Portraits of Characters– The Crusher Clan
The Crusher clan does not end with Wesley. Not by any stretch of the imagination.
Origins
I mainly started with Crackerjack, as I had wanted Wesley to have a home and a loving family. In addition, I wanted him to be a lot older and so the idea of him having grandchildren made a great deal of sense. Because I have already covered Wes himself and Lakeisha Warren, I won’t repeat what I wrote here.
Portrayals
As in canon, Wes’s mother, Beverly Crusher, MD, is played by actress Gates McFadden. His father, Jack Crusher, does not appear, but there is a grandson with that name.
In addition, Wes and Lakeisha’s children are Tim Crusher and Ellen Crusher Farley. Ellen is divorced and has three children, Cynthia and Tara. Tim is also divorced but he has remarried; his second wife is Mei Lin and Mei Lin’s son from her first marriage is Scotty. Tad and Jack (named after the canon character) are Tim’s sons. However, they are of different races so perhaps only one of them is biologically from his first marriage. The other (I think Tad ends up older) would be, perhaps, adopted.
Sharp-eyed readers will also notice that Lakeisha’s maiden name is Warren. Yes, she is a descendant of Benjamin and Jim Warren, and she may have a connection to Rosemary Parker although I am personally a bit unclear on that.
The non-canon portrayals go as follows:
- Scotty Chen – Kato Seishiro
- Jack Crusher – Deon Richmond
- Mei-Lin Chen Crusher – Joan Chen
- Tad Crusher – Jake Short
- Tim Crusher – Doug Wert
- Cynthia Farley – Taraji P. Henson
- Ellen Crusher Farley – Jennifer Hudson
- Tara Farley – Annette M. Lesure
Personalities
First of all, a big part of the Crackerjack storyline concerns racism. As a result, I don’t show or describe the younger section of the Crusher clan. And that is precisely for this purpose. However, the actors I have chosen have differing races, because Tim is played by a Caucasian actor whereas Ellen is played by an African-American actress. Because Lakeisha is also of African descent, that tells me now, years later, that Tim was adopted. Also, perhaps the younger Jack is as well, for he is of African descent whereas Tad is Caucasian.
Or maybe I just messed up my casting.
Relationships
The relationships are only as described above. However, both of Wesley’s children had marriages which ended in divorce. So these days, that is a not so uncommon occurrence.
Mirror Universe
So some of the Crusher clan could conceivably exist in the Mirror. In addition, very intelligent people would score well on the standard examinations, and could conceivably avoid becoming cannon fodder.
Quotes
Scotty Chen: “What’s a bigot?”
Jack Crusher: “But you and Grammy have always been together!”
Mei-Lin Chen Crusher: “It’s a little warm out there.” (while that’s not very exciting, but this is the only quote I have from her)
Tad Crusher: “More story!”
Tim Crusher: “We should take a picture. It’s a great day for a family portrait.”
Cynthia Farley: “That’s really stupid. I mean, it’s like jumping to conclusions without knowing all the facts about somebody. What if you’re really wrong? I know I’d be, like, totally mortified.”
Ellen Crusher Farley: “Well, there’s a little bit more, for you and Geordi changed a bit because of this experience, right?”
Tara Farley: “The Reverend thought Geordi liked Rosemary. You know, like really liked her.”
Upshot
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