20 Star Trek Women You Should Know

American actress Denise Crosby (as Lieutenant Tasha Yar) in a scene from an episode of the television series ‘Star Trek: The Next Generation’ entitled ‘Datalore,’ California, January 18, 1988. (Photo by CBS Photo Archive/Getty Images)

20. Tasha Yar (The Next Generation)

Star Trek: The Next Generation changed the status quo right out of the gate. When the follow-up to Star Trek: The Original Series began airing in 1989, it had a female doctor, a female counselor, and a female chief of security for the Enterprise, Starfleet’s flagship. That security officer was Natasha “Tasha” Yar, played by Denise Crosby.

Tasha Yar was inspired by the character of Vasquez in Aliens, another tough militaristic female in a traditionally macho role. Actress Marina Sirtis (who would eventually play Counselor Deanna Troi) also auditioned for the role. Denise Crosby, on the other hand, was initially described as “the only possibility” for playing Troi.

Roddenberry, however, decided to have the two actresses switch roles. He thought that Sirtis would be better suited to play the “exotic” Troi (hey, I never said that Roddenberry was going to be entirely politically correct).

However, Crosby was soon uncomfortable with the role. She felt that Tasha Yar was relegated to little more than a background character. By the end of the first season, she had already asked to leave. Roddenberry agreed, and her character was killed off in “Skin of Evil”, the 23rd episode of the series. In it, Yar is abruptly killed by Armus, a malevolent alien creature that looks like some poor stagehand covered in garbage bags and tar. The episode was poorly reviewed, in part because of the lame death handed out to Yar.

Crosby would later return in various flashback and alternate timeline roles, most notably in “Yesterday’s Enterprise”.