Skin of Evil

"Skin of Evil"
Star Trek: The Next Generation episode
Lt. Yar, moments after being killed by the evil entity "Armus".
Episode no.	Season 1 Episode 23
Directed by	Joseph L. Scanlan
Teleplay by	Joseph Stefano Hannah Louise Shearer
Story by	Joseph Stefano
Featured music	Ron Jones
Production code	122
Original air date	April 25, 1988 (1988-04-25)
Guest stars
Mart McChesney – Armus Ron Gans – Voice of Armus Walker Boone – Leland T. Lynch Brad Zerbst – Nurse Raymond Forchion – Ben Prieto
Episode chronology
← Previous "Symbiosis" Next → "We'll Always Have Paris"
List of Star Trek: The Next Generation episodes

"Skin of Evil" is the 23rd episode of the television series Star Trek: The Next Generation.

Overview

A vicious and powerful creature toys with an away team sent to rescue a downed shuttlecraft with Deanna Troi on board.

Plot

The Enterprise received a distress signal from a shuttlecraft that was returning Counselor Troi from a conference. They find the shuttle has crashed on the desolate planet, Vagra II, and while they can find Troi and the pilot's life signs, they cannot beam the two to the ship. An away team beams down and discovers that an animated pool of a tar-like substance, a malevolent life form that calls itself Armus. When Lt. Yar attempts to approach the shuttle, Armus hurls her back with a psychokinetic blast, killing her instantly. The away team is brought back to the Enterprise but the damage to Yar is too great for Dr. Crusher to repair, and they are unable to resuscitate her. A second away team is sent to the planet. Armus taunts the crew members and maintains his grasp of the shuttle. During this time, Troi has communicated with Armus and learned that it is a physical manifestation of evil from the bodies of an ancient race, abandoned on Vagra II.

The away team scans Armus' energy field, finding that when Armus engulfs the shuttle and speaks to Troi, expressing his remorse and pity, the field disrupting their transporter signals is weakened which could allow them to beam Troi and the pilot out of the shuttle. After Armus toys with Troi by completely engulfing Commander Riker, Captain Picard beams down to speak to Armus directly, sending the rest of the away team to the ship. Picard engages Armus in a heated discussion to discover its motive, which is to seek revenge on those that abandoned him on Vagra II. Armus is riled to a point where the energy field is dissipated enough, allowing for Picard, Troi and the pilot to be safely beamed back to the Enterprise. After destroying the shuttlecraft from orbit, Picard orders a quarantine on Vagra II.

As they leave Vagra II, the crew holds a memorial service for Lt. Yar, with a pre-recorded simulation of Yar addressing each of the senior crew members telling them what they meant to her and what she learned from each of them. After the service, Data, who had previously become close to Yar, tells Picard that he is confused as to the purpose of the service. He says that his thoughts are for himself, because he can only think of how empty his life will be without Tasha. He asks if he has missed the point, but Picard assures him he got it.

Notes

• This episode is notable as it marks the death of Lt. Tasha Yar.^{[citation needed]}

• The sludge creature's name is Armus. One of the show's producers was Burton Armus.^{[citation needed]}

• Marina Sirtis' tears during Yar's memorial service were real. She and Denise Crosby had become particularly close during the series, and Sirtis was sad to see her leave.^{[citation needed]}

• Patrick Stewart broke out into a rendition of "The Hills Are Alive" as they were walking up the grassy knoll to shoot Tasha's memorial scene.^{[citation needed]}

• The sludge Riker was pulled into was made of Metamucil and printer ink. Reportedly, Frakes was sitting on the set between takes, covered in the concoction, when LeVar Burton approached him and said "Frakes, I never would have done that!"^{[citation needed]}

• Written by The Outer Limits producer and writer Joseph Stefano the script went through additional rewrites by staff writer Hannah Louise Shearer.

• This episode is reminiscent of Ursula K. Le Guin's short story "The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas", which features a bright and cheery town. There is a little boy locked away in a basement. This little boy symbolizes the negative aspects of the townspeople's lives and natures, much in the same way that Armus is a repository of the negative attributes of his planet's former inhabitants.

References

• Star Trek The Next Generation DVD set, volume 1, disc 6, selection 3.

External links

• Skin of Evil at the Internet Movie Database
• "Skin of Evil" at TV.com
• Skin of Evil at Memory Alpha (a Star Trek wiki)
• Skin of Evil at StarTrek.com
• Skin of Evil at The USS Enterprise Tribute Site
• Skin of Evil rewatch by Keith R.A. DeCandido