The Scrappy/Live-Action TV: Difference between revisions

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* ''[[Star Trek: Deep Space Nine]]'' had Ezri Dax, the seventh season's [[Replacement Scrappy]], who filled in after Jadzia was killed.

* ''[[Star Trek: The Next Generation]]'': Dr. Pulaski:

** She replaced Wesley's mother as the ship's doctor for a single season before fan outcry got them to bring Dr. Crusher back. Not only was she a [[Replacement Scrappy]], but the writers made a major miscalculation in their attempt to make her a [[Distaff Counterpart]] of [[The McCoy|Dr. McCoy]] from the original series. Since McCoy's arguments with Spock were such a fan favorite aspect of the character, the writers tried to duplicate it by having Pulaski take a dislike to [[The Spock|Data]] and toss him similar insults about being so logical all the time. Unfortunately, unlike Spock, Data couldn't even really understand that he was being insulted and never responded in kind, so Pulaski came off as a bully who kept picking on Data because he couldn't fight back.

** She replaced Wesley's mother as the ship's doctor for a single season before fan outcry got them to bring Dr. Crusher back. Not only was she a [[Replacement Scrappy]], but the writers made a major miscalculation in their attempt to make her a [[Distaff Counterpart]] of [[The McCoy|Dr. McCoy]] from the original series. Since McCoy's arguments with Spock were such a fan favorite aspect of the character, the writers tried to duplicate it by having Pulaski take a dislike to [[The Spock|Data]] and toss him similar insults about being so logical all the time. Unfortunately, unlike Spock (who routinely gave as good as he got, and seemed to actually enjoy the battle of wits as much as a Vulcan would allow themselves to enjoy anything), Data couldn't even really understand that he was being insulted and never responded in kind, so Pulaski came off as a bully who kept picking on Data because he couldn't fight back.

** Further, it's ~~okay~~ for McCoy to insult Spock because Vulcans ~~have~~ a ~~high~~ ~~amount~~ of ~~political~~ ~~power~~ and nobody would cite Spock's being a Vulcan as a reason to remove him from command. Data on the other hand goes through ''genuine'' prejudice over his status as an android, ~~with~~ officers questioning if Data can do things like make command decisions or care for small children. At the time in which Pulaski was on the ship, Data wasn't even being recognized as a sentient being, and thus had none of the rights that would entail. Keeping all this in mind, Pulaski's slamming of Data's cold logic making him inferior to humans just makes her look like a bigot.

** Further, it's not horrible for McCoy to insult Spock because Vulcans are the co-dominant species of the Federation, and for that matter helped ''found'' the Federation. Also, nobody would cite Spock's being a Vulcan as a reason to remove him from command given that Vulcans are the second-most common species in Starfleet after humans. And on an individual level, Spock outranks McCoy and Spock's father is Vulcan's ambassador to the Federation High Council, meaning Spock is in absolutely no fear of political or career consequences to anything. Data, on the other hand, is ''not'' the Enterprise's First Officer and so doesn't have seniority on the Chief Medical Officer. Furthermore, he has no influential relatives, routinely goes through ''genuine'' prejudice over his status as an android, and actually has officers questioning if Data can do things like make command decisions or care for small children. At the time in which Pulaski was on the ship, Data wasn't even being recognized as a sentient being, and thus had none of the rights that would entail. Keeping all this in mind, Pulaski's slamming of Data's cold logic making him inferior to humans just makes her look like a bigot.

** [[Creator's Pet|Pulaski was also regularly cited by other characters as having a very kind and compassionate personality]]. Her treatment of Data says otherwise. On that note, it should be mentioned that she didn't only insult him directly; in her earlier appearances, she repeatedly talked about him in the third person while he was in the room and ran a scanner over him the same way one would run a scanner over an indistinct object, chemical, or other substance. [[It Is Dehumanizing|Oh, and she called him "it."]] This is basically the most rotten and degrading thing you can do to someone without actually resorting to physical violence; her implication was that she considered him to be no more worthy of respect than the matter replicator.

** Not even getting into the political status/power argument, Vulcans are ''capable'' of emotions, though they control/suppress them, and can be a bit haughty about it. ''Data,'' however, was ''physically incapable of feeling emotion'', and not only didn't have any issue with others feeling emotion, often wished that he ''could'' experience it himself. So Pulaski was basically ''tormenting a disabled person for her own amusement.'' Maybe she should have been on [[Villain Protagonist|Voyager]].