10 Biggest WTF Moments From Star Trek: The Next Generation

A lot can be said about how Tasha Yar's death was handled in the show. On one hand, it was a bold decision to kill off a main character so suddenly, but the entity that killed her, Armus, wasn't a particularly compelling villain. He was basically the embodiment of pure evil, and his only purpose in the story was to kill off Tasha, who Denise Crosby and the producers had already decided was leaving the show.

This becomes clear when you realise that Riker was pulled into Armus' sludge-pit slightly after Tasha's death, only to be released later completely unharmed. Then, Data was forced to point a phaser at himself and his friends for Armus' amusement. However, everyone else turned out fine because this seemingly evil entity apparently got bored of killing?

Everyone in this episode but Tasha had bulletproof plot armour, and it really makes her death seem even more outrageous.