Jack Crusher was kind of a crappy dad

[JonnyQuest037]

I've been working on my ST Timeline over the last week or so, and when adding in some 24th Century TNG dates, I realized something: Jack Crusher was kind of a crappy dad.

In the 4th season episode "Family," Wesley receives a holomessage that his father Jack recorded for him when Wesley was 10 weeks old. He intended to leave a series of them for Wesley as his son grew up, but Beverly says that he never got the chance to record any more before his death. It's never said outright, but the implication is that Jack died not too long after he recorded the first message.

So far, so good. This more or less jibes with what Wesley tells Riker in "Encounter at Farpoint":

CRUSHER: Maybe this is something Jean-Luc would like looked into.
RIKER: Jean-Luc Picard? You know the Captain?
WESLEY: When I was little, he brought my father's body home to us.
CRUSHER: Yes, Wes, long, long ago. A pleasure to meet you, Commander. You will excuse us.

But a couple of seasons later in "True Q", Beverly tells Amanda Rogers that her husband died when Wesley was five.

Which means that either Jack Crusher recorded his initial message to Wesley when his newborn son was 10 weeks old and then didn't bother to record another one for more than four and a half years, or else that Beverly accidentally erased the rest of Jack's messages and then gave Wes a clumsy lie to cover up her mistake. But I guess it worked, because apparently supergenius Wesley never did the math to figure it out.

I'm not serious, of course, but I thought it was pretty funny.

 

[valkyrie013]

It seems like he wanted to record "growing up" messages for when shut up Wesley was older, but only recorded one..
Doesn't mean he wasn't in Wesley lives at all, to the contrary, plenty of cannon evidence that he was in his life plenty. With a possibility Beverly was on the stargazzer for awhile, maybe with Wesley..
Jack just sucked at recording stuff

 

[JonnyQuest037]

It seems like he wanted to record "growing up" messages for when shut up Wesley was older, but only recorded one..

I guess it's a good thing that nothing terribly significant happens in a child's first five years of life, then.

 

[valkyrie013]

Well.. He is a Starfleet officer.. He probably knew his chances went a 100% on coming back..

 

[Tosk]

Just because Jack didn't record messages for later in Wesley's life, doesn't mean he didn't speak directly to Wesley himself as he grew up.

 

[Therin of Andor]

Maybe after that first video message, Jack and Beverly were reunited in real time for Wesley's first four or so years, and then Jack had to depart again?

 

[Jayson1]

That's because after making the first one Beverly finally came clean and admitted that Jean Luc is really Wesley's dad. He didn't want to lie to Wesley on them by making up fake stories so he simply quite making them.


Jason

 

[JonnyQuest037]

Maybe after that first video message, Jack and Beverly were reunited in real time for Wesley's first four or so years, and then Jack had to depart again?

He wasn't making the messages because he was away at that moment. He was making the messages for Wesley to watch when he grew up.

TROI: What's that?
CRUSHER: It's for Wesley, from Jack. I'd forgotten it. Maybe I was just trying to forget it.
TROI: Why?
CRUSHER: Jack recorded a holographic message to Wesley just after he was born. It was a gift for when he grew up. Jack was going to make many more of them. He never had the chance.
TROI: Are you afraid of what it might say?
CRUSHER: No, I just don't know if it'll do more harm than good. Wesley's finally come to terms with his father's death.
TROI: Wesley has a lot of questions about his father. Things that you can't answer for him. Perhaps seeing this will help him understand.

JACK: Hello, Wesley. As I make this recording, you are about ten weeks old. I wanted you to know who I am today. You see, this Jack Crusher won't exist by the time you're grown up. I'll be older, more experienced, and hopefully a little wiser. But this person will be gone and I want you to know who your father was when you came into the world. When I see you lying there in your crib, I realize I don't know the first thing about being a father. So let me just apologize for all the mistakes I'm about to make as you grow up. I hope you don't grow up resenting the fact that I was gone so much. That comes with this uniform. I don't know if I can explain why Starfleet means so much to me. Maybe you'll understand when you get this recording. Maybe you'll even want to try one of these on. But you'll probably be a doctor like your mother. You're only a baby, but it's remarkable. I can see in your face all the people I've loved in my lifetime. Your mother, my father and mother. Our family. I can see me in you, too. And I can feel that you're my son. I don't know how to describe it, but there's this connection, this bond. I'll always be a part of you, Wesley. Well, I hope this made some sense to you. I'm not sure that it does to me, but maybe I'll do better next time. I love you, Wesley.

And even if he was away on assignment somewhere, he could've found the time to record a quick message or two. After all, the initial message we saw was, what? Two minutes, maybe?

 

[Qonundrum]

Since Wesley was Wonderboy(tm), he learned to talk a communicate at third grade level by age 1.47.

That or this is a great example of season 4 being worse than season 1, noting "Family" was a bit of a clunky soap opera tale...

 

[F. King Daniel]

There's an excellent novel called Q Squared where we meet Jack Crusher from an alternate timeline, and it turns out he's a bit unhinged to say the least.

I love the idea that his loved ones paint him as a saint, his holotapes show him at his best, but the man himself doesn't live up.

 

[JonnyQuest037]

That or this is a great example of season 4 being worse than season 1, noting "Family" was a bit of a clunky soap opera tale...

I wouldn't go that far, but to each their own. I like the first half of S4 quite a bit.

 

[Orphalesion]

I think it was more meant to be the kind of thing where someone puts off doings something important until later, and until later, and until later again since they think they will still be alive at that point.
And then they die before ever fulfilling their plans/promise/resolution and it's meant to be all tragic and stuff.
Pretty much like a soldier not writing his family at home about how much they love them "because they can tell them in person once they're back home" and then they're killed.

Things like that happen all the time even in real life, doesn't make the person in question a crappy person or parent based solely on that alone.

 

[DonIago]

There's an excellent novel called Q Squared where we meet Jack Crusher from an alternate timeline, and it turns out he's a bit unhinged to say the least.

I love the idea that his loved ones paint him as a saint, his holotapes show him at his best, but the man himself doesn't live up.

Well, that Jack was a victim of extenuating circumstances as well, among them the fact that in that universe his Wesley died after falling out of a tree...that he'd climbed so he could wave hello to Jack.

 

[Mark 2000]

Judging from Wesley's psych test in "Coming of Age" Jack wasn't the most well balanced guy in the fleet.

 

[WarpFactorZ]

Which means that either Jack Crusher recorded his initial message to Wesley when his newborn son was 10 weeks old and then didn't bother to record another one for more than four and a half years, or else that Beverly accidentally erased the rest of Jack's messages and then gave Wes a clumsy lie to cover up her mistake. But I guess it worked, because apparently supergenius Wesley never did the math to figure it out.

I'm not serious, of course, but I thought it was pretty funny.

It's perfectly normal for parents to record / write a time-capsule message to their kids immediately after they're born. I did for my daughter.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

There's an excellent novel called Q Squared where we meet Jack Crusher from an alternate timeline, and it turns out he's a bit unhinged to say the least.

Only because of Trelane's goading.

 

[JonnyQuest037]

It's perfectly normal for parents to record / write a time-capsule message to their kids immediately after they're born. I did for my daughter.

When did I say that it wasn't? It was the four & a half year break I was questioning.

 

[Bollie74]

Maybe he did, and they were lost on the Stargazer?