#tasha tar

[aerospas]

𝐇𝐄𝐀𝐃𝐂𝐀𝐍𝐍𝐎𝐍𝐒 ; dating tasha yar!

tasha enjoys taking care of her partner in practical ways, whether it's cooking their favorite meal, helping them with tasks, or simply being there to offer a listening ear when needed.

in her relationships, tasha values loyalty and trust above all else. she seeks a partner who is dependable and honest, someone who stands by her side through thick and thin. building a strong foundation of trust is paramount to her, and she appreciates a partner who is transparent and sincere in their intentions.

independence is essential to tasha, and she respects her partner's autonomy as much as she values her own. she appreciates a relationship where both individuals have their own pursuits and passions, yet come together to support and uplift each other.

[episodicnostalgia]

Star Trek: The Next Generation, 122 (Apr. 25, 1988) - “Skin of Evil”

Teleplay by: Joseph Stefano & Hanna Louise Shearer Story by: Joseph Stefano Directed by: Joseph L. Scanlan

The Breakdown

Deanna Troi’s shuttle craft suddenly loses power on it’s way back to the Enterprise and she (along with her pilot) end up crash landing on a barren planet.  Fortunately, Enterprise was in communications range when the shuttle went down, so the gang zips off to help.  UNfortunately the planet is controlled by a quasi-omnipotent puddle of crude oil named Armus, who has a developed penchant for inflicting pain, and emotional turmoil in others; and he senses a prime opportunity to do just that.

As it happens, one of Armus’ vaguely defined abilities is to emit a forcefield around Deanna’s shuttle to stop her from being beamed to safety. Not yet aware of what-or-who he’s engaged with, Picard sends an away team comprised of Will Riker, Tasha Yar, Dr. Crusher, & Data, where they first encounter Armus as a black puddle that keeps blocking them from reaching Troi’s shuttle (it/he slithers in front of wherever the away team attempts to go). Eventually Armus re-forms as anthropomorphic garbage bag covered in tar, and threatens to kill anyone who attempts to save Troi. Since Tasha isn’t one to take shit from a villain-of-the-week, she bravely pushes forward… and is immediately killed.

Armus allows the away team to return to their ship (although still without Troi), where Dr. Crusher tries her best to revive Tasha, but to no avail; Lt. Yar is very dead.  To make matters worse, the crew is also no closer to saving Troi.  Indeed, at barely 15 minutes, the bulk of the episode has yet to play out, which effectively remains in a stalemate, as Armus psychologically and physically torments the next away team (but mostly Riker).

While Armus spares no opportunity to remind everyone of how evil he is, Troi slowly manages to pump him for information back in the shuttle wreckage, with the aid of her empathic abilities.  Meanwhile, Worf notices that Armus’ anti-transporter forcefield seems to weaken slightly whenever he’s busy taunting Troi.  The meaning of this isn’t initially made clear, but since the episode is starting to run out of time, Picard figures it’s safe to start wrap things up, and heads down to the planet for this week’s big philosophical showdown!

Upon beaming down, Picard offers himself to Armus in exchange for his crew’s safe release, but only after he’s been allowed to have a private conversation with Troi.  For reasons that aren’t entirely clear, Armus agrees to these terms, giving Picard the opportunity he needs to figure out a solution.  Troi explains that the Armus is a living manifestation of all the hate and rage (akin to a “skin of evil”, if you will) from some race that somehow had those traits removed from themselves, and then presumably discarded on this planet in the form of a sentient waste byproduct.  It turns out his one weakness is receiving emotional validation over being abandoned, which is remarkably convenient.  Armed with that knowledge, Picard unleashes an unrelenting barrage of sympathy in the manner that only a grumpy French dude (with an English accent) could deliver; using pretentious soliloquy, and verbose sentiment. 

And it works!  Armus feels so seen by Picard’s observations (namely that he’s just a sad and empty shell of a tar-monster), that he lowers his guard just enough for Worf to beam the survivors and Piccard back to the Enterprise.  With everyone safe and sound (except for Tasha), the crew of the enterprise leave their exasperated foe behind, along with a warning buoy for future explorers to avoid the goopy incel stranded on the desert planet. 

All-in-all, a close call, but another happy endin-

...oh wait, that’s right.  You see, since the crew member who died also has a star billing in the opening credits, we actually have to spend some time showing the bridge crew in a state of grief (whereas if Deanna’s barely-mentioned pilot had croaked instead, we’d be halfway through the credits already).  Picard holds a funeral wherein he plays a pre-recorded holo-message of Lt. Yar herself, which I guess must be a normal thing to do in the future.  Her hologram proceeds to give a VERY long, personalized thorough message for each person in attendance.  Data wonders aloud if he’s missed the point of this gathering, since he keeps thinking mostly “about himself and how empty life will be without Tasha”, and Picard is like “Nah, you’re pretty much dead on.” [No pun intended]

So… another happy ending, I suppose.

The Verdict

Honestly though, I’m with Data.  ‘Empty’ is basically the only word to describe how I feel about this episode, and that’s a shame.  It’s widely known that Tasha was only killed off because Denise Crosby asked to be released from her contract, but the writers could have chosen a more interesting episode to feature this story beat.  The thing is, I actually appreciate that Tasha’s death wasn’t built up beforehand; I tend to fall in the school of thought that character deaths are often better served when they aren’t heavily projected or drawn out.  The problem is everything else about ‘Skin of evil’ effectively amounts a nothing-episode, with very little to say, and even less to show for it.

Armus as a villain is… certainly a villain I guess, but his motivations and what drives him would leave me with more questions than answers, if only what little we did learn about him wasn’t so dull.  Too much of the episode is spent on the incessant back-and-forth of Picard and Co. insisting they be allowed to save Troi, to be met with Armus regurgitating one insufferable tangent after another about how he won’t because it pleases him not to.  Pretty much the only character who moves the story forward is Troi during her verbal sparring sessions with Armus, while everyone else effectively spins their wheels (I’ll give a few points to Worf though).

I don’t blame the cast for any of this though, as all my criticisms fall to the writing.  In fact, most of the cast have some really solid moments whenever they’re given something to work with.  Worf resisting his warrior impulses in order to take up Tasha’s mantle is well executed by Michael Dorn, as is Data’s confusion over grief (courtesy of Brent Spiner).  Also, despite the fact that I didn’t find Troi’s scenes particularly compelling in-and-of-themselves, Marina Sirtis gives a strong performance, if only because she’s given something to do beyond serving as Picard’s personal lie detector.

The whole episode is such a squandered opportunity to tell a story that could have been one of this season’s (very few) highlights.  Bearing in mind, this episode marks the first time in Star Trek history that a series regular dies without being brought back to life (not counting alternate realities or time travel).  From the stories I’ve heard about the working conditions on the show, especially for the women cast members, I can’t say I blame Denise Crosby for wanting to leave.  Still, there’s a selfish part of me that wishes she stayed until the later seasons when the show began to improve; there was just so much untapped potential for Tasha’s character.

1.5 stars (out of 5)

Additional Observations

So exactly how long ago had Tasha prepared that “in the event of my untimely death” holo message?  She’s presumably known most of the crew for slightly less than a year, but had a full speech for each main character, as if she’d known them for considerably longer.  I’m not saying she couldn’t have made close friends with the crew in that time, but that still means her recording must have been made fairly recently.  Timing is everything, I guess.

Given Picard’s rigid adherence to following rules, and borderline obsessive code of honour, I would have half-expected him to stay on the planet with Armus.  I wouldn’t even be all that surprised if there was an episode in season 2 where a corrupt Admiral calls out Picard’s actions from this episode, by reminding him that a “Starfleet Captain’s word is his bond”, and that he must return to Armus and be tortured for eternity, or give up his rank as captain.  Of course, Picard would accept his fate because his devotion to Starfleet is absolute, but then Data would probably find a loophole in the rules somewhere, which the Admiral would have to begrudgingly accept.  But seriously, you can’t tell me that premise is any less preposterous than a good chunk of season one.

Troi-SPIRACY: In an earlier post, I put forth a scenario that Troi has actually been faking her empathic abilities in order to get her lousy mom off her back, and now she’s in too deep to admit the truth. This episode would seem to refute that theory outright as evidenced by the use of her abilities on Armus, but she’s not fooling me!  We mustn’t forget that Troi is a professional counsellor, who attended one of the most prestigious, and well funded academies in the galaxy.  Clearly, she just used her training and experience to make some astute observations about Armus, and later attributed it to her ‘abilities’ in order to keep up the ruse.  And I know what you’re thinking, “But Troi’s counsel has always seemed hiliarously antiquated in the past, almost as if it was a caricature 80’s pop psychology”; but I maintain that even that was all part of her deception.  Think about it.  Really THINK about it.  What better way to trick everyone into believing you have superpowers than to draw attention away from them with questionable guidance?  Then, having thrown everyone off the scent, all you need to do is to utilize your intellect and sharp deductive reasoning in moments of great need, and pass it off as an ‘empathic ability.’  NICE TRY Deanna! You may have everyone else fooled, but I see you for what your really are.  A keenly proficient student of the human experience, and a valuable ally!  Consider yourself exposed, you fraud!

Worf and Tasha were clearly flirting, right? That can’t just be me.  If she hadn’t died, those two would have done the warrior tango for sure. Poor Worf. Oh well, I’m sure his future romances will all end less tragically.

[gorewound]

Everyone remembers how a literal tar pit killed Tasha Yar in a hilariously unceremonious fashion for no reason, but nobody remembers that they buried her in the windows 98 background with a hologram gravestone of herself talking about how it's fine she's dead that she recorded an unclear amount of time beforehand.

In retrospect, I really think someone should have asked Lt. Yar if she was okay because the answer was a resounding not at all.

[thyfleshc0nsumed]

My definitive TNG sexuality list

Picard, bisexual but has never used the word and does not like to think or talk about it. Ideal situation is him getting fucked by a man while a woman is present and in front of him, or fucked by a woman but he has to be able to fuck her after or he gets really weird about it

Dr Crusher, straight

Dr Pulaski, bisexual but like it would come as a surprise to everyone. She could have a years long partnership with a man or a woman and everyone would assume she was straight or gay off that but then she'd offhandedly mention an old lover that indicated otherwise

Geordi LaForge, straight

Riker, bisexual. The ultimate verse switch. Truly split down the middle in what he enjoys but is almost always expected to top and/or dom

Troi, straight

Q, bisexual is a humanoid concept but like yeah

Armus (the tar monster), straight. Like "why isn't there straight pride" straight. Is trans though and definitely an MRA

Ro Lauren, bisexual, exclusively dom top. Rarely emgages with men since they often just don't know how to act right.

Worf, bisexual but if he conceptualized it as such his whole being would crumble. All his homosexual behavior is just "warrior bonding." Jadzia does make him sub but he has made her swear an oath to secrecy

Data, not really worried about it either way. Kinda just not that interested in that sphere more than for intellectual curiosity

O'Brien, straight. Experimented here and there but hasn't for a few years

Tasha Yar, lesbian but never got to accept it

Barclay, straight

Wesley, unfortunately he died before anyone could ask him

[thatidiotmonro]

This pizza killed Tasha Yar.

[siphersaysstuff]

There's a tar maaaaaaaaaaaan

Waiting in the tar

He'd like to come and eat us

But he just got Tasha Yar

[cptdorkery]

This is a poem.

(If one must state it is poetry, it is undoubtedly great poetry.)

S is for space, the final frontier.

Tar is for the goo that killed tasha (we hate it)

Tre means 3 (I guess), and stands for the triumvirate (we love it)

K?

[thegreaterlink]

Reviewing Star Trek TNG - S1E22 “Skin of Evil”

I'm all up to date again!

I'll admit that I was slacking off a bit on writing these reviews, but then I watched this episode and I needed to talk about it so badly that I churned out the reviews for the past few episodes in a day or two. Is this how it feels to be productive?

Anyway, I have a whole backlog of reviews which I have scheduled to release one per day at random times. Hell, at the time this was posted I was on the third episode of season 2.

Also, this review is going to be a lot more bitter and sarcastic than usual. Just a heads-up if reading someone being salty over a TV show episode isn’t your thing.

On the other hand, if you just want to see me suffer through another episode of this aggressively mediocre first season, welcome back and enjoy! And buckle up; this is going to be a long one.

Spoiler alert I guess.

THE PREMISE

The Enterprise receives a distress call from a shuttlecraft transporting Counsellor Troi back from a conference. They find that a shuttle has crashed on the desolate planet Vagra II, and while Troi and the shuttle's pilot are still alive, the crew are unable to beam them up.

An away team consisting of Riker, Data, Yar and Dr Crusher beam down to the planet within metres of the crashed shuttle, they are encountered by an animated pool of a tar-like substance which calls itself Armus and refuses to let them pass.

MY REVIEW

Tasha Yar is dead. Yep. She’s dead. How did she die? She was psychically backhanded by some sentient pile of shit like a common redshirt because it refused to let them pass.

Dr Crusher rushes to Yar’s side, scans her with some medical gizmo, then says “She’s dead.”

My actual verbal response when she said that was “you’re fucking kidding.”

But she isn’t. They rush Yar to sickbay, try everything they can, but to no avail. And just like that, one of the main cast is dead for good. Not since Deep Space Nine has a major character death felt so cheap. And at least that character had several seasons of development and was actually killed by one of the main villains. They even give Yar a nice scene with Worf at the start to trick us into caring about a character with next to no focus.

My research shows that Denise Crosby asked to be released from her contract due to unhappiness with her character’s development, or rather the lack thereof. And I don’t blame her in the slightest. But Crosby has said that if she had just had some more scenes like her interaction with Worf here to endear her to the audience and develop her as a character, then she wouldn’t have left.

Gene Roddenberry himself argued in favour of her sudden death, as he felt it was suitable for a security officer. That may be true, but as evidenced by the reaction of yours truly, killing off a main character out of the blue with zero buildup probably won't go over that well with the viewers.

At the end of the episode, the crew holds a memorial for her on the holodeck, which looks like a Windows XP background, where the crew watch a holographic message of Yar telling them how much they each meant to her.

Yet at the end of it… I felt nothing. And do you know why? Because the whole scene is Yar telling us her relationship with each of the crew members, relationships which - and as someone who’s been binge-watching this season you can take my word for it - have sadly barely received any development onscreen. The writers were telling me why I should care about a character who they clearly didn’t give two shits about.

Don’t get me wrong, I like Tasha Yar and Denise Crosby made her memorable even if the character usually took a back seat, but something like this is just cheap and manipulative. They’re trying to have a Wrath of Khan moment without any proper buildup or character development! Spock died after sacrificing himself to save the Enterprise, but Yar died after getting bitch-slapped by a sentient tar pit!

Yar hints at a troubled past before she joined Starfleet, a troubled past which was never explored and now probably never will be. At least Ron Jones’ music is great.

Okay, I’m done ranting. Time to review the rest of this episode.

The villain, Armus, is a complete joke. His design is basically “what if tar, but bad?” He displays some nebulous abilities such as taking control of the crew and placing an energy field around Troi’s shuttle, but there is never any feeling of threat or danger because he utterly fails as a villain. He kills a main character with a single blow, and yet he isn’t threatening in the slightest!

And yet the writers have the fucking audacity to try to make him somewhat sympathetic by giving him a backstory of being a physical manifestation of evil from an ancient race, left to rot on the planet. Even the greatness of Sir Patrick Stewart can't escape this utter black hole of charisma.

Gene Roddenberry strikes again, as he argued against the crew just killing Armus, saying that it's not our decision to pass moral judgement on any creature that we encounter. But if I were to encounter a creature as whiny and bland as Armus, I might just make an exception.

Anyway, the main conflict of the episode is that the crew needs to get to Troi’s shuttle to help her, since they can’t beam her up because there’s an energy field around it. Even though it’s only on the other side of the soundstage - I mean the clearing, Armus is blocking their path and is immune to phaser fire. And yet it never occurs to the crew to have the transport crew just beam them down about a dozen or so meters to the right.

It also never occurs to them to simply tell Armus that they have a Galaxy-class starship in orbit which is armed to the balls and more than capable of wiping him off the map at a moment’s notice. Sure, he can withstand a standard-issue phaser, but how would he fare against a couple of photon torpedoes? Picard may be bluffing, but Armus wouldn’t know that.

And so the actors are left to stand about on a soundstage arguing with a sentient pile of tar which refuses to let them pass. To sum up most of their scenes:

Crew: We need to get to that shuttle to help our friend. Let us pass.

Armus: No.

Crew: She needs our help!

Armus: I could kill you.

Crew: No you won’t.

Armus: ...But I could if I wanted to.

Crew: …So can we pass?

Armus: No.

Repeat for half an hour, occasionally insert some angst from Armus.

A good chunk of this episode is just a one-woman show for Marina Sirtis as Troi, as she acts off of some PA reading off Armus’ lines before they were dubbed over the scene. Her acting is good (especially her shedding actual tears during Yar's memorial), but not enough to carry scenes which are thoroughly uninteresting.

Speaking of Troi, I honestly feel bad for not noticing that she was completely absent from the past few episodes, since this episode explains that she was at some conference. Maybe Marina Sirtis just wasn't available for those episodes and they had to write this to explain it?

Also, I pity Jonathan Frakes for having to be covered from head-to-toe in black goo. I hope he got paid extra for that.

3/10 - Not the worst episode in this season, but far from anything I'd call good.

One final insult to the thoroughly wasted character of Lieutenant Tasha Yar. Denise Crosby has my full support.

Side note: It occurred to me while writing this that they never specified what they did with Yar's body, but by now I'm too pissed off to care. Fuck this episode and the horse it rode in on.

Previous Episode | TNG Masterpost | Next Episode

[eezree]

i wasn't even that attached to tasha yar as a character but her funeral,,,,, fuck

[dunmertitty]

Gonna Cry? Gonna Piss Your Pants Maybe? - Vulcan Piss Monster @ the Enterprise crew after Tasha dies

Yasha Tar

[checkoutmybookshelf]

I got wildly sick of white European farm boy fantasy a while back. Thank goodnes I didn't have to look hard to find other things, and plenty of them (literally this is not my whole collection, I just couldn't ffit everything in the picture)!

Raybearer by Jordan Ifueko follows Tar as she finds her family in an African-inspired fantasy world. The haunting "made of me, and me is mine" still echoes in my head. That and Dayo literally being the adoptive uncle who gets his nibling an elephant.

These Violent Delights by Chloe Gong explores Chinese and Russian rival crime families in fantasy 1920s Shanghai. For my Shakespeareans in the audience, yes, it's also a retelling of Romeo and Juliet. For those of you with bug phobias, beware.

Tha Jasmine Throne by Tasha Suri is often described as having morally gray lesbians, and that's true. But while Priya and Malini are compelling and fascinating to follow, I am HERE for the Hirana. Semi-sentient, possibly evil temple who is soft for its favorite trainee priestess in hiding? YES.

Jade City by Fonda Lee follows the Green Bones in fantasy Asia, as two warring gangs find their places in a rapidly modernizing world. Shae and Hilo's relationship in particular is fascinating.

Full Disclosure: I haven't finished Axie Oh's The Girl Who Fell Beneath the Sea, but the first couple of chapters are a WOW and I can't wait to finish this Korean-inspired fairy tale retelling.

The Daughter of the Moon Goddess by Sue Lynn Tan was sheer joy from start to finish, and I have not yet stopped asking "What the Actual HELL, Wenzhi???" Inspired by the myth of Chang'e, this book is a must-read. (The sequel is out November 2022 and I am so excited!!!)

Iron Widow by Xiran Jay Zhao took me by the throat and literally did not let me go until the book ended--and even then, it less let me go and more threw me against the boards until round 2. The triangle is the strongest shape, and this has phenomenal poly and disability representation.

Another full disclosure: I haven't started Judy Lin's A Magic Steeped in Poison, but I am so excited for it. There is literal and figurative tea promised, and I am here for it.

The Stardust Thief by Chelsea Abdullah scratched a reading itch I didn't even know I had, and I love this book so much. It has cinnaprinces, a Loulie, jinn, forty thieves, and stories within stories.

Last full disclosure of the post: I also haven't read the doorstopper that is RR Virdi's The First Binding, but it is a heckin' chonk of a book that I am super excited to dive into.

[basiltonbutliketheherb]

happy sunday ! i stayed up all night reading cobb fics. y’all are crazy talented ! hope i can participate next time 💜

thanks for the tags @takitalks @martsonmars @ivelovedhimthroughworse @tea-brigade @castawaypitch @palimpsessed @confused-bi-queer @ileadacharmedlife @captain-aralias

i tag @onepintobean @mostlymaudlin @bookish-bogwitch @messofthejess @wellbelesbian @excalisbury @you-remind-me-of-the-babe @itriednottothinkaboutit @prettylightsbigcity @letraspal @krisrix @artsyunderstudy @nick-eyre @stardustasincocaine @raenestee @frjsti @aristocratic-otter @johnwgrey @dazed-squid @shemakesmeforget @stitchyqueer

here’s the first excerpt from chapter 7 of The Markings On Your Surface, Your Speckled Face ☕️

you can read the first 6 chapters on ao3 here

********

FIONA

Basil’s lured me out to Soho and sat me across from the bloody Chosen One. At this toffee-nosed pâtisserie that reminds me of mine and Nicky’s honeymoon.

Bet that was intentional. Manipulative cur.

You always loved it there, didn’t you, Tasha? Paris. All the history, all the old magic. Remember when you took me down into those catacombs when I was a girl? Six million bodies down there, you told me. Remember how frightened I was until you held my hand in your mighty mitts?

Goddamn fucking catacombs. Had to go and get yourself offed at blimming Watford didn’t you? Had to go out with a warrior’s death so no one could question your legacy. That’s just like you. You were always the one with real balls of steel, weren’t you?

I’ve always played pretend at it. Tried to live up to you. And failed at it. But me failing is the only reason this boy’s still around to tar the Pitch name now, isn’t it?

He might have more balls than you or I ever did.

[cassidy-peterson]

OP did you kill Tasha Yar? :0

I suddenly had the ability to manifest puddles of tar out of nothing and teleport between them.

[oof-i-did-it-agaaiiin]

Tasha Yar died in tar so that Kira Nerys could run