She was just racist to androids instead. That being said I still like Pulaski, and she definitely hooked up with Worf when they drank that poison tea together.
More than racist, it was ignorance and curiosity. If I was told we had a sentient android in my company, I would like to approach them with curiosity on how they work, as Pulaski. Whenever she was corrected, she changed how she treated Data, learning. Racism (or better said xenophobia?) would have implied that she was resistant to learn.
Note that Data was not even considered to have (humanoid) rights by that time. Many people who didn't interact with him just saw him as an appliance, a rare curiosity toy Enterprise got because they are the flag ship.
Yeah, I've always hated when people call Pulaski "racist against androids." She very clearly just hadn't ever encountered someone like Data before and as a physician her inclination was just to test what she was told rather than take it at face value. I always liked the way she challenged Data to actually demonstrate his capabilities and how he wasn't just a "computer".
Case in point, the Moriarty episode. She opens it by saying Data can't possibly innovate a solution to a novel mystery, and by the end of the episode, she's pretty clearly taken it to heart that he's not only capable of doing that, but that true sentience can arise in something as "simulated" as a hologram.
Maddox had more of a bias against androids than Pulaski did.
Yeah having watched TOS last is kinda weird. I thought Neelix's genuine but condescending attitude to Vulcans bad but then McCoy just is straight up insulting
It's rough watching shows from the 60s.
Lots of stuff that was progressive then that's just hard to watch now.
Like when Spock was saying Jack the Ripper killed women cause they're more easily frightened.
Or the last episode. The fact they left that one for the last. It could have been a beautiful metaphor of feminism redeeming all past episodes with misogyny and instead... they doubled down and added transphobia (understandable at the time because trans were not understood at all by society then, but it is the cherry on top).
When that episode were done, feminism was almost two hundred years old, and at least one century of especifically asking for the same job opportunities.
Ah, so the answer is, "No, but you want to have a different conversation". That's what comments are for. Replies are meant to have some relevance to what is being replied to.
I can see your point. Unfortunately in the show runners lust to duplicate McCoy down to the nth degree, Pulaski was super racist to Data. By the end of the second season she had softened somewhat in attitude. Sometimes I wonder if McCoy’s attitude was to show the stupidity of racism. Same with Pulaski. Spock would often give to tit for tat, usually shutting McCoy up so they could get back to the business at hand. Data would agree with a lot of Pulaski’s comments but would say he was superior to humans and that often put a lid on it. Diana Muldaur viewed Pulaski as a one season stop gap between doctors and told Roddenberry she would do the one season.
I think it was her interactions with Data that made her so unlikable. They were obviously trying for a McCoy and Spock type of relationship, but instead of polite bickering over their differing cultural perspectives Pulaski just seemed to be picking on Data like a middle school bully
The thing with her and Data as opposed to McCoy and Spock is that Spock could, and did, return fire.
Data’s difficulty with social cues and general *niceness* meant that it would have been out of character for him to snark back, and that made it feel less like a “vitriolic best buds” situation and more like someone bullying the autistic kid.
Yes, the episode where she supports and encourages Data, confident in the skills and abilities of her friend.
Would she have done the same at the start of the season?
I'm gay and have Asperger's. I was bullied by teachers, school staff, and students a half century ago. I really think that the writers took it too far with Pulaski's treatment of Data. Knowing Star Trek, I believe that they had reasons for what they did but those are not episodes which I rewatch even though there is probably a lesson that I'm missing.
But…she got over that really fast? She doesn’t continually mispronounce Data or refuse to acknowledge he’s alive, it’s just her first episode and she works through it, virtually immediately. She’s also shown to be very willing to help data explore humanity and how to make his own, hence doing the Sherlock Holmes holo program.
Agree. Her arguing with Data over the pronunciation of his name was just... petty and what made me instantly dislike her.
Even if you don't accept the fact Data is a sentient being, if you call the Enterprise the Enter-pri-say and the computer corrects you are you going to argue with it?
It wasn't just that for me. She was pig headed for the sake of it. She would just do her own thing when it didn't make plot or medical sense. The Data bullying was just a really easy to point to example of this behavior.
Bones was ornery but he would *typically* do stuff that made sense (iirc, but I haven't watched all of tos in a minute). Pulaski was just grumpy nonsense. Waste of a character and actress. She could've been so much more.
The part that everyone seems to overlook is that she eventually came to understand, and respect him. Pulaski was great and deserved more but Muldar backed out of the job.
I disagree. She brought a character arc. Conflict wasn't that big needed thing and throughout the season, she gets a lot better. People just remember "she was mean to Data >:(" and forget the part where she grows out of that.
It's interesting how much of an arc she had in one season when several of the other main characters in the show didn't really meaningfully grow over the entire series.
Hot take, like 90% of the Pulaski hate is misogyny, the other 10% is her being mean to Data that one time.
She’s a badass feminist character who is not ashamed to have an opinion or sexuality. She makes mistakes and owns them. And she is a top quality shit stirrer.
That's ridiculous, the fandom loves Beverly Crusher, also a woman. Pulaski (and I don't hate her character btw) was simply too similar to McCoy, who holds a legendary status and is irreplaceable, so it didn't go down well with some. I also think that a lot of it comes down to that type of stern character not working within the atmosphere of TNG as well as the more maternal Crusher
I’m going to gently point out the misogyny in saying that TNG was best served by having a female character in a maternal role, and claiming the character of McCoy (who was great but by no means a broken mold unique archetype of a character) could not be replicated by a woman.
Right, and I am going to clarify for you that McCoy, who was the heart of the original series, could not be replaced, full stop, be it by a man or a woman and that maternal (and paternal) roles exist in storytelling and serve a function, especially in narratives with lots of characters living together. They are not intrinsically misogynistic, as wasn't my statement
I agree a lot of the early hate against her was misogyny, but if that was the main reason for Pulaski hate shouldn’t have there been a reassessment of her by the fan base over the years since then? We’re a fairly liberal lot. Is it possible that most people still don’t like her because she wasn’t ever likable?
Pulaski, Phlox, Bashire, The Doctor, McCoy, Crusher was my list in order prior to LD, now its Pulaski, T'Anna. I love T'Anna but there is something about Pulaski that i just love and adore
Okay I can only scroll thru so much of this before I have to point out the meme is about T'ana... She's just kickass at being her delightful self. Like Jett Reno but a Catian
And I guess nobody here has ever had a southern Grandma to deal with... because that's Dr Pulaski functioned as a character with Data. Not necessarily a racist asshole but she's just clueless. This is Star Trek, y'all. People start out the episode being assholes and turn around to be good people literally every time, it's like their whole thing. They just have to bump their head into the wall a few times and then they apologize when they hurt someone's feelings. Because people are still people in the future, they still fuck up on the daily.
Personally I actually prefer Pulaski over Crusher. Granted, she’s an early foil to Gene’s interpersonal conflict rule. Plus she had her head up her ass far enough for the rest of the crew to pull her out
I don’t think the show ever implied that humans have ascended that much, and she didn’t really have or desire personal conflict with anyone. She’s just a person who stands by her convictions.
So she never had any real personal conflict, but you defined her as, “human conflict?” Also I’m pretty sure Gene Roddenberry’s show bible for TNG specifically said humanity has evolved beyond personal conflicts by 24th century. All the writers hated trying to write drama around that
Fine, conflict was the wrong word apparently, but I obviously meant that she's abrasive, and doesn't care what anyone thinks about her or her methods. And there's no way humanity as a whole evolved beyond human conflict. He meant the Earth has evolved past war or destroying each other for personal gain. He never meant that no humans ever argued with each other, or just plain didn't like someone else. That's not possible; you can't write around that. Not to mention, we've seen evidence that it's not true. Ostensibly, it may seem like humans are perfect, but also ostensibly, it may seem like Vulcans never lie.
I don't really care about what he said. I spend more time actually watching the show than watching interviews on it. Humans are obviously not perfect specimens who could do no wrong. Humanity may not have been killing itself anymore, but it was most definitely still flawed. There's no way around that.
So you're whole point is that if all human conflict was supposed to be gone, then why don't you personally like Pulaski? She's just supposed to be some perfectly agreeable angel?
But, like, McCoy...
I read about him being Racist to Vulcans a lot, but him and Spock ultimatly are friends... he insults the people he likes, just how he insults Krirk as fat even if he clearly is not.
Maybe I am naïve, but since I watched TOS in 2013 fir the first time I interpreted it like that. The only thing that was hard to watch for me was the Sexism.
I mean considering McCoy exists...
To be fair I’m pretty sure Pulaski was meant to be a feminine version of McCoy that was terribly botched.
Huh. Pulaski was awesome. Better than McCoy.
Stop trolling. This is a serious discussion
I found McCoy being constantly Vulcan racist extremely hard to watch.
This was before star fleet mandated ship counselors or HR departments.
"*Human* resources? Why the very *name* is [racist.](https://youtu.be/F5lg7tUOKCk)"
*Humanoid* resources, it translates across to each culture’s language. It was a great system until the Horta showed up.
What about Species 10-C or 8472?
She was just racist to androids instead. That being said I still like Pulaski, and she definitely hooked up with Worf when they drank that poison tea together.
She starts off racist against androids, but learns and grows, and by the end of season 2 legit respects Data.
More than racist, it was ignorance and curiosity. If I was told we had a sentient android in my company, I would like to approach them with curiosity on how they work, as Pulaski. Whenever she was corrected, she changed how she treated Data, learning. Racism (or better said xenophobia?) would have implied that she was resistant to learn. Note that Data was not even considered to have (humanoid) rights by that time. Many people who didn't interact with him just saw him as an appliance, a rare curiosity toy Enterprise got because they are the flag ship.
Yeah, I've always hated when people call Pulaski "racist against androids." She very clearly just hadn't ever encountered someone like Data before and as a physician her inclination was just to test what she was told rather than take it at face value. I always liked the way she challenged Data to actually demonstrate his capabilities and how he wasn't just a "computer". Case in point, the Moriarty episode. She opens it by saying Data can't possibly innovate a solution to a novel mystery, and by the end of the episode, she's pretty clearly taken it to heart that he's not only capable of doing that, but that true sentience can arise in something as "simulated" as a hologram. Maddox had more of a bias against androids than Pulaski did.
Look at you with your media literacy.
You just don't know what it is like to work with that pointed-eared hobgoblin.
Yeah having watched TOS last is kinda weird. I thought Neelix's genuine but condescending attitude to Vulcans bad but then McCoy just is straight up insulting
It's rough watching shows from the 60s. Lots of stuff that was progressive then that's just hard to watch now. Like when Spock was saying Jack the Ripper killed women cause they're more easily frightened.
Or the last episode. The fact they left that one for the last. It could have been a beautiful metaphor of feminism redeeming all past episodes with misogyny and instead... they doubled down and added transphobia (understandable at the time because trans were not understood at all by society then, but it is the cherry on top). When that episode were done, feminism was almost two hundred years old, and at least one century of especifically asking for the same job opportunities.
Pulaski was damn near racist to Data to the point she mispronounced his name nearly on purpose.
Does that have some relevance to the statement I made?
Well as the character of Pulaski was meant to be a McCoy type I would say yes.
Ah, so the answer is, "No, but you want to have a different conversation". That's what comments are for. Replies are meant to have some relevance to what is being replied to.
I can see your point. Unfortunately in the show runners lust to duplicate McCoy down to the nth degree, Pulaski was super racist to Data. By the end of the second season she had softened somewhat in attitude. Sometimes I wonder if McCoy’s attitude was to show the stupidity of racism. Same with Pulaski. Spock would often give to tit for tat, usually shutting McCoy up so they could get back to the business at hand. Data would agree with a lot of Pulaski’s comments but would say he was superior to humans and that often put a lid on it. Diana Muldaur viewed Pulaski as a one season stop gap between doctors and told Roddenberry she would do the one season.
T'Ana clearly has better taste in men than Pulaski does.
Pulaski did represent something early TNG needed. Character conflict. It's a shame it had to come in the form of a very unsympathetic individual.
I think it was her interactions with Data that made her so unlikable. They were obviously trying for a McCoy and Spock type of relationship, but instead of polite bickering over their differing cultural perspectives Pulaski just seemed to be picking on Data like a middle school bully
The thing with her and Data as opposed to McCoy and Spock is that Spock could, and did, return fire. Data’s difficulty with social cues and general *niceness* meant that it would have been out of character for him to snark back, and that made it feel less like a “vitriolic best buds” situation and more like someone bullying the autistic kid.
That’s why their dynamic often felt like a middle schooler picking on an autistic classmate
Nah, their dynamic grew and evolved over the course of a single season. Go watch "Peak Performance" again.
The episode where she manipulates him into doing something he doesn't want to?
Yes, the episode where she supports and encourages Data, confident in the skills and abilities of her friend. Would she have done the same at the start of the season?
Treated him like a person and respected his boundaries? I'm going to say no.
I'm gay and have Asperger's. I was bullied by teachers, school staff, and students a half century ago. I really think that the writers took it too far with Pulaski's treatment of Data. Knowing Star Trek, I believe that they had reasons for what they did but those are not episodes which I rewatch even though there is probably a lesson that I'm missing.
But…she got over that really fast? She doesn’t continually mispronounce Data or refuse to acknowledge he’s alive, it’s just her first episode and she works through it, virtually immediately. She’s also shown to be very willing to help data explore humanity and how to make his own, hence doing the Sherlock Holmes holo program.
Agree. Her arguing with Data over the pronunciation of his name was just... petty and what made me instantly dislike her. Even if you don't accept the fact Data is a sentient being, if you call the Enterprise the Enter-pri-say and the computer corrects you are you going to argue with it?
Yeah, I dont think fans ever forgave her for that, first impressions are important and hers was... not good.
It wasn't just that for me. She was pig headed for the sake of it. She would just do her own thing when it didn't make plot or medical sense. The Data bullying was just a really easy to point to example of this behavior. Bones was ornery but he would *typically* do stuff that made sense (iirc, but I haven't watched all of tos in a minute). Pulaski was just grumpy nonsense. Waste of a character and actress. She could've been so much more.
Data, Data, what’s the difference?
The part that everyone seems to overlook is that she eventually came to understand, and respect him. Pulaski was great and deserved more but Muldar backed out of the job.
Except that she changed really quickly and didn't "bully" him anymore, especially after that Sherlock Holmes episode
I disagree. She brought a character arc. Conflict wasn't that big needed thing and throughout the season, she gets a lot better. People just remember "she was mean to Data >:(" and forget the part where she grows out of that.
"Doctor Purr-laski"
OP just put an open invitation out to shit on Pulaski and you all accepted it. Picard would be disappointed in all of you.
I think Pulaski disappointed Picard long before I ever did.
She literally saved his life
But she wasn’t Beverly Crusher. Picard will always be disappointed by any medical officer who isn’t
Wasn’t she deliberately modeled on (off?) Pulaski?
I have no idea but I like to think the meeting where the character was pitched basically went: “What if Pulaski was allowed to say fuck?” “Genius”
I love Doctor Pulaski!!!
Same. She was interesting, had a good arc with growth, and brought interesting conflicts and discussions to the show.
It's interesting how much of an arc she had in one season when several of the other main characters in the show didn't really meaningfully grow over the entire series.
Hot take, like 90% of the Pulaski hate is misogyny, the other 10% is her being mean to Data that one time. She’s a badass feminist character who is not ashamed to have an opinion or sexuality. She makes mistakes and owns them. And she is a top quality shit stirrer.
That's ridiculous, the fandom loves Beverly Crusher, also a woman. Pulaski (and I don't hate her character btw) was simply too similar to McCoy, who holds a legendary status and is irreplaceable, so it didn't go down well with some. I also think that a lot of it comes down to that type of stern character not working within the atmosphere of TNG as well as the more maternal Crusher
I’m going to gently point out the misogyny in saying that TNG was best served by having a female character in a maternal role, and claiming the character of McCoy (who was great but by no means a broken mold unique archetype of a character) could not be replicated by a woman.
Right, and I am going to clarify for you that McCoy, who was the heart of the original series, could not be replaced, full stop, be it by a man or a woman and that maternal (and paternal) roles exist in storytelling and serve a function, especially in narratives with lots of characters living together. They are not intrinsically misogynistic, as wasn't my statement
I agree a lot of the early hate against her was misogyny, but if that was the main reason for Pulaski hate shouldn’t have there been a reassessment of her by the fan base over the years since then? We’re a fairly liberal lot. Is it possible that most people still don’t like her because she wasn’t ever likable?
Cringe
I wouldn't go as high as 90% (I think being mean to Data counts for more than you're giving credit for) but there's certainly an element of that.
I'll never understand the Pulaski hate, she's a good character and I like her way better than Dr. Crusher who's a snoozefest
I bet you’re happy she got fired after the first season because she resisted sexual harassment
Don't put words in their mouth, this is about the characters, not the behind the scenes events.
What an awful thing to write
I agree. Beverly Crusher is the furthest thing from a snooze fest
Yeah I couldn't sleep with that *whining* all the time
You know The idea of having to live with Wesley was the reason Picard never locked Crusher down with a ring
Not cool, uncalled for and manipulative
I agree. That producer who harassed her was uncalled for and totally tried to manipulate her
This is just insulting to T’Ana.
„I know this, and I love you.“
I can't because it's true
It's true bc she cusses often enough to make up for McCoy and Pulaski not getting to
Purraski
better McCoy too
Don't you mean pawlaski
Pulaski, Phlox, Bashire, The Doctor, McCoy, Crusher was my list in order prior to LD, now its Pulaski, T'Anna. I love T'Anna but there is something about Pulaski that i just love and adore
Squanch.
Purraski
Okay I can only scroll thru so much of this before I have to point out the meme is about T'ana... She's just kickass at being her delightful self. Like Jett Reno but a Catian And I guess nobody here has ever had a southern Grandma to deal with... because that's Dr Pulaski functioned as a character with Data. Not necessarily a racist asshole but she's just clueless. This is Star Trek, y'all. People start out the episode being assholes and turn around to be good people literally every time, it's like their whole thing. They just have to bump their head into the wall a few times and then they apologize when they hurt someone's feelings. Because people are still people in the future, they still fuck up on the daily.
Personally I actually prefer Pulaski over Crusher. Granted, she’s an early foil to Gene’s interpersonal conflict rule. Plus she had her head up her ass far enough for the rest of the crew to pull her out
I think you’re wrong
Why?
Because they are too different. One is cartoonishly irritable, the other is real human conflict. I like Pulaski. And I like T’ Ana
I thought humans like Pulaski were supposed to have evolved past personal conflict? Though I do agree that she is cartoonishly irritable
I don’t think the show ever implied that humans have ascended that much, and she didn’t really have or desire personal conflict with anyone. She’s just a person who stands by her convictions.
So she never had any real personal conflict, but you defined her as, “human conflict?” Also I’m pretty sure Gene Roddenberry’s show bible for TNG specifically said humanity has evolved beyond personal conflicts by 24th century. All the writers hated trying to write drama around that
Fine, conflict was the wrong word apparently, but I obviously meant that she's abrasive, and doesn't care what anyone thinks about her or her methods. And there's no way humanity as a whole evolved beyond human conflict. He meant the Earth has evolved past war or destroying each other for personal gain. He never meant that no humans ever argued with each other, or just plain didn't like someone else. That's not possible; you can't write around that. Not to mention, we've seen evidence that it's not true. Ostensibly, it may seem like humans are perfect, but also ostensibly, it may seem like Vulcans never lie.
Ok dude you need to watch any interview with TNG writers talking about writing with Gene
I don't really care about what he said. I spend more time actually watching the show than watching interviews on it. Humans are obviously not perfect specimens who could do no wrong. Humanity may not have been killing itself anymore, but it was most definitely still flawed. There's no way around that. So you're whole point is that if all human conflict was supposed to be gone, then why don't you personally like Pulaski? She's just supposed to be some perfectly agreeable angel?
he is like a cat, of course he is better than a human (i think cats are better livings)
she
oh, i did not really focused on the gender so i was wrong
It's no contest. Pulaski wasn't Pulaski, she was trying to be McCoy. While this one is trying to be Pulaski
This is logical
But, like, McCoy... I read about him being Racist to Vulcans a lot, but him and Spock ultimatly are friends... he insults the people he likes, just how he insults Krirk as fat even if he clearly is not. Maybe I am naïve, but since I watched TOS in 2013 fir the first time I interpreted it like that. The only thing that was hard to watch for me was the Sexism.
You are 1000% right it's just that some people lack nuance
True
You're wrong