Gates does comedy very well and can be quite sexy in that kind of ep. Well. to me she's always sexy.
The comedic eps she participated in showed her gift for lighter material.
I can't help but think of the episodes "The Big Goodbye," "Remember Me," "Attached," and "All Good Things" as I write this very belated statement on this very day.
It was over a decade ago when I hopped onto the friendship-romance swing between the Captain and the dear Doctor, the overall character of Beverly Crusher, and the appeal of Cheryl Gates McFadden in giving life to the role. In those days past, I argued against underestimating the quality of the pairing relative to other pairings, and I defended the dear Doctor against detractors, especially those firing shots in the doctor wars. To say that I was a big fan on the third part and its multiple aspects, right up to the point of catching posters by surprise with my actress birthday threads, would be an understatement. One need only peek into the TNG recast threads popping up from time to time to read my unrelenting criticisms of proposed recasts for the dear Doctor, from fake-sexy bimbos to fake-hot skanks.
However, the titles of the four episodes I listed say it all. The Big Goodbye happened for me some time ago, though I still cannot help but Remember my being Attached back then. The likelihood of All Good Things coming to an end is high, and this went along with the rule rather than with the exceptions. In the context of the 80s and 90s, no other kind of character could fulfill the doctor's role alongside the kind of characters that made up the rest of the senior officers, and nobody else could bring the character from the script papers to the screen amazingly. On at least four scales of one to ten, I gave her a ten on all and give the experience a ten on all.
During the last decade's middle years, and on this very Bulletin Board System, I wavered by giving a few would-be recasts eleven here and nine there on the scales, sometimes at first sight and always to the point of ignoring acting chemistry problems below the surface. Though they have long since dropped off my radar of recasts, it was only a matter of time before ratings from my perspective would truly be taken to more than the next level.
Some time of lull passed between the height of that competition and the slow but sure process of being definite on recasting, succession, and much more. It took all the late years of the last decade, definitely much more than at first sight, to sort things out. When the dust settled, on all the scales, my ratings have consistently been not just at ten, not just above ten, but rather like Transwarp, Slipstream, and in remembrance of TNG's last episode, Warp 13.
Relative to this and this alone, I'd say: So much for even a fantastically younger version of the gracefully aged McFadden.
Now, my unrelenting criticisms of almost all proposed recasts for the dear doctor are made not so much because they would still be low on the scales and deep in the shadow of the original, but precisely because of the new standards set on the scales and beyond the shadow.
My only regret after this process is not having stated all this last year, perhaps before my hectic move east.
Final note: Special thanks to at least one of the BONCer ladies posting here in my years of wavering for indirectly providing me, in the long run, the equally indirect inspiration to post this.
You know, I've always wondered that myself?
