Wesley Crusher appreciation thread

[kkt]

I don't blame Wheaton at all, but Wesley wasn't written to be a teen. Maybe young Rodenberry always picked things up quickly and never acted out, but he would be the only one. Teens can indeed be very quick to pick up new things... but they may also melt down in a tantrum worthy of a 4-year-old without warning. Where's the teen who's sleeping late, who needs to stare out the window for a while, where's his peer group? If the Enterprise has families aboard, there must be a few teens among them besides Wesley?

Having teens aboard a ship isn't a terrible idea. Back in the sailing navy 13-year-olds signed on as midshipman, had their own area for their bunks, formed classes to learn celestial navigation and were rotated about the ship. By the time they were ready to take the exam for lieutenant, they had first hand experience with almost everything in the ship and were really ready to take command if necessary. Even now students in ROTC and the Naval Academy spend time aboard ships in the summer, gaining real shipboard experience. But it would be more believable if Wesley weren't the only one.

Then there's his mom leaving him on the Enterprise, with Riker in charge of his training! The 1st officer has a lot of demands on his time, I don't think you could add being a father figure to them. And how would he feel about that? Abandoned for sure. Yet he never complains, never acts out, apparently never misses his mom. Not a real teen.

 

[Timewalker]

We did see Wesley with a classmate or two in a couple of episodes, and we did see him having moods. But yeah, they weren't like those we would consider normal. FFS, the only time Wesley's hair wasn't combed was in his final episode!

It's like that episode with the little kid whose mother was killed on duty. They left that kid alone in the family quarters, not even anyone supervising him. If that's Starfleet childhood, it seems awfully sterile.

 

[Oddish]

Wes was underrated as a character, probably because of the early showrunners' efforts to cater to the teen demographic by having him save the ship multiple times. But I must confess that I rather liked him. The scene where he finally gets that red uniform is one of my favorite Trek moments.

 

[Paul Weaver]

Wes was underrated as a character, probably because of the early showrunners' efforts to cater to the teen demographic by having him save the ship multiple times. But I must confess that I rather liked him. The scene where he finally gets that red uniform is one of my favorite Trek moments.

Certainly worked for me. Such a shame he left in Season 4 though.

Was watching Q-Who the other day, very odd, he was at conn early in the episode while they were searching for missing Picard (why didn't the computer alert on the sudden vanishing of a shuttle/captain), and later after the encounter in engineering, but when they actually met the borg he wasn't - Ensign Ricky (Boliska?) was on duty.

https://tng.trekcore.com/gallery/albums/screencaps/season2/2x16/qwho_hd_160.jpg

https://tng.trekcore.com/gallery/albums/screencaps/season2/2x16/qwho_hd_166.jpg



I assume this was due to Wil Wheton being unavailable for that scene - he was still only 16 at that time. Working hours for child actors perhaps? Felt a bit jarring. Had he been sent to bed early?

 

[Josh Kelton]

Didn't Wil want to leave by season 4?

He talked about it when he was interviewed on Mission Log. Something about wanting to go off and do a movie while working on TNG, but wasn't allowed to.

 

[Oddish]

Having teens aboard a ship isn't a terrible idea. Back in the sailing navy 13-year-olds signed on as midshipman, had their own area for their bunks, formed classes to learn celestial navigation and were rotated about the ship.

They often weren't even the youngest crew. The enlisted men often included boys as young as 9 or 10, they were appreciated for their ability to move quickly through the cramped and chaotic conditions of a sailing ship during battle. Because a part of their job was to fetch fresh supplies of gunpowder for the gun crews, they were called "powder monkeys".