Imagine if Television Without Pity recappers had been writing about TNG back in 1987, only with more swearing, more digressions and more geeky in-jokes, plus behind-the-scenes memories for every episode. That’s what Vol. 1 does for the first half of the first season of TNG, from “Encounter at Farpoint” to “Datalore” — it’s just the thing for people who love TNG and snark. – Tracy V. Wilson, How Stuff Works.
I mentioned on one of the Memories of the Futurecasts that writing Memories of the Future Volume One was unintentionally cathartic, as I was able to examine and gain further understanding of what I will call (without further definition) the Airlock Enthusiasts' Society. I didn't realize it while I was working on the book (I was just trying to write something funny and entertaining) but after fourteen weeks of Futurecasts, I can see evidence of that side quest spread out across the entire manuscript. In fact, several readers have commented on it, and now I kind of wish I'd seen it before the book went to press, so I could have smoothed it out a little bit more. Well, live and learn.
While I work on Volume Two, though, I've noticed a real change in Wesley in the second half of the season: it's almost like he takes that uniform seriously, and though he's still an annoying kid, he's not nearly as consistently obnoxious as he was in the first half.
I mention all of this as prelude to a damn hilarious post on the How Stuff Works blog, which provides an entirely new view of Ensign Pumpkin Sweater:
The Secret Identity of Wesley Crusher
Wil talks about how working on Vol. 1 helped him come to terms with (and understand) the world’s hatred of Wesley Crusher. It’s a hatred I never had. I loved Wesley Crusher. When TNG premiered, I was just starting high school, and I was a serious know-it-all. Seeing a kid on TV who was essentially correcting his teachers, doing science projects and being a huge nerd all the time was kind of awesome. And enabling. I’m sure I was as annoying to the adults around me as Wesley was to adults trying to watch TNG.
But in listening to and reading “Memories of the Future,” I found a whole new reason to love Wesley. In episode 12 of “Memories of the Futurecast” (and the corresponding book chapter), Wil talks about how Wesley repairs the malfunctioning holodeck in “The Big Goodbye” with one zap of a magical holodeck fixing thing. In the middle of my morning train commute, I thought, “Ha ha ha, Wesley has a sonic screwdriver.” Then, accompanied by lots of mental capital letters and exclamation points, and possibly even a ZOMG, came the follow-up thought: “Wesley Crusher is a Time Lord!”
If you're experiencing the same amount of ZOMGLOL that I experienced when I read that yesterday, I think you'll want to check out the rest of the post, because it gets even better.
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Love it, why did no one think of it before.
Wow. That’s freakin awesome.
I also was a kid when TNG was on. I never followed itas religiously as some people, but like many other smart kids I identified with you (well Wesley, but ya know.) As much as the more vocal Trek Grognards give shit about Wesley you were the key to a whole new generation (no pun was intended, but hey it works) like myself who were aware of Star Trek but not raised on it.
Now you need a deal with the BBC to get a mini series as an American Doctor. 😀
Oh, and a quick aside Wil… Can you sing?
http://twitpic.com/t08r1
So if Wesley Crusher is a Time Lord then the Enterprise must be the Tardis. That would explain why there are so many time travel episodes in Star Trek.
😀 of course! Aww! I had a crush on wesley! bless his cotton socks! brings back memories! sigh!
With Wesley’s interactions with The Traveler (who, by his name alone, should have been a Time Lord — a la, The Doctor, The Master, etc.), surely Crusher’s an honorary Time Lord. I suspect Wil is, too, but that’s a whole other thing.
I, too, never had a problem with Wesley’s character and, let’s see, in 1987 when TNG premiered, I would have been 22 — a geek, but not a teenage one. Now, at almost 45, I still don’t have a problem with Wesley. I even wrote some fanfic post “Journey’s End” where Wesley (with just the tiniest nudge from the Travler) has to help a Bajoran whose dreams are unraveling the universe. Yup, I’m a geek.
So, here’s another vote for Wesley as Time Lord. (And Russell T. Davies wasn’t sure exactly what he was going to do next, right?)
Geez…it took someone *that* long to figure Wes was a Timelord.
1. Patiently correcting people around him who are very very smart to start with.
2. Very excited and up with everything he does, for whomever he does it!
3. Sonic Screwdriver!
4. Leaving the series with a “Time Traveler” (ahem Time Lord to the rest of us Illuminati) to learn more about himself (ie his Time Lordliness).
Oh yeah baby, the evidence has been before our very eyes, nigh, all these many years….
Fnord!
Do you hear that? That is the sound of ultimate fangirl squee.
Seriously. My day is so made. My MONTH is made, which is pretty spectacular considering that this is the month with Christmas in it. I’m so glad you like the post, and I don’t think I’ve been this excited about something I’ve written since the first time I got Farked. Thank you.
(Now I can stop being jealous of Josh and Chuck for that time you gave a shout out to Stuff You Should Know.)
we’re on to you wesley crusher, and know that you know what we know that you know about the spiral portal over norwegia…
Shall I start a letter writing campaign to get you on the New Doctor Who?
Dr. Who is Wesley Crusher? Obviously.
Dr., who is Wesley Crusher? A geek with way too much luck.
Dr., Who is Wesley Crusher? Yes, which would make him: on first.
There’s so much fun that can be had with this.
Think: t-shirts.
This NEEDZ The Guild to do a tie-in; one could say that Wil really needs to get in bed with this idea…
Hey, Wesley Crusher was my first big TV crush. I was crazy in love with him when I was 13.
I never understood all the hate towards Wesley. I think some people took tooooo much to heart. As much as I loved(still do) TNG, I did not watch it as much after Wesley set sail. Absolutely love the book! I think you did a great job.
You would think if Wesley was a time lord, he would have gone back in time and already told himself that…I agree with many posters here though, I never understood the hate towards the character either. I always interpreted his actions as a middle finger to those around him. He didn’t act the way he did because he was arragont, he acted the way he did because he KNEW he was smarter than those bastards, and yet they mostly ignored him. If I was some teenager on a freaking STARSHIP and I knew I was smarter than just about everyone else on board, I would be pissed off if they all ignored me too!
http://www.livingwithanerd.com
I’ve always felt the uniform and the officialdom of being an “acting-ensign” really gave Wesley a purpose. Instead of being the kid who made the weird, crazy, somewhat destructive science projects (A hand-held tractor beam? Seriously?) he became the kid who funneled that somewhat manic genius into being an officer. I think the uniform/rank gave Wesley a way to organize his mind. He always seemed restless in the beginning to me. Like someone who wants to be doing something but has nothing to do and no one to allow him to do it.
*cough* Because obviously I’m some sort of expert on Wesley Crusher. I’ll hush up now.
Also, I snorted when I read the “Wesley is a Time Lord” article. He totally is. That really made me laugh/happy.
Cheers.
Now all you need is the Tardis and that trip to the market will never involve traffic again.
We need to think bigger. Wil for 12th Doctor!
I can see Wil Wheaton as the Doctor, but not Wesley Crusher. The Time Lord thing was funny, though.
One word:
Hawesome
A few more words:
Wow, like a comment before, that made my month. I am so telling all my friends this. *fangirly squee*
Uh, sorry…anyway, I’m up for getting Wil in as the 12th Doctor. I think that would seriously rock. Barring that, even a guest spot on either Doctor Who or Torchwood would be sweet 😀
I think it is much more likely that Wesley was to The Traveller as Adric was to The Doctor. Except Wesley didn’t die a horrible pointless death — a brilliant kid who made an excellent travelling companion through time and space. But Wesley himself a Time Lord? Unlikley. Unless his father, who we only got to see holograms of, was a Time Lord and faked his death because he was called back to Gallifrey. I don’t find that unlikely at all, especially since that is exactly what happened to me.
totally, but he wouldn’t tell himself in the past or it would spoil the journey of getting there, in self discovery.
Actually I came up with this idea last night and would like to see it happen.
Wil in Dr. Horrible 2!
http://twitpic.com/t08r1
I hardly think this talk even begins to reveal Wesley Crusher’s not so secret identity, or Wil’s. Getting closer though…
Wil,
Until I discovered your blog just over six months ago, I had never heard of the survey you mentioned about the supposed dislike of Wesley Crusher. Frankly, when I read that for the first time, I sat here in total disbelief and even wondered if you were joking. I kept reading looking for the punchline.
I watch TNG every week night on WGN and just two nights ago I thought that if you ever mentioned this again, I am going to write something that I should have said months ago.
I had a group of guys that came over to my house weekly for dinner and TNG when the series was in its original run. We were in our late 20’s and early 30’s at the time. And I promise you Wil, there was an audible groan when the credits rolled and you were NOT in the episode, followed by “no Wesley, FUCK!”
I’ll close by saying I have never talked to any TNG fan who said anything negative about Wesley. In fact, everyone I know thinks you, Brent Spiner and Patrick Stewart are the real stars of TNG.
I have often wondered if this kept you up at night. Your international popularity should put any doubts to rest because you are simply the best, in more ways than I can ever count!
So can we assume that at some point Whesley was near death and was forced to regenerate into Wil Wheaton?
I was watching both shows back then and totally miss this obvious connection. I was 16 and working at Sears at the time….perhaps I was distracted by trying to make sure all of the pieces of the Wesley Crusher sweater collection where properly displayed.
BTW….I think evil Wil would make a great addition to the cast if they do a Dr Horrible 2!
ZOMG! Wesley as The Doctor– that is hilarious and abso-freakin-lutely awesome!
I’ve always wanted a sonic screwdriver. Not a hunk of plastic with flashing lights and a pen but one that really works! 🙂
Actually, I think Wesley Crusher, The Traveler species, and the Q Continuum get together and create Gallifree and the Black Hole that powers their time travels.
Actually, the Red Matter and the Black Hole Spock created before going back in time could be the basis for the Time Lords!
I thought Wesley pretty much fulfilled each Whovian’s mashup wishes in the most graceful way possible when he left with the Traveller. Though I’m afraid that an awful lot of geeks compared him to Adric. I’m glad that Wesley didn’t meet the same fate.
I liked Wesley, too. I always wanted to know what happened to him after he left the Enterprise. But I never dislike characters who are genuinely earnest about things.
Wesley as a Time Lord has already made it to TVTropes.org’s “Wild Mass Guessing” page. With a link to the HowStuffWorks blog.
Come on, only douchebags picked on him, and that was only because so many girls our age had crushes on him. I loved it when he would call out the old farts while they were going on and on for eons at a time and say “Wouldn’t it just be easier to do it this way?” Because that’s essentially what he did, right? Smartass kid with the big fucking brain had the entire conundrum solved before Picard could belt out a sentence, let alone a paragraph. That’s why I never got your own disdain for the kid. You have no idea how many of us lived vicariously through Wesley, even though it’s been pointed out to you a million frakking times! Picard may have commanded the sky in some director’s mind, but to all of us watching at home, we saw a kid our age outsmarting all of the adults and driving the ship! You really can’t get much better than that, Wil.
THIS.
A time lord…
*wry chuckle… amused*
And suddenly, everything makes so much more sense =)
I agree, i think the status as crewmember gave Wesley a much better purpose in the show. It made it easier for him to become involved in plotlines rather than trying to crowbar him into the story, He was no longer simply “Dr Crusher’s son” but now part of the Enterprise crew.
Thank you, Wil, for your article on the RED digital camera – what an incredible machine. I had not heard of it before I stumbled across your blog about making movies in the 70s and 80s. Red fits in my carry-on when I travel, is relatively unobtrusive when I photograph and want natural action, not “Look at the camera, watch out for the cables,” etc.) and delivers the clearest picture for my family when I get home. Have an awesome set of holidays, and safe travel all the way through. Many thanks again.
That’s fantastic! And if I’d known what a time lord was at the time, I might have been a little more open about my serious crush on him. When Wesley joined the crew of the Enterprise, I was a geeky teenage girl (14, I think) who was also a bit of a know-it-all. Which you can imagine, makes one *very* popular…anyway. I had a raging crush on Wesley because not only was he cute, he was SMART. And there was something wonderful to my teenage mind about having that combination in one person. Sadly, I gave up the show when he went away which my trek-loving husband will never understand since he hated WC w/the fire of a thousand suns lol. Definitely sending this to him, thanks for sharing it. 🙂
Hehe, there was always something Time Lord-ish about the Traveller (as someone else said, even just the name alone), and I’m sure I read in a review years ago someone saying “and Wesley went off to be a Time Lord”.
As an aside, with Wil getting guest star roles on various shows these days, I’d love to see him as a guest star on Doctor Who; there haven’t been many Trek/Who actor crossovers in the past, but this would top all of them.
Someone pass that idea on to Steven Moffat… 🙂
Wow. As a little Geekling I loved Wesley. Timelord Wesley rules!
So, who do we have to know, poke, harras to make sure that Wesley does become to 12th Doctor? It completely makes sense now!! Of course, give your current role record, perhaps Wesley would be The Master instead. The is a Total Win Win idea!!
Now all you have to do is work on your english accent and you’re quids in!
It all makes so much sense, now!
Congrats, Sr. Chronarch!
Hey Wil,
I have to agree with the others, in that I adored Wesley Crusher. As a 13 year old girl, he was not only “way cute” and smart…but he taught me that it was cool to do well in school. For the first time, I felt pride in being a nerd. 🙂
I also would like to confess that when I saw your character in the movie, Toy Soldiers, get killed, I screamed and leaped out of my seat.
I was delighted to find your blog recently and discover that you are a great writer. You have given me many chuckles.
dude, i totally thought of that like a year ago, that’s kind of wierd and awesome… i also think guinan may be, i’m fairly sure she said her people died out at one point and she more or less lives forever 🙂
i started watching TNG when i was about 11 too and was the nerdy annoying kid at school – you and wes gave kids like me hope… plus you were pretty cute. 12 years on you still never fail to make me smile and whenever i get stuck in my research or feel bummed out by people being nasty i pop back over here and you give me hope again! thanks!
who says the master has to have an english accent? there was until recently a taboo on regional accents but eccleston broke that one “lots of planets have a north!”
I feel like a serious Wil Wheaton fan now… I mean, I know I don’t have much cred, but I just accidentally watched The Big Bang Theory episode you appeared in immediately after catching up on The Guild. Because of the short amount of time between the two, when I saw your face, I said to myself, “This is the evil Wil Wheaton face. Whatever character he plays is going be evil. I don’t believe his Meemaw died. I believed it before he said it, but now I don’t. Wil Wheaton has the face of evil.”
And then I grew a beard.
Maybe the original Doctor Who series wouldn’t have lost ratings if Peter Davison had regenerated into Wil instead of Colin Baker. I’m pretty sure it’s acknowledged that Baker 2.0 killed the ratings…fellow Whovians, feel free to correct me if I’m wrong.
Looking back on all the TNG episodes I watched in reruns when I was old enough to understand what was going on (was born in October of ’87, and LITERALLY grew up watching the show), and reading that article, it all makes sense! Wesley is a Time Lord. The evidence all fits! Any and all naysayers will have their Enchanted Bunnies killed by a small rock immediately.
Also, Pike was totally Davros. But that’s just a theory of mine right now. Unlike Wesley being a Time Lord, there isn’t really proof of that. XD
Wil, I received my copy of Memories of the Future yesterday from Lulu, and I finished it this morning. It has only one flaw: there’s not enough of it. I’m looking forward to your continuation of this delightful beginning.