Weekend Trek “Legacy”

One of the downsides to the death of Tasha Yar is her honestly intriguing backstory was never really explored all that much.  That doesn’t mean Star Trek the Next Generation didn’t find ways to look into that, but it might have gone better had Tasha as a character been alive to see it.

Point is, the show did it this one time, and Jimmy and Tom discuss it below.

“Legacy”

A rescue mission in a hostile place hinges on a long lost sibling.

jimmy:  Tasha’s sister wasn’t a very nice person.

tomk:  She looked like the actress you hire when you can’t afford Linda Hamilton.

jimmy:  Right?!?

tomk:  That colony probably would be better off with a Skynet visit.

jimmy:  Maybe that’s how they ended up the way they are.

tomk:  Man, Skynet never gets complete human genocide right.

jimmy:  Save it for the episode when we meet Tasha’s brother John Yar.

tomk:  He’s with the Coalition. Or the Alliance. Whichever one didn’t have Not Linda Hamilton.

jimmy:  Sounds like they’re all jerks.

tomk:  They don’t call it Planet of the Jerks for nothing.

jimmy:  So, did you believe along the way that Tasha 2 was being genuine?  (Which is a tough ask since you’d seen it before, and it being quite likely she wasn’t or there wouldn’t be much of a show.)

tomk:  Up to a point. I think it’s possible her exposure to genuinely helpful people touched her, but in the end, she was never gonna be completely one of the good guys.

jimmy:  We of course have the benefit of hindsight to know she was likely never going to appear again, but when she got her own little blue suit I thought maybe they keep her around. That said, if she did, she’d be off to Starfleet Academy and probably never seen again either.

tomk:  Or she’d be Wesley’s classmate.

jimmy:  Yeah.  It’s one thing for Wes to stay on board with his mom there and having proven himself, and another for a random “nobody” to stay on the Enterprise as an acting ensign.

tomk:  Even if she got some kind of hand knitted blue onesie.

jimmy:  That helps her case.

tomk:  How?

jimmy:  It helps with me?

tomk:  Judges?

jimmy:  You knew Kirk would approve. Bones is a bit more of a wild card.

tomk:  As someone who went through TOS before we started this rewatch, allow me to point out Kirk’s womanizing has been somewhat exaggerated while McCoy’s is somewhat ignored.   That said, your point stands.

jimmy:  Would you say Riker is a bigger womanizer than Kirk?

tomk:  Riker backs off when a woman says no and doesn’t take it personally. Kirk hits on female members of his own crew.

Kirk’s methods could be construed as sexual harassment.

jimmy:  Times were different in the 23rd century.

tomk:

jimmy:  Yeah, they certainly got rid of that stuff in the reboot.

tomk:  We do not discuss JJ in this discussion.  He is forbidden.

jimmy:  I was unaware.  Let’s move on then.

tomk:  We gotta save JJ for our disappointing sequel chat.

jimmy:  Noted. For a character that didn’t make it through one season, Tasha sure seems to come up quite often.

tomk:  What?  You don’t remember Rhonda from the first few Gabbing Geek podcasts?

jimmy:  There’s a Gabbing Geek podcast?

tomk:  There was. Hasn’t been the same since Rhonda said they should never do a Back to the Future trivia game.

jimmy:  That’s the death knell of many a podcast.

tomk:  That’s why I didn’t do one. Pandemic killed my laptop in my case.

jimmy:  Preventative measure.

tomk:  I also don’t automatically trust someone just because it’s the unknown sister of my podcast partner.

jimmy:  I don’t know that they automatically trusted her, but she won them over pretty fast.

tomk:  Well, much of the crew’s behavior was based off how they felt about Tasha. Riker’s guilt over Tasha’s death did cause him to go well out of his way to rescue Not Linda Hamilton.

jimmy:  Fair enough. And Data wanting to befriend her.

tomk:  Data trusts everybody’s siblings except his own.

I mean, B4 robbed a liquor store that one time.

jimmy:  When your older brother is Lore, you can understand his mistrust.

tomk:  But he wasn’t the only one. Picard noticed a lot of people going that route. Except for Crusher who reveled in getting a DNA sample from that woman whose name I never really learned.

jimmy:  Tasha 2: Tash Harder.

tomk:  As good a name as any.

jimmy:  Apparently it is Ishara.

tomk:  Your name is better. Also quicker to type than Not Linda Hamilton.

Well, this episode doesn’t seem to be providing much conversation.  I think I made more Terminator jokes than episode observations.

jimmy:  It’s an interesting retcon though. If Tasha had a sister, why did she never go back for her?  Especially with talk about rape gangs and the like. And she never mentioned to anyone, including Starfleet, that she had a sister?

tomk:  Tasha said so little about her childhood, she just seemed to be glad to be away from there. Tash 2.0 here called her a coward for leaving.

jimmy:  Yeah, there didn’t seem to be much love lost there. Maybe she was angry Tasha never came back for her?  But she seemed pretty content with her role with the Alliance or the Empire or whatever side she was on.

tomk:  Well, they were winning.  There was so much winning, they were tired of all the winning. They just needed to build a wall that the Coalition or the Horde or whatever side they weren’t on was totally going to pay for.

jimmy:  It’s been 30 years. I bet that wall is a few meters by now.

tomk:  That’s what happens when you try to force someone to pay for something in a cashless society.

jimmy:  Maybe Tashaville is not cashless.

tomk:  Barter system perhaps?

jimmy:  Either way, that fence was a farce from day 1.

tomk:  It’s why they just rigged themselves to explode.

jimmy:  More like one rigged the other I thought.

tomk:  Well, there certainly was some rigging.

Yar. Hoist the mainsail!

jimmy:  Maybe Tasha didn’t want to be a pirate?

tomk:  No puffy shirts in Starfleet!

jimmy:  Skin tight body suits all the way!

tomk:  And no complaints from Ensign Impossible.

jimmy:  Generally, no.

tomk:  Yes, well they do lack pockets.

jimmy:  We’ve established there’s no cash and probably no need for keys, what do I need pockets for?

tomk:  Phasers, tricorders, spare comm batteries, reading glasses, a copy of the Starfleet regulations manual, Picard’s diplomacy wig, and a handkerchief?

jimmy:  Sounds more like belt accessories.

tomk:  Well, you can put your hands in your pockets if it’s cold out.

jimmy:  They did ban gloves in 2187. So, you’ve got me on that one!

tomk:  Also good for game tokens from Quark’s.

jimmy:  We better talk to Starfleet about this.

tomk:  Eh, they never listen.

jimmy:  That’s true.

tomk:  Well, we talked women’s future fashion and why the colony sucked. More evidence that Tasha was ultimately an underserved character.

What an injustice, and not just because she was romantically linked to Shooter McGavin.

jimmy:

tomk:  Yeah. That guy. Don’t ask what he eats for breakfast.

jimmy:  Funny, I was going to use the same joke.

tomk:  But you know who always has a good hearty breakfast?  Worf.

jimmy:  With a healthy glass of prune juice.

tomk:  Yes. But the funny thing about unknown relatives is Tasha may not be the only one with one.

jimmy:  Worf already had a surprise brother.

tomk:  He may have others. Are you curious?

jimmy:  I am now.

tomk:  Ready to move on?

jimmy:  Let’s do it!

tomk:  Engage!

Next:  “Reunion”