While Star Trek: The Next Generation struggled for its identity in the first two seasons, the episodes after that got better and better. As a result, the series became an absolute cult and brought the… Star Trek franchise reaches a new peak of popularity. Nevertheless, there were always episodes that were laughed at rather than celebrated.
This also includes the 14th episode of the last season, which is equal parts bad and iconic. In this Dr. Beverly Crusher (Gates McFadden) enters into an affair with a candle ghost who turns out to be a technical ghost.
Dr. Crusher loved a ghost in Star Trek and Gates McFadden is laughing his ass off
According to fans and reviews, the episode Ronin (original title: Sub Rosa) is one of the worst episodes of the entire series. With a rating of 4.8, it has the second-worst rating on IMDb and overall it also performs poorly on many lists of Star Trek episodes. This is especially a shame for the character Dr. Crusher, as she is the main focus of the episode. Overall, few episodes of The Next Century get it right placed in focus. Another important episode for them was in Season 4 – the 5th episode entitled The Experiment (original title: Remember Me) was much better received.
In an interview with Trekmovie, Gates McFadden spoke about her podcast and was also asked about her conversation with Kate Mulgrew, known as Captain Kathryn Janeway from the spaceship Voyager. Accordingly, Mulgrew had not yet seen the episode Ronin and McFadden explained the plot to her. Apparently she enjoyed itthinking back to the episode.
It’s just fun. The great thing is how I developed with this episode. Because I think she’s hilarious now. And that’s great, why not find it funny instead of worrying?
It seems McFadden isn’t the only one who feels this way. The episode has even spread among fans a popular disaster developed.
It’s become a real cult… So it was fun, her [Mulgrew] to explain. And she laughed. I mean, it’s funny. So why shouldn’t everyone do it? It’s crazy.
While Ronin will likely never be declared a misunderstood masterpiece, it’s nice to know that Star Trek fans have enough humor to appreciate this episode. And even though it’s one of the few episodes that’s completely dedicated to Dr. Dedicating Crusher doesn’t quite do it justice, but at least her actress finds a lot of joy in the episode.