Wesley Crusher?

McGurk76 · 19 January, 2021, 07:52:40 AM

I was watching Star Trek the other day.
What was the deal with Wesley Crusher exactly?
I seem to remember he was very unpopular with the ST fan base for some reason? Why was that? He was an okay actor wasn't he? Was he forced off the show in the end?

Smith · 19 January, 2021, 07:57:59 AM

He was played by Will Wheaton.

broodblik · 19 January, 2021, 08:02:16 AM

From Wikipedia (yes I know not the most reliable source):

The Wesley Crusher character was unpopular among more than a few Star Trek fans.[5][6] Many fans considered the character to be a Mary Sue and a stand-in for Gene Roddenberry, whose middle name was "Wesley". The character's role in the show was greatly downplayed after the first season when Roddenberry's involvement in the show's production became more peripheral.[7]

Some fans disliked the idea of a boy who seems to constantly save the whole ship as a deus ex machina plot device. Commentators have observed at least seven times in which Wesley, "who has trouble getting into the Starfleet Academy" and is on a ship "filled with Starfleet's best and brightest crew members", has come up with "the needed solution".[8][9] Fans' dislike for Wesley Crusher has become something of a pop-culture meme, reflected in other TV shows such as The Big Bang Theory (which features a recurring fictionalized Wheaton as one of Sheldon Cooper's main nemeses, though they later become friends), Steins;Gate, and in a 2009 Family Guy episode, "Not All Dogs Go to Heaven", which included the main The Next Generation cast and featured Wil Wheaton in character as Wesley being bullied by Patrick Stewart.

Trooper McFad · 19 January, 2021, 08:05:32 AM

For me and and the reason I didn't take to "Wesley" as a character was the perception that it was jobs for the boys. Yes he was smarter than your average bear but just because his mum was the ships Doctor shouldn't have allowed that kind of access to the Captain/ bridge regulations and all that.
However I think Will Weaton's appearance on Big Bang has softened people's view of Wesley in Next Gen.

McGurk76 · 19 January, 2021, 08:13:47 AM

Quote from: Smith on 19 January, 2021, 07:57:59 AM
He was played by Will Wheaton.

Explain? He was fine in Stand By Me, after all.
Not having a go. Just wondering what the reason for the hostility was.

TordelBack · 19 January, 2021, 08:21:28 AM

Star Trek was a serious SF programme for intelligent grown-ups (no, really, it had single-handedly ended racism in the '60s, stop laughing), so why was there a child in a granny jumper on it? Why people might think you were an awkward nerdy know-it-all if they saw one on a show you watched. "Fans" were pathetic shits, even in the late '80s, and grud help us all they'd just discovered the internet

Wheaton is a fine fellow, and a decent actor, but the writers didn't know what to do with the character except set him up for bullying on and off screen.

wedgeski · 19 January, 2021, 09:19:21 AM

Quote from: Trooper McFad on 19 January, 2021, 08:05:32 AM
For me and and the reason I didn't take to "Wesley" as a character was the perception that it was jobs for the boys. Yes he was smarter than your average bear but just because his mum was the ships Doctor shouldn't have allowed that kind of access to the Captain/ bridge regulations and all that.

It was the Traveller who convinced Picard that Wesley should be treated differently.

It's fair to say that viewer dislike of Wesley translated unfairly to Wheaton and he's lived with it ever since. Considering how badly he was apparently treated on set and the mess that his home life was, I'm amazed he isn't a complete write-off.

McGurk76 · 19 January, 2021, 09:49:26 AM

All interesting stuff. More views are very welcome too.

Rately · 19 January, 2021, 09:55:16 AM

Will Wheaton was on the Kingcast Podcast recently, and they discussed this very thing, the pressure, how his Family life was an absolute mess. Really good interview, and he came across very well. Considering his Parents, it is probably a minor miracle he is still with us.

As for Trek, precocious kids should always be blown out of airlocks.

Barrington Boots · 19 January, 2021, 10:09:56 AM

I house-shared with two huge Trekkies during my University days and the hate they had for Wesley Crusher was off the charts. I think for them he represented that trope you get in kids TV shows where the children always save the day after the adults mess up and this was against the spirit of what they thought Trek should be ie. a slightly more cerebral scifi without Scrappy Doo in it.

TNG is my least favourite Trek (I wasn't a Trek fan to start with and living with two blokes who had it on all the time didn't help) but I found him only marginally more annoying than some of the other characters.

SmallBlueThing(Reborn) · 19 January, 2021, 11:09:02 AM

Yeah, I'm not in the least bit a Star Trek fan- I enjoy the characters from the original series occasionally in book form, but wouldnt watch the series now- and while I very much enjoy Discovery (in the sense of being a tv show I like to watch, like Vera or NCIS: New Orleans) I'm not a 'fan'.

But Will Wheaton is an absolute star. Not only was he in one of my favourite films ever- the glorious Stand By Me- but his Facebook updates are a continuous joy. He has his head screwed on politically, is magnificently open about his life, and has a warm and witty personality that endeared me to him, despite not enjoying the tv shows he turns up in.

I've known a lot of Trekkies in my life, and I must admit I prefer to keep them at arms length much of the time.

SBT

McGurk76 · 19 January, 2021, 11:12:44 AM

Thanks everyone!
Er...you are not a Star Trek fan but you read Star Trek books?

SmallBlueThing(Reborn) · 19 January, 2021, 11:26:51 AM

I was a big fan of the show as a boy. I love that Kirk/ Spock/ McCoy relationship. Like many other things I loved as a kid, I occasionally get the urge to revisit it- but I cant watch the tv show now. I've tried many times, and have them on dvd.

But I get my main entertainment from books and comics, wayyyy before tv and film. So if the urge for a bit of Trek takes me, I'm more likely to pick up an original series novel.

That said, I recently took advantage of one of my town's local Facebook Give And Take groups to offload 200+ Trek novels to some woman who gratefully received them- in several Morrisons bags for life and socially distanced from my doorstep. So next time I get the urge, I will have to buy a new one.

SBT

broodblik · 19 January, 2021, 11:32:50 AM

The dislike of the character is almost the same as Joffrey from GoT. The hate for Joffrey grew so big that the actor Jack Gleeson semi-retired for acting. I hate this from the modern internet, these guys are actors doing a job playing a character. I think that Will Wheaton would have suffered the same fate if TNG was released today.

McGurk76 · 19 January, 2021, 11:41:22 AM

Quote from: SmallBlueThing(Reborn) on 19 January, 2021, 11:26:51 AM
I was a big fan of the show as a boy. I love that Kirk/ Spock/ McCoy relationship. Like many other things I loved as a kid, I occasionally get the urge to revisit it- but I cant watch the tv show now. I've tried many times, and have them on dvd.

But I get my main entertainment from books and comics, wayyyy before tv and film. So if the urge for a bit of Trek takes me, I'm more likely to pick up an original series novel.

That said, I recently took advantage of one of my town's local Facebook Give And Take groups to offload 200+ Trek novels to some woman who gratefully received them- in several Morrisons bags for life and socially distanced from my doorstep. So next time I get the urge, I will have to buy a new one.

SBT

Fair enough!