The problem with Crusher is that she's largely better than Pulaski but that's a pretty low-bar. It's hard to escape the conclusion (looking at you Troi) that the writers had no idea how to write female characters.
The trouble with this explanation is that they had several female writers, and 'female writers unable to write female characters' feels like a stretch. Yet it is undeniable that they mishandled Troi for a long, long time, and that Dr Crusher is reduced to mostly being just a mother for quite a while. I suspect the key problem was that the early season writing teams lacked collective interest in the female characters, and couldn't be bothered to fix this.
I wonder what the balance of power was in the writing pool (did they use a pool)? Might be interesting to look at the stories penned by female writers and see if the female characters get a better deal (including guest characters).
There was a writing room, but it's difficult to reconstruct its exact composition at any given time in the show's production. Besides, it seems that in 1980s and early 90s TV, many of the women who made it as writers learned to be 'one of the boys' to fit in.
I preferred how MST3K used their nannites. Zero control, no convenient plot box.
The problem with Crusher is that she's largely better than Pulaski but that's a pretty low-bar. It's hard to escape the conclusion (looking at you Troi) that the writers had no idea how to write female characters.
The trouble with this explanation is that they had several female writers, and 'female writers unable to write female characters' feels like a stretch. Yet it is undeniable that they mishandled Troi for a long, long time, and that Dr Crusher is reduced to mostly being just a mother for quite a while. I suspect the key problem was that the early season writing teams lacked collective interest in the female characters, and couldn't be bothered to fix this.
I wonder what the balance of power was in the writing pool (did they use a pool)? Might be interesting to look at the stories penned by female writers and see if the female characters get a better deal (including guest characters).
There was a writing room, but it's difficult to reconstruct its exact composition at any given time in the show's production. Besides, it seems that in 1980s and early 90s TV, many of the women who made it as writers learned to be 'one of the boys' to fit in.