Star Trek Articles (13b)
                Taken from the Public Domain

Interview with / Profile of Wil Wheaton/Wesley Crusher
                            & Gates McFadden/Dr Beverly Crusher

(2) Interview with (b) Gates McFadden/Dr. Beverly Crusher

As the Enterprise's Chief Medical Officer, Dr. Beverly Crusher,
actress Gates McFadden explores the world of futuristic medicine
every week.  With so many new advancements in the medical field of
the 24th century, it's difficult to keep up with them all - as
well as the medical props designed for Star Trek: The Next
Generation.

"There are many medical props including: the tricorder,
hypo-sprays, atomic analyzers, mini-computers which detect
viruses, malignancies, rate and composition of the blood flow, and
laser surgery equipment," says Gates.  "There is a lovely
collaboration between the designers of the props and the actors.
The first day I shot in my office, I thought, 'OK, where are the
files, pens and telephones?' Alan, who does props, said 'Paper's
obsolete.  It's in the computer, everything's in the computer.' So
save those waste-baskets, they might become collector's items!"

Last season, Dr. Crusher departed the Starship Enterprise to
become head of Starfleet Medical.  Now, assigned back aboard the
Enterprise, she has resumed her position as Chief Medical Officer,
in charge of the medical units aboard the starship.  It has also
given her more time to spend with her son, Wesley, the brilliant
young ensign, who chose to remain aboard the Enterprise when Dr.
Crusher was reassigned.

Prior to Star Trek: The Next Generation's first season, Gates, who
lived in New York, worked in theater and film as an actress and as
a director-choreographer.  Her acting credits include leads in New
York productions of Michael Brady's To Gillian on Her 37th
Birthday, Mary Gallagher's How to Say Goodbye, Caryl Churchill's
Cloud 9 and The LaJolla Playhouse production of The Matchmaker
with Linda Hunt.  Gates was also director of choreography and
puppet movement for Jim Henson's Labyrinth and assisted Gaven
Milar in the staging of the fantasy sequences for Dreamchild.
"Those films were my baptism by fire into the world of special
effects and computerized props," the actress states.

During her hiatus from The Next Generation, Gates made a cameo
appearance in the future film The Hunt For Red October.  She has
recently completed work on a new Disney film entitled Taking Care
of Business with Jim Belushi and Charles Grodin as well as Next
Generation guest star John DeLancie.  During hiatus this year she
is performing at Los Angeles Theater Center in the new play by
Derek Walcott, Viva Detroit.

Raised in Ohio, Gates served on the faculties of several theater
arts training programs around the country, including New York
University Graduate School of the Arts, the University of
Pittsburgh and Brandeis University.  Her own scholastic
achievements included studying acting, dance and mime, and earning
her B.A. in Theater from Brandeis University.

Gates, what inspired your love for acting?

"Well, I was doing plays by the time I was 8 years old.  It was
just local theater but I loved it!  I suppose it's because, for
me, it was a fantasy life.  I was the only girl in my immediate
neighbourhood when I was growing up.  I spent a lot of time
playing by myself or playing with the one friend I had.  So you
make up games and so on.  I was also taking dancing lessons.  I
continued dancing through a good portion of my life.  But ever
since I was about 8 years old, I really wanted to be an actress.
It was just something I always knew I wanted to do.

"When I was ten, my brother and I attended back-to-back
Shakespeare for eight days in a musty, nearly-empty theater.
There were 12 actors who played all the parts.  I couldn't get
over it - the same people in costumes everyday, but playing new
characters.  It was like visiting somewhere and never wanting to
leave.  If I couldn't be an actress, I wanted to be an
archaeologist.  I've always been fascinated with history.  I
studied it in school and joined the History Book Club when I
graduated.  The Civil War, Greek and Roman history, German
History, etc.  I also love to read about historical events.  I
love dirigibles, the big ocean liners, the story of the Titanic
and so on.

"I've always loved writing, too.  I wish I could write more for
myself.  I wish I could find the time to do that.  I just feel
it's a wonderful way to clarify my thoughts.  I'd love to write
for the theater.  Writing is something I clearly gravitate
towards.  You know, theater ties into so many things.  Theater
ties into history, and architecture and writing, etc."

I understand that you have also been interested in studying
architecture.

"I love architecture and, in fact, I've been working with a
contractor in trying to refinish houses.  I love doing that - not
just because it might be a good investment but because it brings
me a lot of joy to think about all the various possibilities.  I
think, "Well how can I change it?  What would happen here if the
ceiling were higher?"  Shape and space interest me greatly.  I
studied acting at Jacque LeCoq's Ecole Mime and Theater, and
Jacque also taught at the School of Architecture a class called
"People and Space."  It's a class that studies how people interact
with their surrounding space.  I've also worked with people who
are sound architects.  By sound waves, you can actually make a
space seem vast or small, regardless of its real size.  It's all
done by the way sound waves are hitting individual spots.  So
these are areas that interest me greatly.  It seems to me, in my
different travels with the theater, that I keep coming in contact
with other subjects that I really love.  They all overlap."

You have so many activities and interests.  How do you find time
to do them all?

"I don't.  I always feel like there are 300 things I haven't yet
done!  It keeps me engaged and out of trouble! (Laughter)"

Acting seems to be your primary passion in life.  As a performer,
do you prefer the theater over television?

"I haven't had any vast experience in television other than a job
here and there.  I did The Cosby Show and The Wizard, and a few
others.  While both theater and television are fun and very
challenging, certainly working on a play where you have 4 to 6
weeks rehearsal time and you can actually calibrate where the role
is going, is more rewarding.  You can try every facet of the
character that you want - you have more rehearsal time.  I love
that theater is live.  There's time to explore, time to take it
again and often it's magical.  It's very exciting when you go out
there on the stage and it's just you and the audience.  There's
something very electric that happens because anything can happen.
Even the different directorial and playwriting ventures that I've
been involved in through the years, the possibility of
transformation and the relationship between the performer and the
audience, is very exciting.  It is sometimes the most basic
relationship you can have in any performance field - when there is
one spectator and one performer.  I've had some of the most
wonderful moments in my life in the theater - either on the stage
or as a spectator."

Tell us more about your interest in archaeology.

"I have many places I would love to visit - Machu Picchu, etc.
There are a million historical sites I want to see.  When I lived
in France, I was the first member of my family that had been out
of the country and it was a very opening experience for me.  There
I was sitting in these baroque cathedrals listening to baroque
music.  It doesn't matter whether you're religious or not, it was
a spiritual experience.  I love that sense of history in Europe
and I think I love it even more coming from the United States,
which is such a new country compared to the rest of the world.
Although we do have a remarkable Indian culture to study and learn
from.  But you can't go to every American city and find monuments
with lists of all the dead from every war like you can in Europe
where there is a much larger and older history.  And there are
monuments and plaques commemorating that.  I truly believe that
interests in other things can really colour your work."


The character you play on Star Trek: The Next Generation, Beverly
Crusher, is a very serious character.  Would you like to see that
change at all?

"I think she should lighten up a bit.  I think she needs more
behavioral stuff.  She doesn't always have to be serious just
because she's a doctor.  For example, just because I've been
trained as a dancer people often assume that I'm graceful.  That
is, except for Brent, who knows I'm not.  But I'm so clumsy!  I
just tripped getting out of the car!  When I am on stage, I'm
concentrating so I can be very precise and somewhat graceful.
But, otherwise, you just let it go.  That's why somebody can be a
brain surgeon and still be kind of clumsy when they are not
performing surgery.  I just made that up.

"As far as Beverly is concerned, I would like to see them add new
elements that would bring out the different sides of her.  You
know, they just put this new eating dispenser in Sick Bay.  But
it's only been used once and I've thought, "Well, maybe Beverly is
into junk food or something."  There are things that are there,
and you so want to use them.  But usually there is so little time
that it's tough to go really in-depth.  There isn't much time to
do that in television.  It's tough for them to give Beverly a lot
more to do because she's always needed in Sick Bay working on a
patient who is about to die.

"You know, especially in the first year, I lost more patients than
I saved!  The running joke around the set has always been, "Is
Beverly on the ship because she's sleeping with the captain?!
(Laughter) And the reason she doesn't have her medical diplomas up
on the wall is because she didn't really get them!"  Usually, when
there's a guest star that, for whatever reason, is on the medical
table, one member of the cast will say, "Listen, sorry you're
being treated by Bev - you might not make it!" (Laughter)"

Would you like to see the romantic aspect between Beverly and
Picard shown in more depth?

"I think both Patrick and I would both love to see that go
further.  Yes, that would be great.  Mind you, I'm not talking
about the two of them getting married but I would love to see more
off-duty moments, where we're in situations where the question of
"where does the line between being an officer and being someone
who has a personal relationship begin and end?"  It's a lot of fun
to work with Patrick.  The second episode we shot the first year,
The Naked Now, was one of my favorites.  I thought the character
moments in the script were so wonderful.  We were really put into
situations where you could let stuff come out.

"I would love to see more romance in the show.  It could go a
number of ways because if you get closer to someone then you're
also going to be able to spar with them more.  I would love to see
Beverly loosen up.  Even though I haven't had a lot of large
scenes in recent episodes, they have been a lot of fun to do.  In
the beginning of the third season, I had hoped that there might be
some explanation that Beverly was off doing some specific medical
research during the second season episodes.  Something where you
actually find out more about who she is.  I feel that sort of
thing can still come out.  What are her major concerns in her

profession besides just tending the sick?  What are her
responsibilities in terms of the Federation?

"I'm also interested in exploring more about the medical field in
the future.  What are they doing to take care of the aged in the
24th century?  It's a major problem now and it's going to become
more of a problem in the future.  There are probably going to be
cures in the 24th century for many, many diseases but, so far, in
all the history of time, there has always been a disease that has
replaced the ones we find cures for.  What are those things going
to be?

"Right now, we have such a media bombardment in terms of new
information, and things happen so quickly in our lives.  You can
read the newspaper and all the magazines and you still don't
necessarily even begin to comprehend the scope of any situation.
The exposure to so much information is one of the reasons for so
much of the stress in our lives.  It's like computer-overload -
it comes at us so fast and furious that you can't take it all in.
That's one of the reasons why I think television is so popular.
It simplifies things in a way that people can handle.  I don't
know whether that's good or bad.  I think sometimes people depend
on it too much.  Where is the line between real life and
television life?  For many people, the reality is TV."

It sounds like you share Beverly's interest in medicine.

"Well, I've read some books on certain aspects of the medical
field.  I studied a lot of psychology in school and I've read a
lot of psychology books.  I have several friends who are doctors.
A good friend of mine is a very maverick doctor.  When he had just
gotten out of medical school he was interested in trying to find a
better way to deal with grief and dealing with the death of a
loved one.  He would allow himself to go through a bit of mourning
process.  He would actually attend the funerals of any of his
patients that died.  I remember speaking about this with him in
great length.  He said it really made him feel like a better
doctor because he accepted the responsibility for doing the best
he could do.  He wanted to find a way to deal with the emotions.
And I think that is very admirable.  That's why a lot of people
are wanting to get back to the country doctor.  Someone who
listens and cares.

"There is so much happening now in the medical field that many
doctors have to specialize.  I was talking with my doctor in LA
and he said there are so many huge publications with new
discoveries that he gets that he can't keep up with it all.  I
don't know all the technical things but I do try to keep up with
the general trends that are happening in medicine."

Has playing a doctor given you a new respect and understanding of
the medical profession?

"I don't think it has developed that far for me yet.  I don't
think I have had enough specifically to really know the ins and
outs of the medical field.  It's not like I've been doing a Dr.
Kildare series where I've been exploring all the permutations of
patient care and hospitals.  Remember, Bev has been working in the
future.  She gives shots with a hypo-spray.  One thing I have felt
in the past is that sometimes we were giving just too many
hypo-sprays as if to say, "We're just going to give some drug
relief to the problem."  I do feel that has changed somewhat and
now there is a more judicious use of the hypo-spray.  What hasn't
been explored much is a patient with a chronic illness that can't
be cured and how it's dealt with; how that person has to continue
to live knowing that they aren't going to die for a while but must
live with the constant pain and disability.  How do you treat
these patients?  What's the relationship between the doctor and
the patient?"

Do you feel The Next Generation has realistically portrayed the
future of medicine?

"How can I answer that?  Let's see.  I think that preventive
medicine is where we should put a great deal more emphasis in the
show as well as right now in our own lives.  I think that
prevention needs to become part of our lives all the time in the
same way that I think we have to become responsible to our
environment and to what we put in our bodies.  We need to develop
our mental skills.  The brain is unbelievable and it has powers
that we have just begun to explore.  I don't think that's only
psychology either.  It's medicine, too."

How close is Beverly's personality to yours?

"It's hard to say.  I have many friends who can't recognize me in
the character and others who can.  Some people say, "She is just
not like you.  You're so much more lighthearted."  I certainly
bring myself to every character I do.  But it is much trickier in
a TV series because I can't see the beginning, the middle and the
end.  I don't know where the character is going to go.  She's
evolving all the time.  I feel that everything she does in each
episode is going to have some bearing on her.  Certainly there are
things about the character that I'm sure echo things about me but
she's not a carbon copy of me, not by a long shot."

What is your working relationship with Wil Wheaton like?

"Well, there isn't anyone in this cast that I don't feel a
connection with.  I love the cast and I love Wil.  I think he's a
terrific actor and he's a lot of fun to work with.  He's got a
full career ahead of him.  He and I would both like to explore
other areas of our character's relationship with each other.  I
think a little conflict would be good.  The more human we show
them, the better.  You can't have everybody on the ship being wise
all the time."

What have you found most difficult about working on the series?

"I think the only thing, and some days it bothers me and some days
it doesn't, is that there has been a tremendous amount of
technical jargon and technical gadgets to work with.  When we show
Beverly doing an operation, I have to try to work out what I'm
actually doing.  That's not necessarily in the script either.
Sometimes the script only says that "Beverly is working on the
patient."  There is so little time to actually work out your
movements with the instruments and really be specific.  That's
probably the most frustrating aspect of working on the show.  If I
were a real doctor the things I would perhaps be doing to a
patient would be second-nature to me.  But we don't have a lot of
time to get down to specifics when I'm working on a patient in
Sick Bay.

"Very different from working on a play.  If I were doing a play I
might spend a week one just blocking things like putting ice in
the glass, pouring the liquid, etc."

Do you feel the women on the show have been treated fairly?

"I really don't think it's a question of fair or not fair.  If you
look at the scripts, I don't think there have been as many parts
and scenes for the female characters as there has been for the
male characters.  I truly am not clear on what the reasons for
that are because, as a woman, I find in my life that many things
that could be explored.  I don't know why that is but I hope it
will get better.  I don't think there has been a conscious design
to not use the female characters, I just think there perhaps
needs to be a more concerted effort to try to explore their
characters.  And to not make it something where only the women do
this and only the men do that and so on.  For example, I think we
should all know how to take over for the other person should it be
required.  I'm sure Doctor Crusher has had more experience in
combat.  She would have had to have had some training for combat
situations, for example.  Bev needs a little more James Bond in
her life.  That is reality.  All the people who train at NASA have
a myriad of things to do, even though they specialize in one
area."

Gates, in closing, what has been your impression of the fans?

"The fans have been really nice.  I feel very grateful to the
people who wrote letters to have me come back.  It made me feel
wonderful to read that people were enjoying the character and what
I had done and wanting to see different things develop between
Beverly and the captain.  How can one not like that?  I'm not
particularly comfortable in being a public person but that has
nothing to do with not appreciating the fans.  I am very grateful
that the fans cared enough to write in and say they wanted me back
on the show.  it's a wonderful feeling to know people care!"
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