I always see you, I'm very particular about my doctors.
Well you better get a new one, because I'm not a doctor on this ship anymore.
In 1988 you joined the cast of Star Trek The Next Generation.
I did.
How did that come about?
That came about because Gene Roddenberry asked me if I would, and I loved working with him,
and I said that would be wonderful.
We started the second season very late, and we started it without Gates.
At the end of the first season Hurley became the successor to all of the other writers,
and was going to be coming back as the head writer.
He felt very insistent about a new doctor.
Is there something you're not telling me?
She found out that her co-star was earning more than her.
Less sexist.
Racist and sexist.
Sexism and racism.
What's the difference?
Sexist and racist and I think this is sexist, I think this is this,
and he said either she goes or I go.
Gates was a little bit high-handed, and you know, uhm maybe being eh a little demanding.
Eh second season I wasn't there because I disagreed with the writer.
I felt that he was writing uhm the character of Crusher, eh I, I, I had said to him,
I said "You know can we just talk about why is it that if I've raised this kid on my own,
and he's, he might be obnoxious about it, but he has saved the ship about six times
in a row, and there have to be some of those genes that are Beverly Crushers.
So why is it EVERYTIME anything with any wisdom is said
it's a maaale character who talks to him?"
That's an interesting question.
Mm yeah, for a later discussion.
If a man's difficult it's artistic temperament.
If a woman's difficult she's a bitch.
Right.
But then they asked me back and fired him, so that's just the way it worked. *applause*
But, you know, it coulda not happened that way.
There was nobody I hated in the beginning.
I'm glad that they brought her back.
Uhm you know, I missed Gates the whole time she was gone.
They asked me back and the fired him, so that was a good end haha. *applause*
Eh you know I knew eh Gates
when you were Cheryl, didn't I.
He did. I did.
We've known eachother long before the series.
Yah that's part of the problem, you know.
And the fans meanwhile were writing all these letters of support, and so I thought you know
I should do something just to say thankyou, because it's a wonderful thing when people
are really generous, and they're, they're not just writing and say give me 18
autographs on an index card, but they really say, we really liked your work.
I can't believe that you're not, you're not there,
or perhaps someone just wanted it to look that way.
and they were really lovely letters I got, and it, it made me feel wonderful.
So I, and I would get them from children and adults, every uhm age range,
and the upshot was, eh well I don't know if it's the only reason, no one will say that,
but I think it must have some influence.
I was uhm asked back for the third year.
I came in with a better salary than most of them so I had a few problems with that
as far as the people that had already been there for a year were concerned
so that was a bit of a problem eh 'cause I came in
right up there.
You mean jealousy, I know.
The return of Beverly Crusher, eh Gates McFadden will be back as the doctor, and for Captain
Picard that means that there's going to be a certain extra frisson on the ship
whenever she and I are together.
Not likely.
I know how difficult it was for you being away.
I was uhm asked back for the third year, and they decided that maybe the new direction
wasn't the good direction.
Did you get more money?
Well I'm not telling.
I mean if they realised they made a (Aahaha) mistake, and you had been so sad (Aahaha)
in New York I think there should be some you know, little bonus in there somewhere.
Well I would hope.
I think there were people that didn't want me to continue.
It was Patrick who called me, and said would you consider (darling)
would you consider coming back?
What's the dramatic story of Johnny Cash's recent brush with death?
enquiring minds want to know.
I want to know.
What does a blockbuster book exclusive reveal about American couples and marital strife?
This weeks National Enquirer tells you.
Can you cheer up your wardrobe for under $10 this Christmas?
What signals tell you someone's secretly attracted to you?
It's in the enquirer.
If Johnny Carson were free would he marry this woman?
Find out in the Enquirer.
Over 100 features for people with enquiring minds.
Like me.
But Michael Dorn and I could really create things.
We could really just take off, and fun things happened and the tea ceremony happened,
and uhm I, I as my character I took great delight in, in Worf.
I loved my things with Worf.
Doctor,
I wish to thank you.
I don't, I mean I, I, I don't know.
I'll speak for myself, you, you, because I was the last one cast it was sort of like,
uhm, uhm kind of the odd man out and that type of thing.
Everybody was very nice, it wasn't like that.
We're all just working, all just working.
Long hours.
Long hours working.
But I think that probably for me
the 2nd year is when it started to kind of really kind of gel.
The year that I was gone.
*Laughter* We we're both gone.
The year that you were gone, yes, that was, It started... that was the year that we really
felt good *Laughter*about what we were doing.
And then it all fell to hell.
And then she comes back, and then NO, eh but I think that, I think the 2nd season for
me was when you, when you started, when you started going O.K. and we as a group, uhm
although we were all headed in that direction eh the 1st season.
I love Denise.
What do you mean?
It was eh, it was a good choice to come back.
*slow hand clap*
I don't know, the, the bond between all of us became so strong during those 7 years,
6 years in your case Gates, but *Laughter* not really comradely of me to bring that up,
but, but I believe in truth.
Such a great enemy, I mean the Borg.
Oh that was, just, maybe.
There were two really great creations I think on Next Generation, one was the Borg who,
just an awesome obstacle, and the other was the holodeck.
You can't outrun them, you can't destroy them.
If you damage them, the essence of what they are remains.
And then they fired him.
He, he, he, he wasn't there haha *applause*
He's gone.
*applause*
I think this is sexist, I think this is this.
Patrick had called me "darling" uhm you know it just hasn't been the same.
Eh would you think of coming back?
And then Rick Berman called me, and then finally I got the offer.
That's how bad it was.
I don't want to keep from working at Paramount for the rest of my life, but after Gene died
the, the entire office of his office was cleared out by the next morning at 7:30.
Little things like that.