Why crusher left star trek

Enterprise, where she held the rank of commander and served as a bridge officer. But Dr. Crusher was also a mother , bringing understanding and emotion to her tasks informed by the process of raising her son, Wesley. That was a very different direction from The Original Series confrontational Dr. McCoy, and helped to set a new tone for The Next Generation.

But McFadden didn't always find her role as Dr. Crusher easy. She raised concerns about sexist scripts and plot lines that eventually led to her being pushed out. Some identify head writer Maurice Hurley as having a real " bone to pick " with McFadden, creating the tension that led to her departure.

Others point to the time and money that went into ensuring the continuity of her hair as a deciding factor. McFadden's exit after only one season coincided with the death of Denise Crosby's character, Tasha Yar, ensuring the show lost two women leads at the same time.

McFadden claimed producers believed the show had "too many women," and refused to write scenes for them together, thus creating a culture in which asking two of them to leave was possible. TNG : " Ethics ". When Ambassador Ves Alkar began using Deanna Troi as a receptacle for his psychic "waste" in , Crusher developed a way to break his link on her and restore Troi to normal.

TNG : " Man of the People ". Crusher was the first to study a macroscopic coalescent organism found on Relay Station 47 in Her entire hand was duplicated by the organism while she was studying it in the Enterprise sickbay. TNG : " Aquiel ". Also in , Beverly was a major participant in the race to decipher the final research of Dr. Her contributions, along with those of the Enterprise -D crew and various other interests, led to the discovery of a message from the ancient humanoids , the oldest sentient humanoid species.

TNG : " The Chase ". Crusher unwittingly caused the first case of Barclay's Protomorphosis Syndrome in She used a synthetic T-cell to treat Lieutenant Reginald Barclay 's case of Urodelan flu , intending for the T-cell to activate a dormant gene and allow him to fight the infection.

Another anomaly in Barclay's genes caused the T-cell to mutate, and it began activating other dormant introns. The T-cell became airborne and rapidly spread to the rest of the ship, causing the entire Enterprise crew to "de-evolve" to earlier evolutionary stages. TNG : " Genesis ". As a fully-certified bridge officer, Crusher commanded the Enterprise -D on several occasions, most notably in while nearly the entire crew was searching for Data on a renegade Borg planet.

The ship was attacked by a Borg vessel , but her quick thinking allowed the Enterprise to escape and destroy the Borg ship. Crusher's empathy for her patients and her concern for their care above everything else occasionally caused problems, as she openly challenged Captain Picard's unwillingness to intervene on a situation in where the Brekkians were supplying the Ornarans with an addictive drug.

Such an intervention would have been a direct violation of the Prime Directive. TNG : " Symbiosis ". Another instance of Beverly's empathy getting the better of her was when she rescued a native of Mintaka III during an emergency mission to a cultural observation outpost on the Bronze-age world. The Mintakan , Liko , awoke in the Enterprise sickbay and saw Captain Picard, believing him to be a god. After he was returned to his people, his story caused confusion and paranoia until Picard was able to prove that he too, was mortal.

Also in , Beverly was taken captive on the war-torn planet of Rutia IV after tending to citizens wounded during an Ansata attack. Their leader, Kyril Finn , wanted to have her cure the internal damage caused as a result of the terrorists' use of a folded-space transport device. Crusher was shocked that Finn compared himself to George Washington , but also began to wonder whether or not the Federation's involvement with the official Rutian government was appropriate.

She also had a great deal of sympathy for a small child who helped her tend to those injured by the transport device, and she was able to gain Finn's confidence as he sketched several pages of drawings modeled after her. Eventually, Beverly realized Finn was extremely irrational and misguided after he kidnapped Captain Picard and attempted to destroy the Enterprise.

She was rescued when the Enterprise crew was able to locate the Ansata compound and Finn was killed. The child picked up a weapon and attempted to assassinate Picard and Alexana Devos , a Rutian security official, but Beverly convinced him to stand down. Crusher made her feelings about the empathic metamorph Kamala and her "duty" quite clear when the Enterprise played host to peace negotiations between Krios and Valt in She felt Kamala was being forced into what amounted to slavery , and resented the fact that she was confined to quarters aboard the ship.

In , the Enterprise discovered a crashed Borg scout ship in the Argolis Cluster. There was one survivor, Third of Five , later known as Hugh. Although Lieutenant Worf, Commander Riker and several Enterprise crewmembers wanted to kill the drone , it was due to Crusher's insistence that he was brought aboard and nursed back to health. Beverly strongly disagreed with the plan to send Hugh back with a computer virus designed to infect the Borg Collective , being the sole member of the senior staff who refused to recognize the Borg threat, but eventually helped Chief Engineer Geordi La Forge work with Hugh to construct such a weapon.

Eventually, Captain Picard decided against using the virus, but the Enterprise crew did not realize at the time that the personality Hugh developed working with Crusher and the rest of the crew would be nearly as damaging. Beverly attended the Altine Conference in , and learned of the research of a Ferengi scientist named Reyga.

He believed he had found the secret to metaphasic shielding , but many other scientists were skeptical of his claims. Crusher organized a small conference aboard the Enterprise and invited several leading scientists in the field of subspace morphology to view a test of the technology on the shuttlecraft Justman.

Unfortunately, the test was sabotaged by a Takaran scientist named Jo'Bril , who staged his own death and then murdered Reyga by making it appear he had committed suicide in order to discredit the Ferengi. Jo'Bril had planned to steal the design for his own malicious use. Beverly felt responsible for the two deaths, and was determined to find the cause of the accidents. Crusher broke a number of rules, including performing an autopsy on Reyga against the tenets of the Ferengi death ritual , and was relieved of duty.

After some helpful encouragement from Guinan , she eventually discovered Jo'Bril's plan, prevented him from stealing the data, and proved the technology was valid. Aboard the shuttlepod, Beverly was attacked by Jo'Bril and she was forced to kill him in self-defense.

Crusher was exonerated and returned to duty shortly following the incident. TNG : " Suspicions ". The Enterprise observed the destruction of Boraal II 's biosphere in Crusher supported Dr. Nikolai Rozhenko 's plan to save a small group of the Boraalans , feeling that the Prime Directive did not apply since the people would be destroyed anyhow.

She was saddened when Picard did not take any action, and was confronted with a new dilemma when Rozhenko went over Picard's head and transported the group to the Enterprise holodeck. Along with Commander Data, Crusher had to decide on an appropriate new home for the Boraalans, a decision which weighed heavily on her shoulders.

She correctly assumed that any choice made would shape the development of the Boraalan civilization for centuries to come. The Boraalan group was subsequently moved to Vacca VI , which had a climate somewhat less hospitable, but was in a secluded location. TNG : " Homeward ". In , Crusher was hit by the mostly harmless energy stun effect generated by the Beta Renner entity.

Crusher sustained superficial phaser burns after she tried to prevent Lore from betraying the Enterprise crew in TNG : " Datalore ". Also that year, Dr. Crusher was injured during an away mission to the planet Minos. She and Captain Picard were being chased by one of the automated weapon drones on the planet, and the pair fell into an abandoned bunker.

Crusher had lost her medical kit and was going into shock, but she kept awake long enough to instruct Picard on how to use the native plants to treat her wounds.

She was rescued after Picard and Data figured out how to disable the weapons. A Ullian named Jev visited the Enterprise in , and mentally attacked several crewmembers, including Crusher, causing them to fall into a coma for a brief period of time, initially blamed on Iresine Syndrome. Crusher was forced to revisit the time when she and Picard visited Jack's body. Jev took the place of both Jack and Picard at various times, resulting in a terrifying experience.

TNG : " Violations ". Under the tutelage of Worf, Beverly was very eager to learn advanced Klingon martial arts. She attempted the techniques as fast as possible, to varying degrees of success. She was slightly injured during a training session in , although she admitted it was more of a blow to her pride.

Crusher was nearly buried by a cave-in while scouting the underground caverns of Celtris III , but she escaped with minor injuries. The Enterprise aided a Romulan Warbird damaged after an alien species used the artificial quantum singularity in its warp core as a nest for its young in late The Warbird was evacuated, and survivors were brought to sickbay.

One of the aliens was masquerading as a Romulan female and was discovered by a Romulan crewmember. He fired a disruptor on disintegrate at her, but Dr. Crusher got in the way and was hit. When time was reversed and restored, Counselor Troi was on hand to move Crusher out of the way in time.

TNG : " Timescape ". Crusher was severely injured in by Lieutenant Worf, affected by Barclay's Protomorphosis Syndrome. She was placed into stasis after being nearly paralyzed by venom, and required reconstructive surgery. Therefore, she did not "de-evolve" with the rest of the crew at that point in time.

Although there were no fatalities to the crew, there were many wounded, which kept Crusher quite busy. Star Trek Generations. Her command abilities were put to good use during the ship's near assimilation by the Borg during its trip to the year , where she served as temporary executive officer during the crisis.

Even though she was not fond of the Emergency Medical Hologram , she successfully used it as a decoy to keep the Borg distracted while the sickbay staff and patients made it to relative safety.

Star Trek: First Contact. In , Beverly was part of the diplomatic contingent welcoming the Evora as a protectorate into the Federation. She also aided Captain Picard in his struggle to keep the Ba'ku from being relocated by the Son'a , and was the first to realize that both species were of the same ancestry. During the Ba'ku exodus, Deanna noted that her breasts were starting to "firm up" due to the effects of the planet's metaphasic radiation.

Star Trek: Insurrection. Beverly then attended the wedding of Commander Riker and Counselor Troi on Earth and subsequently traveled to Betazed to take part in a traditional Betazoid wedding ceremony. After discovering Data's 'brother', B-4 , Beverly and Lt. Commander Data collaborated on an examination of the less-advanced android's systems. Star Trek Nemesis. Beverly was an accomplished thespian and playwright.

She formed a theater troupe aboard the Enterprise TNG : " The Nth Degree " and produced several classic and original plays, sometimes to the dismay of the crewmembers she sought to fill the roles. She also taught an acting workshop. Although she was not shy about her theatrical abilities, Beverly was somewhat embarrassed of her past as a dancer, not wanting to be known by her nickname, " The Dancing Doctor. It was listed as part of her service record. She was also familiar with the waltz and was capable of teaching it to others.

Beverly had varied interests in cybernetics and as an ethno-botanist , she even wrote papers on the subjects. Terence Epstein , a leading authority in the field of cybernetics. Eventually she published a paper on the subject which Toby Russell considered revolutionary and fascinating. Crusher was also a regular participant in the Enterprise -D poker games. Beverly felt that beards were no more than affectations, and made the bet that if she won, the three men would need to shave their beards off.

If the men won, Crusher would need to become a brunette. For a time, it appeared as if Crusher was going to win the bet, but the senior staff was recalled to the bridge before the game could be finished, despite Crusher's protest.

Jack and Beverly took Wesley to Balfour Lake on his first camping trip while he was still very young. Beverly later recalled with amusement that Wesley entertained himself by throwing manta leaves into the fire. During his early childhood, Wesley had problems making friends.

Beverly explained she had the same experience as a youngster to help him feel better about the situation. Every answer she tried to offer seemed incomplete. Beverly never used physical violence to punish Wesley. The only time she ever slapped him was during Ambassador Sarek 's visit to the Enterprise -D in Sarek was affected by Bendii Syndrome and his negative emotions were projected onto the crew. TNG : " Sarek ". Wesley came aboard the Enterprise with Beverly in He accompanied her on the turbolift to the bridge , initially drawing the ire of Captain Picard.

When the Traveler first visited the Enterprise -D in , he informed Picard that Wesley had great potential and was in touch with abilities most Humans did not realize they could access. He asked that Picard not reveal this information to anyone, especially Dr. Crusher, although it is clear Picard did tell Beverly at some future point in time. While visiting planet Rubicun III , Wes was arrested and sentenced to death for committing a minor violation of the Edo laws.

Crusher was extremely upset, vowing that she would not let the Edo execute her son. Along with the Enterprise crew, she convinced the Edo God that the law was unjust and Wesley should be spared.

TNG : " Justice ". Wesley was the only person to realize that Lore had taken Data's place when the ship first recovered him in Picard ordered him off the bridge after he spoke his concerns, forcing Beverly to follow him.

Wes later convinced her to go reactivate Data and investigate Lore's activities. This ultimately prevented the Crystalline Entity from harvesting the Enterprise crew as an energy source.

During Crusher's posting to Starfleet Medical in , Wesley remained aboard the ship. Commander Riker and Lieutenant Worf were responsible for caring for Wesley in her absence.

TNG : " The Child " After Beverly returned, she became concerned that Wesley was spending too much time on duty and not enough time socializing and being a teenager. Moreover, she felt she had missed out on much of his life, and was having trouble reconnecting to him. Later on, she learned that Wes did indeed have teenage friends. She noticed one of his attractive female companions, and tried to get more information about her from Guinan, as a good mother would. TNG : " Evolution ".

Wesley was to leave for the Academy in , but was delayed while assisting in a rescue of Commander Riker, Counselor Troi, and Ambassador Lwaxana Troi. Because he was set back one year, Picard promoted him to full ensign, making Dr.

Crusher extremely proud. Wesley finally left to attend the Academy in , separating the Crushers yet again. In , Nova Squadron members, including Wesley, were involved in a disaster which led to the death of one cadet, Joshua Albert. They illegally used the Kolvoord Starburst maneuver and then lied to an inquiry panel about the circumstances surrounding the incident. Crusher rallied behind her son and defended the team on behalf of the other parents even in the face of evidence which indicated they were being deceptive.

She was disappointed with Wesley's conduct when the truth was revealed. Wes returned to visit the Enterprise -D in He became very rude and abrasive towards his former crewmates, including his mother, and jeopardized a Federation operation on the Dorvan V colony.

After meeting with the Traveler once more, Wes realized that his destiny did not include Starfleet at that moment in time, and he resigned his commission. Beverly was apprehensive about his departure, but she remembered the Traveler's words from six years prior and realized not only had Wesley grown and needed to make his own decisions, but that this was an important and necessary step in his life.

TNG : " Journey's End ". Wesley returned to finish his studies well before , attending the wedding of Will Riker and Deanna Troi with Dr. Crusher was quite close to several members of the Enterprise crew. She was the only senior officer who customarily addressed the rest of the bridge crew by their first names. Still, Wheaton has kept himself gainfully employed on he fringes of Hollywood over the years, and we can only assume his high profile work on The Big Bang Theory has opened a few more doors to him.

If they did, I would say 'yes,' of course" via CinemaBlend. Even if that Star Trek: Picard appearance never comes to fruition, it appears that Wheaton has finally made peace with his departure from the TNG , and more importantly, with his co-stars.

When asked about both during a convention appearance, Wheaton had nothing but kind words for his TNG experience via Trek News. What I wasn't prepared for was how much I was going to miss [my cast mates] and how much I was going to miss the spacesuit that I hated wearing and the helmet hair, that I couldn't stand putting on. After I left the show I just sort of [said], 'I'm going to go out into the world and do my own thing,' and I didn't see anybody.

That went on for awhile. Wheaton went on to say, "After that ended, I just felt really ashamed of myself.