In addition to what was said about Berman, there’s also Gene Roddenberry. The best way I can explain how his opinion of women evolved over time is that he allowed Marina Sirtis to have that role on TNG even though she didn’t sleep with him. The same was not true of Nichelle Nichols in the 1960s.
Sirtis only stayed on the show after season 1 because Denise Crosby left. Not because there was a rift between them, but because she wasn’t crossing the “too many women on the show” threshold anymore.
Gates McFadden left TNG for Season 2 because she ran afoul of Maurice Hurley, one of Roddenberry’s lap dogs:
I had been in conflict with one of the male writer-producers about certain things I thought were sexist. What I’ve heard is that he said ‘Either she goes or I go.’ I was shocked that they let me go, because I knew my character was really popular. But he was going to be writing more and more and didn’t want to have to deal with me. What was great was they got rid of him and asked me to come back.
To his credit, Rick Berman asked her back, but I think it was only because Dr. Katherine Pulaski was such an unpopular character and the fans kept writing letters about bringing back Dr. Crusher.
Rick Berman and Gene Roddenberry understood, to varying degrees, that it was important to have women represented as strong, intelligent equals—but did not necessarily personally hold that value.
She was unpopular because she was mean to Data right after Measure Of A Man. I know she turned around some near the end but tbh I had a bad impression of her because of that.
She wasn’t mean to data she was skeptical about his nature. I consider her relationship with data one of the best things on the show, and episodes like the one where Riker commanded the other ship in a war games exercise showed her to be fond of data regardless of her position on his sentience. It would have been amazing to see her mind changed over the course of seasons.
In addition to what was said about Berman, there’s also Gene Roddenberry. The best way I can explain how his opinion of women evolved over time is that he allowed Marina Sirtis to have that role on TNG even though she didn’t sleep with him. The same was not true of Nichelle Nichols in the 1960s.
Sirtis only stayed on the show after season 1 because Denise Crosby left. Not because there was a rift between them, but because she wasn’t crossing the “too many women on the show” threshold anymore.
Gates McFadden left TNG for Season 2 because she ran afoul of Maurice Hurley, one of Roddenberry’s lap dogs:
To his credit, Rick Berman asked her back, but I think it was only because Dr. Katherine Pulaski was such an unpopular character and the fans kept writing letters about bringing back Dr. Crusher.
Rick Berman and Gene Roddenberry understood, to varying degrees, that it was important to have women represented as strong, intelligent equals—but did not necessarily personally hold that value.
I really loved Pulaski. It’s hard for me to imagine other reasons besides Crusher is hot that she made it back. She has no character.
She was unpopular because she was mean to Data right after Measure Of A Man. I know she turned around some near the end but tbh I had a bad impression of her because of that.
She wasn’t mean to data she was skeptical about his nature. I consider her relationship with data one of the best things on the show, and episodes like the one where Riker commanded the other ship in a war games exercise showed her to be fond of data regardless of her position on his sentience. It would have been amazing to see her mind changed over the course of seasons.
She was meant to be a foil against Data, but came off as hating him.
I think it’s because Brent Spiner was so damn charismatic as Data.