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Kate Pulaski & Season 2

..., yet not one peek I've seen of Worf. For some reason, I can't believe they made his look like what we saw on the show, and they just decided to go with it. I'd love to see what else they considered (if anything).

I believe the character of Worf was to be played by a cockapoo, but then changed to Klingon and hired Michael Dorn at the last minute when he brought his own makeup from home.
 
I just wanted to echo some of the support with Pulaski.

Not only did she hark back to TOS, for me, but I liked how she called the crew on their BS. We wouldn't have another character like that until Jellico (although, I like Diana Muldaur's Pulaski better...haha) and to a lesser extent, Ro.
 
"Unnatural Selection" was the show that sold me on Pulaski's potential, and it would have been interesting to see how the character would have evolved. Knowing what Beverly became (wow, she was great in "Remember Me"), I prefer Beverly, but I think Pulaski would have evolved to fit in a little better. I at least think she should have come back a la Barclay, Ro, etc., and I think one of the main reasons why she did not sell a McCoy straight-talk kind of routine was that she had no personal rapport with the crew, and it really did appear that she did not fit in. Bones was one of the fellas, and I think he had done a lot of westerns, so he brought in that sidekick take on the role well.
 
I'm marathon watching TNG season 2 this week, and I think Pulaski is working better as the season goes on. Her issues with Data are over and she's more likable, but still not fully integrated with the crew emotionally.
Interestingly, I'm also reading Peter David's season two novel Strike Zone. In the novel Picard is bothered by how attracted he is to Pulaski. That's really a strange take on that relationship, although I can see signs in early season two that it could have been where they were going. Also, Riker seems more fond of her than I ever felt from the tv episodes, with their past service together being referenced. It's also mentioned that Pulaski was an old friend of Beverly's and knew her back when Jack died. I don't recall that ever being mentioned on tv.

I still wonder how Pulaski would've worked as the doctor on DS9. Her prickly personality would've fit in better there I think.
 
I used to just hate Pulaski, but I've come to see that Mauldaur brought something to the show. Unfortunately, she made a very bad early impression with the ill-conceived McCoy clone schtick. They should have given her an original character to play.
I've read some fanfics where this is explained by saying Pulaski is McCoy's great-granddaughter and she spent a lot of time with him - and so absorbed some of his attitudes and mannerisms.

I still wonder how Pulaski would've worked as the doctor on DS9. Her prickly personality would've fit in better there I think.
They already had a gruff, prickly personality there - Odo. And without Bashir, we'd have missed years of the fun friendship Julian and Miles had, not to mention the playful uncertainty of the Bashir/Garak relationship.
 
Pulaski should've been the first Emergency Medical Hologram, actually. Everything would've been solved. Everyone would've been happy and Kate Pulaski would've been able to continue on in TNG for years and years to come. Instead, Diane was brought into someone else's gig as a scab and this was handled in a way that seemed to represent the uncertainty everyone had about the whole situation, to begin with.

The idea that Kate and Riker's father got it on offered some story potential, but went nowhere, when it was really the only aspect of her character that could've afforded her any affection. Being an Ice Queen works best - and perhaps only - on hot, young women. Kate should've been afforded much more warmth, if she were to be a part of the crew. Instead, she comes off as snotty to Wil, telling him to get over his crappy childhood. So, now ... her only "IN" with this crew went bye-bye. Now, they've got no reason to want to hang with her and yet they just can't seem to shake this crotchety old interloper. She's like a hanger-on, with everybody looking at eachother After Hours saying, "... who invited her?"
 
I like that idea but it's probably ahead of its time. If the actress didn't enjoy the alien/old person makeup thing then I wonder how she would have liked being a hologram. It would open up some interesting possibilities with Moriarty though.
 
Kate Pulaski is my all time favourite Star Trek character. She had more character development in one season than Crusher had in six!

She was the most human of all main crew on TNG and showed great compassion, skill, and warmth towards her patients and fellow crew members.

I love the way how she stood up to Picard. Imagine an episode like 'Attached' with Picard and Pulaski, instead of Crusher. There would have been fireworks!

Also, she wasn't mean to Data. Yes, she treated him like a machine in the beginning, cos that's what he was... But half way through the season she saw what a wonderful being he was and she respected him.

I was very sorry to hear how bad the TNG cast treated Muldaur. According to one directer, they treated her so bad, she sometimes left the set in tears. It was a nightmare for her.

It would have been very interesting to see Pulaski continue to develop on TNG or DS9. However, I can fully understand Muldaur for never wanting to work with those people again.
 
I just finished Season 2.

Boy, I tend to think of Season 2 as the weakest season in TNG, but there were some good ones.

Kate Pulaski had some good moments but not enough of them. You can tell the character was just not meshing with the rest of the crew. But one cool side effect of Pulaski was that I never realized how Picard did not seem to care for her. I wonder if this was intended or if the writers saw the writing on the wall and wrote that into the episodes. I can EASILY imagine Picard transferring her off the Enterprise due to her not meshing with the crew. That they seemed to force a "McCoy" style on Diana Muldaur made things worse.

Anyway, aside from Q-Who and Measure of a Man, I enjoyed quite a few episodes.

-Loud as a Whisper
-A Matter of Honor
-Contagion
-The Icarus Factor (I really enjoyed Riker's dad)


Up the Long Ladder was embarrassingly written, kinda like Lonely Among Us and the 20th century angle of The Neutral Zone.
Dr. Crusher was so well loved, that there was no way a new doctor was going to work. I like Diane Muldaur, but this was one role where she wasn't gonna make it, no matter WHAT she did.
 
How could anyone love Dr. Crusher after season 1?

She was horribly written (got a little better when she returned) and hardly had any character development or screen time for that matter.
 
Pulaski should've been the first Emergency Medical Hologram, actually. Everything would've been solved. Everyone would've been happy and Kate Pulaski would've been able to continue on in TNG for years and years to come. Instead, Diane was brought into someone else's gig as a scab and this was handled in a way that seemed to represent the uncertainty everyone had about the whole situation, to begin with.

The idea that Kate and Riker's father got it on offered some story potential, but went nowhere, when it was really the only aspect of her character that could've afforded her any affection. Being an Ice Queen works best - and perhaps only - on hot, young women. Kate should've been afforded much more warmth, if she were to be a part of the crew. Instead, she comes off as snotty to Wil, telling him to get over his crappy childhood. So, now ... her only "IN" with this crew went bye-bye. Now, they've got no reason to want to hang with her and yet they just can't seem to shake this crotchety old interloper. She's like a hanger-on, with everybody looking at eachother After Hours saying, "... who invited her?"

Who was an "ice queen"? Pulaski was very warm, she was just brusque when she had to defend herself or her work. She made inroads with Worf, and eventually Data, two characters who had an outside perspective regarding the rest of the crew. The only person she really butted heads with was Picard, and I loved that.
 
But when she'd butt heads with Picard in relation to it was often uncessary and because he's the Captain, would usually be proven right. Like when there was that genetically modified kid whose body chemistry caused people to age rapidly. Pulaski was just dismissive of Picard's very valid points and when she overcame the safety hurdle he was concerned with, it was Picard's concerns that proved themselves out. Pulaski was torture and aggrevation just to be torture and aggrevation for Picard. She thought just because she could get loud that this made her right ... it doesn't.

The main problem is that her personality had to be developed and experimented with over one season, when most of the characters already had that advantage. I'm sure that by the 3rd Season, had Pulaski been retained, somehow, after Bev came back, then Kate would've started to find her "place," which she never got to during her run, unfortunately. Her harassment of Data reflected poorly on her, because it did not echo the Spock/Bones relationship, at all.

Spock and Bones, first of all, were friends. Secondly, Spock was quite capable of holding his own and could cut up McCoy, with ease. Kate and Data are not friends. Data does not understand humour. Therefore, this element does not work and is reflective of several wrong turns that "they" made with Pulaski. I like Diana as an actress, particularly in her turn on TOS. She was really cute and sweet - which did not go past Kirk, at all (especially the 1st time) - and it is nice to "see" her on STAR TREK, agian. Just ... not this way.
 
She would butt heads with Picard because she believed she was right. Riker did the same thing, particularly regarding away missions. Why should it be any different for Pulaski, who is tasked with keeping the entire crew healthy?
 
I did like the fact that she seemed to dislike Data when everyone else loved him. Ideally I would have liked to see Data and her have a rivalry. Season 2 has some very good episodes like Time Squared.

I never had an impression she disliked him. More like she didn't know how to deal with him, because she never met an android before. I'd rather expect a lot more people to be like that with him at first, before discovering that he's more human than one could initially think, so they can treat him like one.
 
I've always got the impressions the producers totally knew what they had with Michelle Forbes, that they'd found an actress (and character) that was a literal goldmine, and they did try to get her to sign on to both DS9 and VOY after all, but she wasn't willing to play ball.

I agree it was too little, too late. Ro was an excellent addition to the ensemble, she brought a great sense of tension to the cast, and really should've been a regular. But in total effect she was under-used...
Michelle Forbes was a literal goldmine? That seems... unlikely.
 
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