Tasha Yar
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Natasha Yar | |
|---|---|
| A publicity shot of Lieutenant Tasha Yar | |
| Species: | Human |
| Gender: | female |
| Home planet: | Turkana IV |
| Affiliation: | Starfleet |
| Posting: | Enterprise-D chief of security and chief tactical officer |
| Rank: | Lieutenant |
| Portrayed by: | Denise Crosby |
Lieutenant Natasha Yar, played by Denise Crosby, is a Starfleet officer in the fictional Star Trek universe. She serves as chief of security aboard the USS Enterprise-D during Star Trek: The Next Generation's first season.
[edit] Overview
Yar's backstory was elaborated on in the fourth-season TNG episode, "Legacy", which features her previously unmentioned sister, Ishara Yar.
Yar was born on Turkana IV, a colony that fell into chaos and eventually severed ties to the United Federation of Planets (TNG: "Legacy"). Tasha learned to defend herself on the streets and avoid rape gangs (TNG: "Where No One Has Gone Before"). She left Turkana IV at age 15, leaving her younger sister, behind (TNG: "Legacy"). She later attended Starfleet Academy.
After watching Yar cross a minefield to save a colonist, Jean-Luc Picard requested that she be assigned to his next command (TNG: "Legacy"). She later became chief of security and chief tactical officer aboard the USS Enterprise-D (TNG: "Encounter at Farpoint").
While the Enterprise crew is under the influence of a contaminant that causes people to lose control of their behavior, Tasha and Lieutenant Commander Data become sexually intimate (TNG: "The Naked Now").
Eventually, on an away mission, an entity known as Armus kills Yar on Vagra II as a demonstration of his power (TNG: "Skin of Evil"). Lieutenant Worf replaces her as chief tactical and security officer (TNG: "The Child").
Her next encounter with the Enterprise-D, however, occurs later, when a temporal distortion causes the Enterprise-C to travel to the 24th century, disappearing in the middle of a losing fight to protect the Klingon colony on Narendra III from Romulan attackers. As a result, the events of "Skin of Evil" have not occurred, and Yar lives and serves aboard the Enterprise in an alternate timeline in which the Federation is losing a war with the Klingon Empire. Believing that one ship's sacrifice could have prevented the war, Picard orders the Enterprise-C to return to its original time. Yar, learning from the time-sensitive Guinan that - in the original timeline - she died "an empty death" "without purpose", travels back with the Enterprise-C (TNG: "Yesterday's Enterprise"). Captured by the Romulans, she agreed to be a Romulan general's consort in exchange for her captors sparing the other Enterprise-C survivors' lives. She and a Romulan general had a daughter, Sela. The Romulans executed Yar when she tried to escape captivity with Sela. Sela went on to become a Romulan military officer (TNG: "Redemption, Part II").
[edit] Trivia
- Denise Crosby returned to TNG as Yar during All Good Things..., the series finale, reprising her role in scenes that take place during the first days of the Enterprise-D's mission.
- Originally, the Natasha Yar character was to be called "Macha Hernandez" and was set to be played by Jenette Goldstein. Goldstein was replaced by Marina Sirtis. At that time, Denise Crosby was set to play Deanna Troi, but she and Sirtis switched roles before production on the series commenced. This information is revealed in, but not limited to, the special features included with the season one DVD set.
- Between her roles as Yar and Sela, and factoring in archive footage, Crosby appears in every TNG season except the sixth. Since Yar's death in "Skin of Evil", Crosby has appeared in seven episodes: Yar by means of a small holographic projector owned by Data ("The Measure of a Man" and "The Most Toys"), flashback scenes ("Shades of Gray"), an alternate timeline ("Yesterday's Enterprise") and time travel ("All Good Things..."); Sela has appeared in "Redemption part II" and "Unification".
- Although "Skin of Evil" aired after "Symbiosis", the latter was filmed later, and was the last episode Crosby filmed. Crosby is visible in the background of one scene waving goodbye at the camera.
- The Star Trek Encyclopedia lists Tasha Yar as being of Ukrainian descent.
- Tasha Yar was originally inspired by the character Lt. Vasquez from Aliens.
[edit] External links
- Natasha Yar article at Memory Alpha, a Star Trek wiki.
| Regular characters on Star Trek | |||
| The Original Series | Kirk | Spock | McCoy | Scott | Uhura | Sulu | Chekov | Chapel | Rand | ||
| Animated Series | Arex | M'Ress | ||
| The Next Generation | Picard | Riker | Data | La Forge | Worf | B. Crusher | Troi | W. Crusher | Yar | Pulaski | ||
| Deep Space Nine | B. Sisko | Kira | J. Dax | Odo | Bashir | O'Brien | Worf | J. Sisko | Quark | Rom | Nog | E. Dax | Garak | Martok | Damar | Dukat | Weyoun | Winn | ||
| Voyager | Janeway | Chakotay | Tuvok | Paris | Torres | Kim | Doctor | Neelix | Seven | Kes | ||
| Enterprise | Archer | T'Pol | Tucker | Reed | Phlox | Sato | Mayweather | ||
