11 Times Star Trek The Next Generation DID Have Conflict

Before Worf wanted to shoot everything, Tasha Yar wanted to shoot everything. For her, one well-aimed photon torpedo could solve any and all problems. Yar’s violent tendencies were constantly being shot down and soothed over by Picard’s and even Riker’s cool headedness.

Whether it was lunging at Q in Hide and Q, trying to blow the Ferengi to smithereens several times in The Last Outpost, or getting killed while leaping over Armus in Skin of Evil, Yar’s brash, physical nature seems to contradict 24th Century society’s cuddly mores.

The Lieutenant’s instincts didn’t come from nowhere. Yar may have loved the Federation so much she’d kick you in the face over it, but she was a constant reminder of its failures. At some point the modern, perfect humans of Turkana IV descended into a mass of roving gang rapists that this poor kid and her cat had to escape from.

And, to top it off, the enlightened Federation didn’t do a thing about it even though the Prime Directive probably doesn’t apply to its own colonies.