Skin of Evil

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Star Trek: TNG episode
"Skin of Evil"
Riker becomes trapped inside the "Skin of Evil".
Episode no.	23
Prod. code	122
Airdate	April 25, 1988
Writer(s)	Joseph Stefano
Director	Joseph L. Scanlan
Guest star(s)	Mart McChesney
Year	2364
Stardate	41601.3
Episode chronology
Previous	"Symbiosis"
Next	"We'll Always Have Paris"

"Skin of Evil" is a first season episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation, first broadcast April 25, 1988. It is episode #23, production #122, teleplay written by Joseph Stefano, based on a story by Joseph Stefano and Hannah Louise Shearer, and directed by Joseph L. Scanlan.

Overview: A vile tar-like creature interferes with a rescue mission and holds Deanna Troi hostage.

1 Plot
2 Continuity
3 Notes
4 External links

[edit] Plot

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

On stardate 41601.3, the USS Enterprise is drifting through the Zed Lapis system while engineering conducts a realignment of the dilithium crystals, putting the ship without warp power for a while. In the meantime, they await Deanna Troi to return from a psychology conference. Soon, the ship receives a distress call from Deanna's shuttle craft with its last known position near the uninhabited planet Vagra II. Captain Picard orders a risky warp to the planet. Upon arrival, they locate the shuttle, however a strange energy field prevents them from beaming Deanna and her pilot aboard. Commander Riker anxiously leads an away team to the surface beaming down with Lieutenant Yar, Lt. Commander Data, and Dr. Crusher.

The away team locates the shuttle half-buried in the terrain and move toward it, but they quickly find a strange pool of black slime blocking them. Any attempts to go around the slime cause it to slither into their path. Data is unable to get conclusive readings from the slime, but determines it to be an intelligent life form. Suddenly, the center of the mass rises from the muck and takes a roughly humanoid shape. It speaks with a dark voice identifying itself as Armus.

Riker explains they have come to rescue the survivors of the crash and Armus asks why their lives are so important. Riker explains all life is important and everything has a right to exist, but Armus calls it an irrelevant response then tells them to leave. Tasha warns Armus not to interfere with their rescue to which Armus flicks a ball of slime at her and she falls to the ground. Riker and Data fire their phasers at the creature, but it simply absorbs the beams. The away team hurriedly beams back to the ship, and Tasha is rushed to sickbay. Dr. Crusher desperately tries to bring her back to life as Picard and Lieutenant Worf rush to the ward. Worf holds back his furious emotions when Dr. Crusher finally announces Tasha is deceased.

Back on the planet, Armus slithers over the shuttle. Inside, Deanna lies in pain with her pilot slumped unconscious over the control panel. Armus tells her that her friends have abandoned her and laughs saying he has killed one of them for no good reason. Deanna tells him he has a twisted need for making others suffer, but he will never break their spirits.

Back on the ship, the senior officers are furious that Armus just killed Tasha in cold blood without provocation. Picard understands their anger, but their feelings will have to wait. In the meantime, he promotes Worf to Chief of Security to fill Tasha's position. Data believes Armus is capable of creating energy fields that disrupt communications and transport attempts. They won't be able to rescue Troi and her pilot unless Armus allows it. Riker believes Armus wants something saying he could have killed them all, but didn't, and is keeping Deanna alive for a reason.

Riker takes a team back down, this time La Forge comes along hoping his VISOR can see something the tricorders missed. Armus is surprised they came back believing Troi must be special to them. She says they care equally for one another, but Armus senses deeper love for another in particular; Commander Riker. Deanna knows Armus is extremely jealous and asks if it is because the "others" never came back for him. She strikes a nerve in Armus who wracks the shuttle in fury. On the Enterprise, Worf is monitoring the situation, and reports there is a fluctuation in the energy field. It's nearly low enough to beam Troi and the pilot out. Before he can react, the field strengthens again. Picard is curious, and tells Worf to keep an eye on the fields.

Armus slithers toward the away team where Riker says they are ready to negotiate, but Armus says he wants nothing. Dr. Crusher begs Armus to let her help the injured shuttle crew and Armus tells her to say "please". She does so, and he lets her pass for asking nicely, but when the whole team tries to pass, he changes his mind. Armus flicks his hand and pulls Geordi's VISOR from his eyes. It lands on the ground and the blind officer desperately searches for it as Armus plays a game of "keep away" with it like a playground bully. At first, Data tells Geordi where it lands, but Armus keeps moving it and Data stops helping saying he will no longer entertain Armus in hurting Geordi's pride.

Armus disappears back into his puddle of tar and slinks back to the shuttle. He tells Deanna he enjoys tormenting her friends, but she knows Armus cannot hide his emptiness and says she feels pity for him. Armus explains he is the discarded skin of a creature whose beauty dazzled all who looked upon it and she can save her pity for herself. Armus slithers back to the away team and creates a force that pulls Riker into the tar. Back on the ship, Worf indicates there is another energy fluctuation which took a dip when Armus consumed Riker. It seems when Armus is provoked, the field is weakened.

Picard decides to head down and confront Armus himself. The entity is pleased to meet finally their leader and takes control of Data who draws his phaser and points it at Picard's head. Armus says Data will be his "instrument of death" and forces him to point the phaser at Dr. Crusher. Tired of games, Picard tells Armus they will no longer amuse him, even if it means the death of Riker and the others in the shuttle. Armus asks if Picard cares for his people to which Picard assures him he does, but states the true evil is submitting to his twisted desires instead of defying it. Armus finally belches up Riker, who is unconscious and covered with slime. With Riker freed, Picard has the rest of his team beamed back to ship.

Picard stays behind and demands Armus allow him to see Deanna. Armus permits it, teleporting Picard into the shuttle with a gesture of his hand. Picard makes sure Deanna is alright and tells her he's working on a plan in getting them out of here. Deanna tells him that Armus reacts emotionally when confronted about his loneliness. Picard calls Worf, telling him to stand by and beam Deanna, her pilot and himself up simultaneously as soon as the field weakens again.

Armus teleports Picard back and Picard asks the entity how long it has been alone on this planet. Armus explains he was abandoned by a race of titans. They perfected a way of bringing all their evil and negative emotion to the surface and formed a second skin that is dank and vile. They were able to rid themselves of it, and it had coalesced into the form it is now. Picard thinks it must be very lonely here, but Armus is revolted by his compassion. Picard explains that humans are capable of compassion for anything, no matter how horrid one may be.

Armus tells Picard that humans are weak and he can kill them with a flick of his hand. He demands that Picard help him escape this planet, but Picard tells him that his biggest fear is spending eternity alone and refuses to take him anywhere. Armus shouts in anger at which point Worf, high in orbit, sees a dip in Armus' energy field and beams Deanna and her pilot back to the ship. Before Armus can respond, Picard is beamed away and he screams in anguish having been abandoned once again.

Safe aboard the Enterprise, Picard has Worf destroy the wreckage of the shuttle with a torpedo to insure Armus has no means of escape. He has Vagra II quarantined off limits, then prepares for his next duty; the funeral of Tasha Yar. The senior officers assemble on a holodeck where Picard plays a hologram of Tasha living will. She appears and addresses everyone with a personal message and bids "au revoir" to her friends.

Spoilers end here.

[edit] Continuity

Although Tasha Yar (Denise Crosby) leaves the series here, Crosby would return later on for other episodes: "Yesterday's Enterprise" (as part of an alternate universe character), "Redemption" part 2 (as the Half-Romulan Sela), "Unification", and the final Next Generation episode, "All Good Things..." (in an alternate timeline flashback scene). Crosby's name remained on the opening credits for the few episodes in the rest of the season.

Denise Crosby has noted that if there had been more scenes like the one between her and Worf at the beginning of the episode (where they talk about an upcoming tournament) then there's a chance she wouldn't have quit the show. (As noted in the "Star Trek TNG Companion" book).

After the chief engineer replaces the dilithium crystals, he instructs the computer to set the matter/anti-matter ratio at "25:1". In the episode "Coming of Age" we learn from Wesley's Starfleet entrance examination that there is only one correct ratio "1:1".

[edit] Notes

When Riker was sucked into Armus, Jonathan Frakes was in fact submerged in a pool of black printer's ink and Metamucil. Levar Burton tells Frakes while he's lying on the sand after the take that he "would never have done it." --TNG Season 1 DVD collection special features
When Armus absorbs Riker, Geordi drops his phaser in the slime. Yet, he later has another phaser just like the previous one.
A Brandy and Mr. Whiskers episode parodies the title, the episode being named "Skin of Eeeevil!"