Diana Muldaur (Dr. Pulaski) on TNG

[Beta-Z]

Any ideas why she wasn't featured in the main credits for S2?
I always thought the highest paid actor gets the first starring slot in the credits - or an "And Starring Diana Muldaur as Dr. Katherine Pulaski" at the end after the regular/alphabetical order, or at least a "Special Appearence by"-thingy?
But she always just got the "Also Starring" part when the episodes were already rolling.

[Dream]

Beta-Z wrote:

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Any ideas why she wasn't featured in the main credits for S2?
I always thought the highest paid actor gets the first starring slot in the credits - or an "And Starring Diana Muldaur as Dr. Katherine Pulaski" at the end after the regular/alphabetical order, or at least a "Special Appearence by"-thingy?
But she always just got the "Also Starring" part when the episodes were already rolling.

It was Muldaur's choice.

The producers offered her a main cast role, but she didn't want it since that meant she would required to be on the show for several seasons. She wanted the freedom that a guest star had so she could take other acting jobs too.

[Beta-Z]

That makes sense, thanks for this info!

[timtonruben359]

Beta-Z wrote:

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Any ideas why she wasn't featured in the main credits for S2?
I always thought the highest paid actor gets the first starring slot in the credits - or an "And Starring Diana Muldaur as Dr. Katherine Pulaski" at the end after the regular/alphabetical order, or at least a "Special Appearence by"-thingy?
But she always just got the "Also Starring" part when the episodes were already rolling.

At the Las Vegas convention this year, when asked about her status on the show Muldaur said she was supposed to be third in the credits (I'm assuming after Jonathan Frakes but before Levar Burton) but members of the cast protested and so she and Roddenberry opted to credit her as making "Special Guest Appearances."

As part of agreeing to join the show, Muldaur only signed a one year contract and she had moved out of LA (I think I remember her saying to somewhere in Arizona) just before she was asked to join TNG she had decided to retire from acting. I got the impression that even if she had liked working on the show, she wouldn't have stayed the whole run.

[Zaku]

From http://trekmovie.com/2009/08/26/rick...story/#2153176
(Obviously I can not vouch for the accuracy!)

He [Hurley] also told me that the remaining cast was was so resentful at the firing of McFadden, they took their anger out on Diana Muldaur the next season, and they were so cruel to her, she often left the set in tears.

[Dream]

Zaku wrote:

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From http://trekmovie.com/2009/08/26/rick...story/#2153176
(Obviously I can not vouch for the accuracy!)

Who the hell is Marvin the Martian? Sounds like complete bullshit to me.

[Visitor1982]

Well, Muldaur called the experience a 'complete nightmare' in a 1999 interview, so it might be true.

I've also heard the director of Unnatural Selection saying these things as well. Muldaur was a terriffic lady, according to him, but the rest of the cast treated her horribly (Stewart as well).

[Carcazoid]

I think DM's memory may be faulty. Roddenberry died in 1991, well after she left the show.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gene_Roddenberry

[inflatabledalek]

Visitor1982 wrote:

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The director for Unnatural Selection mentioned they had cue cards for her. So she didn't have to learn all that technobabble.

If fairness though, there was a recentish interview with Alexander Siddig (annoyingly I can't remember where now, but it was most likely as part of the PR fluff for Primeval) where he talked and his fellow DS9's using cue cards at different times as well. Apparently the only stigma was in using them too much, so he had to be careful to "Save up" his allowance for the really nasty technobabble.

[timtonruben359]

Visitor1982 wrote:

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Well, Muldaur called the experience a 'complete nightmare' in a 1999 interview, so it might be true.

I've also heard the director of Unnatural Selection saying these things as well. Muldaur was a terriffic lady, according to him, but the rest of the cast treated her horribly (Stewart as well).

I've heard this rumor too! Many of the cast were very rude to her during her time on TNG. I know that Patrick Stewart was very vocal with his displeasure over Gates McFadden's firing and openly campaigned for her return.

I've noted two things in the blu ray that lead me to believe that the cast wasn't very fond of Diana. Michael Dorn was the only to mention anything positive about Muldaur. Marina Sirtis said that she had nothing in common with Diana that she was married and went home to her husband whereas she had fun with Gates and Crosby off camera. Patrick Stewart didn't even mention her. And Muldaur tiptoed around it but said she had decided that she would never work with people she didn't like regardless of the script or the money. This could just have been editing but the TNG crew is a cast that goes out of its way to constantly remind us how much they love each other. It's very telling that Diana is very rarely referred to.

[JirinPanthosa]

That interview posted is interesting in exactly what she says.

Obviously, it's been 25 years, she's long over any mistreatment she received on the set and doesn't want to trash anyone. So she has vague fond memories of everyone then she trashes Paramount and 'Creativity'.

Ask a majority of Trek fans, season 3 is when the show picked up, when it got much more creative, so even if Paramount didn't have the same creative drive as Gene Roddenberry, they clearly hired a bunch of people who did. It seems like Diane is almost revising her reasons for leaving as a creative difference, romaniticizing Gene Roddenberry's influence even while claiming not to have ever seen the first season when his influence was at its strongest.

I don't know what really happened between Diane and the other cast, but 25 years past she's sunk into politic mode.

Edit: Wait wait wait. Wasn't season two the season where the writers went on strike and they reused a lot of Star Trek: The Second Wave scripts? Creativity my butt.

[Visitor1982]

timtonruben359 wrote:

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Michael Dorn was the only to mention anything positive about Muldaur.

What did Michael Dorn say about Muldaur?

[Zaku]

And we still don't know why McFadden was fired... :-)

[timtonruben359]

Zaku wrote:

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And we still don't know why McFadden was fired... :-)

Gates McFadden was fired because of disagreements between her and several of the show's writers [mainly Maurice Hurley] over the direction of her character and elements of the show she felt were sexist...here's what McFadden said on the blurays:

"I felt that some of the scripts were sexist and I guess I was too vocal about it because it ultimately cost me my job at the end of the first season. I was very naive about how studios work. I was used to working in theater ensembles where everyone was equal and you were allowed to say I hate this. It didn't mean it was going to change but you were allowed to say it. I guess I voiced my frustrations in a way that really pissed people off. A good lesson to learn."

She also said that she was surprised by her firing because a few weeks before Gene Roddenberry had told her that focus groups had showed she was the third or fourth most popular character on the show...she wasn't sure that was true. Apparently they had a first season wrap party on a Friday night and she got a call from her agent on Monday morning saying she wouldn't be asked back.

[trekker670]

I've heard this story many times, but I've always wondered, weren't the cast locked into a contract from the beginning? I thought I remember PS mentioning this in the past how it was a contract, but he didn't expect the show to be picked up, so he wouldn't be in LA for nearly as long as the contract had stated. Would Gates have received some sort of payout for the termination of her contract?