back to article Annoyingly precocious teen who ruined Trek is now an asteroid

Actor Asteroid 391257, who rose to prominence for playing annoyingly precocious teen Starfleet member Wesley Crusher in Star Trek: The Next Generation, now has an asteroid named after him. Wheaton has gone on to earn a respected place in SciFi fandom, largely escaping fan ire about the Crusher character who even by the Trek …

  1. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Interesting

    Last time I heard anything on the subject, Wil Wheaton was among those who hated Wesley.

    1. graeme leggett Silver badge

      Re: Interesting

      I listened to his podcast giving extracts of 'Memories of the Future' on subject of Star Trek and he certainly had words about how the character had been treated.

      1. Dave 126 Silver badge

        What the hell?

        A British IT new site runs a story about Wheaton but makes no mention of his involvement with NewTek and their Amiga Video Toaster 4000? For shame, you should treat the man with the respect due the bona fide geek that he is. As a lad, he typed in BASIC games from magazines into his Atari 400.

        The Video Toaster was used for Babylon 5 and the Abyss, and part of it, LightWave 3D was spun out and has been used in films ever since.

  2. KjetilS

    I seriously don't understand the hate against Wesley Crusher. He might not have been the best character in Star Trek, but I don't find it deserving all the hate.

    Oh, and Wil Wheaton seems like an truly good guy, so I personally think this honor was deserved.

    1. Phil W

      Agreed on both counts. Wil is a cool guy.

      As for Wesley? I've never understood the hate either. Saying he saves the Enterprise more times than seems plausible is silly, not just for the use of the word plausible to describe sci-fi but because he actually rarely saves the Enterprise at all. Sure he often comes up with good ideas that save the day, but he rarely executes them alone there is usually extensive help from LaForge or Data or others sometimes to the point that Wes did little more than provide the idea. In fact in The Game he barely discovers the problem before becoming a victim, it's Data that does all the actual saving of the day.

      As for his excessive nobility? He's a kid trying to live up to ideals set by his dead father, and Picard as his surrogate father, so he's going to be trying harder than your average young person to be noble and achieve. He actually often fails to do so just like any kid trying to do such a thing. There's nothing strange about a young person being too idealistic and failing.

      1. Phil W

        N.B. If you want to pick on implausible plot/character points, how about Picard? Who despite having his body and mind altered by advanced alien nanotechnology is allowed to take command of the flagship again only weeks (ok maybe a couple of months) after having it removed.

        Or Reg Barclay, who is allowed to continue not only serving in Starfleet at the relatively senior rank of lieutenant, but also to continue to work in sensitive engineering areas or on highly advanced and secret projects despite having had his brain reprogrammed by an alien probe and taking over the ship, being de-evolved into a spider creature, and suffering from numerous psychological conditions that made him unreliable and at times unstable.

        By comparison to these two (just for starters there's far more unbelievable characters in TNG,DS9 and Voyager), Wesley Crusher is just a bright young kid who happens to have come up with good ideas and got lucky that his mother was serving aboard the right ship.

        1. Michael Strorm Silver badge

          @ Phil W ; Many of those are down to the limitations of the self-contained episodic format most older American shows followed. I've since heard this called the "reset button", i.e. everything basically goes back to normal the next week so you don't have to have followed other episodes.

          The one that stuck in my head with respect to ST:TNG was where (*spoiler*) Picard has his mind taken over by an alien probe that makes him think he's lived an entire lifetime- complete with family- on another planet, as part of their culture, only for it to be revealed as an illusion put there by a dead civilisation.

          That's going to have an incredibly major effect on a person's character surely?

          Next week... back to normal, never mentioned again.

          There are plenty of other examples. ST:TNG was still a great series, and I don't hold these things against it too much, that's just the sort of show it was.

          Never minded Wesley Crusher that much either (would have been about the same age as the character when I first watched it). That's not to say the character was perfect- some of the criticism *was* obviously legitimate, particularly upon rewatching- but even then you can't really blame those flaws on Wheaton. Was his acting okay? Yeah, as far as I remember, and that's as far as his responsibility went, he wasn't the writer.

          1. King Jack

            @ Michael Strorm

            It was mentioned again a few times. That alien probe left him with the gift of music. Picard now plays a flute/recorder like instrument. He does so in his free time in his ready room. He even nearly got a wife because he was musician and she played the keys. Things do carry over in TNG, that is what made it so good.

            1. Kiwi
              Alien

              Things do carry over in TNG, that is what made it so good.

              Some things carry over in Trek, however I recall that even among most of the Trek fans (even the few-who-would-admit-it TNG ones) that TNG's ability to reset at the end of each ep was a too-long running joke. So much stuff just got forgotten at the end of each ep, including IIRC who they'd killed off.

              TNG would've been much better if they'd combined Farpoint and AGT into one episode, and been done with it.

              1. stewate4

                And that's why IMHO Deep Space 9 was so much better. It did actually have story arc over seasons as well as stand alone episodes.

          2. Teiwaz

            Picard: "Next week... back to normal, never mentioned again."

            .. apart from that he now played the flute occasionally - hell, for STng, it's practically a story arc....

            1. Kiwi
              Mushroom

              Re: Picard: "Next week... back to normal, never mentioned again."

              hell, for STng, it's practically a story arc....

              Arc? In TNG? I thought the only "story arc" they had there was when Ensign Expendable was using some low-voltage console that would violently explode due to techonobabble overload, and of course a lack of even basic supply protections.

              Icon -TNG when a 3v chip gets fed 3.00001v

        2. fajensen
          Angel

          ... who is allowed to continue not only serving in Starfleet ...

          SciFi has to be realistic at some level. *Nobody* would believe in a universe where repeated management screw-ups, negligence, lack of leadership, bonking of aliens in the office, the loss of dozens of red-shirts through recurring "elf & safty" issues ... and so on and so forth ... actually had any real consequences for management apart from a mild bollocking!?

        3. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          In what bizarre world is a lieutenant 'relatively senior'? It's the first and lowest real officer rank, ensigns being probationary officers-in-training, who do not even exist in many military rank structures.

      2. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        I didn't see many episodes, but isn't it obvious why Wesley attracts attention? He is there so the very young male audience has someone to identify with. It's TV 101.

        Given that, it's no wonder he is a target for those slightly less-young males who feel their earlier identification with Wesley is now embarrassing. It's just part of the dynamics of any long-running TV show.

        1. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          I agree with this as, I remember when I watched it as a kid, thinking, I would have liked to have been him, there on the enterprise and be that intelligent, also thought it would have been great to be Data, processing, processing, tilt head, processing :)

          Anonymous for obvious reasons :) and well I always am.

          1. Alan W. Rateliff, II

            Being close to his age at the time I was more able to relate to Wesley Crusher. He did all the cool stuff, had great toys to play with (c'mon, site-to-site beaming!), fun travels, hung out with Ashley Judd before she was "cool," and befriended an android. I could have been just like him, or he could have been my best friend with the hot mom.

      3. illiad

        and you don't remember 'the traveler' ??????

    2. Captain DaFt

      "I seriously don't understand the hate against Wesley Crusher."

      He's the visible symptom of the problem, and caught all the hate.

      The real problem was lazy writers.

      "Hey Earl, what's this episode's resolution?"

      "Uhhh... Wesley saves the day by suggesting they use anti-tachyons?"

      "Meh, good enough."

      "Dudes, Wesley was wrote out of the show last season, remember?"

      "DAMN! Ok... Don't panic, I got this... Barclay saves the day by suggesting they use anti-tachyons!"

      "Love it! That oughta keep those damn Trekkies happy."

      1. chr0m4t1c

        They're all over the place

        >The real problem was lazy writers.

        Star Trek was quite bad for lazy writing, but to be fair they're far from alone.

        Actually, the one that always winds me up the most that seems to have originated in Star Trek, but is now all over Sci-Fi, is solving problems by "just reversing the polarity of X".

        Since reversing the polarity translates as "put the batteries in the wrong way" you can at least have some fun by mentally swapping the two phrases to turn the script into a comedy.

        "Of course! We can use the tractor beam to push the asteroid away by putting the batteries in the wrong way."

      2. stewate4

        Well it made a change from the holodeck going mad and trying to kill everyone

  3. Bob Vistakin
    Facepalm

    And Picard is now a turd

    "Engage, number one!"

    1. bdam
      Coat

      Re: And Picard is now a turd

      Well done for not saying anything about wiping out Klingons.

      1. P. Lee

        Re: And Picard is now a turd

        >Well done for not saying anything about wiping out Klingons.

        Everyone knows you scrape them off the starboard bow, starboard bow, starboard bow...

    2. This post has been deleted by its author

    3. Chris King

      Re: And Picard is now a turd

      "Make it po, Number One"

      1. m0rt

        Re: And Picard is now a turd

        I will upvote you, just for following through and being brave enough for writing that here...

  4. lamont

    Most of the characters on that show had cringeworthy moments. The whole of season 1, long before Wesley showed up, is pretty jam packed with cringe. He may have ruined a few episodes, but hardly the "whole show".

    1. Geoffrey W

      The supremely annoying character, IMHO, is the young James T Kirk as portrayed in the rebooted film series. This cocky, smirking, arrogant, bratty, smart arsey, pillock makes me want to set my taser to exterminate and wipe the self assured smirk off his inane fizzog.

      1. Long John Brass

        o_O

        No, go on; Tell us how you really feel :)

      2. Chris King

        Are you sure you're not referring to the adult version ?

        The version that also makes goofy faces whenever someone punches him ?

    2. Graham Dawson Silver badge

      Wesley appeared in the pilot episode and was a regular throughout season one. That's the season where his reputation as a sue was developed.

      1. Trilkhai
        Joke

        I think they call the guys Marty Stu instead of Mary Sue, though Wesley being a flaming drag queen certainly would have livened things up a bit...

        1. Flip

          No offense

          intended, but am I the only one who, upon glancing at your username, misread it as "triticale"?

    3. King Jack

      @ lamont Wesley was in the very first episode.

    4. Teiwaz

      The whole of Season 1, long before Wesley showed up

      How many minutes into Encounter at Farpoint Premiere double episode was that then?

      Let's see, Picard intro, ship, encounter with Q, yada yada, Q abomination court of 2071 scene, Riker intro, yada yada, Doctor Crusher and her chirpy enthusiastic son at Farpoint market.

  5. Anonymous Coward
    Flame

    I must be part if Will Wheaton's minority

    In all my years of watching sci-fi, from Dr. Smith on "Lost in Space" to Boxy and his yappy mechanical dog on the first Battlestar Galactica to Tweeky the android in Buck Rodgers (Beedee, Beedee, way to go, Buck!). We(a)sley Crusher was the worst, most annoying TV sci-fi character ever! Only the excretion of Jar-Jar Binks from George Lucas' diseased imagination surpassed Weasely for obnoxious audience-tormenting sadism.

    I'm taking bets that asteroid Wheaton gets knocked out of Orbit somehow, and ends up destroying all intelligent life on Earth.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: I must be part if Will Wheaton's minority

      I see your jar-jar and raise you one young anakin skywalker.

      I didn't mind Will or his story lines.

      If an asteroid does destroy all intelligent life on earth it's not really going to cause much damage.

      Finally, Boxy and tweeky were great plus Dr Smith was a great advert for not accepting werthers originals off jimmy saville.

    2. Keith Glass
      Mushroom

      Re: I must be part if Will Wheaton's minority

      I'm taking bets that asteroid Wheaton gets knocked out of Orbit somehow, and ends up destroying all intelligent life on Earth.

      That assumes intelligent life here in the first place. . .

      1. John G Imrie

        That assumes intelligent life here in the first place. . .

        Well there is the Dolphins, and the mice of cause, don't forget the mice.

    3. rchop

      Re: I must be part if Will Wheaton's minority

      What is more interesting is why you (and others) find Wesley Crusher upsetting and then (even more interesting) why you (and others) find it so difficult to clearly separate a role from the person who plays that role. Seriously. "Audience tormenting sadism"???? The "audience" clearly does not include a sizeable number of people who did not experience your anger. Since anger is rooted in fear, I'm wondering what particular fear evokes so much anger. Crusher was the only adolescent character that got any screen time, so maybe there is something that really bothers some people about seeing some version of themselves in the character. Just wondering. Jar-jar is a bumbling clown who is a plot foil. Not sure why clowns evoke so much fear and loathing. Bumbling clowns don't get much screen time in any media, so It is curious why what little time they get evokes so much feeling. Perhaps the character subtracts from the time the fan gets to identify with the mythical, swashbuckling role they are feeding off of. But I am sure there are other hypothetical sources of fear that are more acceptable to the angered fans.

  6. Kevin McMurtrie Silver badge

    Wesley, 7 of 9, Q, The Prophets, subspace anomoly, alien sex

    Wesley was one of several plot cheats to keep the series exciting without long-term consequences requiring viewers to watch episodes in order. Only an appearance in a season premiere or finale was allowed to have any lasting impact on the storyline.

    That said, I'm a little worried about Trump and Asteroid Will Wheaton appearing in the opening of 2017.

  7. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    "Asteroid 391257 is now Asteroid Will Wheaton"

    It's called Wilwheaton. One l. Like the man after which it's named. No space though, presumably because that's how they do things.

    1. Admiral Grace Hopper

      No space though, presumably because that's how they do things.

      Ah, space. The final frontier.

    2. Alan W. Rateliff, II

      Why are you emphasizing the "h"? "Wil" does not even HAVE an "h"!

  8. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Next year Wil Wheaton will be the same age Patrick Stewart was when he started playing Picard.

    How about that.

    1. 2Nick3

      Ouch. Now that makes one feel old...

    2. Boothy

      You sure you've got your dates right?

      Stewart was born July 1940 (76 years old).

      NG aired in September 1987, so Stewart would have been 47 (on air date, perhaps 46 during filming).

      Wheaton was born October 1972, so is currently 44 years old.

      So still 2-3 years to go.

      Still makes me feel old though :-/

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        "You sure you've got your dates right?"

        No, not even remotely.

  9. Cranky_Yank
    Boffin

    Blame the EU?

    Did I miss the episode in which it was explained why a man from France (Captain Picard) spoke with a British accent?

    1. Vince Lewis 1

      Re: Blame the EU?

      Due to the rise of the second British empire in the late 21st century. Well I say rise, we got as far a South France and stopped for Tea, before we knew it the Asteroid WilWheaton took out London.

    2. illiad

      Re: Blame the EU?

      well, many people who are taught their first English pick up their accent of their teacher... I know a Portuguese guy that has a thick Scottish accent!!! :)

      1. I am the liquor

        Re: Blame the EU?

        "well, many people who are taught their first English pick up their accent of their teacher... I know a Portuguese guy that has a thick Scottish accent!!! :)"

        I call it the "Jan Molby effect." His English was rudimentary when he came over from Denmark. After a couple of years at Liverpool he spoke fluent English, in an accent that he had definitely not acquired from watching the BBC.

    3. Jeffrey Nonken

      Re: Blame the EU?

      No, but you have apparently missed all of the thousands of times similar observations, questions and complaints have been made on the subject.

      1. AdamT

        Re: Blame the EU?

        You should also hunt down the episode of "The Nerdist" podcast where they interview Patrick Stewart and he ends up doing the opening intro and various of Picard's stock phrases in a French accent. He also alleges that there is a tape somewhere in the vaults of Paramount where they did if for real at the time before deciding that it really wasn't going to work...

        1. JimboSmith Silver badge

          Re: Blame the EU?

          I remember hearing an interview with Sir Patrick Stewart where he said that the LA Times had listed him as an English Shakespearean actor because they hadn't heard of him*. He also didn't unpack for 6 weeks convinced that the series wouldn't last. I did like the fact that they'd finally worked out that having the captain beaming down to every odd planet that they came across (like Kirk) was probably not the safest thing for the captain to do. I was on the fence about WW and at times he did seem to be there to save the script writers when they needed to solve a problem. The episode where he essentially got drunk and took control was fun though. Dwight Schultz is an acting legend and I won't hear a word against him (I'll put my fingers in my ears).

          *Well they obviously didn't see the classic film Lifeforce which is where I first saw him act. I was aged 10 at the time watching an 18 rated horror film (with the odd nude lady in it) that scared me sh¡tless but you could tell him and Peter Firth were class acts. I didn't get much sleep that night.

          1. Wilseus

            Re: Blame the EU?

            "you could tell [Patrick Stewart] and Peter Firth were class acts"

            Stewart's performances in I Claudius and Dune were none to shabby either.

          2. Pedigree-Pete
            Pint

            Patrick Stewart

            Jimbo, I remember him most outside of ST:TNG as Gurney Halleck in Dune.

            "They told me you were dead...."

            Brings a tear every time I hear/see it. <Snifs> PP

            PS: I'll look up Lifeforce. Thanks.

            Icon, one for you for the recommendation, one for me to cry into next time.

            1. JimboSmith Silver badge

              Re: Patrick Stewart

              The trailer can be viewed here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qej5nlRb9VM if you want a sneak peek. Sir Patrick is only in the trailer for a brief second but longer in the film.

          3. Alan W. Rateliff, II

            Re: Blame the EU?

            Ah, "Lifeforce," the movie in which Mathilda May ruined my adolescence. I actually saw Patrick Stewart in "Excalibur," first.

        2. andy gibson

          Re: Blame the EU?

          "You should also hunt down the episode of "The Nerdist" podcast where they interview Patrick Stewart and he ends up doing the opening intro and various of Picard's stock phrases in a French accent. "

          He also did it in a broad Yorkshire accent in an interview with Johnathan Ross (when he had his Saturday morning Radio 2 show)

    4. Sooty
      Boffin

      Re: Blame the EU?

      He could have been speaking French, with a French accent, but the universal translator just made it sound like English :)

    5. P. Lee

      Re: Blame the EU?

      >Did I miss the episode in which it was explained why a man from France (Captain Picard) spoke with a British accent?

      "In the 24th century, civilisation has progressed beyond..."

    6. fruitoftheloon
      Joke

      @Cranky Yank: Re: Blame the EU?

      CY,

      no, for reference I suspect that it's due to having parents from different countries, who speak DIFFERENT LANGUAGES, an activity which many [who hold a Passport] enjoy whilst travelling...

      /sighs

    7. David Paul Morgan

      Re: Blame the EU?

      I blame the Universal Translator.

      I love the way it 'fails' and people who are dying, seem to utter their dying phrases in their native language. (DS9, the hispanic guy who gets shot, for example).

      Best use: when Julian Bashir switches it OFF to analyse a cardassian conference with his guest geniuses.

      Also, when the Ferengi are back on earth causing the roswell incident, and they have to reboot using a hairpin.

      Whuich then begs the question, where does Odo keep his universal translator/communicator...

    8. khjohansen

      Re: Blame the EU?

      Blame the Universal Translator for making *proper diction and enunciation* sound like a british accent (*_~)

    9. Spudley

      Re: Blame the EU?

      Did I miss the episode in which it was explained why a man from France (Captain Picard) spoke with a British accent?

      That's just how the universal translator sounds when it converts European languages into American.

  10. chivo243 Silver badge

    come now

    It's not like Wil Wheaton was writing the damn stuff. He only had to perform the horrible drivel...

    I'm still waiting for Wesley to come back in a new ST iteration. After all, he was special according to "The Traveler"...

  11. jason 7

    Wesley was okay...

    ...it was all the "Troi has a headache" episodes that used to annoy me.

    1. Franco

      Re: Wesley was okay...

      Indeed, her role did seem to be window dressing most of the time (althought they didn't keep her in the minidress for very long, maybe only the pilot) but on the other hand if there was no Troi then we wouldn't have had Lt Tawny Madison in Galaxy Quest.

      Agree with the earlier comments about Kirk though, hated TOS and always have. Mind you, when I was a kid Shatner wasn't Kirk, he was TJ Hooker......

    2. Pliny the Whiner

      Re: Wesley was okay...

      "... it was all the 'Troi has a headache' episodes that used to annoy me."

      Oh, god. Or the "My empathic powers are on the fritz again," and that always somehow happened at the worst possible time.

      I've long thought that Wheaton was added to attract both the gay and straight teenybopper demographic to the audience. It's not like Gene Luck Pikurd (as "Q" once pronounced it) could ever fill that role.

      1. Kiwi
        Paris Hilton

        Re: Wesley was okay...

        Oh, god. Or the "My empathic powers are on the fritz again," and that always somehow happened at the worst possible time.

        I always thought it was just her bullshiting. When tiny little spaceship/barely tech capable planet is being threatened by the big bad Fed pricks "I am sensing fear". When Mr Alien obviously was happy "I am sensing he likes..". When Mrs Alien had an ambiguous expression or she hadn't yet been able to sum up1 the situation, it was "oh my magical powers are not working right now, I have a headache dear"

        Actually.. Perhaps it wasn't WW who ruined Trek after al..

        Paris coz she'd have made it much more interesting, and seriously increased the teenage boy viewership.

        1 If you can call a 45 minute boring psychobabble monologue "sum up".

      2. JimboSmith Silver badge

        Re: Wesley was okay...

        Oh I did like John de Lancie as Q, made up for Wesley big time.

  12. 0laf
    Alien

    Wesley

    A Wesley was always disappointing, a bit like getting a 'Maggie' episode of the Simpson. Yeah it's still the Simpsons but you know it's never going to be as good as a 'Homer' episode.

    But Beverley Crusher, she didn't have do things for my teenage hormones.

  13. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Chakotay and his mystical bollocks

    1. David Paul Morgan

      when his marquis ship was blown up in Caretaker...

      ... who saved his mystical prayer wheel/carpet/stones/flute?

      Or where they in his backpack..?

  14. IsJustabloke
    Facepalm

    I like Will wheaton but wesley...

    So remind me again exactly how a 13 year old kid gets to be helmsmen of the flagship? Or how he ends up working with the chief engineer, redesigning starship engines? Or how he and teh science officer rely so heavily upon each other tosolve "stuff" ( normally with a wingwang beam being emitted from a reconfigured inverse reverse springient bracket) How he becomes an integral part of the command staff? All before he even joins starfleet?

    That's why its such a shitty character, its nothing to do with being brainy.

    This is a common complaint for me about television in general, there's always a kid that comes across as being so much more worldly wise. so much more together than all the highly qualified/ experienced adults around them.

    My experience of real world children / teens does not reflect this in any way... quite the opposite in fact.

    1. John G Imrie

      So remind me again exactly how a 13 year old kid gets to be helmsmen of the flagship

      Who's his mum sleeping with?

    2. Haku

      Re: I like Will wheaton but wesley...

      "This is a common complaint for me about television in general, there's always a kid that comes across as being so much more worldly wise. so much more together than all the highly qualified/ experienced adults around them."

      You must've hated Seaquest DSV then.

    3. fajensen
      Trollface

      Re: I like Will wheaton but wesley...

      I believe that Wesley's role in the organisation is to sign off on things that he doesn't understand so that every cock-up and failure bears his name. Eventually, he will be court-martialled and ejected into space, nekkid, for his crimes.

      Pickard and his cronies will have a drink and cigar while they briefly lament his untimely passing in front of the panorama windows. Then they will request a successor. Maybe a diversity candidate this time?

    4. AdamT

      Re: I like Will wheaton but wesley...

      You might also like John Scalzi (sci fi author) performing a skit with WW on that very subject:

      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zz5S2x_tJ70

      It's from his "Redshirts" book promotion tour (the book loosely being a Trek parody) and, if I recall correctly, WW was reading his part live so didn't know where it was going ...

  15. stucs201
    IT Angle

    I know this doesn't need an IT angle...

    ..but there is one.

    The dislike for Wesley spawned not one, but two usenet groups:

    alt.ensign.wesley.die.die.die and alt.wesley.crusher.die.die.die

  16. drewsup

    Wesley Crusher..

    The Jar Jar Binks of the Trek universe.....

  17. drewsup

    Wesley Crusher

    The Jar Jar Binks of the Trek universe

  18. Loyal Commenter Silver badge

    Shut up Wesley.

  19. The Bobster

    Hashtag GreatestGen

    I cannot believe that no-one has posted:

    - Young Wesley Crusher

    - The Boy???

    - My Son!!!

    <Baker Street Sax Drop...>

    http://www.maximumfun.org/shows/greatest-generation

  20. Crazy Operations Guy

    "Congratulations Wil! @wilw @WilliamShatner"

    Ummm, did I miss something? Why are they including The Shat, shouldn't that Patrick Stewart?

    1. Pedigree-Pete
      Gimp

      Re: "Congratulations Wil! @wilw @WilliamShatner"

      Perhaps he's too busy being a proper actor to post stuff on social media. PP

  21. JustNiz

    I have no problem with this.

    Wesley Crusher was the Jar Jar of the Star Trek universe, but Wil Wheaton himself seems like a pretty cool dude.

  22. Bucky 2

    Will Wheaton is fine. Wesley Crusher is the jerk.

    We've all been where Wesley was. No peers. No friends. The only acknowledgment he ever got as an individual was by being smarter than anyone else. It was his entire identity.

    And we know what that feels like. It's hell on Earth. If you ever falter--ever stop acing everything--you will become less than nothing.

    And how did Wesley behave? Like everything was wonderful and life was beautiful. The writers completely betrayed young geeks with the character of Wesley.

  23. War President
    Mushroom

    Regarding "Planet Trump"

    Ugh, I so wanted to vote for Death By Meteor, but I'm here as an O-1.

  24. Kiwi
    FAIL

    Annoyingly precocious teen who ruined Trek is now an asteroid

    Nope, wrong.

    it was the writers who ruined Trek, and the slavering twats who lapped up every foul episode causing that festering mess to be further imposed on the world.

    By the time TNG came along, well... Captain Daft covered it pretty well above.

    (Interests of disclosure, watching VOY at a friends place, 1-2 eps/week. Not intolerably horrible yet but some of the plot-lines... If you want to torture someone, make them watch the series of DS9 in a very short time frame)

  25. Miss Lincolnshire

    Wheaton seems to be making a pretty good living these days just by taking the piss out of himself on The Big Bang Theory.

    Dressing as a B Movie, bikini clad, gorilla has to be a step up from playing Crusher.

  26. Will 28

    Wesley didn't fail the star fleet entrance exam

    Not sure if anyone else has mentioned this, but unless you're thinking of a different episode to me. The one where he "failed", was not the entrance exam.

  27. Timbo 1

    Wesley wasn't half as bad....

    ....as that little shit Alexander. Wish Worf had chucked the little full body pyjama wearing miscreant out the airlock several times.

    "That is not how Klingons behave Alexander, PREPARE TO DIIIIIIIIEEEEEEEEEE!!"

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