Amusingly, an early episode (“Hide and Q”) features Wesley being magically aged ten years, with the role (briefly) played by stud-muffin William A. Wallace. It was broadcast in 1987.
Well, 1997 came and went, and Wil Weaton didn’t quite grow into that mold…
Yeah, what pinkie said.
I’d roll my eyes a lot when Wesley saved the day, I’d lose interest in Wesley centric episodes. Sometimes maybe just for a particularly obnoxious Wesley-centered episode I might hate the character, but overall, no I didn’t hate him. I hated the writing. I knew it was just bad writing which pissed me off more than the character. They had some really great episodes and they were capable of much better than the deux ex supersmartspecialkid.
Yes
Male
Yes
You caught me. I was sort of lying. You see, when TNG was in it’s first run, I actually quite liked Wesley. (This is, of course, because I was about 10 at the time.)
My opinion of him has dropped considerably since then. But to be perfectly honest, I don’t remember this grand spate of episodes where Wesley was shown to be smarter than everyone else. I’m pretty sure Geordie saved the day with magical technobabble far more often.
[sub]Deep Space Nine was a better show anyways …[/sub]
For me, I think the episode I disliked the most was The Naked Now. Wil gets infected by the virus or whatever it is, takes over part of engineering and puts the ship in danger when they are about to be hit by a chunk of planet. However, he is still able to save the day even while drunk.
Here’s Wil Wheaton’s recap and review of the episode.
I’m quite pleased that Wheaton himself has no illusions about how poorly-written the character was (showing he at least has his head screwed on right), but now I’m kinda curious what he considers his best moment in that role.
Oh. First season episode eh? I’ve never been able to sit through a whole first season episode, Wesley or no Wesley.
Funny recap, though. Thanks for the link!
Yes. And yes. And I still have a huge crush on Wil Wheaton. But that doesn’t mean I stop laughing at that orange sweater. That thing was so hideous Bill Cosby wouldn’t touch it. Once he got into a Starfleet uniform, though…rowr. And not that blah gray thing either. A real uniform.
What I hated then and hate today is Troi. HATE. HER. My god I wish Deanna would shut up. I cheered when the captain temping for Picard told her to put on a damn uniform. She needed to be knocked down several pegs. Arrogant mind-readin’ bitch. Put her together with Riker and I leave the room. Give me Picard and Crusher any day.
When I saw Wil Wheaton at a Star Trek Expo a few years ago, someone asked him which Wesley episode he liked best, and his answer was “Where No One Has Gone Before,” the episode in which the Traveler first appeared.
OMG YES!!! When Captain Jellico bitch slapped her back into her place!!! That kicked ass! I hated him, but I freaking cheered when he did it. That was the one great thing he did while he was captain.
I will absolutely take Picard and Crusher any day too. You are my new favorite poster.
No. In retrospect, having Wesley on the bridge and all was insane, but from bits and pieces I’ve picked up here and there I think he was a Mary Sue for Roddenberry. But at the time…aw hell, I was eleven. I had a crush on him. I still think he was geeky-cute, and Wil still is IMO.
Female.
Yes and no. But that doesn’t have anything to do with Wesley. And I was a huuuuuuge Trekkie once upon a time.
I can only assume he had a lot of positive off-screen memories, because the episode itself warn’t no Emmy-winner.
In Wil Wheaton’s review of the episode for TVsquad.com, he said this:
“If you really hated Wesley already, it was unlikely that this episode would change your mind at all, but if you were looking for a glimmer of evidence that he wouldn’t be a total weenie for the whole series, there was just enough here to get your hopes up before we dashed them to hell in season two.”
1. Do you hate Wesley Crusher?
No
**
2. Are you male or female ?**
Female
**
3. Do you consider yourself to be a successful person? (Successful based purely on your own standards, not anyone else’s)**
Yes. By anyone’s standards.
I subscribe to the theory that the Traveler was a child molester.
Spazcat: Seek help. Now.
If you read Wil’s review of that episode you will find that he held the same view.
For what, liking Wil Wheaton or hating Deanna Troi?
I don’t hate him. I didn’t like him and thought that he was used stupidly as a plot device, but I don’t hate him.
Male
Fuck no. Crash and burn, and waiting for EOSL.
The problem I had most with Mr. Crusher was the whole bullshit about making him a special kind of officer. ISTR they called him a “temporary Ensign” or some such nonsense.
Which was full blown BS. Starfleet’s rank structure and promotion standards are lifted almost without change from the US Navy. And there’s a perfectly good Naval rank for a trainee officer who is put into the chain of command while learning the duties: Midshipman. For that matter, while it’s a poor fit for the Star Trek mellieu, in the age of sail officers were grown from midshipmen as often as any other way. Modern military academies are a relatively new invention.
Given the story that Enterprise was supposed to be long-term deployments with families aboard, it would have made a great deal of sense, to my mind, for Starfleet to expect that some of the teens aboard would rotate through such duties, and some would stick with it. Then when returning to more central worlds promising middies could have been sent off to the Academy. Of course, that would have gotten Mr. Crusher off the ship, which would have been a bad thing from the POV of the producers.
Well, Commodore wasn’t a Commodore in the RN Naval usage, and I presume the USN.
An excellent point, but I propose “Ship’s Boy” for Wes, especially where his pal the Traveler is concerned. See above post.