Keeping Tasha

[Laura Cynthia Chambers]

How might Tasha Yar have developed as a character if she had not died?

And let's say for the sake of argument that we still got Worf. It'd be interesting if they had a cop partner dynamic.

 

[Guy Gardener]

If Tasha doesn't die, then the Enterprise C is lost.

 

[Laura Cynthia Chambers]

Assuming that story thread was not written, I mean.

 

[Takeru]

How might Tasha Yar have developed as a character if she had not died?

And let's say for the sake of argument that we still got Worf. It'd be interesting if they had a cop partner dynamic.

I think had Tasha stayed they would have made Worf the chief engineer in season 2, they clearly wanted one and he didn't have a defined job so there would have been no cop partner dynamic. They would have been friends though.
I think Tasha's and Data's relationship would have been explored more, not necessarily in a romantic way but it feels they were developing a bond, if only because they were both orphans having found a family when the show started.
I also believe the show would have visited Turkana IV more often, with Tasha still around the writers probably would have explored the colony a bit more.

 

[Shat Happens]

I'm sure if she would be included in the yoga stretch session with Beverly and Deanna, the scene would be a few degrees hotter. You now the producers would do that.

If I'd be more serious, I'd would like the hothead karate kicks, fire phasers Vasquez Aliens-inspired Tasha be downpleyd in favor of a more suave nuanced character. Like they did with Worf

 

[aquova]

Tasha was a bit of an odd case. I think of her as not being terribly developed, but she had more character development than many characters in season 1, including Geordi, Troi, and probably Worf. Her and Worf I think would've been the biggest change. The show showed that they really didn't need two people standing up there, and while Tasha was officially both security chief and tactical officer, I think they would give one of those roles to Worf and have the security chief get their own office set somewhere. There's also the vacant chief engineer position that ended up being given to Geordi, which was a good fit, but season 1 Geordi didn't really seem slated for that career path, they abruptly moved him over to it. I could maybe see Tasha being given that role instead, but it would be a stretch.

 

[valkyrie013]

Hmm.. her leaving gave Worf the breathing room to one of if not The best Tng character. Her staying would have had Worf do.. What? Laforge still went to Engineering, so Worf as permanent helmsman?
Her story would have stayed kinda Meh like Troi and the doctor, Kind of like wall paper. Maybe lean in more to her upbringing.
Honestly, she was a 3rd wheel, and her leaving streamlined the bridge crew, and giving Worf a bigger part.

 

[Timewalker]

I think had Tasha stayed they would have made Worf the chief engineer in season 2, they clearly wanted one and he didn't have a defined job so there would have been no cop partner dynamic. They would have been friends though.
I think Tasha's and Data's relationship would have been explored more, not necessarily in a romantic way but it feels they were developing a bond, if only because they were both orphans having found a family when the show started.
I also believe the show would have visited Turkana IV more often, with Tasha still around the writers probably would have explored the colony a bit more.

Though please not with that awful Tasha's sister-actress with the pouty expression and cardboard personality. I already couldn't stand her on Dallas as one of Bobby's post-Pam girlfriends. She was no better as Tasha's sister.

Tasha and Worf's friendship could have been explored more.

Hmm.. her leaving gave Worf the breathing room to one of if not The best Tng character. Her staying would have had Worf do.. What? Laforge still went to Engineering, so Worf as permanent helmsman?
Her story would have stayed kinda Meh like Troi and the doctor, Kind of like wall paper. Maybe lean in more to her upbringing.
Honestly, she was a 3rd wheel, and her leaving streamlined the bridge crew, and giving Worf a bigger part.

Hm. I'm guessing Worf and the Klingon Soap Opera of Politics, Angst, and Doom would probably still have happened, and Worf would have eaten not only TNG but DS9 as well.

 

[DonIago]

...hm. The idea that Tasha stays on TNG for the rest of its run but Worf (or Tasha, but Worf remains the more interesting choice) transfers to DS9 with Miles at the beginning of the series...

 

[Unimatrix Q]

Think if she stayed alive and DS9 was still made, she may have sooner or later become part of Sisko's crew, like or instead of either O'Brien and/or Worf IRL.

She would have fit in there greatly.

 

[Takeru]

Hmm.. her leaving gave Worf the breathing room to one of if not The best Tng character. Her staying would have had Worf do.. What? Laforge still went to Engineering, so Worf as permanent helmsman?

Why would they make Geordie the chief engineer if they had a regular character with no job? Worf would have been the obvious choice for that had Tasha stayed, he did as much engineering in season 1 as Geordie.

 

[Qonundrum]

I'd like to believe that, if Denise stayed, the incomers for season 2 would keep Tasha consistently intelligently written, evened out as a character better, and none of the slag that was shown in "Justice" (which also took Riker and Wesley down a peg, but that's like looking upward and say "sky blue, what is circle thing". But that was par for the course with every character, even Wesley and how others reacted/interacted with him, so that's not too much of a stretch.

But that's from the other other's other timeline from the other other one's other one by the other one next to the other one there. In what we actually got in screen in our universe, what started as a bumpy ride led to the amazing reveal of Sela...

...you know, the one who started out as a brilliant sci-fi creation in "The Mind's Eye", revealed in "Redemption" as quite the jawdropper, but is then turned into a lazy cartoon caricature for "Unification" -- in a plot that was just as much gubbins too. No time to breathe, Spock is used more as a gimmick, needless padding... It all might have made a better 3-parter to really sell it as an epic while keeping such massive highlights like a goofy bar brawl and operatic singing, but TNG had to compete against the likes of "The Jerry Springer Show" and all. And yet they never brought up the most obvious plot device, which would have had TNG mop the floor with the "Maury" and then we'd know how often Riker was the father... could have had Sela do an impassioned aftersk00l speech about the issues of STIs and so on as well, why not... but I digress.

As was said, Worf got more time to breathe, and as the rest of TNG was made, some characters were not in every episode. Especially the ones where Troi would have been the handiest but *oops* she's not there that week. Thankfully TNG wasn't proper serialized... Tasha would just be another character popping in every other week in a slightly larger juggling act for the ensemble.

 

[Mojochi]

I honestly thought Crosby was one of the weaker actors of that season 1 main cast. Very daytime soap, which it's true, that such could be said of a number of them at that time, but it worked the worst for her imho, which explains her discontent, & their willingness to be done with her quickly.

Why would they make Geordie the chief engineer if they had a regular character with no job? Worf would have been the obvious choice for that had Tasha stayed, he did as much engineering in season 1 as Geordie.

Because there was always going to be the intention of making Wesley an acting ensign on the bridge. So Geordi was a place holder in the helm position, & I recall Geordi being WAY more relevant in techno use in season 1 than Worf was. It was a no-brainer easy fit for him to go below deck imho

Frankly, Geordi & Worf had way better potential for development than Tasha (Albeit Geordi withered on the vine a bit) There just wasn't room enough in the bridge dynamic for all of them to bloom regularly. They were looking to ditch somebody, & a number of heads were on the block. I think they chose wisely, because eventually they did FAR better with Tasha 2.0 in Ro Laren, who could instead be a part-time feature like Barclay.

The very character nature of Worf kind of impedes on a security chief character like Tasha eventually anyhow, were they to coexist. It's why Worf had to become XO on DS9, because he & Odo couldn't both occupy Odo's security chief space. Worf & Tasha are at odds imho. Having a tactical military officer type AND an engineer (who acts like a belligerent Klingon) both in the briefing room together is redundant on TNG. There was more latitude for it with Worf, Kira & Odo in wartime DS9, but not on utopian 1701-D.

Crosby never sold me as being the "Tough" archetype that Forbes eventually did better anyhow. She was the one that was most miscast imho. I'd have preferred if she'd been dropped on the bridge in season 1 in a blue science suit, with TWO at the forward-facing back console, her alongside Worf as tac/security chief. THEN I could see keeping everybody. Heck, I even kind of wish Dr. Selar had kept returning as a part-time feature after season 2. We could've used some more Barclay, Ro, O'Brien types aboard, which is why I think everyone loves the Lower Decks episode so much.

 

[Sakonna]

I would have loved if she stayed, though I am depressed to admit that I think the most likely outcome would have just been more bad ROTW's.

But we also could have gotten some great morality play stories where they go to some devastated poverty planet, Tasha has specific sympathy with the situation due to her backstory, and then it's the usual Prime Directive drama of can we help and if so how and what are the limits, only with the added drama of Tasha Taking! It! Personally!

Could have been great!

I bet they would have paired her with Worf eventually as well. With Wesley at the helm, Worf would have been fun as the Science Officer. I mean, that seems ridiculous with the Worf we know, but in season 2 TNG it's a switch that could have worked.

 

[Lynx]

I would have seen tasha stay. I was actually a bit disappointed when she all of a sudden was killed off.

But if the actress wanted to leave, it had been better to just have her assigned to another ship than to kill her off.
I could have lived without that weird Sela plot.

 

[Dukhat]

There’s always a character in every Trek series that goes nowhere/does nothing and is either dropped, changed to some degree, or minimalized, because the writers simply don’t know what to do with the character:

TOS: Yeoman Rand
TNG: Tasha Yar
DS9: Jadzia Dax
VOY: Chakotay
ENT: Mayweather
DSC: *
SNW: Ortegas

*Hard to calculate, since most of the bridge crew have little to no character development.


In the case of Tasha, if they had kept her on, I really think they would have just let Michael Dorn go, because Roddenberry didn’t want Klingons on his show to begin with, and Worf had no real character development until the third season.

 

[FederationHistorian]

I think a Tasha that stays has dynamics with Worf (like-minded friend), Data (romance), Picard (father figure) and Wesley (older sister or cool aunt vibe) that remain during the show’s entire run. She would also take a bit of Troi’s development in the later seasons away; I can see her instead of Troi becoming Alexander’s sochlm, and taking the bridge officer’s test in place of Troi.

And with Tasha around, I don’t know if there’s ever a Ro Laren, even though the dynamic between the two would be interesting. They only difference between Tasha and Ro would be that Tasha doesn’t leave for the Maquis. Ro was a hardened figure in the lead up to her departure, and I can see Tasha softening over the entire run of TNG

Do wonder if Sela, if she still becomes a part of the show, would have been the daughter of Beverly Crusher instead of Tasha though. And I only wonder that, because they seemed determined to kill off a cast member in S1, and with Denise Crosby and Marina Sirtis staying and Gates McFadden abruptly leaving, they would have chosen Dr. Crusher as the character to die instead between seasons.

 

[Laura Cynthia Chambers]

Interesting idea...if Wesley remains when Beverly goes, it would force him to grow up sooner.

 

[Unimatrix Q]

There’s always a character in every Trek series that goes nowhere/does nothing and is either dropped, changed to some degree, or minimalized, because the writers simply don’t know what to do with the character:

TOS: Yeoman Rand
TNG: Tasha Yar
DS9: Jadzia Dax
VOY: Chakotay
ENT: Mayweather
DSC: *
SNW: Ortegas

*Hard to calculate, since most of the bridge crew have little to no character development.


In the case of Tasha, if they had kept her on, I really think they would have just let Michael Dorn go, because Roddenberry didn’t want Klingons on his show to begin with, and Worf had no real character development until the third season.

Or let Tasha leave to become a part of the DS9 crew instead of O'Brien.

 

[JesterFace]

In the case of Tasha, if they had kept her on, I really think they would have just let Michael Dorn go, because Roddenberry didn’t want Klingons on his show to begin with, and Worf had no real character development until the third season.

I thought Worf was there because Gene wanted to have a Klingon in the show to show that old enemies can become friends.