Summary
- Patrick Stewart recalls a funny incident in his memoir where he helped Diana Muldaur deliver a complex speech by taping her dialogue on his forehead.
- Muldaur's character, Dr. Pulaski, didn't gel well with the cast or the audience, leading to her departure after one season in Star Trek: The Next Generation.
- Gates McFadden's Dr. Crusher returned in season 3, becoming an important character for the rest of TNG and later Star Trek projects like the movies and Star Trek: Picard season 3.
Patrick Stewart described a funny good deed he performed for Diana Muldaur on the set of Star Trek: The Next Generation in his memoir. Muldaur played Dr. Katherine Pulaski, who replaced Gates McFadden's Dr. Beverly Crusher, in TNG season 2. However, Muldaur's Dr. Pulaski didn't gel with the TNG cast or the audience, and she left the series after her lone season. McFadden then returned to The Next Generation season 3.
In his autobiography, "Making It So: A Memoir," Sir Patrick Stewart told a hilarious story of how he helped Diana Muldaur play Dr. Pulaski during a scene in Star Trek: The Next Generation season 2. Read the excerpt from his book below:
Diana Muldaur came aboard as the Enterprise’s new chief medical officer, Dr. Katherine Pulaski, Diana is a fine actress who had been twice featured in the Original Series, but she never established much in the way of a rapport with me, and seemed to function at a remove from the rest of the cast. Our one memorable moment came on a day when Diana was assigned a rather complex speech to deliver to Picard. She was given only a couple of hours to learn it. We didn’t have teleprompters on The Next Generation, so I kindly offered to tape a printout of her dialogue on my hairless forehead. Diana played the scene without a hitch, grateful to me for serving as her flesh-and-blood teleprompter.
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Why Gates McFadden's Dr. Crusher Left & Returned To Star Trek: The Next Generation
Star Trek: The Next Generation after season 1 because of conflicts with showrunner Maurice Hurley. TNG's writer's room was infamously chaotic during the tumultuous first season and veteran TV writer Hurley was brought in to right the ship. Unfortunately, Hurley didn't care for Dr. Beverly Crusher as a character or Gates McFadden as an actress, and he replaced both with Diana Muldaur's Dr. Katherine Pulaski in TNG season 2. As Patrick Stewart writes in "Making It So":
By season’s end, however, it was evident she was not a good fit for TNG, and Diana left the show. Fortunately, the departure of Maurice Hurley after the second season cleared the way for Gates to return. At the invitation of Rick Berman, she reed us for Season Three.
Patrick Stewart also had a hand in bringing Gates McFadden back to TNG. Dr. Crusher became an integral character for the remainder of TNG, as well as the Star Trek: The Next Generation movies, and Star Trek: Picard season 3. McFadden was also delighted at finally being able to realize the depth and complexity of Beverly Crusher in Picard season 3 that she wasn't allowed to achieve in Star Trek: The Next Generation.
Source: "Making It So: A Memoir" by Patrick Stewart