Would 12 year old WIl Wheaton have fared better than 15 year old WIl?
- Thread starter Morpheus 02
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I wouldn't have had an issue with a ship full of very bright and professional staff and then Wesley as a super genius. Such people exist for real after all, even if they're very, very rare. However what we got was a ship full of very bright people that suddenly became braindead morons whenever Wesley had to solve the plot that week. That irked me.
I don't think Wheaton was a particularly terrible actor, I just think Wesley was a poorly written and conceived character. If his character arc had been more about the difficulty of growing up as an "oddball" kid, or about him learning that for all his know-it-all tendencies, he doesn't know as much as the people who have been working on starships for years and even decades, and settling into a mentee role with some other members of the cast, I think he could have been a lot more interesting even with the same actor.
Sorry for the double post, but I wanted to add that I also feel like there could have been potential in more deeply exploring a relationship between Wesley and Picard, who at times almost seemed like a stepfather figure to him (especially considering his closeness/almost-relationship with Dr. Crusher).
People probably hate on Wesley because infact that feel embarrassed and probably a bit weird seeing a bit of themselves from when they were that age. Sorry but that's my Opinion in the matter.
Most young people are cocky and think they no the world at 10 and 12 and 15 and even into early 20s. Most if us unfortunately or fortunately depending on how you look at it, have that naivety knocked out of us by the time we get to 30. IMO.
Most young people are cocky and think they no the world at 10 and 12 and 15 and even into early 20s. Most if us unfortunately or fortunately depending on how you look at it, have that naivety knocked out of us by the time we get to 30. IMO.
I feel like part of the problem was that Wesley was a know-it-all...who really did seem to know it all a lot of the time, given that he pretty much singlehandedly saved the day more than once. I don't think the objection to the character would be as strong if he was a realistic smart-ass kid who wasn't routinely as good at things as capable professionals who have been working at their jobs for years or decades.
But most young people don't actually turn out to be at least as smart, if not smarter, than people with decades more life experience than they have.
Yeah. I liked when he mentally rewired the tractor beam in Naked Now, but rolled my eyes when he was the only one who could tell Lore from Data.
It's the Batman in the Justice League problem. To justify him hanging with Superman, Wonder Woman, Martian Manhunter, Green Lanterns, Flash, Zatanna et al they play up his detective and strategic brilliance, but it takes a good writer to do that without suddenly writing the other characters as idiots.
Except of course why people took drugs...
At the time, I was angry that Wesley could almost never seal the deal.
How was I supposed to identify with a boy as sexually inadequate as I was?
How was I supposed to identify with a boy as sexually inadequate as I was?
Wesley really worked as a character (imo at least) when his whole "wonder boy" thing was toned down. Episodes like The First Duty & Final Mission showed that when the character was written as more realistically you could get some good drama out of it.
I completely agree. The exploration of their relationship seemed obvious along Picard's closeness(?) of Crusher, still tho I am glad we some moments in a few episodes.
Honestly, Wil Wheaton had the best idea for writing Wesley Crusher better: Focus on him being an teenager thrust into an adult world and write towards that. The writers should've spoken to Wheaton more about what he was going through as the only actor his age on the set and figured out ways to adapt those feelings & experiences to Wesley. Instead, they just wrote him as "The Boy", or more accurately, what their idea of a 15-year-old boy was. They had an actual 15-year-old boy there. Why not talk with him a bit?
Yeah...that would have made a whole lot more sense. But pre-2000... would would have thought it a good idea for writers to talk to people in the demographics they were writing about (and didn't have much current personal experience on) [/sarcasm]
I think much easier than 15-year-old girls (speaking as a Father of one!)
Talking to girls has typically been easier for me, heh.
He was probably fine. Just needed better scripts.
By the time I started watching TNG he was already at the academy. I think I first saw him in "The Game". So I never had any issue with him being so smart. I guess the boy genius I grew up with was Lucas Wolenczak from "Seaquest DSV" and I never had a problem with him either. He built some universal translator to talk to a dolphin and helped build some really fast submarine thing.
I was thinking of what I'd have done if Leslie Crusher had come to fruition and been a member of the cast, and I'd have her be something along the lines of an older version of Naomi Wildman and have more an actual mentor/student relationship between Picard/Leslie. Even with Wesley maybe it could have been more like President Bartlett and Charlie on "The West Wing"
By the time I started watching TNG he was already at the academy. I think I first saw him in "The Game". So I never had any issue with him being so smart. I guess the boy genius I grew up with was Lucas Wolenczak from "Seaquest DSV" and I never had a problem with him either. He built some universal translator to talk to a dolphin and helped build some really fast submarine thing.
I was thinking of what I'd have done if Leslie Crusher had come to fruition and been a member of the cast, and I'd have her be something along the lines of an older version of Naomi Wildman and have more an actual mentor/student relationship between Picard/Leslie. Even with Wesley maybe it could have been more like President Bartlett and Charlie on "The West Wing"
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