so THATS why some of the cast didn't like Diana Muldaur

[Maxwell Everett]

It would have been even better if she actually played Dr. Munhal in TNG. She could have been 110 years old in TNG season two. They could have made it a point to celebrate her birthday and Riker could have talked Data into making some crazy joke about her age, to get her back for her constant jibes.

I think writers missed a great opportunity.

Dr. Mulhall.

I wouldn't have had any objection if she had been the same character.

Ah, ok

Now that I think about it, I can't believe Gene missed the train on that one. It would have showed off how humans have advanced in medicine. I know we've seen McCoy at 130 or whatever, but that was too brief.

Dr. Mulhall was an astrobiologist not a medical doctor (though I suppose she could've changed fields later in life) but she wouldn't actually have been 110 in 2365. If you take Diana Muldaur's age in 1968 (30) and add the time between "Return to Tomorrow" and "The Child" (97 years), you get an age of 127 years. Either way, she would've had to look like this for all of season two:

http://tng.trekcore.com/gallery/albums/s2/2x07/unnaturalselection215.jpg

I don't think she would have gone for that, no matter how much they paid her. This quote from her Memory-Alpha page is very telling:

"During production of "Unnatural Selection", she and co-star Patricia Smith swore they would never work in Science Fiction again due to the prosthetics the actresses had to wear."

 

[CorporalCaptain]

^ Yeah, I know.

But Neither Spock nor Scotty looked that bad when they made it on the show. There was a galaxy full of ways to make it work, if they had wanted it to work.

In principle, if it had worked plausibly, I wouldn't have minded it, even keeping in mind that on TNG "plausible" was a relative thing, cf Wesley and the Traveler, Wyatt Miller, or Felisa Howard.

 

[gastrof]

^ Yeah, I know.

But Neither Spock nor Scotty looked that bad when they made it on the show...

Ummm...

Scotty had been in suspended animation (sort of) for all the decades since the TOS movie era, and Spock, being half Vulcan, aged slower.

You're forgetting some very basic facts here in hopes of supporting your position.

 

[CorporalCaptain]

^ Yeah, I know.

But Neither Spock nor Scotty looked that bad when they made it on the show...

Ummm...

Scotty had been in suspended animation (sort of) for all the decades since the TOS movie era, and Spock, being half Vulcan, aged slower.

You're forgetting some very basic facts here in hopes of supporting your position.

No, not really. I wasn't forgetting anything. My point was this (which you omitted):

There was a galaxy full of ways to make it work, if they had wanted it to work.

 

[Captain McBain]

Glad there are other Muldaur/Pulaski fans. I find McFadden (infact most of TNG) dull.

Did you find Lt. Broccoli dull?

 

[data909]

I think see also did something really wrong, yet she still stays impenitent.

Bummer.

 

[data909]

She can be a bit of a dishonorable witch.

 

[Mojochi]

One thing I really want to know is if she was ever asked to return later in the series' run. I just think what a missed opportunity it would have been to see Pulaski and Crusher match wits in Season 5's "Ethics". I know she didn't like her time with Season 2, but Crosby didn't like her time during Season 1 and she returned 6 times (Yesterday's Enterprise, The Minds Eye, the two Redemption Episodes, and the Unification 2 parter).

I always got the impression that "Ethics" was handcrafted for that specific purpose, but it just never worked out that she would come back. Apparently, once she was done, she was done

It does seem odd she thinks Gene died after season two, but perhaps she only meant that after season two, Gene's influence was much diminished, which I bet it was

 

[Kegg]

Could have been an interesting way to go with the series though, new doctor at the beginning of each season. Look at how many Chief Engineers Picard went through.

Although Chief Engineer Argyle (who appearrs twice and is mentioned but not seen in a third episode) was allegedly a contender for becoming a regular on the show. Wil Wheaton recounts:

The Chief Engineer of the Week in this episode was Argyle, played by Biff Yeager. I don't know if it's entirely true (and this is recalled over twenty years, through the memory of a 14 year-old) but I remember hearing that Biff was under consideration to become a permanent Chief Engineer, until the producers found out that he (or someone acting on his behalf) had encouraged Trekkies to write letters asking to have him on the ship full time. There's nothing wrong with a letter-writing campaign, but it helps if the letters come in after your episode has aired. Yeah, apparently the letters came in before this show went out, and some Trekkies complained that they were spammed via mail (this was well before e-mail was widely used) and those two factors sent Chief Engineer Argyle -- and Biff -- to the Cornfield.

It was pretty obvious early on that having a big engineering set and no characters obviously tied to engineering was a mistake for the series, which is why you got stuff like Geordi, Data and Riker going down there to science the science, an episode where Riker claims that oversight of engineering is a first officer perogative ("Where No One Has Gone Before") and, of course, a procession of engineering guest stars.

Putting Geordi down there was really one of the best calls to make.

I always got the impression that "Ethics" was handcrafted for that specific purpose, but it just never worked out that she would come back.

I don't think there's any evidence that the episode was ever written with Pulaski in mind but it would have been really sweet if she had appeared. While Tasha got mentioned fairly often after season one (we met her sister, Data mentions her in "The Measure of A Man", etc.) I think "Who Watches the Watchers?" is the last time Pulaski is ever referred to.

I like Pulaski. But I also like Crusher, although I don't think the series really got a good handle on her until her return in the third season.

 

[Forbin]

I'm glad she liked working with the black guy.

 

[newtontomato539]

Keeping Pulaski would have been fine but let the character so she's not a clone of Bones.

Heck, they should have kept Dr. Selar.

 

[CoveTom]

I like the character of Pulaski, and Muldar as an actress, but I don't put too much credence into things she says in this interview. She really seems to misremember quite a bit.

 

[Mojochi]

I'm glad she liked working with the black guy.

Not that black guy! The other black guy!

 

[Atariboy]

It does seem odd she thinks Gene died after season two, but perhaps she only meant that after season two, Gene's influence was much diminished, which I bet it was

Yeah, it seems she's referring to Gene basically getting the boot, but remembering it a little differently. Maybe more gracefully.

 

[USS Kongo]

Great interview! Loved the joke she made about wearing old age make up in that one episode, and now she says she looks that old without any help from a make up artist. She's one of these fun raconteurs whom I could listen to all day.

Sean

 

[timtonruben359]

So, I just got back from the TNG reunion at Toronto Comicon today and something interesting happened. Marina Sirtis made a quick swipe at Diana Muldaur she was talking about her friendship with Gates McFadden and said 'I was so happy when Gates came back in the third season! It was so nice to have an actor who didn't need her lines tapped up all over the set...not that I'm naming names"

 

[tomalak301]

More and More Marina Sirtis comes across as a bit of a douchebag. It's getting hard to take what she says seriously anymore.

 

[Dream]

Hasn't Marina Sirtis ever been told that actors shouldn't talk about coworkers?

 

[Visitor1982]

So, I just got back from the TNG reunion at Toronto Comicon today and something interesting happened. Marina Sirtis made a quick swipe at Diana Muldaur she was talking about her friendship with Gates McFadden and said 'I was so happy when Gates came back in the third season! It was so nice to have an actor who didn't need her lines tapped up all over the set...not that I'm naming names"

Sirtis is just a jealous b*tch.

Muldaur got paid more than she was. Also, Muldaur was going to appear in the opening credits behind Stewart and Frakes. Sirtis opposed to that.

In 1999 Muldaur said in one of her rare interviews that her time on TNG was one big nightmare and that all the actors were in it for themselves. There was a lot of backstabbing and Muldaur left the set in tears sometimes because she was treated horribly by the cast, even Stewart.

Director Paul Lynch from Unnatural Selection confirmed this story saying Muldaur was a very nice lady, but the other actors treated her terrible. He felt very sorry for her.

 

[DalekJim]

Glad there are other Muldaur/Pulaski fans. I find McFadden (infact most of TNG) dull.

I think TNG is an excellent show for Seasons 3-5 but I'd agree McFadden's performance and character was dull. Compared to McCoy and Bashir, Crusher was a blank slate. There is no character there at all.

Pulaski was a big improvement.