Did Beverly Crusher Seem Very Nurturing to You?

[Ro_Laren]

Looking back on TNG, it kinda seems like Dr. Beverly Crusher isn't the nurturing mother / friend type. Don't get me wrong, I like the character, but that is the general impression I get. She kinda reminds me of my late Grandmother, who I knew loved me and my family, but she didn't not show it in the conventional warm fuzzy grandmother kinda of way.

Does Beverly seem like she lacked a nurturing quality (or that she maybe sometimes seemed kinda cold) to anyone else, or is it just me? Do you think that it was just the way that Gates McFadden portrayed the character, or is it just the way Beverly was written? Can anyone give any examples where she did seem really nurturing (perhaps they are out there & I just forgot about them).

 

[Eno]

Would you want your dr to be nurturing? Sounds kind of creepy. And very unprofessional.

 

[Eno]

I remember her saying once in an episode..." if there is nothing wrong with me then there must be something wrong with the universe"....only a woman could ever say that

Woman, thy name is Narcissis!

 

[Vasquez Rocks]

I'm surprised people think she wasn't nurturing or had a good bedside manner. I remember reading an interview with Gates where she said that if she had a scene with one of the main cast members in sickbay and they were near a patient she would always go out of her way to gesture towards the patient, before walking away to talk to Picard or whoever it was as to not be rude. That something I don't think any of the other doctors ever did in Star Trek.

 

[C.E. Evans]

To me, Crusher just seemed to be very professional. I think she was more gentle than McCoy, but at the same time she wasn't going to shoot sunshine up people asses and tell them only what they wanted to hear either.

 

[Vasquez Rocks]

In Generations, I feel she just radiates warmth and compassion towards Geordi after his ordeal with Soran and she is very nurturing towards the two young boys in Brothers.

She's the kind of doctor I wish I had and she's pretty too. Extra bonus points.

 

[Eno]

Caring is not nurturing. Nurturing is far more intimate. I wouldn't want an intimate doctor. Sounds like a law suit in the making.

 

[22 Stars]

Are we talking as a mother, or as a Doctor, or both?

 

[Ro_Laren]

Are we talking as a mother, or as a Doctor, or both?

Maybe I should specifically break it down:

1) Was she nuturing as a mother?
2) Was she nurturing as a friend?
3) Was she nurturing / "caring" as a doctor?

Earlier, when I said that she didn't seem nurturing as a doctor, I didn't really mean that she had a bad bedside manner. As someone said above, you could say that she just seemed very professional. I don't know... I know that she cared about her friends (when was taking the doctor role and treating them in sickbay and as a friend outside of sickbay). It is just the general vibe that I got from her... Maybe I should say that she didn't seem very warm???

 

[Eno]

Beverly was warm. One can only be so warm with coleagues. And her friends were also coleagues.
She was certainly nurturing with Wesley. A relationship where it was appropriate. Later, after their marriage she was nurturing with Picard.

 

[Mojochi]

I think the word everyone is skirting around is sterile. Was she a believable mother? Yes, but imo a bit more sterile than you'd expect. Her bedside manner is a bit more sterile than normal too, especially since the majority of patient interactions we see are with her friends

A lot of this I consider as being the effect of her environment, which starts from the top down. The most sterile person on the ship is Picard, & in many ways he has a sedating effect on all the people who serve under him

In another environment, I can see people like Deanna, Riker, Worf, Beverly, & even Geordi behaving in much less reserved ways. Picard has a bottle cap effect on the behavior of those around him. Look how he tempered Ro Laren for god sake

Probably the only creature in the entire galaxy who could get a Kllingon to eat pudding with a spoon, & prevent a horndog Human & his Betazoid woman from even flirting with each other for a decade. Picard is the ultimate cock block

 

[Holdfast]

She always struck me as a generally calm & professional person, with occasional feistiness when on a crusade. Sensible woman; competent doctor. The kind of person who would be a solid and boundaried friend. Much like a lot of the TNG crew in that sense. Low personal drama (low expressed emotion, if you're familiar with that term).

Nurturing? Not in a demonstrative manner, but quietly caring in a professional, intelligent way.

 

[RoJoHen]

Much like a lot of the TNG crew in that sense. Low personal drama (low expressed emotion, if you're familiar with that term).

In the many years since watching the show, this has become my main problem and the reason I have a hard time re-watching it. All of the characters have the exact same personality.

 

[Holdfast]

Much like a lot of the TNG crew in that sense. Low personal drama (low expressed emotion, if you're familiar with that term).

In the many years since watching the show, this has become my main problem and the reason I have a hard time re-watching it. All of the characters have the exact same personality.

Funnily enough, for me this is what makes the show so rewatchable. These people are sensible, calm professionals not histrionic drama queens. It lets the weekly story be more of a focus.

If TNG wasn't episodic in nature, the lack of interpersonal drama within the cast would be an issue. But because it's episodic, it works nicely IMO. Horses for courses.

 

[RoJoHen]

Well, I've also mostly lost interest in episodic TV, so that makes it difficult to watch as well.

 

[Eno]

Much like a lot of the TNG crew in that sense. Low personal drama (low expressed emotion, if you're familiar with that term).

In the many years since watching the show, this has become my main problem and the reason I have a hard time re-watching it. All of the characters have the exact same personality.

I never saw it that way. I do not think Geordi and Riker were similar. I see Geordi's lack of confidence with women set him far apart from Riker.

I suspect crew mates operate according to strict guidelines within Starfleet. Not to mention the affect of long training and discipline.

 

[Holdfast]

Much like a lot of the TNG crew in that sense. Low personal drama (low expressed emotion, if you're familiar with that term).

In the many years since watching the show, this has become my main problem and the reason I have a hard time re-watching it. All of the characters have the exact same personality.

I never saw it that way. I do not think Geordi and Riker were similar. I see Geordi's lack of confidence with women set him far apart from Riker.

I suspect crew mates operate according to strict guidelines within Starfleet. Not to mention the affect of long training and discipline.

RoJo can explain himself, I'm sure, but I think what he means isn't so much the underlying personality, but the way it's expressed in interaction with the rest of the crew, which is more consistent between the TNG crew than, say, the DS9 crew. Though the differences between those two shows pale into insignificance compared to the highly disruptive interpersonal conflicts depicted in most current television dramas.

I personally like the way the TNG crew interact, And as you say, you'd hope that professionals working in a quasi-military, (at least, certainly quite hierarchical) organisation, would behave in a somewhat consistent and calm manner.

I can see why some wouldn't like it, if they prefer more interpersonal drama and character-driven extended plotlines rather than an episodic/story-driven format. "Realism" is often brought into this issue, but it's a red herring to me, as "in reality" most people actually behave professionally at work rather than go off on personal vendettas or histrionic tantrums.

 

[RoJoHen]

"Realism" is often brought into this issue, but it's a red herring to me, as "in reality" most people actually behave professionally at work rather than go off on personal vendettas or histrionic tantrums.

I've clearly worked in very different places than you.

And I mean, professionalism is one thing, but we also have to remember that these characters don't just work together. They live together on the same ship. They're supposed to be very close friends, but they all behave exactly the same on bridge as they do at the poker table.

 

[Mojochi]

And I mean, professionalism is one thing, but we also have to remember that these characters don't just work together. They live together on the same ship. They're supposed to be very close friends, but they all behave exactly the same on bridge as they do at the poker table.

Perhaps you've never worked with or seen the dynamic between people who work in the manned space program

Point being, the more extremely dangerous your working & living conditions are, the more likely its people will be conservative behaving. Even the behavior of the crisis situation depicted in the movie "Apollo 13" was exaggerated

TNG is a show about highly trained & prepared futuristic astronauts, with very minimal exceptions to that archetype amongst the cast. It stands to reason that necessity would require that all of them have many behavioral similarities, for the sake of the mission, & the safety & effectiveness of the crew, in a dangerous & demanding environment

I would hope Starfleet has a screening process to filter just what type of people serve on their ships

 

[RoJoHen]

Well, for the sake of a TV show, I'd hope for a little more range in the personality of the characters. I'm not saying they need to be dysfunctional like the crew of nuBSG or anything, but a little variety in their personalities would have been nice. People often complain that the characters in VOY never had any kind of growth, but I'd say that they grew closer as a family and had at least as wide a range of personalities as TNG ever did.

I think Deanna and Will are my biggest annoyance. They were Imzadi, beloved. It's not until "Insurrection" that that relationship gets any kind of worthwhile development. Throughout most of the series, they act like polite acquaintances. Hell, they got more development in the series finale of "Enterprise" than they did through most of TNG.