Katherine Pulaski
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| Katherine Pulaski | |
 Katherine Pulaski, MD |
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| Species | Human |
|---|---|
| Gender | Female |
| Home planet | Earth |
| Affiliation | Starfleet |
| Position | USS Repulse USS Enterprise-D chief medical officer |
| Rank | Commander |
| Portrayed by | Diana Muldaur |
Doctor Katherine Pulaski, played by Diana Muldaur, is the replacement chief medical officer for Dr. Beverly Crusher during the second season of Star Trek: The Next Generation.
Despite being a regular character on the show, Muldaur was always listed during the opening credits as a "Special Guest Star".
Following production of the second season, Muldaur left TNG and joined the cast of "L.A. Law". McFadden returned to continue playing Dr. Crusher. It has never been revealed why Pulaski left the Enterprise, nor what became of the character afterward. Since her departure, Pulaski is mentioned only once on TNG, when Dr. Crusher states that she is aware of Pulaski's short-term memory erasing technique in "Who Watches the Watchers". However, in the series finale to Star Trek: Voyager, Dr. Pulaski's name can be heard being paged over an intercom at a Starfleet medical facility as Admiral Kathryn Janeway leaves the room of her ailing friend Tuvok.
[edit] Overview
Prior to serving on the Enterprise-D, she serves on the USS Repulse under Captain Taggart, who is sorry to lose her.
Kate is a fairly traditional doctor, well versed in methods that her nurses consider archaic, such as splints. She has an excellent bedside manner, and is known to prescribe "PCS", also known as "Pulaski's Chicken Soup", for minor ailments. She shares many personality traits with Dr. Leonard McCoy of the original Star Trek, including a distrust of transporters and androids and a no-nonsense attitude (see for instance her favor of using splints). She also has a high-spirited nature and is known to be very amicable toward most of the crew, while at the same time she likes to make humorous or even slightly sarcastic remarks every now and then. In short, she very strongly possesses a lot of archetypically "human" personality features, and could be described as the opposite of such calm, rational individuals as Data or Spock, who mostly lack these features.
Pulaski is also well respected in the field of research. Her book, "Linear Models of Viral Propagation", has been considered the standard text on the subject for several years.
Other interests include poker and Klingon literature.
Pulaski has been married and divorced three times by the time she joins the Enterprise crew in 2365. She remains on good terms with all three men. Prior to this she has been involved with Kyle Riker, estranged father of Enterprise first officer William Riker, but they never married because of his preoccupation with his work.[citation needed]
Captain Jean-Luc Picard's working relationship with Dr. Pulaski is somewhat strained, and at the beginning of her service on the ship, her stubborn, brusque manner annoys him at times. This eventually changes. In the episode "Unnatural Selection", a highly-contagious disease which causes rapid aging and decline, followed by death is investigated by the Enterprise. In order to protect the crew from exposure, Dr. Pulaski examines a young man who carries the disease, by leaving the ship with him and examining him inside a shuttle. Unfortunately, she accidentally becomes infected with the disease, and begins experiencing immediately painful symptoms. She then quarantines herself on a planetary medical facility where others afflicted are living, while she, and both the Enterprise medical staff and researchers on the planet try desperately to discover a cure. Pulaski rapidly ages near the point of death, until a sudden cure is discovered involving the transporters, which instantly reverses the aging effect. Throughout the ordeal, Capt. Picard admires Pulaski's courage, dedication, and compassion. Their professional relationship remains solid after these events.
Pulaski has some "personality" issues with Lieutenant Commander Data. Despite the fact that Data has always been seen as alive (and later won the legal rights of a sentient being), Pulaski thinks of Data merely as a machine, and does not understand why he wants to be human. She sometimes speaks about him in the third person while he is present, even referring to him as "it". Data's innocent nature leaves him ill-equipped to deal with Pulaski's lack of understanding, making Pulaski seem needlessly harsh. Their relationship presumably would have evolved, had Muldaur stayed with the show, but as it was fans never warmed to it. The concept of the relationship betweeen Pulaski and Data is reminiscent of the one between Dr Bones McCoy and Spock in the original series of Star Trek with the difference that Spock was a Vulcan and not a machine.
The non-canon Next Generation novel Vendetta by Peter David shows her as having returned to the Repulse after she leaves the Enterprise.
[edit] External links
- Katherine Pulaski article at Memory Alpha, a Star Trek wiki
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