Startrek Survey. A Question of Wesley.

Cafe Society
21

Exactly. If it’s jealously of success, why don’t people hate Jean-Luc Picard, the captain of Starfleet’s flagship, a seventy-times decorated veteran and super-genius starship captain, interstellar explorer, and diplomat?

My problem with the Wesley Crusher character was exactly that; he doesn’t belong on the bridge. He CAN’T. It’s the flagship of a gigantic military operation, which (according to multiple examples throughout the various Star Trek shows and movies) accepts only exceptionally talented people, and among all the ultra-talented officers aboard, the no-nonsense captain lets a kid be the helmsman on the first shift? Even granting that it’s a fantasy show, it’s just impossible to swallow. Every other lieutenant and ensign on the ship would be shrieking with rage and writing redress-of-grievance letters to Starfleet. Picard’s sanity would be openly questioned. Starfleet would order him to put a stop to it. It’s not even consistent within its own mythology. Would the United States Navy allow a captain’s kid to steer an aircraft carrier in combat operations?

What’s further frustrating is that I never could divine any reason for it. Wesley wasn’t young enough to appeal to kids, and teenagers hated him as much as anyone and likely would have preferred to see another Starfleet officer.

What’s REALLY strange about it, though, is that the idea of having a kid on the ship is actually a very good one; it would allow for some characterization of the other main characters, especially Dr. Crusher and Captain Picard, as they try to relate to a precocious kid. Alexander, although he could be irritating, brought a lot of life out of the character of Worf, and properly used Wesley could have done the same with Dr. Crusher. Conceptually, he’s a very promising character. Kids are part of life, and it would be neat to see a kid in the 24th century, and it opens up avenues for the other characters. But Wesley instead spent more time saving the Enterprise than he did interacting with his mother and friends, which leads the the problems described above AND robs Dr. Crusher of any hope of being an interesting character; she instead became an irritating, sanctimonious windbag.

22
  1. No
  2. Female
  3. No

I was about the same age as Wesley when he was on the show, and I wanted to BE Wesley, so there’s some bias there. :wink:

23

I agree. If they had spent an episode or three hanging lanterns by having meaningful Federation complaints about Wesley, Picard going to bat for him, and Wesley saving the day and winning the race on his own merits*, not just warming a seat inexplicably, then I might have bought it. Otherwise, build another set and throw in a shipboard school and you can have all the adolescents you like ready for whenever you decide their parents need some character development.

*The Traveler thing doesn’t count, sorry. That’s Mysterious Phlebotenum, not Unique Skills, and it came into play far too late to justify Wesley’s role early on.

24

I always felt like Wesley was someone’s Mary Sue.

25

That’s the phrase I was looking for. He’s like a fanfic character who somehow got on the actual show.

26

  1. No. I feel sorry for him because he was such a poorly-written character and he had to wear that ugly orange sweater in the first season.

  2. Female, and as was previously stated:

  1. Debatable.
27

Can someone explain what this “traveler” deal is to someone who only watched ST:TOS? Go ahead and spoiler box if necessary.

28

http://memory-alpha.org/en/wiki/The_Traveler

29

  1. no, I didn’t hate him. To be honest, I never noticed the “Wesley’s apparently smarter than Data” syndrome that so many fans find objectionable. Then again I missed several first season episodes, and I’ve never made much of an effort to see them. But in the many, many times I’ve seen seasons 2 - 5 and the extra eps he was in during the other seasons, I’ve just seen him as a very bright kid who makes plenty of mistakes and who can be annoying at times (especially in his last episode).

  2. Female.

  3. Not especially successful, nope. Just chuggin’ along.

30

  1. “Hate” is too extreme a description of my feelings about Wesley Crusher, but I disliked the character until I discovered that Wil Wheaton is a very cool guy. My feelings about the actor seeped over into my perception of the character, and when I watch old episodes featuring Wesley, I kinda like him now.

  2. Female.

  3. Not successful.

31

Yes, I hate the very idea of a Wesley Crusher character.

The problem is the Blessed, all knowing wonder kid. The child knows everything, solves every problem, even when the best and brightest (aka the crew of the Enterprise) are completely baffled. This is both unrealistic and annoying. It’s also, or was at least moreso at the time, a Hollywood Stereotype and Plot Device that had long before been beaten to death.

That’s what really pissed me off about the character.

That he (a kid) was so bright and SUPER that he could solve all the shit that these well trained professionals at the peak of their profession in a vast empire could not do. That he was freaking Hollywood Plot Device Character.

When they went into the whole Traveller bullshit, it was just so over-the-top that it was nauseating. Oh sure, now he’s not only Super and Special, but he’s going to transcend Humanity and become something more. :rolleyes:

32

Yers, he can go on to be… a wedding guest!

33

  1. shrug

  2. Female.

  3. Sure, I suppose so.

34

[QUOTE=essellMy idea was people found Wesley annoying because he seemed to be successful just by being smart.[/QUOTE]
Which, of course, accounts for Spock’s tremendous lack of popularity.

35

  1. I have no issue with Wesley. I thought it was kind of an interesting story and I was always rooting for him to save the day. I wanted to bitchslap him both ways in that episode where his idiocy got some kid killed and he almost got thrown out of Starfleet. Not the way I wanted to see that kid go out.*

  2. Female

  3. I’m too neurotic to consider myself a success.

*I’m still in the middle of Season 7 on DVD. Don’t tell me if there’s another Wesley episode beyond that one, First Duty or whatever the hell it was called.

36

And then get cut out of the final print, even!

37

Weel… your theory seems to assume that an unsuccessful person should resent Wesley out of envy, because they feel their intelligence is unappreciated. If so, then I’m not sure I fit your model either. I’m unsuccessful precisely because I’m extremely stupid. Granted, I also dislike the Pakleds, but not nearly as much as I hate Wesley.

On the other hand, if one assumes that Star Trek fans are generally intelligent, then logically they would tend to dislike elements of the new show that insult their intelligence, and Wesley was the first and most prominent of those elements by far. Viewers who tuned in hoping that TNG would recapture the magic of TOS were instead forced to watch as the crew of the Enterprise blundered around in a fog, while script after script was usurped by the precocious weedy kid.

I like Danny Dunn. I like the Hardy Boys. I like the Three Investigators. I like Encyclopedia Brown. I’ve probably even enjoyed Nancy Drew mysteries from time to time. I have great sympathy for the child prodigy character in general. But such a character doesn’t belong on a starship. You just know that the script bible included the bit about “Starfleet personnel being permitted to travel with their families” solely as justification for Wesley’s presence.

On the other hand, for an ostensibly successful intelligent character, Wesley really turned into kind of a screwup in later seasons. Covered with shame after that ugly Starfleet Academy trial, he finally wound up vanishing from the show entirely. Sure, the excuse was that he was off to transcend humanity with Bighead, but everyone knew the real reason: Wesley ultimately failed the coolness test, and wasn’t allowed to hang with the Enterprise crew anymore.

This brings up another point: the character did evolve somewhat during the course of the show. Your analysis doesn’t account for when the viewer was introduced to Wesley-- when TNG premiered and the character was at his most egregiously intrusive? Or later, when the cast and scripting was more balanced? I could perhaps understand a new viewer being introduced to the show in Season 4, and wondering why so much hate for the character.

There is one other factor that you may want to consider: the possibility that many of the other respondents to your poll are a pack of STINKIN’ LIARS. *“Oh, of course I didn’t HATE the character. Hate is such a strong word, isn’t it? I know it’s just a TV show, ha ha! I merely disliked the premise as an excuse for shoddy scriptwriting. Actually, I hardly even noticed this… what did you say his name was? Wesley?” *

You lie. You all lie so bad, your tongue is black from all your filthy lies. Everyone hated Wesley. I repeat: Nobody didn’t hate Wesley. Wil Wheaton himself hated Wesley. There is no shame in admitting the fact.

This revisionist history is appalling. Everyone who saw the show when it was first televised hated Wesley, and there is simply no denying the fact. Maybe-- A BIG MAYBE!-- the girls found him cute. I wouldn’t know. Did girls watch the show during the first season? I’m not sure what girls were doing at that point. But the fact remains: my friends, you can lie to others, you even can lie to yourself… but you cannot lie to Wesley. You hate him, don’t you? Of course you do. When you tune into the show unexpectedly, and you realize it’s a Wesley episode, you feel it. When he enters a room, every time he opens his mouth to speak, your eyes roll back in your head and you groan aloud. You know it. The hate rises within you. Embrace it. Be true to yourself.

38

Well, pfui. From the start, I frankly didn’t care enough about Wesley to hate him. The closest to hatred I came was a disgruntled ‘meh’ sort of feeling, as if he were a food that gives me gas. As Orual said earlier, hatred should be reserved for someone irretrievably obnoxious, such as Neelix.

39

  1. As others have said, “hate” is too strong a word for Wesley. So is “successful.” Besides, “successful” should always be followed by “at.” With very few exceptions, people are only successful “at” certain things, but not others. I have no idea what Wesley was successful at, but he was way too young to have been successful at many things. I’m 62, and while I’ve had many successes in my life, I’m still too young to have been successful at other things. Still a work in progress.

  2. Male.

  3. See #1.

40

I submit that “this character is the narrative equivalent of abdominal discomfort, bloating and flatulence” is closer to hatred than indifference.

Do it, pinkfreud. Reclaim the hate. This denial is unhealthy. I feel your pain; share it with me.

Sure, you say that now. But ten years from now, after Ethan Phillips has recreated himself as a hip, self-deprecating icon of fandom, see what people are saying about the character then. *“Hate? Nonsense! Why, I barely even noticed the character! You just disliked him because you never got the chance to date a three-year-old.” *