Beverly Crusher
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| Beverly Crusher | |
 Cmdr. Beverly Crusher, M.D. |
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| Species | Human |
|---|---|
| Gender | Female |
| Home planet | Earth/Luna |
| Affiliation | Starfleet |
| Posting | USS Enterprise-D chief medical officer Starfleet Medical Celtris III special operations USS Enterprise-E chief medical officer |
| Rank | Commander |
| Portrayed by | Gates McFadden |
Doctor Beverly Crusher (born Beverly Howard), played by actress Gates McFadden, was a character on the Star Trek: The Next Generation TV show and subsequent films. She was a regular character in the show for all but the second of its seven seasons.
During the character's absence in the second season, the character of Dr. Katherine Pulaski was added to the series.
Dr. Crusher is the chief medical officer on board the USS Enterprise-D and its successor, the USS Enterprise-E. She held the rank of Commander. She was the head of Starfleet Medical from 2365 to 2366.
She has one son, Wesley, by her late husband, Jack Crusher.
She is very reserved, quiet, rather shy, intelligent, sensitive, and introverted. Yet she has a very strong will and a sense of justice and will stand up for the underdog.
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[edit] Casting
Gates McFadden was reluctant to accept the role of Dr. Crusher because of her commitment to appear in the play The Matchmaker at the La Jolla Playhouse.[1] During the second season, McFadden had scheduling conflict while doing stage work,[citation needed] so the Crusher character was written out of the show (but not killed off) for the second season and replaced by Diana Muldaur with a new female doctor character. Patrick Stewart was very puzzled by McFadden's departure from the show.[2] McFadden returned to the show in the third season, with her character being reassigned to the Enterprise. In the story of the show, the explanation was that her character "was off heading up Starfleet Medical for the year."[3]
[edit] Scholarly reception
In Sexual Generations: "Star Trek: The Next Generation" and Gender (University of Illinois Press, 1999), Robin Roberts notes that this character "is shaped more by her femininity than by her medical, scientific training."
[edit] Character Infomation
As the series progresses, Dr. Crusher becomes closer to the Enterprise captain, Jean-Luc Picard:
- In The Naked Now, all the crew members become intoxicated and act without their usual self-control. Dr. Crusher purposefully confronts Picard and says he's attractive; they share a rather humorous moment in which they flirt and nearly kiss while struggling to contain their emotions.
- In Attached, when the two are linked telepathically, they discover they do have feelings for each other. They decide not to pursue these feelings, yet realize their feelings may still interfere with their work.
- In Remember Me Dr Crusher is trapped inside a Warp Bubble and slowly the crew of the Enterprise disappear. Dr Crusher confronts the Captain and wants to "tell him something, as it may be her last chance" but before she can continue he also vanishes, this strongly suggests that she was going to tell the Captain how she feels about him.
- In All Good Things... it is revealed that in an alternate future, they have become married but subsequently split up, yet still have strong feelings for each other. That timeline is subsequently destroyed when Picard changes the past.
On an episode sometime after season 5, Beverly takes charge of the Enterprise for a whole two episodes. Captain Picard and the rest of the normal bridge crew, including a large amount of the Enterprises normal crew, are trapped on a planet. Dr Crusher commands the Enterprise to leave the planet after it comes under attack from a Borg Ship. She willfully takes the Enterprise into a near-by sun and manipulates a solar flare (with the use of the Enterprises tractor beam) and destroyes the borg ship as it cannot withstand the assault. Dr Crusher displayed a natural affinity for taking command (possiable due to being the chief of her medical staff) and, like Troi when she takes command, places the safety of others before herself.
In the episode entitled Data's Day it is revealed that Dr Crusher is an expert tap dancer and also an experienced tutor in the skill. She wishes Data to remain quiet that she can dance because she does not want to be known as the "Dancing Doctor" again.
Reacting to the movie Star Trek: Nemesis, some fans were upset that Dr. Crusher was given only 18% of the screen time. Disappointed fans also stated that the cast of the original Star Trek series had had an ending that was worthy of them (in Star Trek: The Undiscovered Country), but that there really were no final scenes of Dr. Crusher in Star Trek: Nemesis, and therefore no worthy goodbye.[citation needed]
[edit] De-evolved form
On the episode Genesis all the crew of the Enterprise are de-evolved into what they would have been millions of years ago, Dr Crusher however is not seen due to her being put into stasis after she is attacked by Worf.
[edit] Character Future
The future of most of the main characters remains a mystery, however in the bonus deleted scenes of Star Trek Nemesis (Which are considered to be canon, and part of the story but cut due to the film's sheer time) it is revealed that she is leaving the Enterprise E to become head of Starfleet Medical again (as she had obtained this position in her absence during Star Trek TNG's Season 2). It is then furthermore revealed in the novels that she remains at Starfleet medical for two years and then once again rejoins Captain Picard on the Enterprise E as Chief Medical Officer.
The non-canon novel Death in Winter by Michael Jan Friedman has Crusher starting a romantic relationship with Picard after he rescues her when she becomes trapped on a planet under Romulan control.
[edit] References
- ^ Adam Schrager, The Finest Crew in the Fleet: The Next Generation Cast On Screen and Off. New York: Wolf Valley Books (1997): 126
- ^ Schrager (1997): 129
- ^ Schrager (1997): 129
[edit] External links
- Official biography
- Beverly Crusher article at Memory Alpha, a Star Trek wiki
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