All true.
But Gates McFadden is a stone cold hottie who would go on to bang a fucking ghost.
You don't replace talent like that.
this post was submitted on 05 Mar 2026
270 points (97.2% liked)
TenForward: Where Every Vulcan Knows Your Name
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It was the hairstyle they gave Diana Muldaur that made her unapproachable.
I'm pretty sure nobody wanted to watch Pulaski get down with a ghost looking like a 1980's public school teacher.
100% true. That Spaceballs helmet lookin' perm didn't do her any favors.
looking like a 1980’s public school teacher.
no no... keep going..
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The grief of her abrupt departure is the real driving force behind Pulaski rejection.
I dunno how to tell ya that queer-coded terrorist is gonna win vs stodgy doctor 9 outta 10 times.
Not surprised a fascistic government would banish a good spy to Terok Nor for being queer.
Wasn't Garrik effectively banished for being on the losing side of an internal power struggle within the Obsidian Order (the Cardassian spy division of the government)?
He was banished because he "betrayed" tain, his mentor and father as well as the head of the cardassian gestapo, in some unspecified way. The people above are just doing the usual, unoriginal take of GARAK GAY because any two smooth talking men without big manly muscles being friends must totally be gay coded. God forbid heterosexual men are allowed to not fit a stereotype.
Yeah, I always assumed, given Garak's very vocal opposition to some of the Cardassian government's actions, that something Tain ordered him to do as a member of the Obsidian Order was his "step too far" that caused his break with Cardassian ideology.
that something Tain ordered him to do as a member of the Obsidian Order was his “step too far” that caused his break with Cardassian ideology.
Thats a wonderful thing about Garak is that I don't think there exists "a step too far". Rather I like to assume that even if it was a heinous request he didn't follow it because it didn't serve his own political motives. What was so interesting about Garak is that he clearly had a formal set of solid guiding principles. However to outsiders like us it looked chaotic and disjointed.
He's not hetero though, he wanted to "obviously have sex with Bashir", the actor said so. And he was in love with Ziyal, so quite obviously bi in some way.
Of course this doesn't take anything away from what you said, just a small correction.
That romance plot with Ziyal was so weird and made me really uncomfortable tbh.
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In that very first scene when he meets Dr. Bashir it’s clear as a bell— and this was my choice—that he was sexually attracted to this good-looking young Starfleet doctor. And although they didn’t follow that up with an explicitly gay character, that ambiguity about Garak remained.
[Laughs] Oh yeah. I broadcast it as strongly as I could. But you know, they never really followed up on it, we never even had a discussion about it. Deep Space Nine was already at right angles to the Star Trek franchise. It was a different kind of Star Trek show. And I think that suddenly to bring on an openly gay alien, who, who was having this relationship with Dr. Bashir. I think that was maybe a bridge too far. I’m guessing at this, but I, but I think that may be it.
I think Ira and the writers loved that it just added to the mystery of the guy. What is he? Who is he? Is he this or is he that? I think it just reinforced what they were already trying to do with the character.
Yeah totally, 100% just shippers reading into it, uh huh.
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An insanely well written terrorist.
Was he a terrorist? Spy, sure. Torturer, sure. Assassin, yeah. But terrorist?
Also, the important part is that he was exiled to Terok Nor. He wasn't trustworthy, but he was no longer employed as a spy, torturer or assassin when we meet him. By then he was a tailor who was on the lookout for a way to improve his situation using all the tricks he'd learned from his previous life. I think people loved him because he was a believable character with a lot of depth to him.
Complain about ops title then.
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May be an unpopular opinion, but I found Pulaski much more interesting than Crusher. Pulaski brought conflict and dynamic into an at that time kinda sterile interpersonal situation among the characters. She could have developed into such a good foil both for Picard and Data. Also, Pulaski already showed an arc as she became friendlier and more open towards Data over the course of the season while Crusher stayed mostly stale for the rest of the show.
Crusher felt likr she had very little to her character. She rarely causes conflicts or takes sides beyond the "responsible physician" or "mom", meanwhile Pulaski felt like she had a level of characterization that Crusher didn't. She's a science officer and a skeptic, a rough around the edges healer who will get involved in your moral dilemma. At the start I disliked her, and at the start of season 3 I wanted her back.
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One oozes charisma, mystery, clearly hates the main villain of the show, and arguably saves the entire Federation by tricking the Romulans to join the war. The other, out of nowhere, replaces a turbo hotty everyone loved and acts like they own the place 80% of the time on screen while expecting way to much credit for simply doing their job.
Gee. I wonder why it's no comparison.
acts like they own the place 80% of the time on screen
I mean, they are chief medical officer
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it's worth throwing out there that one got a whole show to develop and the other got sent to a starship upstate before most people think their show even got good
absolutely. if the show had kept Pulaski and developed the character she could have become a beloved member of the main cast. imagine the stories we could have gotten about her and data developing a close friendship over years. her routinely calling picard out like everyone did to him in picard s3. but at that time in tng her personality was as present as picard and that just wasnt allowed.
everyone loves faciest space lizard man because we got years of him and dr twink boyfriend being awesome on screen. his character had room to devlop.
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I actually liked Pulaski. She was basically just a female McCoy. She was a far richer character than Crusher IMHO. Far less likable to be sure.
She just didn't really get enough time to grow and I think they realized she was too much of a Bones-clone
They were literally trying to make her a Bones clone. People need to remember that the first two seasons of Star Trek the next generation had a lot of ups and downs before they really found their footing in the later seasons.
It’s the same dynamic as with Walter and Skyler White from Breaking Bad. People love the escapist element of coming along for the ride with a bad guy who is on the war path. They don’t love the character who tries to drag them out of their fantasy and back to reality.
At least Breaking Bad had the decency to make you really regret liking Walter as the show went on. That was its real genius: to lure you into temptation and then riddle you with guilt.
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Being a good person doesn't automatically make you an interesting character...
...my child
Oh, you bastard! Got me with this one, what a great character that i cannot stand. Superb acting and writing, all for the worst person on bajor
TNG is my Star Trek of choice. It's an extremely unpopular opinion but I liked Dr. Pulaski a lot more than Dr. Crusher. In fact, Crusher is my least favorite main character in TNG. I think the reason people didn't like Dr. Pulaski was that damned hair style they gave her. It made her stiff and unapproachable.
A review that nobody could hold a candle to. 😏
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One character had several seasons to explore concepts like loyalty to the wrong people, warcrimes, PTSD, regrets. Made the character deep and interesting.
The other character had a handful of episodes to explore prejudice, and stubborn preconceptions, which made the character interesting... But the conflict was essentially resolved after and she only was around for one season.
I sometimes forget Dr Pelauski is even a thing, and then I watch a season two episode and I'm like "oh right!"
I think a good part of it was how the character came to be outside of the show.
Also I really hate that the pronounced data as data
Also I really hate that the pronounced data as data
One is his name, the other is not. Bitch.
Funny how quickly we got attached to data, isn't it?
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Everybody loves a good redemption story...
Yea but Garak has personality and personality goes a long way.
put me in sickbay and give me a choice of Pulaski / crusher / holodoc - Pulaski ever fuckin time.
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How can you stay mad at a face like that? Also, nobody disrespects my boy, Data.
People like Dukat more than Polaski, and I'm pretty sure, by the end of DS9, he was actually the devil. That's what you get for being mean to Data
Well, they are fictional characters. We don't like/dislike them for things they do to other fictional characters, but for how entertaining they are.
People are going to like a fun evil character more than an annoying good character.
It's almost as if people can handle complex characters!
But no. It can't be. That's a stupid though.
Maybe for most ST fans it is because one of the characters was well-written and the other one was garbage.
The problem with the writing on Pulaski's character was that they were reaching for a gruff and blunt demeanor similar to Bones from the original Star Trek. They failed spectacular at that. And I think the only reason that Pulaski has the limited fandom that she does is because Muldaur is an incredible actress.
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Pulaski is such a dick.
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