Wednesday, March 09, 2016

DR. CRUSHER: CHOREOGRAPHY & PUPPET MOVEMENT ON 'LABYRINTH'


originally posted at Mental Floss:

Most geeks like me know Gates McFadden as Dr. Beverly Crusher from Star Trek: The Next Generation. But before her Trek role, McFadden was Director of Choreography and Puppet Movement on a bunch of Jim Henson films, including The Dark Crystal, Labyrinth, and evenThe Muppets Take Manhattan. As a choreographer, she's typically credited as Cheryl McFadden -- Cheryl is her first name, Gates is her middle name.

Here's McFadden working with actors on dance sequences for Labyrinth, with commentary by Jim Henson. My favorite quote is the guy yelling, "Let's clear the set -- unless you're a goblin with a rock attached to you!"


McFadden sometimes got to use her dance background on Star Trek: TNG. In "Data's Day" (Season 4) she taught Data how to dance:



And while we're here talking about McFadden and movement work on TNG, let's take a moment to revisit a scene from Season 3's episode "The Price," in which McFadden and Marina Sirtis (Counselor Troi) do some Starfleet-regulation stretching exercises while discussing matters of love.


(It's amazing the show lasted 7 seasons)

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