10 Stand-Alone Star Trek Episodes More Important Than You Realise
7. Symbiosis
This will hardly be a shocking statement - Symbiosis is a bad episode of Star Trek. While there are bits to enjoy, they're thin on the ground. The incredibly hamfisted 'Just Say No' speech that's delivered by Tasha Yar was an attempt by Star Trek to be a part of First Lady Nancy Regan's campaign to lower addiction rates in America. The speech went down just about as well as the campaign did.
So, why is this episode important? It's because of the cast. First of all, it saw the reunion of two actors who had appeared in Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, though Merritt Buttrick and Judson Scott had not shared any scenes in that film. Scott had played Joachim, Khan's right-hand man. Buttrick, of course, played David Marcus.
This would sadly be the last time he would appear in Star Trek, bar his image being used in The Undiscovered Country, as Buttrick would soon pass away from AIDS-related complications.
The episode also contains the final filmed scenes by Denise Crosby as a regular. Skin of Evil had been recorded before this episode, though it would air afterward. Look closely - as Picard and Crusher are leaving the cargo bay for the last time, Crosby waves energetically in the background. This, in her words, was a wave of goodbye to the fans.
This led to a rather sharp exchange on Twitter between Rick Berman and Denise Crosby. Berman once tweeted the image of a combadge that he claimed was given to him by Crosby on her last day of filming Skin of Evil. She quickly shot back that this couldn't be true - not simply because Symbiosis was her last episode, but also because, she alleged, Berman had walked to her, torn the badge away, and said she wouldn't need it anymore.
Ouch.