Without any hate for Crusher, despite S2, I always liked Pulaski and found that kind of character a breath of fresh air, Data antagonism aside.
Yes I feel the same way. She was really the only character that could go toe to toe with Picard and not back down from her beliefs. The episode about Data talking to the kid from that dying planet (2x15: Pen Pals), she had her best scene in the conference room defending her point. Wish she stuck around.
I think the Data antagonism was an interesting thing to explore and I wish she had a longer character arc of her learning to accept him.
Even if they decided to go back to Crusher as CMO in season 3, it’d be nice if she got a guest appearance at some point. For all we know, she fell down a turbo lift shaft after “Shades of Grey.” (I wouldn’t blame her, it’s an awful episode.)
I liked gender swapped Bones.
What happened to her that Pulaski was off the show and Gates McFadden came back.
The basic scuttlebutt is as follows:
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Gates McFadden was fired after first season because of a personality conflict between her and the head writer. Sexism apparently played a role in this mutual dislike.
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Diane Muldaur (Pulaski) was brought in to be more of a Bones-esque character. Muldaur reportedly did not like the show too much and never intended to stay on for more than a season. Her character was declared a failed experiment and she was not offered a renewal. Which was cool with her as she went on to LA Law.
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The writer McFadden had an issue with was fired after season 2 and McFadden was offered the role as Crusher once again.
And now you know the rest of the story.
Technically, Muldaur was never a series regular, she was billed as “Special Guest Star” in all her appearances.
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Personally I liked Crusher more, albeit that may just because the familiarity. I thought the antagonism between polaski and data seemed to not fit any rational for a star trek officer. Seemed pretty unprofessional and needless.
Very forced
IMO people gave Pulaski shit for her, let's be honest, mild criticism of Data. The fans went nuts. If it was a male character it would have been considered just guy talk. The fans-- us --overreacted to her comments on Data. It was no different then Bones and Spock jarring... except Data is childlike. Except he's not. He's an officer.
Yeah but like calling your dog names, it doesn't realize what you're really doing. Queue dissing your dog with Will Ferrell skit For an advanced society it doesn't seem like the way to treat a sentient being even if it has no emotions. At least with Spock and Bones, Spock had his jabs in too and has more expressions than 'yes sir'.
Spock had a very dry sense of humor and enjoyed trading barbs with McCoy. McCoy also genuinely respected Spock despite his comments. The same is not true for the Data-Pulaski relationship. Also doesn't mean that McCoy's behavior was actually acceptable.
The best doctor IMO.
At least she landed back in Gotham City to help Batman in TAS (she voiced the doctor)
