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Which Doctor Did You Like Better...Dr. Crusher or Dr. Pulaski?

Beverly Crusher!
No doubt about that!

Personally I couldn't stand Pulaski back in the days. I didn't like that she replaced Crusher, I found her all wrong and was happy when those in charge had the decency to bring back Crusher in season 3.

In later years I have revised my opinion about Pulaski, she wasn't that bad. Actually an OK character which I wish could have made some guest appearance in the series.

But I still find Crusher better!
 
Oddish said:
Could "Ethics" or "Remember Me" have worked with Pulaski as the star? Or maybe... "Sub Rosa"?

What about "Peak Performance" or "Unnatural Selection" with Beverly?
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Honestly, while I greatly prefer Crusher, most Crusher episodes would have worked with Pulaski, and most Pulaski episodes would have worked with Crusher. I guess it's a by product of most TNG episodes being plot rather than character driven.
Pulaski would have sympathised with Worf's Klingon point a bit more, but I think even Pulaski would have given him her piece of mind about it, possibly making the scene with Riker redundant.

Of course I don't think Sub Rosa would have worked with Pulaski because, as I said somewhere else, I don't believe Pulaski had a single romantic bone in her body.
 
Orphalesion said:
Of course I don't think Sub Rosa would have worked with Pulaski because, as I said somewhere else, I don't believe Pulaski had a single romantic bone in her body.
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Maybe a phalange or two was romantic. Or one of those itty bitty ear bones. But no, I can't imagine Sub Rosa with her either!
 
CMO Pulaski, I love her from her first appearance, she is my favourite character from TNG. She did more in one season than Crusher ever did in few season. I only like Crusher sightly better in movies.
 
Pulaski was at times OK, generally got better over her time, but just came off as too McCoy-ish and out of place with the general vibe of TNG (which I did like), I liked Crusher a lot more, much better relationships with the other characters and fine as a character in herself, I think she did have authority and the occasional conflicts with others while fitting well into the close friends/family vibe.
 
Oddish said:
Maybe Janeway, though.
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I really liked Janeway. There was a particular way in which she threatened that even J-LP (at times), couldn't match, and Bakula only looked underwhelmed at each time. Plus VOY was the most gender-balanced ST of its time (I still don't know where DISCO is going).

Plus 7(9) and Torres.

You've made me think of another question @Oddish!
 
Crusher. Diana Muldaur is a better actor than Gates McFadden in general, but the Pulaski character was both a thinly veiled female McCoy expy, and uncomfortably obnoxious with minimal development to justify it. Her fantastic racism regarding Data is remarkably awkward to watch today, even more so than some of McCoy's anti-Spock nonsense. Crusher feels more in fitting with TNG's whole ethos; plus the manner in which Gates McFadden was unceremoniously fired by Maurice Hurley after season one leaves a bad taste.

I do think, though, that Dr Pulaski should have been seen maybe once or twice later in the series, or at least mentioned more than once in passing. It would have been interesting for it to be Pulaski rather than Dr Toby Russell to have developed genetronics and come up with a cure for Worf in TNG: "Ethics", and we'd have had a full-on on-screen clash between her and Crusher.
 
Vale said:
It would have been interesting for it to be Pulaski rather than Dr Toby Russell to have developed genetronics and come up with a cure for Worf in TNG: "Ethics", and we'd have had a full-on on-screen clash between her and Crusher.
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As long as Pulaski didn't kill regular patients by experimenting on them. I could see her being willing to do the procedure on Worf, because she "gets" Klingons the way Crusher doesn't. She would understand that Worf could not live with reduced mobility, so "bad" medicine was justified in his case. But by and large, Pulaski seems like an ethical physician.
 
Oddish said:
As long as Pulaski didn't kill regular patients by experimenting on them. I could see her being willing to do the procedure on Worf, because she "gets" Klingons the way Crusher doesn't. She would understand that Worf could not live with reduced mobility, so "bad" medicine was justified in his case. But by and large, Pulaski seems like an ethical physician.
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The episode would have had to be reworked for Pulaski's character, sure. But that would have only made it better.
 
Vale said:
but the Pulaski character was both a thinly veiled female McCoy expy, and uncomfortably obnoxious with minimal development to justify it.
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Enough of a McCoy expy to hate transporters, fercryinoutloud! Introducing her that way, they might as well have named her Lena McCoy and been done with it. And while I loved McCoy in TOS, his alter-ego didn't fit in as well in the TNG setting.

More -- even the real McCoy (sorry!) could be abrasive, rude, and a bit too pushy; the main reason he's usually not remembered that way is that DeForest Kelley combined that with warmth and an underlying sense of real concern. (I was lucky enough to see Kelley at two conventions, one in the mid-70s and one in the late 80s, and he came across as very warm and charming.) There's nothing wrong with Diana Muldaur's acting, to be sure, but I don't think her Pulaski could be described as warm, and her interactions with Picard too often had the feel of someone trying to score a point. In "Unnatural Selection" she was so focused on trying to win her point with Picard that she missed the fact that he agreed with her!
Her fantastic racism regarding Data is remarkably awkward to watch today, even more so than some of McCoy's anti-Spock nonsense.
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The difference between McCoy baiting Spock and Pulaski baiting Data was that Spock was more than able to hold his own against McCoy -- indeed, he often bested the doctor in their interchanges -- while Data did not hold his own against Pulaski. When McCoy accused Spock of being inhuman, Spock would either proudly agree or ask McCoy just what was so great about being human anyway. When Pulaski told Data he was inhuman, he would sadly concede the point and brood on out of the scene, making her look as if she was kicking a puppy.
 
Lynx said:
Beverly Crusher!
No doubt about that!

Personally I couldn't stand Pulaski back in the days. I didn't like that she replaced Crusher, I found her all wrong and was happy when those in charge had the decency to bring back Crusher in season 3.

In later years I have revised my opinion about Pulaski, she wasn't that bad. Actually an OK character which I wish could have made some guest appearance in the series.

But I still find Crusher better!
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This post pretty much sums up my feelings about these two. I hated the way Pulaski treated Data at first, although I'm glad that she seemed to accept him as a sentient being by the end of the season. I enjoy the fact that she dislikes and distrusts the transporter, when almost everyone else seems to use it as if it's no big deal in the 24th century. I guess that was more common in McCoy's era.

That said, out of the Treks I've seen (TOS, TNG, VGR, ENT), both of the TNG doctors are my least favorite ones for some odd reason. My favorite by far is the EMT, even if VGR is my least favorite Trek show.
 
maneth said:
That said, out of the Treks I've seen (TOS, TNG, VGR, ENT), both of the TNG doctors are my least favorite ones for some odd reason. My favorite by far is the EMT, even if VGR is my least favorite Trek show.
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I wasn't wild about Bashir, the EMH had his ups and downs, and Crusher was just whatever. I'd even take Dr. T'Ana over them. Pulaski and Phlox were awesome. Haven't seen enough of Culber to pass judgment.

Visitor1982 said:
Pulaski, by a long shot. She had character.
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Yes. And she didn't just get along with everyone. In addition to not getting Data, she also had friction with Picard.
 
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