History Recap / StarTrekTheNextGenerationS1E22SkinOfEvil

* AngstWhatAngst: Defied and justified. In the scene immediately after Tar is pronounced dead, the officers are arguing with each other on whether Tasha's death was justifiable. Picard shouts them down and tells them at the moment it's irrelevent, because there are two crewmembers who still need their help, and mourning can wait.

* PunyHumans: Armus feels this way about the humans, as his power allows him to kill them with ease despite their force of will.

* DontYouDarePityMe: Picard and Deanna both feel some level of pity for Armus when they learn how he came into existence, and just ''how'' unimaginably long he's been alone on the dead planet. Armus feels insulted when they offer their compassion.

* ItAmusedMe: Armus's stated excuse for killing Tasha and torturing Riker.

* InelegantBlubbering: Armus' screams when Picard is delivering his TheReasonYouSuckSpeech sound very much like weeping. Watching it melt back into a puddle is similar to seeing [[PoseOfSupplication someone curling up in grief]].

-->'''Riker:''' Preserving life - all life - is very important to us.
-->'''Armus:''' Why?

* ThirteenIsUnlucky: Troi is on Shuttlecraft 13, which crashes under mysterious circumstances.

-->'''Data:''' Curious. You are capable of great sadism and cruelty. Interesting. No redeeming qualities.
-->'''Armus:''' So what do you think?
-->'''Data:''' I think you should be destroyed.
-->'''Armus:''' A moral judgment from a machine.

* HowDareYouDieOnMe: Crusher goes to extraordinary lengths to try and revive Tasha. Even after one of her staff hesitates, she orders the power on the cortical stimulator increased to try again.

* MagicalDefibrillator: Averted. Dr. Crusher cranks up the cortical stimulator as high as she can to try and restart Tasha's brain function. Her body jumps from the shock, but she's still dead.

* MagicalDefibrillator: Averted. Dr. Crusher cranks up the cortical stimulator as high as she can to try and restart Tasha's brain function. Her body jumps from the shock, but she's still dead.

Creator/JonathanFrakes spoke candidly about what a vile monster he is. In one encyclopaedia he discussed being pissed at how Starfleet would show Armus mercy, and even used a PrecisionFStrike to express his feelings.

* MagicalDefibrilator: Averted. Dr. Crusher cranks up the cortical stimulator as high as she can to try and restart Tasha's brain function. Her body jumps from the shock, but she's still dead.

* ShuuUpKirk:

* ApocalypseHow: Class 4 for the entire planet... all except for Armus.

The first pivotal episode of ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration''. An evil, tar-like creature holds Troi hostage on an alien world. During the rescue mission, one of the Enterprise crew is killed. [[ItWasHisSled It's Tasha]]

!'''This episode contains the following tropes:'''

* AndIMustScream: Armus is trapped alone on a dead world with nowhere to go, nothing to do, and never to be reunited with the glorious beings who abandoned him there. Forever. And how he screams when Picard rubs that fact in.

* BlobMonster: Armus.
* BreakThemByTalking: Picard's way of defeating Armus; possibly the only way, as he is MadeOfIndestructium to the point where a direct photon torpedo strike wasn't expected to kill him, only to destroy the downed shuttle.

* CurbStompBattle: Armus strikes down Tasha, and she is dead almost immediately - much to the dissatisfaction of Armus, who wanted to see her suffer.

* DroppedABridgeOnHer: Tasha Yar. Let's just say that you're not likely to find too many fans who agree with Creator/GeneRoddenberry's choice to give her a deliberately senseless death rather than a HeroicSacrifice of some sort. Even the new writing staff that took over in Season 3 thought it was such an awful idea that they specifically wrote "Yesterday's Enterprise" to give Yar a better send-off.

* InelegantBlubbering: Armus' screams (see "Talking the Monster to Death") sound very much like weeping. Watching it melt back into a puddle is similar to seeing [[PoseOfSupplication someone curling up in grief.]]
* ItAmusedMe: Armus' stated excuse for killing Tasha and torturing Riker.

** LaserGuidedKarma: Considering Armus is living a FateWorseThanDeath, it got away with ''nothing''.

* KilledOffForReal: Tasha Yar. Denise Crosby left the show because she felt her character didn't have enough to do in the episodes. The producers probably felt that there were too many characters anyway and needed to trim the cast a bit. So they apparently took it pretty well. In fact, they worked with Crosby to make her departing episode special in terms of ''Franchise/StarTrek'', the show that was responsible for the {{Redshirt}} trope. Also, driven home is the fact that Yar's death was somewhat pointless and understated and not the type of dramatic heroic death usually reserved for main characters. Crosby has also stated that she would have stayed if she'd gotten more character-based scenes like Tasha and Worf discussing her performance in the tournament.
* MadeOfEvil: Armus claims to be a [[TitleDrop skin of evil]] cast off by titans who thought that by ridding themselves of him, they could escape the bonds of destructiveness. He has zero redeeming qualities. He kills because he thinks it will amuse him. He tortures, physically and psychologically for the same reason. He is literally a black tar pit of hate that was cast off long ago. The only thing that might provoke sympathy is that he had no choice in his creation, and his evil nature is torture for him as well, being in a constant state of undirected hatred and rage.
** The cast themselves (as in Johnathan Frakes) spoke candidly about what a vile monster he is. In one encyclopaedia he discusses being pissed at how Starfleet would show Armus mercy, and even used a PrecisionFStrike to express his feelings.
* ThePowerOfHate: {{Subverted}}: Armus is a creature literally MadeOfEvil and this leads the audience to expect negative emotions to fuel his power. However, being forced to confront and feel his own rage and hate instead of suppressing it makes Armus ''weaker''. Picard fully uses this to his advantage in escaping him. See TalkingTheMonsterToDeath above.

* SacrificialLion: Tasha Yar's death makes Armus an especially scary villain for the episode, as none of the other main cast were ever killed off in the series by another villain.
* SenselessSacrifice: Tasha, and it was keeping in Gene Roddenberry's insistence that a security officer would die ingloriously.

* StupidEvil: Armus. He tortures the ''Enterprise'' away team for fun and then expects them to transport him off world, using threats of more violence as his sole bargaining strategy. Not that he has much of a choice on the matter. As an artificial entity of pure evil, it's literally the only thing he ''can'' do.

-->'''Armus''': I am a skin of evil left here by a race of Titans who believed if they rid themselves of me, they would free the bonds of destructiveness.
-->'''Picard''': Yes. So here you are. Feeding on your own loneliness. Consumed by your own pain. [[BelievingTheirOwnLies Believing your own lies.]]
-->'''Picard''': You say you are true evil? Shall I tell you what true evil is? It is to submit to you. It is when we surrender our freedom, our dignity, instead of defying you.
-->'''Armus''': I will kill you, and those in there!
-->'''Picard''': But you will still be here! In this place! [[AndIMustScream Forever! Alone! Immortal!]]
-->'''Armus''': [[HowlOfSorrow AAARRRGGHHH!!!!!]]
-->'''Picard''': That's your real fear. [[WhoWantsToLiveForever Never to die.]] Never again to be reunited with those who left you here.
-->'''Armus''': [[SkywardScream AAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRGGGGGHHHHH!!!!!]]
-->'''Picard''': I'm not taking you ''anywhere.''
-->'''Armus''': (OverlyLongScream)

* ThirdPersonPerson: This episodes entry in the first season's round of finding a Chief Engineer is one Leland T. Lynch whose gimmick is apparently insisting on using his full name when hailed by the bridge. Picard seems annoyed by this already.
* ThirteenIsUnlucky: Troi was on Shuttlecraft 13, which crashed.

* WoobieDestroyerOfWorlds: Armus, rejected and bereft by a species that just abandoned him and left him alone. [[invoked]]
* WouldYouLikeToHearHowTheyDied: Armus does this to Troi about Yar, who replies that she already sensed Yar died.

* DroppedABridgeOnHer: Tasha Yar.