Just the best!
-Alex
Comments (37)
To this day I skip S2 during rewatches because of that b@"!?$.
I found Pulaski infinitely more interesting than Crusher.
Poliski had to learn to stop being rude to Data.
Without spoilers there remain some episodes/features showcasing Dr. Crusher that I am really looking forward to seeing you react to.
As a kid I didn’t understand why sometimes the lovely redhead doctor was replaced by the bitter grouchy doctor, the re-runs were always shown in a random order so every week was a lottery
they tried to re-create Dr McCoy and it didn't go so well.
One of the primary reasons that The Next Generation is considered by fandom (and myself) to be the best Star Trek series is its feeling of family. There is nothing these actors and characters wouldn’t do for each other. This is true for them in real life and it comes through in their performances on the series. No other Star Trek series had that feeling of family at this level…not even TOS…and that’s just the truth. Pulaski was just that irritating know-it-all aunt that we all avoid at family gatherings. She never quite fit in and this is not a reflection of Diana Muldaur’s skills as an actress, as she is wonderful. Her character was intentionally written to be the foil for conflict in that perfect family. But, god, how good it was to have Dr. Crusher back where she belonged! ❤️
If you watch enough 70-90s era tv, you will see Diana Muldaur all over the place, a lot more that you will ever see that McFadden whastername.
I wasn't really sad to see her leave the show but I did always wish she would have made a one episode return to give her character a proper send off.
No hate on the actress or character. I feel bad for her. She said over the years, that the rest of the cast sorta treated her like an outsider. That they weren't very welcoming. I can believe it.
Pulaski is the way more interesting character. Wish she came back. Not to mention diana moulder is a fantastic actress. The character was dynamic and had so much potential to explore. Shame really, she doesnt deserve the hate. For those reasons like pulaski more than Bev. Not much more, but still.
There are people online who review TNG, and they think Beverly's bedside manner is terrible. (Citing, for instance, how she'll often say "there's nothing I can do" right in front of a dying character.) Everything's a matter of opinion, I guess. I didn't have a problem with any of the ST doctors.
There are multiple examples of that happening. Lol
Watching Pulaski and Data now, her attitude makes me think of someone making fun of an autistic child, who not only can't fight back, also doesn't even fully understand what she's saying. That was the writers' horrible miscalculation.
They were trying to recreate the dynamic between Spock and McCoy but somehow didn't realize that Data's character was far more passive than Spock's in a way that made it look exactly as you describe.
Respectfully she was awful.
The actress?
If only they wrote more for her.
Yes, she was written with room to grow. I like McCoy, Crusher but their characters didn’t really develop over the course of the series.
Beverly Crushin my Heart!!
April 1st is next week.
Never fooled me for a second.
If there’s nothing wrong with me, maybe there’s something wrong with the universe!?
Can't wait for you guys to experience the rest of the doctors!
I didn't like her because she didn't like Data. Plain and simple lol
Good edit Alex
Although, if we're looking for a Beverly is Awesome edit, might need to redo this about this time next year or so, when we have a couple more seasons and a movie or two to pull from. Some of Crusher's most iconic stuff is still ahead of us.
There is a bias against female characters in film and television who are not viewed as warm and friendly. They are often perceived as cold and bitchy (unless they are purposely written this way). Yet male characters who display the same traits are considered likeable curmudgeons. Men can be prickly and tetchy and are more accepted by audiences yet women are not.
We love Ensign Ro.
Pulaski gets a bad wrap. She was supposed to be like McCoy - the grouchy skeptic. But people were upset that she wasn't Beverly. The cast wasn't very nice to her either. But at least she just disappeared and didn't fall down an elevator shaft.
I think the reason Pulaski was unpopular was almost entirely about how she was written with regard to Data. She WAS supposed to be like McCoy, and in and of itself I think this may have worked. The problem was that in trying to make her like McCoy they also decided to try to recreate the relationship dynamic between McCoy and Spock and to Data seemed like the closest fit for that. One problem with this is that season 2 Data was not the Data who would stand up to Fajo and ultimately try to kill him - he was much, much more innocent and passive than that. This also means he was NOT Spock. The McCoy/Spock dynamic was not just McCoy giving Spock a hard time: Spock not only was able to take it, but he also gave it back just as much. It was a relationship of two people going at one another, but the Pulaski/Data relationship was one sided. The other, maybe bigger problem is that especially in the early seasons Data was written as having a very innocent characterization in that he usually didn't understand the subtext of what people were saying, he didn't understand how human beings behaved or how they worked on an emotional level (even moreso than in the later seasons), etc. This meant that when Pulaski made her one-sided comments about Data that it came across like someone making fun of a child, and in some ways a not particularly bright child at that. Now contrast this with her relationship with Picard. THAT relationship worked, and is one of the more enjoyable parts of season 2. That is essentially a working version of what they tried and failed with Pulaski and Data. The two clearly aren't the biggest fans of one another, but there is also a respect between them, and there is at times a bit of mutual back and forth. That relationship worked, but the one with Data made her look like a bully, which is really the biggest reason people disliked Pulaski.
Beverly crusher constantly makes mistakes
It's not really Crusher's fault because it is just differences in the types of stories that TNG told vs. the other series, but when you see DS9, VOY, and even ENT (along with TOS) and then look back on Crusher you wind up seeing her much less favorably from purely professional/medical standpoint. She's just never really given much to do to make her look like a great doctor as compared to what the other four doctors in the classic franchise wind up doing.
Pulaski vs crusher Fight!!!
Pulaski would nag and Crusher would throw “cwosaunt” at her.
She definitely was memorable, the actress is amazing.
Yup, you are absolutely right! I always liked Diana Muldaur.