Star Trek: How The Sadistic Armus Caused One Of TNG's Most Hated Moments
"Star Trek" in all of its forms has introduced audiences to various aliens and creatures over the years. Some are better received than others, but occasionally, a monster comes to light who rubs fans the wrong way. For years, that's been the case with Armus from "Star Trek: The Next Generation."
Armus was introduced in "TNG" Season 1, Episode 23 — "Skin of Evil." The entity stems from a race of Titans who sought to rid themselves of their inherent evil, thereby becoming the personification of terrible things. The race rejected Armus, known as the "skin of evil," and put it on Vagra II, where it would encounter the crew of Enterprise D. Its appearance, consisting of black goo, was fine enough, but the reason Armus remains a sore spot for "Star Trek" fans is because it anticlimactically killed off a popular character, namely Lieutenant Tasha Yar (Denise Crosby).
Fans didn't appreciate the development, with many at the time believing it wasted a promising character. Crosby discussed her character's death in 1993's "Trek: The Next Generation:" "Gene [Roddenberry] really felt that the strongest way to go would be to have me killed. That would be so shocking and dramatic that he wanted to go with that" (quoted by Den of Geek). It raised the stakes in that no one on the crew was safe, but it still felt like such a waste. Fortunately, Crosby's time in the "Star Trek" universe wasn't over yet.
Denise Crosby would return to The Next Generation in various capacities
Denise Crosby has continued acting over the years, landing recurring roles in shows like "The Walking Dead," "Ray Donovan," and "General Hospital." However, just because Tasha Yar was killed off early in the run of "Star Trek: The Next Generation," that didn't mean she was done with the Enterprise D crew. She returned to reprise the character of Yar in Season 3's "Yesterday's Enterprise." Due to a temporal anomaly, the main timeline of "TNG" gets altered, and as a result, the crew meets a variant of Yar who seeks to sacrifice herself to prevent an all-out war from taking place. The goal with this was seemingly to give the character's death a bit more meaning.
Crosby was also a part of Seasons 4 and 5, but this time as a new character — Sela, the daughter of the alt-timeline Yar and a general of the Romulan army. Sela was a ruthless antagonist, giving Crosby the opportunity to play a very different character from Yar while continuing to make a mark on the "Star Trek" mythos. Crosby also lent her voice to various "Star Trek" video games, like "Star Trek: Armada" and "Star Trek Online." She may not have had the most time onscreen as other "TNG" actors, but fans hold her in high regard all the same.
And even the despised Armus has continued influencing "Star Trek" in interesting ways. "Star Trek: Lower Decks" contained an Armus reference where characters refer to a creature that looks like a bunch of trash bags. Even mistakes are part of a franchise's legacy, so all it can do going forward is make the best of such controversial decisions.