Sadtimes

One of my old spacesuits is being auctioned off on eBay. I’m not sure why, but it makes me feel a little sad.
I’m sitting here, about to write a little entry about it, when my phone rings. It’s a friend of mine, asking me if I’m going to the Star Trek X screening.
“Yeah, on Wednesday,” I tell him.
“No, it’s tonight,” he tells me.
“Tonight? At Paramount?”
“No, it’s in Westwood, tonight,” he tells me, “I just talked with Marina about it.”
Oh no.
That feeling I have gotten so many times before, when I was the only cast member not asked up on stage at the 25th anniversary party, when I was the only cast member not recognized at the screening of “All Good Things…” begins to well up. I feel a little sick.
He wouldn’t do this to me, right? Not now, not after the conversations we had when I was working on the movie, not since the phone call informing me of the cut. This must be a mistake. Past is the past, right? We’re cool now. There is no way he’d exclude me from this.
But he did.
He did it to me again.
I want to cry.
I tell my friend that I have to go, and hang up the phone.
I sit there alone and cold in the kitchen. I can hear Ryan watching Sabrina The Teenage Witch in the living room.
I can’t believe this is happening to me. When Rick told me that my scenes were cut, he assured me that I’d still be invited to the premiere, and that he’d see me there. I was excited to see all my friends again, and share in those moments with them. Be a part of what will really be the final mission.
It turns out that the screening I was invited to will be at Paramount on Wednesday, and pretty much anyone who works at Paramount can attend. It’s not the premiere, and none of the cast are going. There’s really nothing special about it.
I seriously, desperately hope that this was just an oversight. I desperately hope that this is totally out of Rick’s hands, and that he’ll tell me that he’s sorry if it ever comes up. I desperately hope this isn’t personal. I want so badly to believe that it isn’t. It sucks to be overlooked, but it sucks less than if I’d been intentionally not invited.
It sure fits a pattern though, huh?
I just — I don’t know what to do. I don’t even know how to feel anymore.
But I’ll go with hurt for now.
Really, really fucking hurt.

533 thoughts on “Sadtimes”

  1. Wil, after seeing the film, I can honestly say that you’re better off with the audience just glimpsing you once or twice in the wedding table scene. Nemesis was a dreadful send-off for a series that struggled hard to find its footing over the years. Many fairly-obvious continuity problems weren’t addressed. (Such as “When the heck did Worf come back?,” and “Why does Data state that he ‘feels nothing,’ when he’s had a fully-working emotion chip for at least three movies now?,” and so on, and so on….)
    So you didn’t get invited to the cast’s soiree. It doesn’t matter. Think of it this way: imagine that your life is a space shuttle (work with me on this metaphor). The Trek franchise was the booster-rocket that got your career off the ground. Now you’re able to fly on your own. You don’t need the extra weight. It’ll hold you back.
    I’m really curious to see this book you’ve written. Honestly, I think it’ll be a better value than the $8.50 I just flushed to spend two hours in a dark box with a bad movie.

  4. You should always remember to watch out for your best interests. You should have some kind of informant for these kind of things. Keep you updated on events important to you. Then just show up at the event. What are they going to do not let you in? Bring a newspaper guy with you and see how they act. I bet you won’t be forgot any more after that. Like Elvis said with that chain around his neck TCOB or is it TCB, well “taking care of business”.

  5. Don’t let it get you down Wil. I saw the movie yesterday and it sucked ass. I was totally disappointed and I’ve had it with Berman and the sub-standard garbage he produces.
    So no more Trek for me. I won’t be buying the DVD and I won’t be watching any more movies. Trek has finally hit an absolute deadend in terms of creativity. It’s just pointless to bother with it anymore.
    You would have livened up the movie and added a little youth to it. All of the cast members are getting seriously wrinkly and fat at this point. Why they locked you out of it is beyond me. They certainly aren’t going to get more money from younger customers with the old farts.
    Anyway, don’t let them get you down. 🙂

  6. I also saw Star Trek Nemesis Friday and I was also shocked to see how bad it was. Obviously this is about money now and not any content. Star Trek needs to be put away for about 20 years so Berman can die and Enteprise can rot in hell.
    TNG was great.. but they saw the fan base and instead of serving them as customers, they decided to see it as a cow and milk it for all it’s worth. For sane fans (those who don’t own an outfit or go to conventions) who are the real money givers of this francise, it is the story and seeing the old cast again that makes us come back.. but after you get bored and robbed of your money time and time again.. you drop off, and that’s why Star Trek is over for me as a fan, a programmer, a dreamer, and an optimist. Star Trek is science fiction, and Rick doesn’t give us either.
    Capitalism brings out the worst in the elite, and the cheapest entertainment to the masses.
    No more.

  7. Wow, that is awful. I’m so sorry. If it makes you feel any better — when I saw you on screen (and I wasn’t expecting to, because I knew your scene had been cut) I shouted, “Wesley!” (involuntarily) and got the angry shush from the guy in front of me.

  8. That sucks. I hope this was just another stupid oversight, rather than an intentional cold shoulder. I hope this doesn’t spoil the movie for you.
    Here’s hoping we get to see your scenes on the DVD. And you never know, maybe you’ll be back for the next movie 🙂

  9. Wil, I can’t say enough how sorry I’m feeling for the mistreatment you have received. After everything that they have put you through at Paramount to now exclude you from the premiere… Well let’s just say that it sickens me that they have done this to you. You have shown nothing but grace and poise regarding these last so many months when “Nemesis” was being filmed. You showed dignity and respect when you were learned that your scene was edited due to length (by the way, I’m at least glad that you appeared on the screen!!!).
    I’m truly sorry this happened to you. You are a marvelous actor and are a good person. Please know that my heart is filled with warm wishes for you.

  10. Ouch.. sorry to hear that. I really hope things work out for you.
    I saw Star Trek X on its public premiere yesterday. I saw you in the wedding scene, Wil.
    Yeah, Star Trek should just die for 20 or so years. Come back when some better directors are out for it again.

  12. Hi Wil. I saw the movie and I was relieved to see you in it. I started looking for at your website about a year ago when I heard you were going to be in it. Since I grew up as a kid watching Generations I was always a bit partial to your character.
    Well, it sucks you didn’t get invited.. But thats life.
    In the new movie I personally thought the cast was great, the script was great, and the story was great… But it was blindingly obvious that the DIRECTOR had no Star Trek experience. I think that was the ruin of the movie. The story had some much needed “growth” to Star Trek.
    So anyway.. I’ve been a fan since I was 10 years old and weather it is in the Star Trek world or elsewhere next time I see you in an acting roll or whatever I’ll think “Way to go Wil!!! best of luck”

  13. Wil,
    We went to the movie last night as were so excited to see you in it, even for that brief scene. Somehow, with your writing and the honesty you have placed on your site, it was like seeing a friend succeed, even for just a bit.
    My husband and I are happy for you in both being in the film and being able to move on, away from Trek. We wish you the best of luck in all of your projects and hope that you always remember that you control your definition of success and prosperity.
    Blessings and Happy Holidays.

  14. Dude, you ought to work yer rolodex. I understand Frakes is gonna direct a live action version of the Thunderbirds. Go audition for him….
    And Wil Wheaton as “Brains”

  15. I’m just a regular 18 year old who has never had the opportunity to meet (or even see!) anyone as famous as Patrick Stewart, Jonathan Frakes, Brent Spiner – Wil Wheaton! If I were you, I wouldn’t feel so bad – think of the opportunities you’ve had that people like me will never experience.

  18. I can’t believe some people are mocking you over this *looks above his own comment*
    It’s betrayal, pure and simple. Betrayal always hurts. Humans are social creatures, and loyalty and trust are some things that we depend upon.
    And Rick Berman seems to have neither.
    *kicks Rick*
    I’m sorry I didn’t check your website to offer support earlier, I was busy with exams and didn’t realize that something this deplorable had happened.
    *gives you a hug*

  19. Yo Wil not for nothing but the movie sucked hard and/or long! The franchise has sucked for many a year. Berman has fucked over the fans for far to long. It is a fucking shame that they cut your scene. From what I read in last week’s TVGuide a whole load of good shit got cut out of the movie. It’s a damn shame to see TNG not be able to put out even one good movie. Rick Berman has really run the Trek franchise right into the ground. I get sick to my stomach to see how low Star Trek has sunk in the years since TNG went off the air. By the way I felt bad how you had gotten a bad rap back in the day, but I remeber back when I used to work for CREATION and you did your first N.Y.C. con you had one of the longest fucking autograph lines I ever saw back in TNG’s heyday. I wish you nothing but the best for you in both you personal and professional life.

  21. Hey Wil,
    I just wanted to say I’m sorry that you didn’t get invited to the Premiere. I hope it was just an oversight. But don’t worry about it, because you still got paid and you are still in the movie (it may not be the scene that you hoped, but you are still in there).

  22. Well Wil, I think that you should be proud that you are in the movie and leave it at that. Evidently John Logan likes you and if they do another one with him, there is probably a likelyhood that you will be in there. Keep the hope alive and think about all the nice things that the cast members have said about you in the press. Kudos on the return, even if it was only for a nonspeaking part.

  25. Wil —
    Don’t let this shit get to you. It’s not worth the upset, seriously. From what I’ve read in the reviews, most people didn’t care for Nemesis anyway. Be a man in your own right — you were cool before Trek, and you’re still cool.
    ’nuff said.

  26. Well as we Native Californian’s call it “That’s Hollywood” Stuck-up no consideration for other’s.
    Will we met many years ago in Jerry’s Famous Deli, Come check out my website, and Join my Counter-Strike clan!
    Errr… maybe not I’m sure your very busy, but hey your Invite is always open email me!
    Later Will, Cheer up 😉
    Greg

  27. Well, I was going to see the movie, but after hearing this, now I am not. I’ll spend my money elsewhere.
    See how easy that is?

  29. I saw that pic of Berman in that “Rick Fucking Berman” nametag to which somebody posted a link. Is it my imagination, or does Berman bear a more-than-passing similarity to Grand Nagus Zekk from “DS9”? };-)>

  30. Wil,
    Take solstice in the fact that you were a part of the last great trek tv series under the guidance of Gene. Rick has fucked up the trek universe so much, it will forever be tarnished.
    I implore everyone to do what ever it takes to get rid of RICK FUCKING BERMAN! He has runied the trek universe, and has no clue of what good science fiction is!

  32. Wow, guess it goes to show you what assholes those studio execs really can be. No allegiance or compassion to anyone unless a dollar is attached to their name.
    I wouldn’t feel too bad Wil, I saw the film yesterday & it was ok…nothing special. Looked like they tried as hard as they could to cut out your part and that woman who plays your mother.
    Looks like the J-Lo movie is going to perform better anyway (God help us all, that whore’s head will grow to be bigger than her ass) so maybe it is wise to distance yourself as far from this turkey as possible.
    Ever think of a career in politics?

  33. Hi, Wil
    I’m sorry to hear about what seems to have happend to you lately. This is the first time I’ve ever come across your Blog, it was sent to me by a friend in regards to the movie.
    I saw the movie on opeining night (having been a fan of Trek since practically conception I had to be there) and caught what appeared to be a cameo of your character. I never realized that you were to have played more scences in the film.
    I’m curious how they explained your Chacters reapearance in the Film as last we saw Wesley he left star Fleet acadamy and was travelling around with the traveller somewhere in space and time. What was the plot line?
    Could that be perhaps the reason further scenes wher removed.
    Despite any reason … I feel that it is wrong that you seem to be snubbed by the executives. You deserved to go to the premiere.
    I don’t know you or anything about your lofe or the experiences you have, anymore than you can know me, but TNG was a big part of my life (again fandom since age 6 here) you were apart of it, and deserve such recognition.
    -to ending an era, and moving forward.

  34. Wil Wheaton should at least comfort himself with the fact that Brent Spiner, Michael Dorn, Gates McFadden, Johnathan Frakes and Marina Sirtis will never even BE in a film as good as “Stand By Me” — much less actually STAR. He was better than the majority of Trek jobbers before he even signed up.
    And as for ex-trekkie actors cut and shunned by bitter producers he joins Diana Mulder and Terry Farrell — and that is a better group to be lumped in in my opinion.

  35. Wil, I don’t know if you’ll even get to read down this far, but I just wanted to say that I think Rick Berman sucks. I saw the movie last night, and I liked it, but I was happiest in the beginning when I saw you at the wedding table. The theater was all a-whisper. It seemed everyone knew about you and what had happened! Anyway, at the end, I waited all the way through, and saw your name in the credits- yay!- and when Rick Berman’s name appeared, I booed loudly. That one was for you, Wil! 🙂 As for those jerks that are posting on your site- they obviously have as much brains as Rick Berman does. Pay no attention to those low-lifes. We monkeys (or in my case, Monkees- my fave!) love you. I think I speak for most of us when I say that we feel as if we’re friends of a sort. We love and support you. I hope you read this… Much mojo coming your way!!
    Love, Alicia
    http://www.thewagband.com

  37. Wil Wheaton,
    I was somewhat pleased when it appeared that Paramount was beginning to treat you with the respect that you deserve.
    I think I may not even go to Nemisis now. It will be the first Star Trek movie which I have not seen in the theatre within a few days of opening since ST:IV.
    Your character, Wesley, was one of the influences that inspired me to pursue my scientific dreams. Yeah, I always rooted for Wesley. Once I found your blog, I found myself rooting for you personally.
    Keep up the Blog, it’s nice to see how you’re doing.
    Jim Deane

  38. I saw the movie this weekend, being a casual reader here, I wasn’t sure if the scenes were cut. I must say that this seems like a bunch of awful decision making all around. The film really didn’t play that well and could have used a little more going on in it.
    At least there was a brief glimpse of Wesley looking mighty good at the wedding.

  39. Well, Berman can make it up to you by casting you in the (rumored) spinoff featuring Frakes and Sirtis. I can see it now:
    *bright Q-like flash*
    “Hey, you guys said I could crash if I ever on this side of the galaxy…so, here I am!”

  40. Out of curiosity, what was actually in those scenes anyway? Wil was sitting at the end of the table, which was a little weird because he was supposed to be off with the traveler wasn’t he? So it was annoying in the extreme not to have that quick appearance explained.
    But Wil saved Data didn’t he? 🙂

  41. I always liked you on the show Wil. I can remember asking my dad about tonight episode and if you were going to be on it. I’m 21 now, so I was brought up on Star Trek much through out my younger years. I related to your character in so many ways. I was always the kid that brought in the weird shit he made at home. Hooking up wires and motors and building usesless eletronic circuts… etc…
    Star Trek for me became my 2nd life. As obsessed as this may sound, I wanted to be apart of the Star Trek universe. I remember thinking about giving up anything to be apart of that reality. It was as real to me as anything else was in my life. Star Trek to me was much more then a TV show. It was a place where I could escape the daily blah we all have to live through. I know what it’s like to be sad. Sometimes Star Trek was all I had to hang on to.
    Star Trek still plays a huge role in my life. I still see all the movies, all the new shows and series. I haven’t missed one. A part of me still hopes and strives for a future with something simular, something real, like Star Trek.
    If it wasn’t for visiting your site prior to seeing the new star trek movie, I would have never recognized you. I almost broke out crying at the end of the movie after data had died.
    I am afraid that Star Trek will be one of those childhood memories or long forgotten TV series that is no longer being produced. I will cry when that day that comes.

  42. Wil,
    You are one of the most down-to-earth actors I’ve ever seen. If Berman doesn’t like you then Its something wrong with him, and its his problem.
    Paramount can thank Ricky for the fact that people like me now look at book contracts in a different light. I refuse to let anyone, especially paramount, have any rights to anything I write. I won’t have this kind of crap going on with anything I write.
    I think its time for someone to write a totally homosexual crew in a polygamous space ship, just to piss off the fundamentalists at Paramount.
    I saw the movie not knowing that you’d made it in, and didn’t see you in the final scene. I’m not going to pay to see it again or buy it, unless you’re in it.
    Trekkies should vote with their wallets, that’s the only thing paramount understands. Don’t buy the DVD unless Wil is in it. Cut scenes restored in the play version, not just thrown in at the back of the second disk.
    Moi.

  43. I chime in with the crowd: ST screwed up on your original role, and ST is in the act of screwing up by omitting you as *the* identification figure for the Star Trek generation: us guys who grew up on the old, and with the new. Obviously, it sucks to experience censorship by those-who-fell-the-decisions, and although I cannot claim with any certitude that they are in the minority, or that it would make any difference it they were – I, for one, am looking forward to enjoying Nemesis on deeveedee – if you are reinstated.

  44. I now have no wish to go see the movie. I’m disgusted. Truly disgusted. It’s just not fair.

  45. Well, the movie had the lowest opening of any Trek film. I didn’t loathe it like everyone else, but then my expectations for trek have been way low since their handling of Deep Space Nine.
    I’d guess that the TNG franchise is dead unless they truly want to bring them back that badly.

  47. Wil, saw you at the beginning of the film, at the reception. Only a minute or so, but you were in there at least. (How did a message get to you while you were with the traveller? 😉
    As for Berman, he is nothing more than a complete moron and an a–hole. The first time I saw him was watching the last dvd of Season 3 where he talks about how he wrote BoBW and his intent to make it almost impossible for anyone to follow up. Then, on the Season 4 dvd’s he talks about how he broke the “rule” of the franchise, i.e. never continue a story in a sci-fi series. Well, I hope he’s proud of himself because, not only did he do those things, he also *totally* f’ing destroyed Genes’ creation, created a set of bastardised off-shoots and now there is nowhere for it to go….
    We all know that in the following century, in the ST world, they have the time-fleet. We also know Janeway violated the Temporal Directive and brought back technology from the future. Now we see in Nemesis, the divergence of the paths of the bridge crew we all came to know/enjoy/love watching. While watching the movie it *felt* like it was the last one. I hadn’t even seen the quote from the posters and had only seen one or two trailers.
    In ST magazine there is an article by Logan which ends up with him saying he’d like to write the 11th movie. What’s the point! There’s nothing left, the Borg are nothing thanks to trans-phasic torpedos and then of course there is Data…..
    In Measure of a Man there was a comment made by Data of Maddoxs’ project where it was said, by Data, that “something unique, something wonderful would be lost.” From the day Berman took over the dream of Genes’ universe started to die.

  48. Will,
    I’m sorry to hear that (P)Rick Berman sunk to an all-time low by pulling an asshole stunt like that!
    There’s a special reservation in the 9th Circle of Hell waiting for Berman!
    Hang in there and good luck on the new Robert Zemeckis film audition. Remember, no matter what certain dorks at Paramount do, they can’t change the fact that you’re a part of Star Trek history.
    Take care -David

  49. That is one of the saddest things I have read in a long time. Seriously, I feel for you — that’s just plain mean. Oh well, don’t let the bastards grind you down.

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