ya after Roddenberry had less influence.
What was the plan with Diana Muldaur?
- Thread starter JesterFace
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ya after Roddenberry had less influence.
I believe she didn't want to "commit" to the show, hence being billed as a guest star every episode. I also believe it was a favor to Gene Roddenberry, or something like that. After a year, she left the show to do other things. I think part of this had to do with the TNG cast not embracing her, because they were all pissed that Gates had been fired. After Diana left, the producers didn't want to risk having a new doctor every year, so Gates was asked back, and I believe Patrick Stewart had a lot to do with that too.
I'm sure I read somewhere that she/or her agent, asked for the Special Appearance billing, instead of being listed as one of the main cast. It's a bit like the way shows put a bigger star at the end of the opening credits, "and Joan Collins as Alexis" type of thing, obviously it's harder to do that when the cast is listed alphabetically!
I think if Pulaski had been there from S1 she would've been better received, both by the audience and the cast
No one knew much about Data at the beginning, and so her questioning of him "It does know how to do that, doesn't it?" probably would've gone down better, as we were learning about him at the same time, unfortunately, by S2 most of the audience loved Data, and they didn't like Pulaski having a go at him, and so it put them off her.
The supposed romance between Picard & Crusher was never going anywhere back then, but there wouldn't have been any of that with Pulaski anyway, and so you would've had a stronger, more experienced doctor, and someone that could've been a confidant for Picard, and someone that had a bit more bite to them, and could've pushed him when he was in the wrong. And having an 'older', and more experienced, actor for Stewart to work with would've worked really well I think.
It does seem as if the cast didn't really welcome Muldaur with open arms though, as if it was somehow her fault that Gates wasn't on the show anymore, and I've heard that a few resented her getting paid more than they did.
I think if Pulaski had been there from S1 she would've been better received, both by the audience and the cast
No one knew much about Data at the beginning, and so her questioning of him "It does know how to do that, doesn't it?" probably would've gone down better, as we were learning about him at the same time, unfortunately, by S2 most of the audience loved Data, and they didn't like Pulaski having a go at him, and so it put them off her.
The supposed romance between Picard & Crusher was never going anywhere back then, but there wouldn't have been any of that with Pulaski anyway, and so you would've had a stronger, more experienced doctor, and someone that could've been a confidant for Picard, and someone that had a bit more bite to them, and could've pushed him when he was in the wrong. And having an 'older', and more experienced, actor for Stewart to work with would've worked really well I think.
It does seem as if the cast didn't really welcome Muldaur with open arms though, as if it was somehow her fault that Gates wasn't on the show anymore, and I've heard that a few resented her getting paid more than they did.
I think the intent was to keep "the feel" of TOS, while not reusing/overusing old baddies or monsters as that quickly becomes diminishing and stale.
I'm more amazed that they returned to the red/yellow/blue outfits, reverse red and yellow because of the dumb "red shirt" jokes*, yet they they didn't do rainbow puke lighting. Which is a bit sarky as I adore TOS's approach to color, but - by 1987 - color TV wasn't new anymore and would be too much. Gotta admit, Michael Piller brought in freshness that worked with this new cast ensemble, while keeping true to the spirit of the core of Trek**. Ditto for Meyer as TWOK did bring in an energetic oomph needed, while keeping the TOS philosophical bent on par.
* Is anyone else now hungry for hot dogs? I could really relish one right now...
** Well, TNG's later years could be a teensy bit hit or miss, but seasons 3 and 4 are rock solid and even when it began to waver, it still held its own in plenty of ways...
Hear hear, great point! Certainly by audiences. Muldaur was apparently more serious with doing filming and the main crew were jokey, but I have to admit that the outtakes (some turned into "in-takes" found on youtube) are admittedly hysterical, so the main crew had a synergy and metaphorical syzygy that worked, and I'm glad those got released!
Also, what sort of word is "syzygy"? /SeinfeldMode
Another great point!!
Pulaski didn't bother me and she probably hadn't read up on the captain's logs so it's possible many in Starfleet would not know of the android, but the audience isn't Starfleet and it does know (and may or may not be able to roll with the change.)
The romance was iffy to begin with. Especially if they wanted the lead to "get some", having an actual relationship becomes too narrow for storytelling on a regular basis. Okay, sci-fi had leads boinking the entire galaxy and apparently without risk of kids or cooties so on that level it would have been a novel idea to try, but how many in the audience bought into shippin' Picard and Crusher on a weekly level?
Thankfully they let Riker's fam handle teh Pulaski...
Aye
. Considering how some of the main cast had lengthy credits as well...
Agree. Suzi Plakson (sp?) was awesome in all her ST roles. Selar would have made for an interesting character dynamic and a wry, dryly humorous bedside manner, I'm sure.
Someone didn't send the memo to the Picard writers!
I've always said she should have been there from the beginning - instead of being a retread or an interloper, she would have been a beloved piece of the puzzle.
In my head canon of that version, she would have been the reason for McCoy's apperance - to see off his granddaughter. Instead of a weak imitation, you have true lineage, and not forced like Burnham.
I also think it was a huge missed opportunity, not having her be one of the esteemed scientists in DSC-S05. I could totally picture her getting passionate about that whole storyline and dedicating her life to it.
In my head canon of that version, she would have been the reason for McCoy's apperance - to see off his granddaughter. Instead of a weak imitation, you have true lineage, and not forced like Burnham.
I also think it was a huge missed opportunity, not having her be one of the esteemed scientists in DSC-S05. I could totally picture her getting passionate about that whole storyline and dedicating her life to it.
If Pulaski had started from the beginning yes her skepticism/criticism to Data would seem pretty natural rather than mean, and probably would have been transitioned out of more smoothly, but having (just one) character be real reminiscent of predecessor in same role, new McCoy-ish doctor but female, would have still felt real weird and pretty offputting.
it wouldn't have been weird or off putting - it would have completed the circle. Pulaski, the McCoy. Riker, The Kirk, ready to step up if TNG failed and they needed the TOS formula. Data, the Logic. Worf, The Alien. The two sides of Spock.
The whole thing with Pulaski and Data felt like they were trying way too hard to re-capture the dynamic that Bones and Spock had back in TOS, but because the Data/Spock comparison was loose to begin with it just felt like Pulaski was just being mean to Data for no reason, especially in the earlier episodes of season 2.
It felt mean because the dynamic of the McCoy & Spock repartee was mutual digs at one another's differing natures, & an ongoing debate of the merits of each, with both having some pretty solid points scored over the years.
Pulaski was one-sided disparagement of a creature who was more likely to just accept or deflect her denigration than to counter it, further surrounded by people who were already supportive of Data & even protective of him by that point. She's taking shots at the wrong guy in the wrong place, & for someone practicing science out in the farthest reaches of a vast mysterious unknown, it's pretty close-minded.
You can't have a new face show up headlong into the voyage & start kicking the camp puppy & expect everyone will think it's cute banter like Spock/Bones IMHO
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That exaclty.
Her LA Law character's death was one of the most unintentionally hilarious things I've ever seen on TV. She accidentally falls down an elevator shaft thinking there was an elevator in there. I don't know what happened behind the scenes for LA Law but those writers must've hated her since they had her die in the goofiest and dumbest way possible.
Probably a shock in full episode context, but as a standalone clip it does seem a little hokey. From initial fall to scream to thud noise, that's maybe 1 or 2 storeys at most. At least she didn't scream "WHEEEEEEEEEE!" on the way down, this isn't Batman or The Paul Lynde Show, both of which are terrific but not quite in the same genre... Worse, how often does a person not look at the elevator door opening to find nothing but blackness instead of a lit compartment? Even more worser, was this the beginning of a plot arc where the baddie murdered her by rigging the doors to open at just the right time but jamming the compartment at the top floor or something? Would have made more sense for Data to phaser her from inside the compartment after beaming in because everyone loves teh crossovers.
Dang. Good interview.
I never saw the show before, but just did some quick reading to find context. Yup, she apparently was a baddie. Not quite Alexis from Dynasty...
She had some rough moments with him for about two episodes, but people seemed to just switch off and forever took that as fact.
I saw someone who was inquisitive and at the end of the day was talking to a machine when her deal was healing biological lifeforms. She didn't get it entirely.
But she adapted. I saw nothing but respect from her after that, she dealt with Data properly, she apologised to him when she got things wrong, she played on the holodeck with him, fought his corner, was his ally in Penpals. It was part of a wider narrative of her being very adapting, see also the Klingon tear ceremony with Worf.
35 odd years later (I'm not having a go at you here, as you summed up why people took to disliking her quite correctly) I admit I'm still fed up with the "Oh Pulaski was mean to Data!" narrative. It was mild, for a brief moment and he can't feel hurt. Get over it, it's been decades already!
In fact Beverly acting like a stuck up bitch in Generations because of Data's joke, leading Data to have a crisis of confidence and stick an emotion chip in his head which fucked him up I'd say is far worse than anything Pulaski ever did to Data. We're maybe aiming at the wrong doctor.
Didn't Patrick Stewart start that way as well and was annoyed by the rest of the crew joking around? Interesting that Muldaur didn't get along with him more than the rest.
Thank you!! Good grief that moment in Generations drives me nuts. Yes, it was funny. And they had just dumped Worf in the water moments before. Data wasn't in the wrong there; Crusher was.
Well I'm certainly not countering any points about Crusher. I have numerous issues with her that probably do outnumber those with Pulaski. Although, to be fair, Crusher had way longer to get on my nerves, & could fill a whole other thread lol
However, I'm not especially a Pulaski hater. I actually think there's some evidence to support her as even being the better doctor, which is a key thing I like in TNG, that we see the best of the best, whoever they might be.
My post was mainly to illustrate why the distaste for her exists, & it's largely 1st impressions, that are valid. Let's not forget that apart from what was a deliberate intention to have her be prejudiced to Data, at the outset, she also immediately rubs upper command badly, & quite quickly falls into something of a contentious relationship with Picard, which due to her short stay never gets resolved either. Albeit, some of that is on him as well.
Ultimately though, she's not playing well with the two most beloved characters in the show at that point, & barely endears herself to any of them until Worf, which is telling in itself, that he's the only one she could connect with.
It's also more than just a few moments of poor treatment for Data IMHO. That's the case with some remarks in her 1st two episodes, but that leads to the entire plot of Elementary, Dear Data developing around not only her refusal to accept Data as a sentient or sapient being, but her adamancy that he isn't even savvy enough to think like a human at all, which he proves wrong, & because other events take precedence, is never even addressed with her for resolution.
And because its mostly dropped for a while thereafter, it's not until the season is almost over in Peak Performance, that she has seemed to warm to accepting Data more for who he is than for what. I do agree that had the character gotten more time to develop, it would've gotten even better, but it's still true that her 1st impression was utterly crappy & because she was short-lived, that's become her unfortunate legacy. Honestly though, it's a better legacy than Yar got lol
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