Wesley - stay or nay?

[Jaespol]

I've decided to make a couple of polls about characters who left/were fired from Star Trek.
Would you have liked to have seen Wesley stay until the end?
I think he is unfairly bashed although I'm not sure having him stay until the end would have been so great. I mean he did get two whole Wesley episodes in season 5 and it was only natural he should be going to the academy so to have him stay is kind of nonsensical. I would personally have liked him to have raced through the academy and then come back later on in season 6/7 as an ensign, that would have been kind of cool.
However the question is would you have liked to have seen Wesley stay on the Enterprise for the rest of the seasons?

 

[Michael]

Stay. I rather liked Wes.

 

[backstept]

I liked Wes. He was poorly written in some instances, but he did get some good episodes.
Final Mission for instance

although I could be projecting my respect for Wil Wheaton onto the character, but regardless of that I never disliked Wes

 

[NumberOne]

I like Wes. Should have kept him.

 

[Lt.Cmdr.LaForge]

Sometimes he was annoying, but i think ppl hav a mostly irrational hatred of wesley, he wasnt that bad imo. Infact i was sad to see him go in S4.

 

[KimMH]

Stay. Though it would have been fun to see him do some crossovers as a Traveler.

 

[C.E. Evans]

Stay. I actually think Wesley became more interesting as the series progressed. From wunderkind to a Starfleet cadet with a tarnished record, I can't help but think that Wesley would have evolved into a fine officer had he not been written completely out of the series...

 

[barnaclelapse]

I like Wes, but I wouldn't have given him quite as much to do. Let the little pudding head stay.

 

[Captrek]

Nay.

For one thing, I think Wil Wheaton was probably the second worst actor among the regular cast, beating only Denise Crosby, although he did get a little better as he matured.

Second, the “child prodigy” thing was played out. He was getting too old to keep playing that type. It was time for the character to move on. I don’t know whether it was planned from the outset, but it simply made sense that after a few years Wesley would leave the Enterprise and go to Starfleet Academy. I enjoyed his occasional return, “The First Duty” and “Journey’s End” were both good episodes, but his time as a regular had come to a logical end.

 

[CaptainStoner]

I voted for "Stay", as in "Stay off the Bridge!"
The Ent-D probably had a surplus of Ensigns and higher who were qualified, experienced helmsmen/women. Can you imagine Commander Riker telling you, "I'm sorry, Lt. X. Your shift on the helm has been given to young Mr. Crusher. You'll report to Cetacean Ops henceforward."
I liked Wesley fine, but the wonder-kid element was taken past the point of making sense.

 

[C.E. Evans]

I could imagine similar arguments about either James Kirk or Jean-Luc Picard as young overachievers stepping over older and more experienced officers...

 

[Captrek]

I could imagine similar arguments about either James Kirk or Jean-Luc Picard as young overachievers stepping over older and more experienced officers...

I imagine Kirk and Picard on numerous occasions had to defend themselves with their fists against older and more experienced officers whom they had pissed off and embarrassed. I’d have loved to see Wesley in that position.

Actually, that could have made an interesting premise for an episode. Wesley’s on the Enterprise during hiatus from the Academy and talks about older students who don’t like him and threaten him. Worf wants to teach him how to fight like a warrior, while Beverly wants to teach him to stay out of fights, especially with kids who are older, bigger, and stronger. Wesley doesn’t know who to listen to. Guinan and Picard offer sage words of wisdom. Ultimately, Wesley ends up in a confrontation and prevails, but not depending entirely on Worf’s teachings; he uses his own remarkable talents in some way, maybe engineering a device that evens the odds and allows him to win the fight without anybody getting seriously hurt. Worf and Beverly are both proud of him in the end.

 

[CaptainStoner]

I could imagine similar arguments about either James Kirk or Jean-Luc Picard as young overachievers stepping over older and more experienced officers...

I can't. Wesley is too much a stretch. It wasn't appropriate, but more importantly, it just wasn't believable. Wesley started making sense again as soon as they sent him to the Academy.

 

[C.E. Evans]

I could imagine similar arguments about either James Kirk or Jean-Luc Picard as young overachievers stepping over older and more experienced officers...

I can't. Wesley is too much a stretch. It wasn't appropriate, but more importantly, it just wasn't believable. Wesley started making sense again as soon as they sent him to the Academy.

I actually think that's fitting with the character. Wesley was established as being special from almost the get-go, and he was given opportunities and special privileges aboard the Enterprise that perhaps wouldn't have happened had he been aboard a different ship with a different captain.

Kirk (as originally depicted in TOS) and Picard probably were smart little know-it-all "golden boys" when they were younger, excelling in almost everything they did, and irritating the hell out of their peers in the process...

 

[john titor]

I could imagine similar arguments about either James Kirk or Jean-Luc Picard as young overachievers stepping over older and more experienced officers...

I imagine Kirk and Picard on numerous occasions had to defend themselves with their fists against older and more experienced officers whom they had pissed off and embarrassed. I’d have loved to see Wesley in that position.

Actually, that could have made an interesting premise for an episode. Wesley’s on the Enterprise during hiatus from the Academy and talks about older students who don’t like him and threaten him. Worf wants to teach him how to fight like a warrior, while Beverly wants to teach him to stay out of fights, especially with kids who are older, bigger, and stronger. Wesley doesn’t know who to listen to. Guinan and Picard offer sage words of wisdom. Ultimately, Wesley ends up in a confrontation and prevails, but not depending entirely on Worf’s teachings; he uses his own remarkable talents in some way, maybe engineering a device that evens the odds and allows him to win the fight without anybody getting seriously hurt. Worf and Beverly are both proud of him in the end.

You don't happen to be a former TNG scriptwriter?

 

[startrekwatcher]

I think I'm probably the only person in the world that actually liked Wesley. That said, his leaving didn't bother me. He got a nice sendoff in "Final Mission" and it 7 characters was more than enough to have to write for.

 

[GalaxyX]

I think really only 1st season he was annoying, and the occasional 2nd Season ep. The first 3rd Season ep was the most annoying of them all though, trumping every single appearance of Wesley, before and after it.

 

[Captrek]

I could imagine similar arguments about either James Kirk or Jean-Luc Picard as young overachievers stepping over older and more experienced officers...

I imagine Kirk and Picard on numerous occasions had to defend themselves with their fists against older and more experienced officers whom they had pissed off and embarrassed. I’d have loved to see Wesley in that position.

Actually, that could have made an interesting premise for an episode. Wesley’s on the Enterprise during hiatus from the Academy and talks about older students who don’t like him and threaten him. Worf wants to teach him how to fight like a warrior, while Beverly wants to teach him to stay out of fights, especially with kids who are older, bigger, and stronger. Wesley doesn’t know who to listen to. Guinan and Picard offer sage words of wisdom. Ultimately, Wesley ends up in a confrontation and prevails, but not depending entirely on Worf’s teachings; he uses his own remarkable talents in some way, maybe engineering a device that evens the odds and allows him to win the fight without anybody getting seriously hurt. Worf and Beverly are both proud of him in the end.

You don't happen to be a former TNG scriptwriter?

I don’t know whether to take that as a compliment or an insult.

 

[Michael]

I think I'm probably the only person in the world that actually liked Wesley.

Not at all. Just look at some of the responses in this very thread.

 

[Danoz]

He can stay, but we have to rewrite him. Not a lot, just a little... if he's really a child prodigy by the Traveler's intuition--- have him go to Starfleet Academy, be a semi-regular character, and then get an early commission to qualify him as ensign. Even the writer's agree that Wesley's character was forced and they had no idea what to do with him.