Why do so many trekkies hate Wesley Crusher?
Did I miss something when I watched TNG?
Did I miss something when I watched TNG?
What's wrong with Wesley?
- Thread starter QuarkforNagus
- Start date
He was a teenage genius who put trained and experienced officers to shame on an almost weekly basis, it was just a bit ridiculous and totally unrelatable. I was so happy when Beverly slapped him in "Sarek"--and I don't agree with the hitting of children, but he just so deserved it.
I think once Wesley was out of the ridiculous sweaters in in the gray uniform he was much better, especially as he less and less became the gee-whiz solution-of-the-week character. The first season hate I totally get, second season and on I think he's actually a decent character.
I like both Wesley and especially Neelix so I dont really get the hate either.
I remember liking him when I was young [and thinking how cool his life would be] and even now im able to simply accept that he is a genius. It doesn't make me angry or insecure.
The problem for me was he could be a bit lame at times or grate a little bit but generally I think all the hate is OTT.
I remember liking him when I was young [and thinking how cool his life would be] and even now im able to simply accept that he is a genius. It doesn't make me angry or insecure.
The problem for me was he could be a bit lame at times or grate a little bit but generally I think all the hate is OTT.
I liked Wesley when I was younger just because he was a wish fulfillment character for me.
I don't hate him like some Trekkies do. Especially in season three he became much better written. But in season one, he's just too magically brilliant, and his behavior is not believable for a teenager. It would be one thing if he was only offering the occasional 'Think outside the box' ideas from his unique perspective, but in S1 he's better at everybody's job than they are and he thinks and behaves like a sheltered rich kid who's never met another person his age.
If they had made him as smart as he was but gave him a more believable personality for a teenager like Jake Sisko's it would be fine.
I don't hate him like some Trekkies do. Especially in season three he became much better written. But in season one, he's just too magically brilliant, and his behavior is not believable for a teenager. It would be one thing if he was only offering the occasional 'Think outside the box' ideas from his unique perspective, but in S1 he's better at everybody's job than they are and he thinks and behaves like a sheltered rich kid who's never met another person his age.
If they had made him as smart as he was but gave him a more believable personality for a teenager like Jake Sisko's it would be fine.
I can't speak for the audience at home, but my understanding is that the Enterprise crew themselves really hated Wesley because he was the only one who used to use the last of the toilet paper but never replaced it with a new roll afterwards.
I mean, there's no excuse for that kind of behaviour. It's just dickish. No wonder Beverly went off to Starfleet medical without him.
I mean, there's no excuse for that kind of behaviour. It's just dickish. No wonder Beverly went off to Starfleet medical without him.
I don't mind him being smarter than adults – I was smarter when I was younger than I am now. I don't mind him having the knowledge and ability of a person trained in the art – that also happens from time to time, but after hard work. I don't mind him solving certain problems they can't either – sometimes the problems can be out of the scope of their training and experience.
Problem was, he was a contradiction of traits and writers went out of their way to make him seem a genius. One moment he's acting stupid, immature and can't tie his own shoes, yet next moment he's solving a crisis. The crisis seems to be solvable by the crew, yet the crew can't, almost as if they wanted to leave to him to solve it. He's inexperienced, yet he's flawless when solving the hard critical problems. To make up for that, he creates a terrible mess when making a school experiment, under circumstances so exceptional that it still makes him look like a genius. His successes were never done in a believable way, and his inaneness on other matters was overdone in a way that made him look even less believable.
There's also how he was mindful and always almost stereotypically did the right thing, yet managed to go so wrong that another kid died when he mindlessly followed Locarno, and then proceeded to lie about it. At one point it felt like his successes and failures were pulled out randomly out of some book of contrived examples.
I am not sure, but I think that played quite a lot in what made him unlikeable. I was younger than him when I started hating him, I don't think I had such reflections at the time.
Problem was, he was a contradiction of traits and writers went out of their way to make him seem a genius. One moment he's acting stupid, immature and can't tie his own shoes, yet next moment he's solving a crisis. The crisis seems to be solvable by the crew, yet the crew can't, almost as if they wanted to leave to him to solve it. He's inexperienced, yet he's flawless when solving the hard critical problems. To make up for that, he creates a terrible mess when making a school experiment, under circumstances so exceptional that it still makes him look like a genius. His successes were never done in a believable way, and his inaneness on other matters was overdone in a way that made him look even less believable.
There's also how he was mindful and always almost stereotypically did the right thing, yet managed to go so wrong that another kid died when he mindlessly followed Locarno, and then proceeded to lie about it. At one point it felt like his successes and failures were pulled out randomly out of some book of contrived examples.
I am not sure, but I think that played quite a lot in what made him unlikeable. I was younger than him when I started hating him, I don't think I had such reflections at the time.
I thought that in the future we were using the three shells?I can't speak for the audience at home, but my understanding is that the Enterprise crew themselves really hated Wesley because he was the only one who used to use the last of the toilet paper but never replaced it with a new roll afterwards.
I mean, there's no excuse for that kind of behaviour. It's just dickish. No wonder Beverly went off to Starfleet medical without him.
I'll list one reason I disliked Spaceboy and it's not even the most important reason:
The real answer to your question in the body of your post is "Haters gonna hate". Wesley only saved the ship..1 1/2? 2 1/2 times? I forget.
In the subject line, what is wrong with him? Everything. His clothes, his boring personality, his lack of chemistry with Bev. No that all this is the writers fault and not Wheaton's. Poor guy. Between the fans and Berman ****ing him over he must have needed years of therapy.
In the subject line, what is wrong with him? Everything. His clothes, his boring personality, his lack of chemistry with Bev. No that all this is the writers fault and not Wheaton's. Poor guy. Between the fans and Berman ****ing him over he must have needed years of therapy.
That's sums up my feelings on the character as well. Once they gave him a regular job I had no problem with him...he could have just been a green ensign character at that point.
The problem I have with Wesley is that he is one-dimensional. The character does not have a dark side, which all real people possess. We see it in most of the other characters, even if it's in their own repression of it.
The only time we get a glimpse of an edge to Wesley is in Journey's End, where Wesley gets a little irate at the Federation's treatment of Native American colonists (which is a ridiculous enough plot device). Although this something any human being with a sense of morality would abhor, this is the moment in Wesley's life when the Traveler decides that he is ready to transcend humanity?
****in puh-lease.
The only time we get a glimpse of an edge to Wesley is in Journey's End, where Wesley gets a little irate at the Federation's treatment of Native American colonists (which is a ridiculous enough plot device). Although this something any human being with a sense of morality would abhor, this is the moment in Wesley's life when the Traveler decides that he is ready to transcend humanity?
****in puh-lease.
For me, it was the way he was used, and the way characters reacted to him. If he was written as an intelligent kid who reached higher than he should have, and occasionally got burned because of it, he would have been fine. It's that he was treated as a wunderkind (in-show and metatextually) that irritated me.
As others noted, his annoyance factor was greatly reduced when he became a cadet
It's what people who watched Smallville would call the 'Lana factor' - a character who can do no wrong in the minds of characters and writers despite being a pretty crappy creation.
As others noted, his annoyance factor was greatly reduced when he became a cadet
It's what people who watched Smallville would call the 'Lana factor' - a character who can do no wrong in the minds of characters and writers despite being a pretty crappy creation.
I like to think that the Traveller had been watching Wesley's mounting stupidity throughout the situation, and had decided to step in because he could see Wes was going to get himself shot by Cardassians if he continued carrying on the way he was. "Transcending his existence" was just the most convenient way of saving Wesley from himself.
In the first seasons, episodes like Justice (except for Mordock who was cool) or Coming of Age (of course the Edo were themselves big children) show a general difficulty with writing (and clothing, huhuhuh) good teenager characters and situations. So Wesley is not an isolated case.
That's sorta fair, in the Loss, Wesley *almost* gets pissed by having to describe to Picard that he is mad at him for killing his dad. Basically the most important event in any person's life. But - he's like, it's cool, I'm over it, and Picard accepts this as resolution between himself and Wesley, and Wesley seems to, also. If it were that easy!
I don't have any real problem with Wesley Crusher, but ...
For being such a Mental Giant, his character always remains just above Reginald Barclay, on the bottom rung of importance. Wes is just there to find things to do in a moment, to fill out the bridge compliment. Resigned to driving the bus, when he should be using his Genius to improve ENTERPRISE-D's abilities and bring her up to 30th Century standards. He comes off as a bit of a dork, as he gets older, at which point, we are informed that he is the next step in Human Evolution! All of this aggrandizing for someone who, despite all of his supposed superiority, is only a part of the action because of who his mother is.
Wil Wheaton had talent, but he was a kid, without star power - what could he do but act out scenes he was given? I feel bad for him, especially since Wesley Crusher probably killed his career.
For being such a Mental Giant, his character always remains just above Reginald Barclay, on the bottom rung of importance. Wes is just there to find things to do in a moment, to fill out the bridge compliment. Resigned to driving the bus, when he should be using his Genius to improve ENTERPRISE-D's abilities and bring her up to 30th Century standards. He comes off as a bit of a dork, as he gets older, at which point, we are informed that he is the next step in Human Evolution! All of this aggrandizing for someone who, despite all of his supposed superiority, is only a part of the action because of who his mother is.
Wil Wheaton had talent, but he was a kid, without star power - what could he do but act out scenes he was given? I feel bad for him, especially since Wesley Crusher probably killed his career.
Similar to what you're saying I thought The First Duty was Wesley's best episode. He wasn't nearly as one-dimensional in that one.
I think people would relate to Wesley a lot more if he hadn't had such a completely bland and terrible chemistry with Beverly. Compare their interaction to Sisko & Son.
Come to think of it Gates MacFadden's acting skills are probably worse than Wheaton's.
There was nothing wrong with Wesley that a little Ashley Judd couldn't fix.... 
