| "Skin of Evil" | |||
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| Star Trek: The Next Generation episode | |||
Lt. Yar, moments after being killed by the evil entity "Armus". |
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| Episode no. | Season 1 Episode 23 |
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| Directed by | Joseph L. Scanlan | ||
| Teleplay by | Joseph Stefano Hannah Louise Shearer |
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| Story by | Joseph Stefano | ||
| Featured music | Ron Jones | ||
| Production code | 122 | ||
| Original air date | April 25, 1988 | ||
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| Episode chronology | |||
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| List of Star Trek: The Next Generation episodes | |||
"Skin of Evil" is the 23rd episode of the television series Star Trek: The Next Generation.
A vicious and powerful creature toys with an away team sent to rescue a downed shuttlecraft with Deanna Troi on board.
The Enterprise received a distress signal from a shuttlecraft that was returning Counselor Troi from a conference. They find the shuttle has crashed on the desolate planet, Vagra II, and while they can find Troi and the pilot's life signs, they cannot beam the two to the ship. An away team beams down and discovers that an animated pool of a tar-like substance, a malevolent life form that calls itself Armus, has engulfed the shuttle. When Lt. Yar attempts to approach the shuttle, Armus hurls her back with a psychokinetic blast, severely injuring her. The away team is brought back to the Enterprise but the damage to Yar is too great for Dr. Crusher to repair, and she soon dies. A second away team, heavily armed, is sent to the planet. Armus taunts the crew members and maintains his grasp of the shuttle. During this time, Troi has communicated with Armus and learns that it is a physical manifestation of evil from the bodies of an ancient race, abandoned on Vagra II.
The away team scans Armus' energy field, finding that when Armus engulfs the shuttle and speaks to Troi, expressing his remorse and pity, the field disrupting their transporter signals is weakened which could allow them to beam Troi and the pilot out of the shuttle. After Armus toys with Troi by completely engulfing Commander Riker, Captain Picard beams down to speak to Armus directly, sending the rest of the away team to the ship. Picard engages Armus in a heated discussion to discover its motive, which is to seek revenge on those that abandoned him on Vagra II. Armus is riled to a point where the energy field is dissipated enough, allowing for Picard, Troi and the pilot to be safely beamed back to the Enterprise. After destroying the shuttlecraft from orbit, Picard orders a quarantine on Vagra II.
As they leave Vagra II, the crew holds a memorial service for Lt. Yar, with a pre-recorded simulation of Yar addressing each of the senior crew members telling them what they meant to her and what she learned from each of them. After the service, Data, who had previously become close to Yar, tells Picard that he is confused as to the purpose of the service. He says that his thoughts are for himself, because he can only think of how empty his life will be without Tasha. He asks if he missed the point, but Picard assures him he got it.
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