Beverly Crusher

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Character
Name: Beverly Crusher, Beverly Howard
Occupation: Starfleet doctor
Relationships: married to Jack Crusher, mother to Wesley Crusher, friendship with Jean-Luc Picard
Fandom: Star Trek: The Next Generation
Other: Memory Alpha article
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Beverly Crusher is a major character in Star Trek: The Next Generation, played by Gates McFadden. A supercharged doctor, she serves as chief medical officer aboard the USS Enterprise in all but season 2 of the show, when she's off on Earth heading up Starfleet Medical.

She was married to the late Jack Crusher and has a son, Wesley (a classic Marty-Stu who has the distinction of being the most hated character in all Trek). Her closest associates in canon are Deanna Troi and Captain Jean-Luc Picard, with whom she has a deep friendship that often strays towards romance without ever quite reaching it. Her passionate affair with the one-off Odan leads to a night with Will Riker while he's host to the Trill's symbiont. Fans were disappointed that Beverly rejected the possibility of an f/f relationship with Odan's new female host.

In the few minutes when she's not being a doctor, she enjoys music, takes part in theatrical productions and is a mean tap dancer.

Fan perspectives

Feisty, elegant, intelligent...Crusher is all these and more. An excellent doctor, she saves the hides of every senior officer at least once (if not five or six or ten) times over the course of their adventures. [1]

I don't find her an attractive romantic heroine. She's the head of the medical department on Starfleet's flagship; I'd like to see her act like it sometimes. My favourite Crusher stories have nothing to do with Picard, or sex; they're the ones where she proves why she was chosen for such an important position. If I was going to join Crusher up with someone....well, I wouldn't. She just IMO (IMO!!!!!) doesn't really fit with any of the TNG characters in that way. Again, in my opinion!!! :) (sound of eggshells breaking under my feet) [2]

Fanfiction

Beverly is a fairly popular character with fanwriters. By far the most common pairing is with Picard, generally known as Picard/Crusher (despite the potential for mix-up with Wesley, ewww) or sometimes BONC (Beverly on Jean-Luc), which is probably the predominant het pairing in the TNG fandom. Fans of the P/C pairing are sometimes known as BONCers. Beverly's husband was a friend of Picard and was killed while serving under him, making for pre-series stories with abundant angst potential and the occasional threesome. Other m/f pairings are comparatively rare, though several stories explore the aftermath of her night with Will during the Odan episode.

She's also a popular participant in femslash. Crusher/Troi is one of the major f/f pairings in the fandom, and Beverly also occasionally gets paired with Katherine Pulaski, Ro Laren and women from other Trek series, notably Kathryn Janeway.

Notable Works

Anthology Fanzines

Picard/Crusher

Fanzine

Nonfiction

Sample Fan Art

Archives and Links

Fansites

Resources

References

  1. ^ comment by Perclexed, "Crack Van Star Trek: The Next Generation overview". Retrieved 10 October 2011.
  2. ^ comment at Best Stories About People You Don't Lik (January 25, 1998)
  3. ^ "BONC FAQ". Archived from the original on 2008-05-16. Retrieved 11 October 2011.