10 Star Trek Actors Who Became Directors
8. Gates McFadden
Gates McFadden was the first female Trek actor to direct an episode of the franchise, namely Genesis. McFadden took a backseat when it came to acting - Dr. Crusher is sprayed in the face with acid early in the script - so that she could concentrate on making everything come together.
And then an earthquake shut down production.
The 1994 Northridge Earthquake occurred right in the middle of filming, and saw 57 deaths, along with billions of dollars of damage. This was only another challenge for McFadden and her team to overcome. The production schedule which saw this being filmed after the holidays that year was, ironically, a blessing - at least from Michael Westmore's point of view.
The episode is heavy on prosthetics, so Westmore's team were able to work through the 'time-off' to hit their deadlines.
The end result is one of the sillier Trek outings, but it's also iconic in its own right. Whether it was McFadden's skill as a director, or as a choreographer and former Jim Henson puppeteer, that served the episode best is anyone's guess. All we can be really sure of is that the spider-Barclay scared the absolute webbing out of all of us.