Star Trek: 10 Things You Didn't Know About Tasha Yar

10. Vasquez Rocks

Before becoming the science officer on the Enterprise-B and providing the voice of the Typhon engineer in the video game Star Trek: Invasion, as well as that of the Enterprise computer in two of the Short Treks, Jenette Goldstein had famously played Private Vasquez in Aliens — the inspiration for Tasha Yar.

In the very early days of development of Star Trek: The Next Generation, detailed in The Fifty-Year Mission: The Next 25 Years, former The Original Series writer David Gerrold met with Gene Roddenberry to discuss his ideas for the new series. Gerrold suggested that writers and producers alike sit down and watch contemporary science fiction movies "to get a sense of what's been done in the genre over the past ten years."

During the screenings, they went through Blade Runner, Brazil, The Ice Pirates, all the then four Trek movies, and Aliens. Gerrold noted:

We'd sit down and talk about the movie we'd just seen and spark ideas. Like after Aliens, Gene would say about Jenette Goldstein, 'That woman created a whole new style of feminine beauty. We should have something like that in Star Trek.'

As he commented in The Fifty-Year Mission, producer Robert H. Justman was also "taken with" Goldstein and her Aliens persona. His original idea for the Trek version of the character, if they could secure Goldstein, was one that now sounds eminently akin to the MACOs, later introduced in Star Trek: Enterprise. Justman went on to state that, "she could be a member of the Enterprise's onboard Marine or MP contingent [presumably military police, here]. This would enable her to serve in a military capacity within our landing parties."

The character would, of course, be a Starfleet officer — "Starfleet is not a military organization. It is a scientific research and diplomatic body," firmly said the TNG Writer/Director's Guide, after all. To get to Yar, however, they did cycle through a few names for the ID tag first.