Wesley as an Academy Graduate From the Beginning
- Thread starter Snaploud
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You know, I'm not sure if I would have liked this better.
Certainly, it would have made more sense, given the direction in which the writers eventually went with his character. Besides the cheesy moments where Picard mock-angrily is irritated with Dr. Crusher bringing boy Wesley on to the bridge and so forth, Wesley was written as more of a member of the crew than, say, Jake Sisko (who arguably starts out in DS9 much like Wesley started out in TNG, with respect to age, child of a senior officer, etc).
However, Wes was still "outside" the crew enough so that when he bent the rules a bit to inevitably show up a senior officer, as a civilian, he couldn't get court-marshaled and thus the story went on seamlessly, &etc.
Certainly, it would have made more sense, given the direction in which the writers eventually went with his character. Besides the cheesy moments where Picard mock-angrily is irritated with Dr. Crusher bringing boy Wesley on to the bridge and so forth, Wesley was written as more of a member of the crew than, say, Jake Sisko (who arguably starts out in DS9 much like Wesley started out in TNG, with respect to age, child of a senior officer, etc).
However, Wes was still "outside" the crew enough so that when he bent the rules a bit to inevitably show up a senior officer, as a civilian, he couldn't get court-marshaled and thus the story went on seamlessly, &etc.
deux ex persona?
And you're absolutely right. If the intention was to make Wesley a Horatio Hornblower analogue, they shouldn't have also made him a super-genius. Although personally, I probably would have preferred if he was an actual academy grad (apologies to Wil Wheaton, as this would have made him too young for the part at the time.)
^I would've preferred Wesley be a 16 or 17 year old midshipman (cadet, whatever) serving a tour on the Enterprise as part of his training, then be promoted to acting ensign like how Hornblower was promoted from middy to acting lieutenant. I would've preferred if he wasn't a genius as well, and instead highly adapt at certain things, like Hornblower, yet still have his setbacks. For example, Hornblower was quite skilled at seamanship and mathematics but suffered from seasickness and self-doubt.
Why not have him as a gradual prodigy, as in we don't realize how smart he is until the series goes on, and he actually becomes a tad irritated in that he is constantly patronized by everyone despite them eventually realizing he is smart about things. As in, he doesn't solve problems in the "Whiz-Kid" manner because no ones gives him a chance. It would make the audience sympathize with him more.
I might have liked him a little better if he had been an Academy graduate instead of an "acting ensign" -- a phrase that made my teeth grate every time they said it. I'd rather see him as an unusally talented ensign than a civilian who was making all these trained officers look useless. Their Academy training should give them some kind of edge that Wesley didn't have, even if he was a genius.
Exactly. Also as Anwar suggested more gradual introduction to his talent would have improved the character considerably. A talented young officer who quickly learned from his seniors would have been better than a starfleet brat who seemed to somehow know everything.
I would not have liked him better as a Grad from the getgo. I just would have liked to have seen his existing writing better handled. "Acting Ensign" was fine - just don't let him fly the ship for what was apparently an entire rotation, when you surely had a dozen officers, or more, who were brought on board the D specifically to do just that. Boy genius or not, it was too much a stretch. "Acting Ensign" could have been fun. See him, even with his genius, stuck in far less glamorous jobs than flying the flagship.
In other words, if Picard had stuck to his guns: no children on the Bridge, I think it would have been better, and, it would have been cool to see Picard maintain his gruff dislike of children longer, and have it be a point of friction with Beverly throughout. Maybe even a reason she left for S2.
In other words, if Picard had stuck to his guns: no children on the Bridge, I think it would have been better, and, it would have been cool to see Picard maintain his gruff dislike of children longer, and have it be a point of friction with Beverly throughout. Maybe even a reason she left for S2.
I would have liked to have seen this also Have the Character be Leslie Crusher as planned GR Changed the Character to Wesley Crusher
{GR thinking he knew better than everyone else on the Production Team
}
I like the way he came through. Starts off as a brainy kid waiting in the wings (though only for a short time) to get onto the bridge. It was good that his mother wasn't always on the ship at the same time (Dr Pulask being there instead) which made him stand on his two feet.
God?
I don't think it would really have made the character any more likeable. As soon as they had him off the ship, the better. That said, that academy one with him (The First Duty I think it's called) and The Game are good episodes.
Yeah, I think they kind of hit the ceiling with his abilities by the second episode and that painful "why don't you just see it in your head" line.
If they made Wesley an actual officer I think that would have undercut what the character was supposed to be somewhat. An actual officer would have to start out already as a disciplined officer used to deferring to his higher ups. They were clearly going the "boy genius" rout.
You know, I always used to think that, but I'm feeling contrarian about it these days. The fact that he was out of the official chain of command gave him a unique status that a recent graduate, trained to follow orders, didn't have. The only real change that would've been welcome would have been eliminating the Wesley-as-technical-Mozart angle.
Also, it would've made sense if sometimes his solutions turned out to be wrong, similar to his blunder in Evolution, the opening ep of Season 3. Hell, my main pet peeve with Wesley (and his mom) was that ridiculous last name! (Works fine in a Bugs Bunny cartoon or the WWE, not so much as a "real" name!)
One other question: Was that all-grey jumpsuit he wore in Seasons 2 and 3 some kind of uniform for "acting ensigns"? It seemed like that, partly because we later saw Picard wear something similar under his black-and-red jacket in Season 4 -- a black-and-grey pullover.
Red Rum!
Also, it would've made sense if sometimes his solutions turned out to be wrong, similar to his blunder in Evolution, the opening ep of Season 3. Hell, my main pet peeve with Wesley (and his mom) was that ridiculous last name! (Works fine in a Bugs Bunny cartoon or the WWE, not so much as a "real" name!)
One other question: Was that all-grey jumpsuit he wore in Seasons 2 and 3 some kind of uniform for "acting ensigns"? It seemed like that, partly because we later saw Picard wear something similar under his black-and-red jacket in Season 4 -- a black-and-grey pullover.
Red Rum!
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Just deux ex machina. It's an all-purpose phrase for anything that is a plot conveinence, and is almost never used in its literal sense in English - it referred to the machine, or device, that gods would use to come onstage in classic Greek tragedies.
Our meaning comes from the fact since they occasionally just arbitrarily solved the dilemmas, like in Orestes. People are about to kill each other? Well, here's Apollo to stop them, exposit some stuff, and wrap up the show people.
But yeah, the basic problem with Wesley is he was used as a deus ex machina and we had a lot of people insisting what a genius he was - including the Traveller, an instellar being who declared our race was just reaching fruition and Wesley here was part of our next stage, a great talent like Mozart.
Basically, Wesley can be smart and capable, but he just needed to not be absurdly smart and capable. He's one of the many victims of the poor writing seen in early episodes, but since his flaw was basically in the character conception it was hard to set right - it's worth noting Wesley is a lot more tolerable and even likeable character in his guest star appearances once the writing had improved ("The First Duty" especially).
And yeah, a Leslie Crusher would have been interesting, but if she was also a whizkid wunderchild Mozart, well, same problem as before.
