The Pulaski Problem
Added 2024-04-01 17:00:10 +0000 UTCTUESDAY'S YOUTUBE VIDEO - Discussion for Star Trek TNG S2E17 - Samaritan Snare
Here is the YouTube link for those who want to watch it there -
Comments
What are you talking about she is a regular starting next season...
Tim b
2024-04-02 18:26:04 +0000 UTCSpoiler đ€š
James Bottas
2024-04-02 16:13:05 +0000 UTCSpoilers, surely.
Steven Linden
2024-04-02 14:52:32 +0000 UTCor is it just a time loop?
Steven Johnson
2024-04-02 14:37:02 +0000 UTCYou will forget that she ever was in Trek. In one, two ...
Sam Langanke
2024-04-02 13:29:49 +0000 UTCDiana Muldaur is a capable actress, but there was always a certain emotional 'coolness' to her performances. Even in her 2 TOS episodes she plays characters at a certain remove from the others. McFadden has a natural emotional warmth and a more 'relaxed' acting style (she has a career focus in improvisation apparently before TNG). The writers clearly wanted a sharp contrast between the 2 doctors. They didn't want a Crusher Mark II.
Numinous2019
2024-04-02 10:58:13 +0000 UTC@Target Audience It was a thing. That they did. In the 80s. See also: Doctor Who, 6th Doctor
Jovet
2024-04-02 06:48:23 +0000 UTCI've always felt that way about Dr. Pulaski: I never really warmed up to the character, but Diana Muldaur did her best with what she was given. And I get the behind-the-scenes reasons why they had to figure out some way to patch the huge Gates McFadden-shaped hole in the cast. It's not Dr. Pulaski's fault that she's not Dr. Crusher, but it's also not my fault that Dr. Crusher was a more likeable character.
Sam Ferguson
2024-04-02 04:02:24 +0000 UTCOff topic, When Laxana met Reiker she should have asked him "and what do you do around here" (because Majel was No 1)
James Baloun
2024-04-02 02:14:41 +0000 UTCThat subjective. I donât see her as unlikeable. To be honest, I was the reverse of you guys. Back during the original run, when I saw she was going to join the cast, I was really concerned. I didnât like either her character or performance in TOSâs âIs there in Truth No Beauty.â But it wound up that I liked Pulaski. If anything, her performance in that TOS episode was more emotionally detached and icy than anything she did as Pulaski. I guess you guys know she was also in that TOS episode with Sargon. âReturn to Tomorrow.â
Tom Occhipinti
2024-04-02 00:55:26 +0000 UTCI like them both, for different reasons.
Jovet
2024-04-01 23:48:29 +0000 UTCMy chartreuse forcefield beats your crimson forcefield ANY day!! đ
Jovet
2024-04-01 23:47:21 +0000 UTCGene had definite ideals about his utopia, and many of them were good ones. The "no conflict, no squabbling" was NOT one... I would expect 24th century adults to be open-minded and confident enough to not take others beliefs and opinions personally, but to believe that there would never be any petty conflict runs agrain of human nature. Of course, it depends on one's definition of "petty." I totally agree that Picard is the bizzare one in this story! As great as he is in many ways, he has to have flaws, it's just odd that they chose this one.
Jovet
2024-04-01 23:46:30 +0000 UTCI get why Pulaski is there but I still really dislike her.
overdev
2024-04-01 23:26:36 +0000 UTCPersonally I cannot stand Pulaski, but I set that aside from Diana Muldaurs acting - she puts across the character as it was written. And while I don't like the character, I do appreciate the change in the main line-up - it shows Starfleet as a big organisation, one in which people get rotated through various postings. In that regard, it brings an air of realism. Think of any of the armed forces, people get transferred all the time - it's the nature of the beast.
Tim Boxall
2024-04-01 23:15:54 +0000 UTCLousy Smarch doctors
Juan TutrĂfor
2024-04-01 22:54:38 +0000 UTCThe Pulaski/Crusher debate is an old one in fandom (Iâm personally team Crusher), but the acting ability comparisons are always puzzling to me. Nevermind that I think itâs unfair to compare the actresses different styles, I just donât see the whole âDiana can act circles around Gatesâ based simply on TNG. Yes, Diana Muldaur gets 2 Emmy noms in a row for her role on LA Law, but I never found anything that compelling about Pulaski. Ultimately sheâs ok, and I feel bad she didnât enjoy the same âfamilyâ experience the other TNG cast apparently did, but hey, we all have our favorites.
Glenn Johnson Barnes
2024-04-01 21:12:36 +0000 UTCThis is from 3 weeks ago
Josh (Target Audience)
2024-04-01 21:01:32 +0000 UTCBah! Pulaski was an independent duty corpsman doctor. She knew what she did and did not have to put up with. Her arc is mostly in regards to how she viewed Data. She was definitely on "Team Data" by the end of Season Two.
Darin Wagner
2024-04-01 20:20:10 +0000 UTCI like her more than Crusher. G McF just had this blank expression and never showed Crusher as being interested in the events around her. Crusher watched Yar die and was like perplexed by a crossword clue the way she went "she's dead" and then whatever its time to move on. They were all suffocating on the ship and Picard tells her Wesley has the right to be awake for his own death (I forget which one that was it was early on) and she didn't even have a facial expression response. She was just there most of the time. This all might be the writing and directing but DM is a better actress.
Ken R
2024-04-01 20:09:15 +0000 UTCWe need Patrons make video channel go. You stay here, Reading Rainbow.
Juan TutrĂfor
2024-04-01 20:01:17 +0000 UTCI divorce Diana Muldaur from her character, as I think most of us do. It's not fair to relate her to this character... That being said, I did not like the Pulaski character ever. Not when this first aired and never since. Please though... The crimson forcefield was something I continue to joke about with certain friends to this day!
Eric Singer
2024-04-01 19:43:41 +0000 UTCIs it really still a month before you get to Season 3? Or did you record this a few weeks ago?
Tom Occhipinti
2024-04-01 19:33:39 +0000 UTCPulaski is a response to Gene Roddenberry's refusal to permit the human characters⊠and thus, his main charactersâŠ. to conflict with one another.... under the belief that in the "enlightened" future, people will have overcome petty squabbling, and oppositional beliefs and agendas. That was understandably very difficult for the writers, whose creations depend on conflict. As Gene became less involved, they clearly wanted to change all that.... Thus, we get Pulaski who bucks the trend onboard the Enterprise. To be honest, I don't have any problem with either the way she was written, or the way she performed. All the rest of you are just weak-kneed. They are just characters. Archetypes. And they either hit the mark or don't. I don't see how anyone thinks Pulaski misses the mark. It's not like she's over-the-top. If anything, Picard was written poorly in this episode âŠ. a bit out of character, saying itâs inappropriate for Pulaski to operate on him. Yes, heâs a bit uptight at timesâŠ. but his defensiveness, ego, pettiness, and impracticality over the surgeryâŠ. THATâS the part that feels off in this episode. Not Pulaski smiling at him as he wakes up. I guarantee, if she DIDNâT smile at that moment, youâd have an issue with that. Come on, admit it. : )
Tom Occhipinti
2024-04-01 19:13:41 +0000 UTCWell, all I can say is that sometimes some things work themselves out.
Monty Crawford
2024-04-01 19:08:34 +0000 UTCPulaski day, first Monday of march đ
SinocTheHodgeheg
2024-04-01 19:04:17 +0000 UTCThis is an interesting take
Josh (Target Audience)
2024-04-01 18:27:08 +0000 UTCTrue, but this discussion was recorded before watching Peak Performance
Josh (Target Audience)
2024-04-01 18:26:46 +0000 UTCI do think she did have some development over that season. Look at her earlier treatment of Data, and then see her confidence in him in "Peak Performance" and even feeling bad that she pushing him into playing the game, and guilty that he helped cause his little crisis. [SPOILERY COMMENT REDACTED BEFORE I EVEN TYPED IT]
Joe Concepts
2024-04-01 18:14:36 +0000 UTCI thinks she is snarly towards everyone because she realizes early on that her transfer was a mistake and only based it on who she thought Picard would be. Instead she finds a guy with a bit of a death wish with the auto destruct and some very odd attitudes towards his own health issues. You can see she's shaking her head and almost laughing at him over demanding that the operation done off the ship by someone else. She's decided that the Enterprise really isn't all that and you can see it in the way she acts towards them.
Alan Thompson
2024-04-01 18:03:14 +0000 UTCâThis character needs an arc, letâs start them out extremely unlikableâ seems like a poor writing choice
Josh (Target Audience)
2024-04-01 17:14:16 +0000 UTCI hope I wasn't too subdued... lol
Darin Wagner
2024-04-01 17:14:02 +0000 UTC"...something called 'writing'..." Meow meow!
badvertised
2024-04-01 17:13:08 +0000 UTCPulaski had what is known as a "character arc." It's a facet of something called "writing." Personally, I liked her way better than Crusher... AND her being there was the best thing for Wesley. Instead of being raised by his mother, in Season Two he was raised by uncles and father figures.
Darin Wagner
2024-04-01 17:06:20 +0000 UTCPulaski is a character the evolved and became a decent character and with deference to the boys Diana muldaur can act circles around Gates McFadden
Scarpadâs Domain
2024-04-01 17:05:11 +0000 UTC
