The Ladies of Star Trek: The Next Generation

Denise Crosby as Lieutenant Natasha "Tasha" Yar

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Lieutenant Natasha "Tasha" Yar, the USS Enterprise NCC 1701-D’s first Chief of Security, is a human female. She was born in New Paris City, in the failed Earth colony, Turkana IV, a savage planet controlled by violent, feuding gangs, following a bitter civil war that destroyed the once-thriving colony.  The government could not keep control after the war and activated the militia to keep order.  The militia later decided to take over and began to absorb or eliminate opposing factions, until only two, the Alliance and the Coalition, remained.  These two factions battled each other for years until they both realized that neither could achieve total victory.  The remainder of the other factions formed gangs and began to prey on anyone not affiliated with either the Alliance or the Coalition.  Most of their victims were young girls and these groups became known as rape gangs.  Tasha Yar was born into this environment in 2337, followed by her sister, Ishara, in 2342.  Their parents were killed in a gang crossfire later that year.  Tasha was left at the age of five to bring up her sister, which she did until 2356, when the USS Potempkin visited Turkana IV.  She escaped aboard the Potempkin and went to Earth to attend Starfleet Academy.  She was declared a federation citizen and allowed to attend the academy.  Ishara chose to stay behind and joined the Coalition, believing her sister was a traitor and a coward for leaving (Legacy).   No one knows for sure how they survived, but federation sociologists suspect that they were under the protection of the Coalition during those years, but no further information is available.  Tasha Yar graduated from Starfleet Academy in 2360 and began a short but distinguished career.  Rumor has it that she failed a test on the Prime Directive because of her desire to help anyone in need and her tendency to act before thinking.  Both of these traits were learned during her hard years growing up on Turkana IV.  She was a tall 5’9", slim 115 pounds, and beautiful brown-eyed blonde who came to Captain Picard’s attention early in 2364.  He was present at a rescue mission just before assuming command of the new USS Enterprise-D, and witnessed her extraordinary performance.  Captain Picard was so impressed by her rescue of a wounded colonist through a mine field that he asked her to become his Chief of Security on the Enterprise when he assumed command.  She readily accepted and occupied that position until she was killed by Armus late in 2364 on Vagra II (Skin of Evil).  Two years later, the Enterprise entered a time displacement and went twenty years into the past.  It encountered the USS Enterprise-C, commanded by Captain Rachel Garrett (Yesterday’s Enterprise).   The Enterprise-C had entered the same anomaly to escape a battle with three Romulan War Birds at Nerendra III.  The Enterprise-C had to go back into the battle to put time right and save the federation from a 20-year war with the Klingon Empire that should never have happened; a war Captain Picard told Captain Garrett the federation was losing.   Tasha Yar was aboard the Enterprise-D in this alternate timeline and discovered she had died a meaningless death in the real timeline.  She convinced Captain Picard to allow her to join the few surviving members of the Enterprise-C crew and give her death some meaning.  Tasha Yar was one of the few survivors of the ensuing battle with the Romulans.  She agreed to become the consort of a Romulan general in order to spare the lives of the rest of the crew. She and the general had a daughter, Sela in 2345 (Redemption, part 1).  Tasha was executed several years later trying to take her daughter and escape from Romulus in 2349.

See Some Photos of Tasha Yar

Denise Crosby, granddaughter of Bing Crosby, illegitimate daughter of Dennis Crosby and Marilyn Scott, and niece of Mary Crosby, was born in Los Angeles on 24 November 1957.  She enjoys writing and singing songs to relax. "It's possible I inherited that from my grandfather." She is not at all like her grandfather, Bing Crosby. Denise wears her hair short, often dresses in wild clothes, her musical tastes lean toward punk rock, and she talks about karma and spiritual cleanliness.   She's also a lot less conservative than Bing was.  "Any kind of sexual suggestion wasn't looked upon highly by my grandfather," she says. "He was very conservative." Would he have liked her posing for Playboy? "Since it was all done so artistically," she says, "I feel he probably wouldn’t have been too upset."  Denise is "not into commercialism, fame or fortune.  I'm into art.  I like innovators, artists who’ve been rebellious, people who’ve set their own style, like Andy Warhol and a lot of the New Wave groups; Talking Heads and Devo, for example.  "If and when I make the break into films," she said a few years back, "I'd like to be able to capture the classic elegance of Dietrich and Garbo, but in an updated, contemporary way." Obviously, she did make the break into films. She paid her dues in films like 48 Hours and Arizona Heat, before landing the role of Natasha "Tasha" Yar on Star Trek: The Next Generation.  "My grandfather was a legend.  Growing up with that helps me understand Tasha’s insecurities."  "Anybody with half a brain knows that acting is not the most secure field in the world;" she said early in 1988, "and I've been in the business long enough to not be shocked or surprised by anything."  That’s a good thing, since she was dropped suddenly after the first season.  Reports vary regarding whose idea it was for her to leave.   "I didn’t want just to say, ‘The frequency’s open, sir,’ for five years," Denise told People magazine as a way of, "explaining her decision to leave the hit series."  People also quoted her, "I wouldn’t have left the show if I didn’t sense I could get another job."   But when she gave an interview less than 2 months earlier and was asked about a rumor, "Tasha’s being killed off?  I know I’ve been complaining about Tasha being more involved in what was going on, but I don’t think things have gotten heated enough to where they’ve decided to kill me off.  I’m really not worried about Tasha getting knocked off," she said.  "At least, not so far."   Did Denise "decide" to leave the way President Nixon "decided" to resign?  She "left" the role of a "hard-as-nails" female security chief, whose name was originally supposed to be Macha Hernandez.   Denise stated while "most of what people have seen of Tasha seems to have centered around this image of her as a butch little tank, she has quite a few sides to her."

See Some Photos of Denise Crosby

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