Beverly Crusher begat Wesley.
'nuff said.
Pulaski was kinda meant to be the new ‘Bones’ - could almost pull it off.
Huh. If I were injured or sick in the star trek world, I think I would far prefer Pulaski to Crusher.
You’re not a House fan, are you?
That’s the thing, I was a huge House fan, and specifically because of how he was (the same way I loved Fawlty Towers because of what an insufferable snob Basil was). Part of the difference was that House wasn’t just a physician, he was a certified genius and everyone knew it, so he semi-deserved the right to be that way. Also, it’s just a plain old double standard (in other words, because he’s a man!) The ‘love triangle’ dynamic on TOS between Kirk, Spock & McCoy worked because a male curmudgeon like McCoy is more easily likable than a female one (like Pulaski).
But had Muldar been kept I don’t doubt that her character would have developed like all the others, including becoming more likable.
Perhaps that’s the root of it. I detest House and I don’t see Pulaski as curmugeonly. If she’s anything, she’s stable.
Yes, but Data quietly giving her the “one is my name, the other is not” reply is her first episode; she’s effectively introduced to us as the anti-McCoy.
Think about it: when McCoy irascibly bickers with Spock, he’s clearly pushing his own ideal on the guy: show some heart, show some hope, ignore orders to help a friend, be ready to die like a man, realize compassion sets us apart from machines – and realize you can’t evaluate folks on logic alone, since they are their emotional reactions. See how I have genuine conversations, with the smiling and the warmth, about stuff other than my job? That’s the life I recommend. Embrace your human side, like I do. Treat others the way I would.
By contrast, Data is already aspiring to Pulaski’s ideal – and she says, no, stop, knock it off, you’re inferior, you’re always going to be inferior; don’t talk to me like you’re a person in general, or even a servant in particular, because you’re an appliance, an “it”, and my advice is: don’t try to be like me and mine.
I think you’re reading an awful lot into that exchange and their relationship in general.
If all I had was that exchange, sure – but I’m saying the former memorably kicked off the latter, which I think you’re short-changing, episode after episode.
As you note, it leads into the Sherlock Holmes episode, where she keeps cementing what her first appearance laid out:
“You’re wasting your breath, Lieutenant. Saying that to Data is asking a computer not to compute.”
“That understanding is beyond Data. It comes from life experience which he doesn’t have, combined with human intuition for which he cannot be programmed.”
“Now do you see my point? All that he knows is stored in his memory banks. Inspiration, original thought, all the true strength of Holmes is not possible for our friend.”
That’s all after her first episode. “Perhaps I could serve in that capacity,” says Data, in that one; “Counselor Troi is going to need the comfort of a human touch and not the cold hand of technology,” replies Pulaski. And then we’ve got yet another episode: the one where Pulaski asks: “Increase by one thousand, Mister Data. By ten thousand. It does know how to do these things, doesn’t it?” Picard replies: “Commander Data knows precisely what he’s doing.” (This correction prompts Pulaski’s comment that, well, okay, Data’s service record says that he’s alive, so she must accept that, even if she keeps forgetting.)
Like the man said, we already knew (and liked, and rooted for) Data before Pulaski joined up; I’m simply saying she made her big impression, early on, by repeatedly showcasing the one thing that really set her apart from the rest of the cast: how she treats Data. What else does she do that’s distinctly Pulaski?
Even in The Child she forgets that he’s a machine and answers his question about what ‘eager beaver’ means without a trace of distaste and in later episodes, (note that all of your quotes are from the first 4 episodes) she and Data converse, interact and even joke around. Again, I reiterate, what information we are given about the world outside the Enterprise tells us that the crew’s treatment of Data is anomalous, not standard.
As for Pulaski herself, she is driven, scientifically-minded, and an educator.
Gates McFadden wasn’t trying to look hot in TNG; she was rarely dressed in a manner that displayed much flesh, and her uniform was no more skintight than the men’s (unlike, say, 7 of 9’s ridiculous catsuit, which I hated for immediately taking me out of the story).
Besides, she WAS beautiful.
By all means note it; that’s my point, that’s how she made her first impression – long after Data made his, as the likable character struggling to be human.
I don’t see how that helps: the people we like treat him right, and Pulaski is – a stand-in for others, who’d treat him differently, if they had the chance?
By the end of the season she treats him just like anyone else, evoking and paralleling the path of acceptance the rest of the world must undergo in order to integrate sentient AI into their society. She also, as Balance ably points out, serves a philosophical function by helping the crew and the viewers zero in on questions of humanity and what it means to think and to reason.
I’d go further than that. By the end of the season Pulaski believes more strongly in Data’s personhood than most. In the pen pals episode, for instance, when Data has aroused Picard’s ire by saving the little girl on the self-destructing planet, she goes out of her way to tell him that he’s done the right thing no matter what anyone else thinks. Her solicitous manner only makes sense if she believes (as Crusher often seemed to, incidentally), that Data actually did have feelings, but was self-deceived about that.
Once we accept Data’s sentience, I think we have to assume that he has some form of feelings. He has motivations; otherwise, he would have no reason to take any action at all. There must be some basic drive behind his desire to be more human-like, and he has a sense of self-preservation. Sure, those things may be hard-coded into him…but can’t the same be said of us? The impulse to survive and to be part of a group are pretty deep instincts for humans–does that mean we can’t call our responses to those drives “emotions”?
Projecting on Pulaski again: in her place, I think my working hypothesis (based on the above reasoning) would be that Data does have the capacity for emotions, but can only develop them through experience–much the way humans do. Connections must be formed in the brain, whether organic or positronic, to support them. In that light, it’s a good thing to offer him emotional support, as one might a very intelligent but under-socialized child. Even if Data did not have the capacity for more abstract emotions at that point (as, in canon, he didn’t until he got the emotion chip), he has perfect recall; he will remember and incorporate those memories into his emotional connections when and if he does gain the capacity.
So much for this thread sinking.
I didn’t like Dr. Pulaski’s character because it reminded me of another character played by the same actress:
Rosalind Shays from L.A. Law.
That haughty, I-am-better-than-you-cretins attitude is what made me laugh when she fell into an open elevator shaft in L.A. Law, and it’s what turned me off to Dr. Pulaski.
That and I’d tap Beverly Gates’ corpse before going for Diana Muldaur’s live body.
[Gimli]You speak evil of that which is fair beyond the reach of your thought, and only little wit can excuse you.[/Gimli]
Don’t make me slap you, Martian.
Jeri Ryan is a reasonably comely lass, and a fine actress besides. The problem with the catsuit & high heels was that they were so blatantly sexual, so obviously pandering, that they disrupted the viewing experience. Seven’s costume was even worse than the 60s-era minskirts, because no other female crew member was wearing them, and it didn’t fit her character. Particularly the heels.
Well, her husband insisted she wear them…
So what?
Well played.
For the benefit of those who don’t follow Illinois politics, or just don’t remember. It might be argued that Jeri Ryan helped bring about President Barack Obama.