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Dr. Beverly Crusher

Dr. Beverly Crusher

Beverly Crusher is the Chief Medical Officer aboard the USS Enterprise under command of Captain Picard

Name:
Dr. Beverly Crusher
Publisher:
Real name:
Beverly C. Crusher
Aliases:
  • Beverly Howard
Birth date:
October 23rd, 2324
Gender:
Female
Powers:
  • Agility
  • Intellect
  • Leadership
  • Stamina
  • Unarmed Combat
  • Weapon Master
First issue:
Star Trek: The Next Generation (1988) #1 Where No One Has Gone Before
cover

Origin

 Beverly and her grandmother.
Beverly and her grandmother.

Star Trek Canon Special Note

Not everything listed in the origin is Canon. That is because only television shows and movies are considered canon for Star Trek. This being a comic website there are many things here that are not canon. So unless it is contradicted in film it should be listed as part of the character biography.

On October 13, 2324, Beverly Howard was born on Earth's Moon. While she was a young child both her parents were killed, and she went to live with her grandmother, Felisa Howard on Arvada III, a colony planet. During a disaster in the planet Felisa learned the medical uses of roots and herbs. This peaked Beverly's interest in the medical field. They later moved to the Caldos colony where Felisa became a healer until her death.

In the year 2342, Beverly was admitted into the Starfleet Medical Academy. During this time she met and fell in love with Jack Crusher who served under Captain Jean-Luc Picard on the U.S.S. Stargazer. In the year 2348 they were married and later had a son Wesley Crusher. Beverly and Picard became good friends, and later in life Picard admitted that he loved Beverly but did not think it right to express these feelings. Doing so would be the ultimate betrayal to Jack. In 2350 Beverly graduated from Starfleet Medical Academy. In 2354 Jack died on an away mission that Picard was leading. Picard had to make the tough choice of only being able to save one person. The death took its toll on Beverly and her son. However she continued her career as a doctor and mother.

Creation

A New Doctor's in Town
A New Doctor's in Town

The Character of Beverly Crusher was created by Gene Roddenberry for the Star Trek: The Next Generation television show and Gates McFadden was cast for the role. Unfortunately the character only lasted one season before the character was written out of the show. This officially was over a disagreement between McFadden and the producers of the show on how the character should develop.

So, Beverly was transferred off the show and a new Doctor, Katherine Pulaski was cast. Pulaski was suppose to be more like the character of Leonard McCoy on the original Star Trek show. This meant that she was more confrontational to the character of Data like McCoy was with Spock. For what ever reason the role was not tremendously successful and acotor Patrick Stewart who played Captain Jean-Luc Picard rallied for Gates and fans wrote letters so by the third season Gates came back as Beverly Crusher. The character stayed with the show for the following five seasons and for four films.

Character Evolution

Chief Medical Officer
Chief Medical Officer

In 2364, Dr. Beverly Crusher was appointed chief medical officer of the Starship Enterprise-D. She along with her son joined the ship at Farpoint Station. In the beginning Picard was hesitant due to their past "relationship", but she assured him that the past wouldn't effect her duties and she had no problem serving under his command. In 2365, she was offered the position of head of Starfleet Medical. She accepted and was replaced by Dr. Katherine Pulaski. However she soon found it too difficult to be away and returned to the ship the following year. In the year 2370, Beverly became a fully certified bridge officer.

On many occasions Beverly has had problems with the Starfleet Prime Directive which states that members of Starfleet are not to interfere with another species development. More so if that species is a pre-warp civilization either by direct contact or technological revelation. She has butted heads with Picard many times on this issue but Beverly heart would not allow others to suffer for what ever reason and she made her voice heard.

On the Enterprise E
On the Enterprise E

Picard and Beverly were very close and would quite often have breakfast together. This close relationship allowed Beverly to talk very candidly with Picard on many issues and decisions he had made. Picard quite often would take her advice even if he disagreed at the time of the conversation or argument. Picard and Crusher had a relationship very similar to the first officer William Riker and the ship's councilor Deanna Troi.

In 2371, the Enterprise-D was destroyed during a crash landing of the saucer section on the planet Veridian III. She was transferred to the commission to the Enterprise-E a year later. Her command abilities were put to the test when they traveled back to the year 2063 to stop the Borg from assimilating the Enterprise-D.

Issues

October 1988

December 1996

April 1999

February 2000

March 2000

April 2000

May 2000

November 2000

December 2000

January 2001

February 2001

July 2001

August 2001

September 2001

October 2001

February 2007

March 2007

July 2007

January 2008

February 2008

April 2008

May 2008

November 2008

December 2008

January 2009

February 2009

November 2009

December 2009

January 2010

February 2010

Volumes

1952

2000

2001

2007

2008

2009

2012

2014

2016

2017

2018

2019

2021

2022

2023

2024

Friends

Enemies

Teams