesley. Starting with "The Child", they really brought the character down to earth by making him more believable as a boy being shown the ropes on what it means to be in Starfleet, whereas in the previous season he's written as an over the top "boy genius" that plays with the Enterpise like a toy.

As for Pulaski, I love her and wish she had stayed instead of Crusher. She came off more human than most of the characters.

 

[Lance]

Chalk me up as another one who liked Tasha, and who has never heard any of the "Tasha hate" that the OP mentioned. There are some within fandom who have professed their dislike for the actress, mostly for behind-the-scenes reasons rather than simply for her performance (though her performance does sometimes get kicked as well). But I've never heard anyone hate on Tasha herself, as a character.

Tasha's "Drugs Are Bad" speech from Symbiosis gets ridiculed a lot, but it isn't really something she did 24/7.

From what I gather, most people seemed to appreciate what the character was. It's just season one of TNG was not conducive to seeing the potential of ANY of the lead characters fully realized, and Tasha was no exception to that lack of positive development.

 

[GalaxyX]

I always thought there was Season 1 Wesley and then Season 2+ Wesley. Starting with "The Child", they really brought the character down to earth by making him more believable as a boy being shown the ropes on what it means to be in Starfleet, whereas in the previous season he's written as an over the top "boy genius" that plays with the Enterpise like a toy.

As for Pulaski, I love her and wish she had stayed instead of Crusher. She came off more human than most of the characters.

I'll admit that my dislike for Pulaski has nothing to do with the actress.

I'm just in the camp that immediately realized she was supposed to be McCoy. They even had the gall to:

1. Make her look like the spitting image of McCoy, but female
2. Make her sort of grumpy but somewhat likeable like McCoy
3. Make her hate the "Spock" character, just because.

And my personal reason is that I think TNG era Gates McFadden is super hot! She got replaced with this old lady. I was happy to see Gates back when she I saw her again the next Season.

I think they should have at least had a throwaway line about what happened to Pulaski.

 

[MakeshiftPython]

I never got the whole "Pulaski hates Data and is mean to him" as if that's all she did in her entire stay of the show. She treats him more like a machine very early in the season, which is great because it's believable that there would be people out there who are kind of uncomfortable with the idea of a machine taking the place of the man/woman. Naturally, she warmed up to Data after only what, three episodes? It's only logical because she would then learn how valuable he is as a person.

She is McCoy-like in the beginning, but then again Riker was pretty Kirk-like in the beginning with him coming off more as the hero that's in on the action and has a way with the ladies. As the episodes pass, they become more of their own characters and that's pretty natural for any show that presents new characters who are by that point pretty roughly written. With Pulaski, it's like most of her haters pnly associate her with her very first two appearances when she was still not accepting Data as a person, and not taking into account that she had grown from that point on.

 

[Lance]

^ I agree, people do talk up the Pulaski-hates-Data thing as if it's a defining trait of the character, when in reality it just isn't true. She gets over it pretty much after three or four episodes.

It's particularly worth noting that by the time The Measure of a Man comes around, where one might EXPECT this supposed "Data hater" to pipe up with soundbites like "He's only a machine!" etc, Pulaski is in fact entirely cordial with Data throughout, attends his going away party, and treats him entirely as if he were any other member of the crew. Not exactly a case to be made for prejudice.

 

[Timewalker]

I liked her, though her material was largely crap.

Thank goodness she did go though. If she had stayed, then Worf would have never had the chance to grow. And if she stayed and McFadden was fired, then maybe they don't bring in Muldaur and bring in another doctor who stays until the end, and then McFadden never gets the chance to return.

That would have been much better. Then Worf wouldn't have basically taken over TWO Star Trek shows. As for McFadden vs Muldaur, I much prefer Muldaur's Dr. Pulaski. As far as I'm concerned, Q should have left Beverly as an Irish Setter.

Why is it that so many people hate her character?

Wesley is hated by many people, Tasha isn't liked by many people. It's not the same thing.

I have a few buttons that say some not-nice things about Wesley. I have never seen any fan-made convention souvenirs that say negative things about Tasha.

Is Tasha hated at all? I never got that sense. Given how little she got to do and in only 20 something episodes, it's no surprise that she isn't a fan favorite like Data or Worf. Had Denise Crosby didn't quit and the role of Tasha was expanded like other characters, maybe it would be a different story. Given her background, I don't doubt that the writers starting with Piller would have loved to do more with her (especially since they gave her a better send off in "Yesterday's Enterprise"). I think it's too bad that after she left no one really filled in for her, the tough female officer that could hold her own like the rest of the boys. Ro Laren came close, though she only appeared in 8 episodes.

I'd have loved to see Tasha and Ro be friends. It would have been a nice contrast to the Deanna/Beverly friendship - the women who persevered in Starfleet, seeking a new life after many years of difficulty and struggle on their respective worlds, vs the elegant, everything-handed-to-them ladies of the ship.

I just think Tasha was a really interesting character, and it's a shame the actress opted to quit.

As for Pulaski, I love her and wish she had stayed instead of Crusher. She came off more human than most of the characters.

I'll admit that my dislike for Pulaski has nothing to do with the actress.

I'm just in the camp that immediately realized she was supposed to be McCoy. They even had the gall to:

1. Make her look like the spitting image of McCoy, but female
2. Make her sort of grumpy but somewhat likeable like McCoy
3. Make her hate the "Spock" character, just because.

I was not aware that Diana Muldaur and Deforest Kelley were anything remotely twin-like.

The cast needed somebody older and more down-to-earth. Can you imagine all the breathy platitudes and "Jean-Luc, blah-blah-blah" that Beverly would have mouthed during "The Child"? Deanna needed someone matter-of-fact and willing to stand up for her, not somebody whose first concern was getting along with the captain.

Besides,

Spoiler: Pulaski's background

I read an entertaining little fanfic that explains how Pulaski comes by her McCoy-like mannerisms: She's his great-granddaughter!