Beverly Crusher
| 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 |
| Click here for related articles on Fanlore. | |
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
- Afterburn, by BEKi -- episode tag for the Odan episode, originally published in Number One zine (1993)
- The Speed Of Sound, by Kyra Cullinan—widely recommended Picard/Crusher (2002)
- Body Memory, by Penknife—unusual Picard & Crusher short (2004)
- Pretty To Think So, by Yahtzee—Picard/Crusher/Jack Crusher (2009)
- Wider range of examples required
Anthology Fanzines
- The Beverly File (3 issues; 1990–91)
- Fire and Ice (2 issues; 1998–99)
- Poems, Prayers and Promises (1986)
Picard/Crusher
- Asbestos Envelope (4 issues; 1989–90)
- Bedside Manners (1994)
- Naked Now (4 issues; mid 1990s)
Fanzine
Nonfiction
- Beverlyophiles (1990–94) -- monthly newsletter for the Beverlyophiles fanclub
Sample Fan Art
from Spock #52, artist is Gail Adams (1988)
from The Beverly File #1, artist is Kimberley Junius (1991)
from The Beverly File #1, artist is Barbara Caldwell
from Beyond Farpoint, artist is Jean Elizabeth Martin
from Survival , artist is Adrian Morgan (1991)
from Eridani #5, artist is Julie Nosal (1989)
from Federation Standard #1, artist is Barbara Caldwell (1991)
from Spock #57, artist is by Gail Adams (1990)
from Make It So #7, artist is Ruth Mellor (1992)
from Star Trek Action Group #106, artist is by Karen Crossley (1992)
Archives and Links
- Beverly Crusher tag at Archive of Our Own
- Beverly Crusher at FanFiction.net
- Beverly Crusher at Trekiverse
Fansites
- Bay's Obsessions—Picard/Crusher fansite by Bay
- The BONC Home Page—site of the Picard/Crusher mailing list, BONClassic. We're a private mailing list dedicated to just one thing: getting our favorite two Star Trek characters together in as many ways, shapes, forms and lifetimes as humanly possible.[3]
- Beverly Crusher/Gates McFadden Webring
Resources
References
- ^ comment by Perclexed, "Crack Van Star Trek: The Next Generation overview". Retrieved 10 October 2011.
- ^ comment at Best Stories About People You Don't Lik (January 25, 1998)
- ^ "BONC FAQ". Archived from the original on 2008-05-16. Retrieved 11 October 2011.