I suspect the directors and writers were trying to decide whether to "re-introduce" Dr. Pulaski with a softened image in the next season or just bring Crusher back, and they chose the latter because it was easier. The problem with Pulaski was that although she was convincing when it came to doctor heroics, they didn't seem to have much in mind for non-doctor Pulaski and her relations with crew members. And I blame them rather than the actress. This opposed to Crusher who came off as very personable and added the mom factor as well. She brought balance to the show somehow.
Which Doctor Did You Like Better...Dr. Crusher or Dr. Pulaski?
- Thread starter CmndrSela318
- Start date
I know it's cop out to not really answer but I think to choose who is better... well you had six years and multiple films of Crusher vs one writer strike season of Pulaski. It's not a fair battle.
That said I have always really liked Pulaksi. Great actress with an intelligent, driven character... I still approve of her all these years later.
That said I have always really liked Pulaksi. Great actress with an intelligent, driven character... I still approve of her all these years later.
I like Crusher.
I like Pulaski.
What else can I say?
I like Pulaski.
What else can I say?
Nothing is required. It's completely reasonable to like both of them for who they are.
Pulaski had her moments, but I prefer Dr. Crusher.
Plus, Crusher gets extra points for having alien ghost candle sex with non-corporeal entities. I mean, that's just frakkin' hawt!
Plus, Crusher gets extra points for having alien ghost candle sex with non-corporeal entities. I mean, that's just frakkin' hawt!
Diana Muldaur didn’t want to return, so a softer Pulaski was probably never an option.
As a Doctor I prefer Crusher. I think she really fits in with the tone of the series better. As a general character liked Pulaski. She challenged things and stirred things up. She had some really great episodes. But in the long run she didn't really fit. Definitely in the Dr McCoy vein. And I definitely think Voyagers EMH got a lot from her.
Like what?
But Pulaski fell down a turbolift. That's cool in it's own way.
Amazed by all the love for Pulaski! I really enjoy Pulaski, but I think it was a mistake (as others have said) to attempt to clone the hostile McCoy-Spock relationship between Pulaski and Data. I don't know that I can pick favourites, though... Gates McFadden had the opportunity to be around when the scripts got really good, whereas Diana Muldaur only gets to appear in season two, when the scripts are still warming up. It doesn't feel like a level playing field.
Pulaski differed from McCoy in her quick wit and sense of humor. McCoy was somewhat of a southern country doctor (which came out in a few episodes, like This Side of Paradise) so while he sparred with Spock similar to how Pulaski sparred with Data, he manner was different and the EMH's manner is more like Pulaski. Though in reality that is because of Robert Picardo, but in-universe it would come from Pulaski.
The Pulaski/McCoy thing is seriously overstated by fans I think. I always find with McCoy that underneath all his Spock-spitting, he does have a genuine feeling of warmth and respect for the 'Green Blooded Goblin'. That's reciprocated from Spock. In Pulaski's case she was openly and consistently hostile towards Data at the start in a way Bones never was. She warms over the Season, but even then I don't feel she's much like McCoy. Diana Muldaur is frankly too good an actor to just carbon copy Bones for one thing, but aside from superficial things I really don't see it. She doesn't have nearly the same relationship with Picard as McCoy does with Kirk for another thing.
Completely agreed. That's another thing. McCoy had something resembling a bedside manner. Pulaski markedly is lacking in this area. For the better. Cool character, Pulaski.
Completely agreed. That's another thing. McCoy had something resembling a bedside manner. Pulaski markedly is lacking in this area. For the better. Cool character, Pulaski.
Is she? Her first action on the Enterprise, before even meeting the Captain was helping Troi, and while the episode kinda tried to sell her going to Ten Forward as a similarity to McCoy, she went there so that she and Troi could discuss her surprise pregnancy in a relaxed environment, not to get drunk. She was a bit snappish with Picard in that scene, but that was because she was more interested in her patient than in ship's protocol.
Later on she's also quite gentle when she treats Ian's burned fingers and is overall quite jovial with him.
That's the thing, even for her reputation for abrasiveness and stuff, Pulaski seemed to react to most things with joviality and a slightly amused smile.
(Though then again, I never liked her all that much, so I might forget some key scenes or something)
Honestly, I'm going from a general impression of a distant memory. It's just how I remember her. Regardless, beyond the most superficial similarities I don't believe the 'Pulaski is a copy of McCoy' argument can really be made to stick.
Edit - What's a good Season 2 episode that is heavy on Pulaski?
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Oh definitely not. I think the writers wanted her to be like McCoy, but she ended up a very different character anyway.
For example, as I said in my message, her going to the bar before meeting the Captain was probably meant to reflect McCoy's drinking and "old country doctor" mannerisms, but in reality she was there to help a patient relax and come to terms with a life-changing event. The "afraid of transporters" aspect was quickly dropped and so was her dislike of Data (as soon as the writers realized that it didn't work)
Though I wouldn't liken her to the Doctor from Voyager either. The Doctor had a very flashy personality and was interested in being the centre of attention, while Pulaski seemed very sober and like she didn't need the approval of anybody.
It's less that it didn't work and more that they pedalled way too hard on it in the beginning and didn't take in to account the innocence inherent in the character of Data. Spock was wry and in pretty much every instance he get's into some verbal conflict with McCoy he has the last (and wittier) word to say.
Data isn't like Spock. What's more I don't think an audience responds to Data in the same way they do to Spock. Spock is enjoyable when verbally sparring as a sort of arch-wit like Sherlock Holmes, but Data is a much more sympathetic character who seems genuinely confused as to why he is the centre of Pulaski's ire.
Pulaski's behaviour towards Data in the beginning is nasty and that's what really torpedoes Pulaski from the start. She's the new kid on the block, openly bullying an audience favourite who lacks the ability to truly comprehend what she's doing and lacks the wit to take her down a peg. It's just unpleasant. I recall at points in early episodes she talks about Data as if he is an object while he is in the room. She calls him out on using male personal pronouns and says he should be referred to as 'It' instead of 'He'. I recall watching early Season 2 episodes and thinking, "why doesn't she just leave Data the fuck alone?".
I'd say the Data/Pulaski thing wasn't so much dropped as sharply softened. Frankly I don't know how the whole dynamic between them made its' way through Roddenberry's blanket policy of "no interpersonal conflict on the Enterprise", but once they take it down (quite) a few notches, Data and Pulaski have a nice dynamic.
But you describe here why it didn't work; it was a clumsy transplant from the original series that failed to take the new characters differences into account and Data was far too much of a sweet sunshine child for it to work out.
Plus, I think there was also a change in sensibilities in that in the 1980s it wasn't as acceptable anymore for characters to bash other characters for being different, and since Data had none of Spock's arrogance, that was the only attack point early Pulaski had; bullying Data for being different.
Now I'm gonna be honest, I never liked the Spock/McCoy stuff either, but I can acknowledge that it worked for that show and that time because, as you write, it wasn't one character bullying the other (though I do think McCoy came across as a racist at several points) instead it was two characters jabbing each other. Spock wasn't an innocent, like Data, he could deal out as well as receive and had his arrogance in his Vulcan "superiority" that made him an acceptable target to some extend.
Like I've said before that this dynamic *could* be used in a theoretical TOS reboot with some little changes. Like, instead of jabbing at Spock for being a Vulcan, a modern version of McCoy could jab at Spock for trying to deny his human half.
For the Pulaski/Data thing I cannot imagine a version that would have worked, unless you severely change Data's character which....no.
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I assume she’d counter, you can’t bully a machine.
And that would just show how misinformed and ignorant she was when it came to Data. He was sapient.
And really she should have known better than to think that Star Fleet would have a non-sapient officer, let alone a mere machine among their ranks. Especially since they seemed to encounter new, strange forms of life with some frequency.
I could understand her maybe being uncomfortable with an Android (they seem to have been rare) that could have worked for a little arc, but her thinking that the Second Officer of the Flagship of the Federation might just be a non-sapient machine would paint a *very* unflattering picture of her.
Starfleet was considering mechanical captains as far back as The Ultimate Computer. That particular technology didn’t work out, but a mechanical second officer a century later doesn’t seem inconceivable.
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