The re-hiring of McFadden

[katie9918]

I won't say I was disappointed to see McFadden again, because I did like Crusher.

But in terms of the show's dramatic quality, the clear decision should have been to keep Muldaur, even in a recurring capacity if they had to.

True drama comes from within. There was very little drama coming from within during TNG's first season. And there should have been, with all this Jack Crusher/Riker and Troi being former lovers/Data as an android stuff. It's like, why bother with all these backstories if you're not going to mine them for all they're worth?

In TOS, Spock was the first Vulcan in Starfleet and they showed some of the repercussions he'd gone through with that decision. Kirk was married to the ship and they had a few of his former lovers on who had lost out because of his commitment to Starfleet.

I would've liked to see even more of that than we got in TNG, since there was no "Spock/Bones" or any other kind of dynamic going on there. Muldaur brought a new dynamic to the show.

 

[Therin of Andor]

MeanJoePhaser said:
I've never heard that until recently. What was wrong with McFadden's hair?

Long red hair with a thin texture loses its style after only a short time under hot studio lights. The continuity person in Season One spent a lot of time sending Gates McFadden back, after only a few scenes, to have her hair rewashed and reset. In TV, time is money. These delays caused friction on the set and, whenever Gates complained about scripts not forwarding her character, she'd be reminded how much time her hair wasted on the set. What sounds like a trivial matter became a very contentious issue. Having an assortment of expensive, styled wigs on hand in Season Three made life much better for everyone.

(And then Marina Sirtis started to complain - half jokingly - that they'd given Gates an array of real-hair wigs, but she still had to wear the cheap nylon fall attached to the back of her head. By about Season Five, they finally gave in and bought her a natural hair fall.)

RE: Crusher's character. Had David Gerrold's "Blood and Fire" been filmed early in Season One, it had a very juicy amount for Gates to perform. But when Gerrold's script was quashed, there went a strong Crusher episode that would have paved the way for a three-dimensional character, which other writers would have picked up on.

I disagree that Pulaski was well-conceived. She was essentially McCoy in female form.

 

[WalkinMan]

Wow, good thing Janeway/Kate Mulgrew used her real hair I guess?

 

[Therin of Andor]

^ There were many debates about what to do with Janeway's hair. The "bun of steel" was one of many solutions tried.

 

[SiorX]

Therin of Andor said:RE: Crusher's character. Had David Gerrold's "Blood and Fire" been filmed early in Season One, it had a very juicy amount for Gates to perform. But when Gerrold's script was quashed, there went a strong Crusher episode that would have paved the way for a three-dimensional character, which other writers would have picked up on.

Colour me curious. I've heard of "Blood and Fire" (the quashed AIDS allegory ep, right?), but didn't know Crusher was to have played a significant part. Is there a copy of the original script floating around in the ether or anything?

 

[number6]

New Voyages is doing it for their next release.

 

[Red Ranger]

I never liked Gates McFadden as Dr. Crusher or Diana Muldaur as Dr. Pulaski. The former was too nondescript, the latter was just Dr. McCoy in drag. And Dr. Crusher just ended up being Capt. Picard's might-be lady to keep up the silly sexual tension -- same dumb thing they did with Riker and Troi.

They should have married or just gotten together either couple. I guess that's why they had Chief O'Brien get married to Keiko -- at least someone had a healthy, two-person relationship on the show!

RR

 

[SiorX]

Number6 said:
New Voyages is doing it for their next release.

Class.

But that's TOS, right? So I'd still need to go back to an original script to see what he intended for Crusher.

 

[Kegek]

Therin of Andor said:
I disagree that Pulaski was well-conceived. She was essentially McCoy in female form.

Well, I for one didn't call her well-concieved. Just concieved, by contrast to Crusher who wasn't. An unproduced episode notwithstanding, the character was basically her job and her relationship to Picard and Wesley in the first season.

I do think Pulaski transcended her origins as a McCoy clone, howeverm thanks mainly to the acting of Muldaur but also to quite a bit of the writing.

 

[Malleus]

Therin of Andor said:

RE: Crusher's character. Had David Gerrold's "Blood and Fire" been filmed early in Season One, it had a very juicy amount for Gates to perform. But when Gerrold's script was quashed, there went a strong Crusher episode that would have paved the way for a three-dimensional character, which other writers would have picked up on.

Care to elaborate on how a gay male couple would've enhanced her character?

 

[Kegek]

^
I've got no idea, but IIRC they were suffering from an illness that was intended as an AIS allegory. Presumably Crusher would be trying to save them.

 

[SiorX]

Hammer said:

Care to elaborate on how a gay male couple would've enhanced her character?

I went a-Googling and found this. The bit with Worf's suggestion that Picard should beat Crusher to teach her her place cracked me up.

The same refusual to kowtow in the face of medical emergencies was developed in The High Ground though, right? So it was showcased by S3 (unless you're British, and didn't get to see that ep first time out )

 

[2of1million]

SiorX said:

Therin of Andor said:RE: Crusher's character. Had David Gerrold's "Blood and Fire" been filmed early in Season One, it had a very juicy amount for Gates to perform. But when Gerrold's script was quashed, there went a strong Crusher episode that would have paved the way for a three-dimensional character, which other writers would have picked up on.

Colour me curious. I've heard of "Blood and Fire" (the quashed AIDS allegory ep, right?), but didn't know Crusher was to have played a significant part. Is there a copy of the original script floating around in the ether or anything?

There is one on ebay now. Also it's in David Gerrold's new book "The Involuntary Human" and it's been redone for the next Star Trek: New Voyages episode.

 

[Kegek]

SiorX said:
The same refusual to kowtow in the face of medical emergencies was developed in The High Ground though, right? So it was showcased by S3 (unless you're British, and didn't get to see that ep first time out )

I thought they just edited out Data's line about the violent Irish reunification, but considering how much of the episode was a thinly veiled analogy to the NI situation anyways, I can see them blocking that out. Ah, I'll have fun things to say about that episode when some of the reviews in A Journey get to it...

 

[RandyS]

Kegek said:
I also prefer Pulaski. A very strong character, one of the best female characters in Star Trek (not that that's a competitive category). A McCoy clone, maybe, but a good one and McCoy's not a bad model.

Maybe not, but he's a better character, as is Crusher (in spite of her rather moronic name). Pulaski was a Bones clone. Nothing more, nothing less.

 

[Malleus]

middyseafort said:

Crusher, however, was the Janice Rand of TNG with a medical degree.

Speaking of Grace Lee Whitney (the actress herself ), for some reason the Gates pics of this page evoke the image of Whitney's face (especially this one).

RandyS said:

Maybe not, but he's a better character, as is Crusher (in spite of her rather moronic name). Pulaski was a Bones clone. Nothing more, nothing less.

Even though I know they muted down the McCoy-ness of Pulaski's character later on (I prefer her characterization regarding her past relationship with Will's dad than her McCoy-ness), even in the first few eps, McCoy's character wouldn't have fit in, specifically because Data had no bones with Pulaski. Data wanted to be more "human," and Pulaski was a bit too much of an impediment.

McCoy worked in the original series because he and Spock would try to get under each other's skin with their witty remarks.

 

[Sisu]

I think the whole Pulaski-Data thing has been overplayed. From what I saw (and said in Elementary, Dear Data, though I might be mistaken) is that Pulaski didn't want Data to limit himself to just being "human".

She wanted him to develop as an individual sapient being, and not along any predetermined pathway.

It is similar to my favourite Trek story, DS9's Chimera, in that Odo comes to terms with his differences to solids being something that should be celebrated, not hidden or ignored.

 

[Gkar]

I like how she challenged Data on an on-going basis. Also, it's good to see a pessimist in the optimistic world of star trek.

 

[Jonesy]

Starship Polaris said:

Kegek said:

SonicRanger said:
Allegedly, yes -- supposedly, McFadden said to TPTB: "It's him or me" and lost, but then that person supposedly left after the second season, making room for McFadden to return.

I believe that rumoured person is intended to be Maurice Hurley, the producer of TNG during season one and two who left after that.

Bear in mind I am repeating a version of the rumour I've earlier read and have no reason to give it credulity.

Nonetheless, you've got it pretty much on the nose.

McFadden was also noteworthy for mentioning at cons, years ago, to look for a contributor to TNG who went missing following the second season.

In recent years, she does not mention anything along those lines at all. It appears that she's moved on.

I don't know if this person still posts to Trekbbs at all anymore, but I do recall reading a posting by Garamet at another website forum - and this is (one of many posts) what she had to say about Gates and her departure:

"I go to a lot of cons, meet a lot of people. People talk and, based on who they are, I judge their credibility. I was also at a con where Gates was a guest very soon after she left the show, and Paramount sent a minder along so she wouldn't say anything when she was asked. And the fans always asked.

Solow and Justman's book gives you an idea of the atmosphere on the Trek set as long as GR was around. Gates wasn't the only actress who was told, "Look, sweetie, the Casting Couch is an old Hollywood tradition. That's just the way things are in this town."

It never got to that point, as I understand it. She would be sitting at a table read and suddenly someone's hand would be creeping up her thigh. When she complained to the higher ups, she was told if she was unhappy she could leave. So she left.

Can't imagine what else she might have done."[/b]

 

[Dorothy_Zbornak]

Ro_Laren said:
Well I'm sure glad they didn't hire a third doctor!! Is there anyone here that actually likes Pulaski better than Crusher???

Pulaski was far more interesting and solidly realistic--she had more depth in a limited single season than Crusher had in 7 plus 3 movies.