Post by Cybermortis on Jan 2, 2018 22:09:44 GMT
I was going to put this in the Star Trek thread, but decided not to as I'm hoping that this A; Makes sense and B; Might actually be read by Will Wheaton at some point, hopefully showing him that not everyone is an ass on the internet when it comes to the character of Wesley Crusher.
Ask most Trek fans, especially those who know TNG who their least favorite, or at most annoying, character on the series was and most will say Wesley Crusher. The Boy genius who saved the ship every other week, although of course he didn't save the ship that often. This is usually followed by the *sigh* oft quoted line of 'Shut Up Wesley!'.
But is this Mr Wheaton's fault?
Well no, and I think it is unfair to think he had anything to do with this.
The first season of TNG had some of the worst character writing in Trek history. Looking at all of the main cast of the time it is clear that none of them were all that well thought out, none were written well, their backstories were often too detailed and how they fitted together within the show doesn't seem to have been considered at all.
No where is this more apparent than with Wesley Crusher. This character was included as 'genius child', a character type with its origins in 60'-70's sci-fi when Sci-Fi was seen as largely for children. This is not surprising given that TNG's origins lay with the 70's 'Phase Two' Star Trek Series that never was. Beyond this it becomes painfully clear they never bothered to think beyond this, forcing the character into stories rather than including him as an organic part of the show or story.
Even at the time audiences picked up on this, finding him annoying to the point that the first TNG convention actually had a panel to 'address the Wesley problem'. Will Wheaton was warned about this by, I think, Patrick Stewart who convinced him to come along to the convention and speak on his own behalf; Something that NO child actor should be required to do. This does, however, speak volumes as to what the other actors on the show thought about Will Wheaton's abilities and maturity. There is no way they would have made such a suggestion unless they fully believed he would be able to handle the pressure and come over well - which from all accounts he did.
So what should have been done?
One school of thought would be they should never have included the character in the first place. It was, as I noted, was something of an outdated concept anyway. I however think that Wesley, as played, could have been a valuable and interesting character to the show from the start IF written with some forethought.
So here is how I would have planned things out;
Season 1; Wesley is introduced, I would also bring in other actors of the same age to be his friends. Here I would be sneaky, looking for those kids Will was getting on with and ideally becoming friends with off camera. I'd switch things around a little here, looking to find a small group that get on well as well as being decent actors. This will, hopefully, have the added advantage of reducing the stress on my kid actors as they have people their own age to talk with and hang out with off camera.
Wesley for most of the first season does NOT save the ship, or for that matter come up with workable solutions to the problem of the week. However what he will do for most of the season is show maturity, and while his ideas might not work they show off his intelligence and ability to think through problems. Sometimes his ideas would lead to the crew to a more workable solution.
The principle here is that while he is smart, he's still a kid and lacks experience and training. But that lack of formal training is also an asset as he is more able to think outside the constraints of normal Star Fleet training.
Over time the crew will start to take serious notice of this kid, and towards the end of the season Wesley will actually save the day; showing he's not just smart but able to keep his head in a crisis.
The mixture of maturity, brains, honesty and being able to think through problems even under pressure is what gets Picard's attention, and prompts him to make Wesley an acting Ensign by the end of the season.
Season 2; Wesley starts as an acting Ensign, his friends are still around but he's spending less time with them. He will start showing signs of stress, eventually snapping at one of the senior staff. Picard and Riker, knowing something is wrong but not what, will call in his friends to ask them.
This is where adding said friends as recurring characters pays off. They note that Wesley is trapped between the expectations of him as an officer, acting or otherwise, and the fact that he is still a kid. They will be less than impressed with the adults not realizing this themselves, and rather vocal from concern about their friend.
The end result will be that Picard will call both Wesley and his friends into the conference room. Admitting that he failed to consider what effect making Wesley an officer would have. He will then point out that Wesley's friends showed a LOT of courage in standing up to both the first officer and the captain in the way they did. The end result is that he adds Wesley's friends to the acting ensign roster.
Season 3; Wesley starts the series as an acting ensign, and ends with a field promotion to full ensign.
This will come around because at this point my child actors are older, and hopefully mature and well known enough to be the main focus of an entire episode.
Here the acting ensigns are sent off on a routine mission, Wesley as the senior officer being in command. Being Trek things are not routine and they end up in trouble with an unknown 'aggressor'. When the Enterprise arrives Picard is almost speechless to find the hail to the unknown ship is answered by Wesley, who has accidentally made first contact with a new species and despite the initial difficulty has done an exceptional job. This prompts Wesley to get a full promotion.
Season 4; Another 'kid' episode this season, just bigger than the year before.
Wesley and his friends have, once again, been off on a mission and return to the Enterprise to find all the adults have been incapacitated. (Data is off doing something else, because its convenient)
Wesley, as the only full officer left fit for duty becomes the Captain of the Enterprise and the other kids we've been following these past few years end up as the senior staff. They are aided by other acting ensigns, Picard having decided to expand the idea.
As the command crew the friends now have to deal with the same problem Wesley had the year before - being in command positions - as well as dealing with the joint issues of figuring out what is wrong with the adults, and of course the thing that caused the problem.
Part of dealing with the larger problem, Wesley decides that the 'acting ensigns' should wear the uniforms and rank insignia normally held by those in the positions they are stepping into. This will play off in the end, where Wesley is able to bluff the opponent of the week into thinking the Enterprise is fully crewed and ready to fight, and they are able to heal the adults.
Wesley gets a second promotion to Lieutenant (JG), his friends a promotion to ensign.
Ask most Trek fans, especially those who know TNG who their least favorite, or at most annoying, character on the series was and most will say Wesley Crusher. The Boy genius who saved the ship every other week, although of course he didn't save the ship that often. This is usually followed by the *sigh* oft quoted line of 'Shut Up Wesley!'.
But is this Mr Wheaton's fault?
Well no, and I think it is unfair to think he had anything to do with this.
The first season of TNG had some of the worst character writing in Trek history. Looking at all of the main cast of the time it is clear that none of them were all that well thought out, none were written well, their backstories were often too detailed and how they fitted together within the show doesn't seem to have been considered at all.
No where is this more apparent than with Wesley Crusher. This character was included as 'genius child', a character type with its origins in 60'-70's sci-fi when Sci-Fi was seen as largely for children. This is not surprising given that TNG's origins lay with the 70's 'Phase Two' Star Trek Series that never was. Beyond this it becomes painfully clear they never bothered to think beyond this, forcing the character into stories rather than including him as an organic part of the show or story.
Even at the time audiences picked up on this, finding him annoying to the point that the first TNG convention actually had a panel to 'address the Wesley problem'. Will Wheaton was warned about this by, I think, Patrick Stewart who convinced him to come along to the convention and speak on his own behalf; Something that NO child actor should be required to do. This does, however, speak volumes as to what the other actors on the show thought about Will Wheaton's abilities and maturity. There is no way they would have made such a suggestion unless they fully believed he would be able to handle the pressure and come over well - which from all accounts he did.
So what should have been done?
One school of thought would be they should never have included the character in the first place. It was, as I noted, was something of an outdated concept anyway. I however think that Wesley, as played, could have been a valuable and interesting character to the show from the start IF written with some forethought.
So here is how I would have planned things out;
Season 1; Wesley is introduced, I would also bring in other actors of the same age to be his friends. Here I would be sneaky, looking for those kids Will was getting on with and ideally becoming friends with off camera. I'd switch things around a little here, looking to find a small group that get on well as well as being decent actors. This will, hopefully, have the added advantage of reducing the stress on my kid actors as they have people their own age to talk with and hang out with off camera.
Wesley for most of the first season does NOT save the ship, or for that matter come up with workable solutions to the problem of the week. However what he will do for most of the season is show maturity, and while his ideas might not work they show off his intelligence and ability to think through problems. Sometimes his ideas would lead to the crew to a more workable solution.
The principle here is that while he is smart, he's still a kid and lacks experience and training. But that lack of formal training is also an asset as he is more able to think outside the constraints of normal Star Fleet training.
Over time the crew will start to take serious notice of this kid, and towards the end of the season Wesley will actually save the day; showing he's not just smart but able to keep his head in a crisis.
The mixture of maturity, brains, honesty and being able to think through problems even under pressure is what gets Picard's attention, and prompts him to make Wesley an acting Ensign by the end of the season.
Season 2; Wesley starts as an acting Ensign, his friends are still around but he's spending less time with them. He will start showing signs of stress, eventually snapping at one of the senior staff. Picard and Riker, knowing something is wrong but not what, will call in his friends to ask them.
This is where adding said friends as recurring characters pays off. They note that Wesley is trapped between the expectations of him as an officer, acting or otherwise, and the fact that he is still a kid. They will be less than impressed with the adults not realizing this themselves, and rather vocal from concern about their friend.
The end result will be that Picard will call both Wesley and his friends into the conference room. Admitting that he failed to consider what effect making Wesley an officer would have. He will then point out that Wesley's friends showed a LOT of courage in standing up to both the first officer and the captain in the way they did. The end result is that he adds Wesley's friends to the acting ensign roster.
Season 3; Wesley starts the series as an acting ensign, and ends with a field promotion to full ensign.
This will come around because at this point my child actors are older, and hopefully mature and well known enough to be the main focus of an entire episode.
Here the acting ensigns are sent off on a routine mission, Wesley as the senior officer being in command. Being Trek things are not routine and they end up in trouble with an unknown 'aggressor'. When the Enterprise arrives Picard is almost speechless to find the hail to the unknown ship is answered by Wesley, who has accidentally made first contact with a new species and despite the initial difficulty has done an exceptional job. This prompts Wesley to get a full promotion.
Season 4; Another 'kid' episode this season, just bigger than the year before.
Wesley and his friends have, once again, been off on a mission and return to the Enterprise to find all the adults have been incapacitated. (Data is off doing something else, because its convenient)
Wesley, as the only full officer left fit for duty becomes the Captain of the Enterprise and the other kids we've been following these past few years end up as the senior staff. They are aided by other acting ensigns, Picard having decided to expand the idea.
As the command crew the friends now have to deal with the same problem Wesley had the year before - being in command positions - as well as dealing with the joint issues of figuring out what is wrong with the adults, and of course the thing that caused the problem.
Part of dealing with the larger problem, Wesley decides that the 'acting ensigns' should wear the uniforms and rank insignia normally held by those in the positions they are stepping into. This will play off in the end, where Wesley is able to bluff the opponent of the week into thinking the Enterprise is fully crewed and ready to fight, and they are able to heal the adults.
Wesley gets a second promotion to Lieutenant (JG), his friends a promotion to ensign.
