To Star Trek fans the name Gates McFadden needs no introduction at all. McFadden played the much loved character of Dr Beverly Crusher in Star Trek: The Next Generation, Star Trek: Generations, Star Trek: Insurrection and Star Trek: Nemesis. Aside from that she has appeared in television shows such as Party Of Five, NCIS, Mad About You and even voiced Crusher in Family Guy as well. Before her popular role in Star Trek McFadden also worked as a puppeteer and got to work alongside the legendary David Bowie on Labyrinth.
In Australia for Oz Comic-Con HEAVY Mag’s Dave Griffiths got to chat to McFadden about her career and what it was like being a star of one of the world’s most watched television shows.
“I really have changed about one hundred and eighty degrees to the way I feel about conventions,” says McFadden when I ask her what it is like for her to attend conventions like Oz Comic-Con. “I actually really enjoy them and I used to be terrified of them. I was like the last one in my cast to start doing them. But I kinda really dig seeing what other places and cultures there are outside the United States. I see how is the economy, do people have bad teeth – because if they do it probably means they don’t have good healthcare. I just learn so much and I meet so many people who are obviously younger than me but they say ‘hey I became a surgeon or I became a nurse because of you’ and I mean that is so freakin’ great… how great is that? I mean it’s like we were on Baywatch and someone says ‘hey I got my tits done because you look so good.’ It is like we actually get people who believe in the future and want to work on the possibilities. I love that about Star Trek… I really do. There is a community and as a whole I think our fans are extremely positive… they are hopeful.”
“I didn’t understand them but because of the original cast we had heard them,” McFadden says when she explains what she knew about conventions before Star Trek. “There were special events during our first year of filming, like to honour Gene so we would all show up for it, but we knew there were conventions because that was how the show had survived was because of the fans and how they cared so much, so I knew about them but I didn’t understand them. I didn’t do a convention until two years in and everybody else had already done them already. Did I think our show was going to become a big, big hit? No I had no clue about that.”
You can hear the complete Gates McFadden interview on the Spreaker player on this page. You can also see her at Oz Comic-Con in Brisbane and Sydney.
