Who Likes Nurse Ogawa?

[Mojochi]

I do! I like Nurse Ogawa! She is the character that specifically makes me wish they had more characters like her on TNG. So, In honor of the sad passing of Patti Yasutake, I offer a discussion on her beloved TNG character (including my own rather unpopular opinion, to spice things up lol)

You know who doesn't seem to like Nurse Ogawa much? The main characters, that's who. I think Beverly is the only one to even connect with her in any meaningful way (you'd hope so, being her boss) and even that seemed a cursory addition.

The only gripe I have about the great episode Lower Decks is that Patti is 41 years old in that episode, & Ogawa had been on the ship, as the most prominant nurse, for over 3 years! I do NOT consider her "Lower Decks" at all. She's may be the most valued, long-standing member of Bev's staff!

It always struck me weird that she's relegated to buddying up with fresh-out-of-the-academy junior officers in that episode. That's her friend group? After 3 years? I don't buy it. Has she been locked in a closet for 3 years? Heck, IMHO we should be getting a Barclay/Ro type episode for her at that point. She should be friends with a lot of them by then, Troi & Bev in particular, being they're all healthcare crew.

There's 1000 people on board. Her friend group being a handful of newly commissioned cadets seemed so off to me

 

[Forbin]

Aw, who doesn't love her?

 

[Ragitsu]

She is nicer than Teacher Ishikawa.

 

[Warp 10 (Pepperoni)]

I do too! Just the other day I was talking about the character and how I'd love the actor to be at a convention next year, and then later found out she'd passed that same day. She'll be missed!

 

[Orphalesion]

Why can't Ogawa hang out with some new(er) officers? Doesn't have to mean that they are her only friends, just some of her friends she likes to hang out with. I don't see what the drama is here.
Plus only because the actress was 40 doesn't mean the character was, she certainly didn't look it (imo) Ogawa might very well be intended to be the same age as the other characters Lower Decks(the episode) focuses on.

As for Ogawa in general. Yeah I think she was a good character and I would have liked to see more of it. One thing I really hated though is how they killed her unborn baby in All Good Things...and then didn't confirm that the baby was restored by the end. That was...disturbing.

 

[Ragitsu]

Plus only because the actress was 40 doesn't mean the character was, she certainly didn't look it (imo) Ogawa might very well be intended to be the same age as the other characters Lower Decks(the episode) focuses on.

At the minimum, Federation members would have access to better medicine, nutrition and exercises than us folk; humans of the twenty-fourth century most certainly would not "look their age" .

 

[tomalak301]

I loved Ogawa. She was the only minor character I really remember other than Ensign Yates. They also tried to give her some depth, which was appreciated.

 

[Tosk]

I hope it all worked out well for her and Lt. Powell.

 

[Mage]

I hope it all worked out well for her and Lt. Powell.

Well, the novels had them together, I believe married. They had a son, but Powell passed away. She served on Titan with Riker, as head nurse.

 

[Mojochi]

I hope it all worked out well for her and Lt. Powell

They did get married & have a kid by the end of TNG. Beyond that, who knows.

 

[somebuddyX]

I don't have any strong memories of her but I liked when she was a doctor in "Parallels" and her bit in "Lower Decks" and I like that Dr Crusher had a buddy. I like that TNG had the secondary characters like O'Brien and her and Ro.
I just realised Patti passed away. I was googling her to see if she'd done interviews and that popped up. What a bummer. RIP Patti.

 

[JesterFace]

Alyssa Ogawa was a nice touch for sickbay personel.
It wasn't just Dr Crusher from that part of the ship with different nurse every week, there was another familiar face in sickbay.

 

[Lynx]

I do!
Good character and very sympathetic!

 

[xenotaris]

I see we are all men and women of culture


I also like Nurse Alyssa Ogawa, I wish she had a larger role or was transferred to Deep Space Nine or Voyager so she could be promoted to main character status. Like how DS9 did for Miles O'Brien

 

[PatB1974]

I liked her a lot. She was a good character and as a Nurse she had a good bedside manner.

 

[Oddish]

She was a nice touch-point in "Lower Decks", because we'd seen her regularly. She was nicely laid back, a nice foil to the two male officers, who were both eager beavers trying to get noticed by their superiors (maybe a little too hard). But she still got her well deserved lieutenant's pip.

 

[Turtletrekker]

She was recognizable enough of a character to general audiences to be included in merchandising adverts.

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[Admiral Jean-Luc Picard]

I do! I like Nurse Ogawa! She is the character that specifically makes me wish they had more characters like her on TNG. So, In honor of the sad passing of Patti Yasutake, I offer a discussion on her beloved TNG character (including my own rather unpopular opinion, to spice things up lol)

You know who doesn't seem to like Nurse Ogawa much? The main characters, that's who. I think Beverly is the only one to even connect with her in any meaningful way (you'd hope so, being her boss) and even that seemed a cursory addition.

The only gripe I have about the great episode Lower Decks is that Patti is 41 years old in that episode, & Ogawa had been on the ship, as the most prominant nurse, for over 3 years! I do NOT consider her "Lower Decks" at all. She's may be the most valued, long-standing member of Bev's staff!

It always struck me weird that she's relegated to buddying up with fresh-out-of-the-academy junior officers in that episode. That's her friend group? After 3 years? I don't buy it. Has she been locked in a closet for 3 years? Heck, IMHO we should be getting a Barclay/Ro type episode for her at that point. She should be friends with a lot of them by then, Troi & Bev in particular, being they're all healthcare crew.

There's 1000 people on board. Her friend group being a handful of newly commissioned cadets seemed so off to me

I just learned she died. I checked her Wikipedia page, looks like I just know her for Star Trek. Checking Memory Alpha, it says she's in 14 TNG episodes and 2 of the movies. I'm watching S4 on Blu-ray. I remember seeing her in "Future Imperfect," her first episode. She's in 3 more episodes this season, so something to look forward to. I am sad she passed. She was always so nice on the show.