The case of women and their role in The Next Generation.
(This will be a long one and is not intended as pro or anti-feminist. Simply an observation. I don't have a politically correct mindset.)
This may have been discussed before, but it's a subject I've wondered about lately. The subject of female characters in TNG, especially in the first two seasons.
____
Deanna Troi
Dr. Beverly Crusher
Tasha Yar
Dr. Katherine Pulaski
____
Now why is this subject worth discussing?
Firstly, I would say that there is a strong sense of male dominance (I'm male myself by the way) in most of TNG. Especially the early seasons. Even Tasha Yar, the supposed to be "strong" female character is actually not so strong. I cite the episode Hide & Q as an example. Weeping to Picard after she was put in a penalty box by Q. I seriously doubt a male character would be written to do the same, but because she's female, she has to be soft. Thus, she weeps like a baby.
My opinion of Tasha is actually a bad one, I think she was an awful character. Badly written, blandly acted and very uninteresting. She's inconsistent in her behavior and often does things that made no sense in regards to her character. I wouldn't be surprised if Denise Crosby realized this and was part of her reason for leaving. I don't blame Crosby, she was handed a very bad character and did her best I suppose. And when I mean inconsistent I don't mean the "relationship" with Data, I actually liked that. Probably the only thing about her that made her character more interesting instead of less.
Tasha was killed off, and to me, this was good. A bad character was off the show. Leaves more time and more room for the good characters, who all seemed to be the male at this point. Which brings us to season 2. Gates McFadden leaves the show as well, opting to make movies instead. Didn't work out too well (her small role in The Hunt For The Red October was cut to one shot and one line). Recently I've read that she was a victim of sexual harassment by one of the producers of TNG. Perhaps I'm wrong but I remember reading something of the sort, it may be bullshit. (And just for the record, I like Troi. Despite being a very good looking lass, she had a good character.)
Anyway, replacing her comes, probably the only really interesting female character in TNG. In any regular capacity at least (despite being only listed as recurring). Dr. Katherine Pulaski played by Diana Muldaur. Crusher wasn't nearly as bad as Tasha, but she was bland to a near excessive degree. As if the writers didn't bother to give her anything to be or do. She's hot and she's a mom. She's a milf, that's it. Oh, and she's also a doctor (nearly forgot). She's the hot, doctor mom of Wesley Crusher, who's one of the least interesting characters ever, in the history of everything. I may be overstating here, but a little humor is ok.
My point is, losing Beverly was also a good thing, from a character perspective. You could argue that she improved slightly after she returned, but I don't know. So for a whole season we get an older (less milf-y) doctor who actually has a character. A strong woman, with her own wit, her own way of doing things and because of that she clashed with Picard more than once. Too bad she only got one season. I'm not sure why she wasn't longer, perhaps some of you know. But I recall that fan reaction was supposedly part of it. The fans (probably nerdy male fans) did not like Pulaski. Why? Perhaps because she was the only woman who stood her own against Picard. Picard who in a way represents the alpha male of the show, the dominant leader who commands. He's supposed to of course, he's the captain. I think the male fans were upset for getting less eye candy to drool at and getting more challenges to the alpha male instead (who they admire).
It is my theory that if Pulaski would have remained, we would have had an improved series overall. Most of the Crusher centered episodes were wastes of episodes (excluding Remember Me in the 4th season) and her character never grew at all. Remember Sub Rosa? Jeez. Anyone remember her role in the TNG movies? Nobody does, because she didn't have a role in them. She was ornament, in the background. She didn't have a character, there was nothing to work with. All she had was connected to Picard and how Picard brought her dead husband back. And she's really horny for Picard but nothing ever came of that.
Pulaski was a step up, character wise. She was interesting, she had charisma and she had grit. She was in every way an equal to the male character. I often find female characters very badly written and stereotyped into politically accepted views of what a woman should be. (emotional and soft) I guess women actually know that better than I do. But this actually improved in later Star Trek. DS9 and Voyager had far stronger and better female characters than TNG ever did (aside from Pulaski). I have noticed quite a lot of Pulaski hatred on the internet and I can not figure out why. I just can't see how an argument can be made for Crusher being a better character than Pulaski. Perhaps someone who managed to read all of this without committing suicide (out of boredom) can make that argument?
(This will be a long one and is not intended as pro or anti-feminist. Simply an observation. I don't have a politically correct mindset.)
This may have been discussed before, but it's a subject I've wondered about lately. The subject of female characters in TNG, especially in the first two seasons.
____
Deanna Troi
Dr. Beverly Crusher
Tasha Yar
Dr. Katherine Pulaski
____
Now why is this subject worth discussing?
Firstly, I would say that there is a strong sense of male dominance (I'm male myself by the way) in most of TNG. Especially the early seasons. Even Tasha Yar, the supposed to be "strong" female character is actually not so strong. I cite the episode Hide & Q as an example. Weeping to Picard after she was put in a penalty box by Q. I seriously doubt a male character would be written to do the same, but because she's female, she has to be soft. Thus, she weeps like a baby.
My opinion of Tasha is actually a bad one, I think she was an awful character. Badly written, blandly acted and very uninteresting. She's inconsistent in her behavior and often does things that made no sense in regards to her character. I wouldn't be surprised if Denise Crosby realized this and was part of her reason for leaving. I don't blame Crosby, she was handed a very bad character and did her best I suppose. And when I mean inconsistent I don't mean the "relationship" with Data, I actually liked that. Probably the only thing about her that made her character more interesting instead of less.
Tasha was killed off, and to me, this was good. A bad character was off the show. Leaves more time and more room for the good characters, who all seemed to be the male at this point. Which brings us to season 2. Gates McFadden leaves the show as well, opting to make movies instead. Didn't work out too well (her small role in The Hunt For The Red October was cut to one shot and one line). Recently I've read that she was a victim of sexual harassment by one of the producers of TNG. Perhaps I'm wrong but I remember reading something of the sort, it may be bullshit. (And just for the record, I like Troi. Despite being a very good looking lass, she had a good character.)
Anyway, replacing her comes, probably the only really interesting female character in TNG. In any regular capacity at least (despite being only listed as recurring). Dr. Katherine Pulaski played by Diana Muldaur. Crusher wasn't nearly as bad as Tasha, but she was bland to a near excessive degree. As if the writers didn't bother to give her anything to be or do. She's hot and she's a mom. She's a milf, that's it. Oh, and she's also a doctor (nearly forgot). She's the hot, doctor mom of Wesley Crusher, who's one of the least interesting characters ever, in the history of everything. I may be overstating here, but a little humor is ok.
My point is, losing Beverly was also a good thing, from a character perspective. You could argue that she improved slightly after she returned, but I don't know. So for a whole season we get an older (less milf-y) doctor who actually has a character. A strong woman, with her own wit, her own way of doing things and because of that she clashed with Picard more than once. Too bad she only got one season. I'm not sure why she wasn't longer, perhaps some of you know. But I recall that fan reaction was supposedly part of it. The fans (probably nerdy male fans) did not like Pulaski. Why? Perhaps because she was the only woman who stood her own against Picard. Picard who in a way represents the alpha male of the show, the dominant leader who commands. He's supposed to of course, he's the captain. I think the male fans were upset for getting less eye candy to drool at and getting more challenges to the alpha male instead (who they admire).
It is my theory that if Pulaski would have remained, we would have had an improved series overall. Most of the Crusher centered episodes were wastes of episodes (excluding Remember Me in the 4th season) and her character never grew at all. Remember Sub Rosa? Jeez. Anyone remember her role in the TNG movies? Nobody does, because she didn't have a role in them. She was ornament, in the background. She didn't have a character, there was nothing to work with. All she had was connected to Picard and how Picard brought her dead husband back. And she's really horny for Picard but nothing ever came of that.
Pulaski was a step up, character wise. She was interesting, she had charisma and she had grit. She was in every way an equal to the male character. I often find female characters very badly written and stereotyped into politically accepted views of what a woman should be. (emotional and soft) I guess women actually know that better than I do. But this actually improved in later Star Trek. DS9 and Voyager had far stronger and better female characters than TNG ever did (aside from Pulaski). I have noticed quite a lot of Pulaski hatred on the internet and I can not figure out why. I just can't see how an argument can be made for Crusher being a better character than Pulaski. Perhaps someone who managed to read all of this without committing suicide (out of boredom) can make that argument?
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