Why is Tasha Yar hated?

[Jonesy]

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!"

I agree that her character was written rather poorly in the beginning, but she didn't even give it an entire year before she bailed on the show.

One needs to look at what they ended up doing to pretty much all of the characters on the show to know that Tasha Yar would've been developed beyond what she had to work with in the first (half) year.

 

[Lance]

I still think her 'poor writing' of the character was as a direct result of the eleventh hour decision by GR to cave in and include Bob Justman's suggestion of a "Klingon Marine" into the cast... the first few episodes do write towards the brief of Tasha Yar's character outline, but it appears they realized very quickly just how much more suited to being the security officer Worf was than Tasha. He replaced her as the commander of the separated saucer section in a very late rewrite of 'Encounter At Farpoint', and by the time 'Hide & Q' rolled around, Worf was doing all of the physical stuff down on the planet that you might reasonably be expecting Tasha to be doing, while poor Denise Crosby was relegated to the bridge, sobbing uncontrollably in Q's penalty box.

I do think there's a very organic and demonstrable link between Worf being added to the cast so late in pre-production, and Tasha Yar being reflexively written out of the more meaty roles as the season progressed... like as if the production team thought that the series just couldn't sustain both of them together, you know... and that they kind of put their faith behind Worf as a more potentially interesting character...

Telling is Denise Crosby's first post-departure interview, a clip or two of which is included on the DVD and blu ray sets, where she herself laments about "not being able to see what this so-called 'chief of security' can really do", or words to that effect...

 

[Bry_Sinclair]

And yet Worf is not liked by 100% of the fans. I couldn't stand him.

He had a few alright episodes, but after a time he became a charicature of Klingonisms, going on and on about honour, to the point where it was just dull. Yar always struck me as a better Sercurity Chief. Had Crosby stayed she would've hopefully gotten more comfortable in the role, quitting after less than a year was a huge mistake to make.

 

[TheGoodStuff]

And yet Worf is not liked by 100% of the fans. I couldn't stand him.

That is quite a meaningless statement. If one uses this forum as a benchmark, I could easily find you people who don't like Picard, Sisko, Kira, Seven, Spock....you never get a 100% for anything.

My point is there are loads of people who like Worf.

 

[Timewalker]

And yet Worf is not liked by 100% of the fans. I couldn't stand him.

That is quite a meaningless statement. If one uses this forum as a benchmark, I could easily find you people who don't like Picard, Sisko, Kira, Seven, Spock....you never get a 100% for anything.

My point is there are loads of people who like Worf.

Yeah, right. I momentarily forgot that I am required to agree with the majority opinion on this forum, or my opinion is "meaningless."

He had a few alright episodes, but after a time he became a charicature of Klingonisms, going on and on about honour, to the point where it was just dull.

This pretty much explains most of my dislike for Worf. Add to that the Great Klingon Soap Opera of Worf, various Klingons who kept trying to kill each other so they could run the empire, Picard getting involved - doesn't he already have a job running the Enterprise? - and so on. And then this stuff continues on DS9, combined with another character I disliked (Jadzia).

Thank goodness they never figured out a way to get Worf on Voyager.

 

[T'Girl]

I don't consider it any less believable, frankly, than William Shatner's supposed animal magnetism, that his Kirk can get ALL the women.

Maybe because you're looking at Shatner through male eyes? TOS era Kirk was a very handsome man, and personally I feel that Shatner was at his best in terms of appearance in the movie TMP, he looked very fit, and he had added maturity over '60's Kirk.

 

[Armored Saint]

And yet Worf is not liked by 100% of the fans. I couldn't stand him.

That is quite a meaningless statement. If one uses this forum as a benchmark, I could easily find you people who don't like Picard, Sisko, Kira, Seven, Spock....you never get a 100% for anything.

My point is there are loads of people who like Worf.

Yeah, right. I momentarily forgot that I am required to agree with the majority opinion on this forum, or my opinion is "meaningless."

He didn't say at all you were wrong to dislike Worf. Fact #1: Worf is a very popular Star Trek character. Fact #2: There's no character who's appreciated by absolutely everyone.

I'm not a big fan of The Inner Light, but I'm conscious this is one of the most popular TNG episodes.

 

[Timewalker]

I don't consider it any less believable, frankly, than William Shatner's supposed animal magnetism, that his Kirk can get ALL the women.

Maybe because you're looking at Shatner through male eyes? TOS era Kirk was a very handsome man, and personally I feel that Shatner was at his best in terms of appearance in the movie TMP, he looked very fit, and he had added maturity over '60's Kirk.

True. I recall that even my grandmother had a bit of a crush on TOS-era Kirk.

Besides, he didn't get ALL the women... Gillian Taylor didn't give him the 23rd-century equivalent of her phone number, or even the name of the ship she was going to be serving on. All he did get from her was a kiss on the cheek and "I'll find you."

 

[2takesfrakes]

I don't consider it any less believable, frankly, than William Shatner's supposed animal magnetism, that his Kirk can get ALL the women.

Maybe because you're looking at Shatner through male eyes? TOS era Kirk was a very handsome man, and personally I feel that Shatner was at his best in terms of appearance in the movie TMP, he looked very fit, and he had added maturity over '60's Kirk.

As you wish ...

Besides, he didn't get ALL the women... Gillian Taylor didn't give him the 23rd-century equivalent of her phone number, or even the name of the ship she was going to be serving on. All he did get from her was a kiss on the cheek and "I'll find you."

No wonder she rejected him. By then, of course, Shatner had bloated out, considerably. His nose had gotten bigger and redder. And his STAR TREK IV: The Voyage Home Hair Piece had the tightest curls out of all of them, making his fat head resemble Bilbo Baggins from THE HOBBIT cartoon, that came out in the olden days. I loved it how, in STAR TREK V: The Final Frontier, Kirk goes, "when they put me out to pasture, I hope I fair better than Kor." But no-one had the balls to say, "Well, Kirk you are on the pasture, but the grazing isn't good ..." He was an old man in TVH. He wasn't going to get Gillian. Hell, he probably doesn't even feel sexual urges, anymore, without the help of Viagra.

Meanwhile, back on topic ...

I agree that her character was written rather poorly in the beginning, but she didn't even give it an entire year before she bailed on the show.

One needs to look at what they ended up doing to pretty much all of the characters on the show to know that Tasha Yar would've been developed beyond what she had to work with in the first (half) year.

Yar started out being relevant and quickly hit the sidelines. Denise was young and beautiful, and as far as she was concerned, Leading Lady material. But out on her own, was she going to be a draw? That was the Great Unknown and the gamble she eventually took. Unfortunately ... sheesh ... even after taking her clothes off and just throwing her raw sex at the screen and in magazines ... nobody cared. The kicker was, she hadn't burned her bridges with TNG, entirely, despite the insult of her character being killed off by a trashbag in an oil slick.

 

[Guy Gardener]

Imagine what a waste of time Skin of Evil would have been if Tasha hadn't died in it?

 

[mos6507]

I never disliked Tasha. I just thought Denise Crosby wasn't all that good of an actor. But then again I thought everyone's acting was shit in the first season.

I agree with this. Some never really improved. Riker just became Jonathan Frakes. His transformation was complete in FC.

Troi just became Marina Sirtis by FC as well.

In the case of Troi, her (it's supposed to sound greek but actually sounds like a speech impediment) accent was the worst thing about her. Even though Marina Sirtis came up with the accent, as she dropped it over time the character became more and more appealing.

 

[mos6507]

By then, of course, Shatner had bloated out, considerably. His nose had gotten bigger and redder. And his STAR TREK IV: The Voyage Home Hair Piece had the tightest curls out of all of them, making his fat head resemble Bilbo Baggins from THE HOBBIT cartoon, that came out in the olden days.

You're being a little overly critical. I think Trek IV was the last film where Shatner could reasonably pull off the leading man. He wasn't really that chubby and that hairpiece was the best he ever had in his life, especially when it held together with him swimming underwater.

Even when he was promoting Trek V, the famous SNL where he did the Get a Life sketch, I remember one skit where he dropped down and did push-ups. He had a paunch, but he also still had some muscle tone.

By the time he did Generations, though, his big fight scene was a little less than credible.

 

[Timewalker]

I never disliked Tasha. I just thought Denise Crosby wasn't all that good of an actor. But then again I thought everyone's acting was shit in the first season.

I agree with this. Some never really improved. Riker just became Jonathan Frakes. His transformation was complete in FC.

Troi just became Marina Sirtis by FC as well.

In the case of Troi, her (it's supposed to sound greek but actually sounds like a speech impediment) accent was the worst thing about her. Even though Marina Sirtis came up with the accent, as she dropped it over time the character became more and more appealing.

I liked her accent in the first season of TNG. But as the years went on, she got lazier and lazier with it, until by First Contact (and her appearances on Voyager), it was just a sloppy, drawling mess.

 

[Makarov]

I'm not sure how Riker became Jonathan Frakes. Even in First Contact he's still a hard ass while Jonathan Frakes seems a lot more jovial.

 

[Bry_Sinclair]

Imagine what a waste of time Skin of Evil would have been if Tasha hadn't died in it?

They could've killed off Troi (who they had trouble writing for) or Crusher (if her desire to leave the next year had become known) or gone really nuts and taken out Riker, that way everyone gets promoted up--Data to XO and Worf at Ops.

 

[GalaxyX]

I never disliked Tasha. I just thought Denise Crosby wasn't all that good of an actor. But then again I thought everyone's acting was shit in the first season.

I agree with this. Some never really improved. Riker just became Jonathan Frakes. His transformation was complete in FC.

Troi just became Marina Sirtis by FC as well.

In the case of Troi, her (it's supposed to sound greek but actually sounds like a speech impediment) accent was the worst thing about her. Even though Marina Sirtis came up with the accent, as she dropped it over time the character became more and more appealing.

Well being Greek myself, trust me her accent in the pilot sounds nothing like what a Greek accent would sound like (Unless the goal was to sound like a mentally deficient Greek person ). Our accent sound very close to Romanian now that I think about it.

Maybe because you're looking at Shatner through male eyes? TOS era Kirk was a very handsome man, and personally I feel that Shatner was at his best in terms of appearance in the movie TMP, he looked very fit, and he had added maturity over '60's Kirk.

William Shatner was a very attractive man in his prime, more so than any of the men in the TNG cast I think. Riker comes close in his Season 1 appearance. Once the beard comes on he looks more average. But I'm not a girl (and I'm not gay) so I don't know, maybe I'm wrong.

Denise was young and beautiful, and as far as she was concerned, Leading Lady material. But out on her own, was she going to be a draw?

Maybe that's what she thought, who knows. Maybe she thought being a Crosby would get her in the door for better roles? I personally would have loved to see her character development. Even Troi wasn't as incredibly annoying by the end of the series.

 

[T'Girl]

[]In the case of Troi, her (it's supposed to sound greek but actually sounds like a speech impediment) accent was the worst thing about her. Even though Marina Sirtis came up with the accent, as she dropped it over time the character became more and more appealing.

It would have helped if the other actors/actresses cast as Betazeds had copied her Betazed "accent."

At least have Majel Barett do it.

:0

 

[WillsBabe]

Riker comes close in his Season 1 appearance. Once the beard comes on he looks more average. But I'm not a girl (and I'm not gay) so I don't know, maybe I'm wrong.

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!

 

[JariM]

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!

I agree with this.

I still remember how the day after Skin of Evil had aired in Finland I stopped by a friends house on my way to school and the first words out his mouth were:
It's a good thing they killed that stupid Yar.

 

[2takesfrakes]

You're being a little overly critical. I think Trek IV was the last film where Shatner could reasonably pull off the leading man. He wasn't really that chubby and that hairpiece was the best he ever had in his life, especially when it held together with him swimming underwater.

Even when he was promoting Trek V, the famous SNL where he did the Get a Life sketch, I remember one skit where he dropped down and did push-ups. He had a paunch, but he also still had some muscle tone.

By the time he did Generations, though, his big fight scene was a little less than credible.

It always surprised me - with how important an actor's looks are - that Shatner let himself go like that, considering he was "The Leading Man." And he already had the baldness going against him. You'd think he'd compensate some for that, at least. With the kind of money he made, surely, he could've afforded a membership at Bally's, or something like that. But it's possible, I suppose that I'm being overly critical ... somewhat.

But not much.