Approximately 162% of the total population of Twitter users has sent me this Gizmodo post about some mostly-awesome custom (unofficial) LEGO minifigs that are inspired by the cast of Star Trek: The Next Generation. Approximately 600% of them asked me to comment, and since I can’t do that in 280 characters without resorting to the dreaded [THREAD 1/66], I’m doing it here.
Before I get into the Wesley part of this that you’re all here for: I love that this set exists. I love that enough people want to do TNG LEGO to create a market demand for these figures. I can’t speak for the rest of the cast, but things like this, based on us, are always awesome. Earlier this year, a guy gave me a little minifig that he made of Wesley, and even though it’s unofficial, it is a delightful thing to own. He’s in his little red spacesuit, and he looks like he’s got a course you can plot. I love it.
In this particular custom set, though, Wesley is depicted as a crying child, and that’s not just disappointing to me, it’s kind of insulting and demeaning to everyone who loved that character when they were kids. The creator of this set is saying that Wesley Crusher is a crybaby, and he doesn’t deserve to stand shoulder to minifig shoulder with the rest of the crew. People who loved Wesley, who were inspired by him to pursue careers in science and engineering, who were thrilled when they were kids to see another kid driving a spaceship? Well, the character they loved was a crybaby so just suck it up I guess.
“Oh, Wil Wheaton, you sweet summer child,” you are saying right now. “You think people actually loved Wesley Crusher. You’re adorable.”
So this is, as you can imagine, something I’ve spent a lot of time dealing with for thirty years. It’s been talked about to death (on this very blog, more than once), but I’ll sum up as briefly as I can: I reject the idea that nobody liked or cared about the character. Now, It is absolutely true that, for the entirety of the first season, Wesley was a terribly-written character. He was an idea, a plot device, and was not handled with much care or respect. I think the best example of this is in Datalore, which I wrote about in Memories of the Future Volume 1:
Wesley, who was sent to check up on Data, does what any smart Starfleet officer would do: He reports to his captain that something fishy is going on with the robot and suggests that maybe they shouldn’t be so quick to trust him.
Picard, the captain who recognized Wesley’s intellect and promoted him to acting ensign, and Riker, who chose Wesley over everyone else on the ship to check up on Data and report back on what he found, not only ignore Wesley’s concerns, they actually tell him that he’s out of line for expressing them!
“Data” (actually Lore) leaves the bridge — after making it clear that he doesn’t know what “make it so” means and arousing absolutely no suspicions from Picard — and Wesley decides he’s had enough of this bullshit.
“Sir,” he says, “I know this may finish me, but —”
And Picard, the captain who recognized Wesley’s intellect and promoted him to acting ensign, and the closest thing to a father figure Wesley has ever known, responds with three words that follow and haunt me to this day: “Shut up, Wesley!”
Trekkies around the country gasp in delight as an episode that was veering dangerously close to the Tkon empire suddenly has redeeming value. Printing presses, silk screens, and button-makers go into overdrive as entrepreneurial fans do what they do best: skirt the borders of IP infringement to make a quick buck. Children are still attending college today from the sales.
[…]
Wesley points out that everything he said in his report, and all of his concerns, would have been listened to if it came from an adult, or a competent writer. Picard considers this retort momentarily, and then sends him to his room to organize his sweaters. Then, for good measure, he sends Dr. Crusher to keep an eye on him.
“Personally, I hated the way they handled Wesley in this episode. He’s already on his way to becoming a hated character by the adults in the audience, and the writers cranked it up to Warp 11. It was stupid of them to have Picard give him an adult responsibility and then dismissively treat him like a child when he carried it out. It undermines both of the characters — how is the audience supposed to take either of them seriously?”
Another brief and related note on “Shut up, Wesley”, from a Reddit thread seven months ago:
People have been saying this to me since I was fourteen. I’m nearly 45. I’ve heard this for the entirety of my adult life. It’s annoying. It isn’t funny, it isn’t clever, and it’s just become obnoxious.
More than that, though, let’s put it into dramatic context: an adult says that to a kid who is doing his best to help, to do his job, to live up to the expectations that have been placed upon him. It’s used to shut him down, to disregard and silence him. And it turns out that, holy shit, the kid was right all along. In context, if we accept that it’s all real: Picard never says that to Riker, or Geordi, or Tasha, or to literally anyone else under his command because that would be profoundly unprofessional. But there are different rules when you’re dealing with the kid among the adults (and, believe me, the producers and directors on TNG treated me the exact same way).
So it’s a loaded phrase that bothers me, and I’d really like it if it just went away forever.
So back to the minifig: it’s “Shut up, Wesley,” made into what would otherwise be an awesome minifig, in a collection of truly amazing and beautiful minifigs. It’s a huge disappointment to me, because I’d love to have a Wesley in his little rainbow acting-ensign uniform, but I believe that it’s insulting to all the kids who are now adults who loved the character and were inspired by him to go into science and engineering, or who had a character on TV they could relate to, because they were too smart for their own good, a little awkward and weird, and out of place everywhere they went (oh hey I just described myself. I never claimed to be objective here).
I want to be clear here, because I know that future members of my Twitter blocklist will send me a cropped image of LEGO Wesley crying, or tell me to shut up because I’m making too much of this: this isn’t about me. This is about thirty years of people kicking Wesley Crusher around because writers in the first season of Next Generation (who gave us such memorable gems as Angel One, Code of Honor, and The Last Outpost) didn’t write him as well as writers did in later seasons, and once the fandom narrative was fixed, no amount of Final Mission or Starfleet Academy -like episodes could change it.
I understand that a lot of people will see the humor in this, and I respect that. From a certain point of view, it is very funny. I don’t think that this was done this way to be mean/ If anything, it’s just lazy. But because so many people asked me what I felt when I saw it: I’m disappointed, because this isn’t the way I’d like to see Wesley portrayed in a medium that I love. I just feel like Wesley Crusher and the boys and girls he inspired deserve something that isn’t making a joke at his expense, or just reducing him —again– to little more than an idea.
Admittedly, I was never much of a fan of TNG. I watched anyway because I was curious how this would play out and I love science fiction in general (and I loved the movies) . I recall thinking how Wesley didn’t feel like a well developed character. I felt as though they slammed way too many characters together in which developing them would be quite the chore. I think the writers at the time dropped the ball. I know that I will now be more vigilant when developing any stories I may write in the future. More than just inspiring science and engineering, there’s an inspiration to become better writers as well.
This exactly. My wife and I disliked all but maybe 4 TNG episodes, but there was such a dearth of available Sci Fi on television at the time, that we watched every episode (and my Cat loved it. She slept on top of the TV every episode, or at least the on-ship ones. She loved that background rumble). So although I didn’t really like the Wesley character, I really didn’t like most of them and thought the writing was atrocious, particularly early and late episodes. Each had redeeming moments, and I don’t regret having watched it, and by and large the actors did a good job of working with the bad material. Now there is enough Sci Fi being produced that I can be more discriminating in how i spend my time. I watch the Expanse, I don’t watch The Orville as an example (I am just not into its brand of humor, and feel I can miss it without regret that I didn’t watch every single Sci Fi show that is on).
For every 1 person who didn’t like the Wesley Crusher character, there are 2 of us who loved him and still love the guy who played him. The guy who fucked up the Wesley fig is a dumb cunt.
You’ve polled who for this data?
Exactly he’s flipped it. 2 Wesley haters to every 1 Wesley lover is still awful generous.
I remain a devoted Wesley fan. Yes, he was often very badly written, but that’s not the part I pay attention to. Wesley represents, to me, a smart and devoted kid just doing his best. The grown-up Wil often seems to me like what Wesley might have become: a loving, caring nerd with passion. For all those reasons, I love Wesley and wish he had a better minifig.
My best friend growing up was the Trekkie, and I would just watch it casually mostly when I was at his house. When I watched it, I always identified with Wesley. He was my favorite character by a mile. Especially the video game episode with Ashley Judd.
But my friend HATED him, and I never knew why. Later, when I realized a lot of Trekkies felt the same way I figured it probably had something to do with self loathing. They did see themselves in Wesley, just as I did, but they didn’t like that. They wanted to be Picard or Riker.
Either that or jealousy that a kid was on the Enterprise and not them.
But the hatred for Wesley is completely unfounded. He has nearly the same character arc as Luke Skywalker. My only disappointment with his character is how he was built up to be some kind of space God, and it was floundered probably because of negative opinion from outspoken fans.
I ended up marrying a Trekkie, and she always loved Wesley and when I brought up that Wesley was hated, she was just as confused. So as always, you can’t listen to loud angry nerds on the Internet. They don’t speak for all of us.
And screw this set, It is completely ruined by the Wesley minifig. A waste of talent to make a infantile joke.
So true.
I was 16 when Next Generation began & I loved Wesley. It was refreshing to see adults taking a kid seriously. I didn’t know about the Wesley hatred until maybe 10 or so years ago, & I’m glad I never knew till I was well into my adultness. It would have crushed me. I still don’t understand it, but I ignore the haters.
It’s not self loathing. or jealousy. It’s that Wesley is a component of the infantilization of science fiction. TOS dealt with allegorically with some weighty subjects – what made it revolutionary was that it was a statement that science fiction wasn’t just for kids. Then TNG came along, with the contrived insertion of Wesley, the kid who was smarter than all the adults, as the ultimate Betty Sue for kids. Wesley made TNG a kid’s show. Wesley was a denial of TOS’s most important premise – that science fiction wasn’t just children’s entertainment. Wesley was an insult to TOS; he was the reincarnation of Will Robinson from Lost In Space, and of Johnny Sokko. His main contribution was to provide ammunition to all those who said science fiction was for kids.
None of this is Wheaton’s fault; he was just doing his job, but to whine about it for 30 years after the fact pretty much legitimizes the crying Lego figure.
My father and I watched TNG together during the first run and he thought Picard was out of character in Datalore. Sure, we’re told he doesn’t like children but he was plain oblivious. The premise was interesting but the execution was bad.
OMG, that’s terrible. Why even bother to make the fig if that’s what they’re going to do with it? I’ve grown very, very tired of this whole flavor of Comic Book Guy toxic fandom. There ARE people who liked and identified with Wesley. There ARE people who enjoyed the Star Wars prequels (no, really, I’ve met them; they were children at the time and were enchanted by them exactly the way we old farts were by the original trilogy). There are people who identify with and love practically everything… so why go out of your way to be a dick about things that people love? If you don’t, swell. Different strokes and all. Just focus on what you DO like.
I believe that the “Shut up Wesley” reflects the cultures disregard of children. That children are liars and irresponsible. Predators have counted on this for hundreds of years. The fact that a confirmed pedophile was put forth as a candidate for the US senate and came near to winning reflects what this culture thinks of children. As an actor it must have been frustrating to have to play such a poorly written character. Wesley could have been so much more. And even at your young age you knew bad writing when you saw it. Even then you were becoming the wonderful writer you have become.
Sadly, so true. Society has often failed children in this regard.
Thankfully, there were parents that did do their jobs right, or kids who were smart enough to get away. I and my sister did get away from a pedo once as kids. Also, a young man stood up for us and helped us get away with our baby brother. I this scenario it was a stranger danger situation.
Sadly for some kids, the pedos were closer to them and the situation was ideal for the pedo. And all the adults failed them.
Very well said. I agree with everything you said. Thanks Wil.
Sadly, if only Gene had lived longer, or a writer who had similar genius would ave written for Wesley. What could have been…I sometimes imagine better for Wesley. Also a kinder and more truer and nobler and more creative version of the parts I was not happy about in all of the Star Trek TV Series and Movies.
But still a fan always.
The trolls/bullies and hate Wesley mongers are definitely stuck in self loathing, and we’re jealous of not been Wesley. It’s on them.
Wesley deserved a better minifig. I would paint over and fix the face, it if I was a collector.
But I am not an Uber fan. Plus, never had the kind of income to allow me to be. I care about money little. And the outward things. I prefer the inner journeys of the creative imagination better anyways. I was a book nerd from when I could read, my library card was my trusty fruiend. And loved many genres.
Now, my worldview is more Christ centred, He helped me overcome suicide, still on a journey with other issues, but I know who I will become in Him.
Anyways, I appreciate the good in all creative genres. Could do with less of the darker side of life junk. Or written in a way that is more about the redeeming qualities of overcoming it, instead if those who wallow in all the negatives of life.
So, I’ll be 70 in a few months & I believe Wil is right on the dime with these comments. There are many brilliant children in this world treated with disdain. Look to Scorpion for the best treatment of a brilliant child. The writers turned Wesley into a meme disgracefully. I’ve got a really smart kid who needed to see something better on TV. She ended up with her own dotcom
Speaking only for myself, until I discovered you on the internet a few years ago I knew little about you or your work, much less a character you played on TV decades ago. I only know you as a talented writer, voice actor, internet personality, and cast member on Big Bang Theory. Oh, and your remarkable willingness to share your feelings and experiences with depression. I think its sad that LEGO passed up the opportunity to present a more positive depiction of Wesley, one more in line with the Wil Wheaton I admire for his grit, determination, and good humor. Hope you have a happy new year!
I agree. That episode was awful and frustrating to watch, because of all those points you mention. It always drove me (same age as you) twitchy watching it, because it was obviously gaslighting by the adults. Absolutely infuriating.
For people to then mock the gaslit kid/character? Just ugh. Dick move. Utter dick move.
Nothing wrong with Wesley Crusher. Or anyone who identifies with him, or you, or went through something similar themselves.
Minifig is exceedingly dismissive and shortsighted. Folk who LOVE it aren’t worth much bother, I am afraid.
It’s absolutely obnoxious. I’m the same age as Wil, and I grew up with Star Trek. It was a lifeline for me, in many ways. I empathised with his character so much. Everytime he was awkward or was written awkwardly, I felt like, “Oh, it’s not just me.”
I’m also the same age, but found the character annoying when I watched the show.
You know what, I hated that episode too. It was out if character for Captain Picard to disrespect Wesley that way. He wasn’t a bad kid, just a kid. I had the expectation that those advanced people would have learned to treat children with kindness and respect. I expected more from the Star Trek utopia. Regarding the mock LEGO set, it will never happen, but I wish it would but with an adult Wesley.
I hate the minifig too.It’s awful and nothing like Wesley.
I recently rewatched a couple of first season episodes (and I generally don’t remember the first season with much fondness) so I was surprised that they were better than I remember. The other surprise was that frankly your acting was better than most of your colleagues at that point. They hadn’t found their way to the characters, and you were note perfect for the situations they put you in. One was the episode where everyone gets sort of drunk because tech tech the space in this quadrant tech tech made everyone’s brain’s fried. The other was the episode where the children on kidnapped of the Enterprise, so you carried a lot of the plot, and it wouldn’t have worked if you hadn’t done such a beautiful job.
It’s really a shame as the show found their way to the adult characters, they kept rewriting Wesley for whatever they needed in that episode. Your work is not at fault, and I would have loved to see what you could have done with Wesley had they continued to write him the way they started out.
In any case it’s horrible that people chose to take out their dislike of a character on you as a child, and that they do so now. Mean people suck.
i totally laughed when I saw the minifig… then I read the comments and I totally feel you! you are spot on–I remember watching TNG as a kid and being upset that they “sent Wesley off to college” as a way to handle the bad writing (and that episode totally undermines Piccard–you nailed that one, and i always felt they never gave good closure to the characters. like, there was always some bad air between the two after that which a good writer could’ve used as a running story device about Piccards frustration with feeling like an inadequate role model to a fatherless child.) Never shut up, Wesley 🙂
I agree completely, what a ridiculous choice. I always wanted to be Wesley and saw myself in him. One thing that always perplexed me is that I read Gene felt the sane way and that’s why he created Wesley, and yet the character seemed like a throwaway under Gene’s reign.
Just an FYI: it looks like the Westley minifig is has two printed expressions: the crybaby look and a more normal smiling look. It’s still sad that they choose to use the crybaby face in the main pictures, but maybe it has some redeeming value.
See https://minifigs.me/shop/wesley-crusher-star-trek-custom-minifigure/
You rock. Well said.
I totally saw myself in Wesley growing up.
Dude, I am totally stunned. The rest of the minifigs have virtually no expressions, except for a faint “come hither” smile on Troy (maybe I’m just imagining even that). Why the “designer” of this set choose that face for Wesley Crusher, I cannot fathom. I acknowledge that my memories of Wesley, which are all positive, may not account, after all these years, for lapses in writing, plot narratives, etc. … But crying baby face?!? Unfair, and down right rude! Lego are dead to me.
Wil, you have grown up to be one of the coolest guys anywhere. A real role model. Thanks for continuing to help the world mature (I’m sure that’s a job no one really seeks out), and Happy New Year.
I loved Wesley Crusher as a little girl, and the depiction of an otherwise admirable officer, Captain Picard, treating him as an adult one minute and a child the next is actually spot on for many kids. As a girl, I had outsized adult responsibilities that I was unable to carry out effectively because I was still treated as a child. Though I know that the writing really bothers you in that first season or two, it hit home for me then and now.
The minifig cheapens the nuance and struggles that Wesley faced, and I hate it. I don’t think it’s funny at all. I am very grateful for the work you put into the character, and I appreciate that you still stand up for that work with honesty and humility. Thank you.
Wil, I’m the same age as you. Your character was my entry point into the show. It felt like I was in the show because of you. When TNG was on I was crossing between wanting to be an astrophysicist (because I love space) to being a computer scientist (because I knew I was more likely to make money that way). I grew up in a small town where I felt out of place because my focus was “out there” rather than “grounded” like the other folks around me. Wesley helped me feel like there was someone else out there like me and I didn’t feel as alone. I just want to say thank you for who you are now and the character you played then. You’re on the top of my list of people I’d like to buy a beer for.
I’m from Germany and I wasn’t even aware that there was any controversy around Wesley until I started reading your blog. Back then he was just relatable to young me.
Wait, what? This is how they made Wesley? I’m honestly puzzled. Luke Skywalker, sure (he’s the quintessential whiner, from teen years to elder years), but Wesley? I’ve never understood the Wesley-bashing that proliferates. He was a great young character, and the fantastic potential for his story line was squandered when they let you go. Bullies gotta have a target, I suppose. It’s really, really old, though, to us normal fans, and I can only imagine the energy it takes from you periodically to keep it pigeonholed as the stupidity it is instead of letting it play with your mind.
Well said Wil. You make great points.
Isn’t this minifig based on the off-the-set prima donna attitude? Not the character of Wesley? I guess it’s all hearsay, even though more than one person corrobation it.
To be fair, Wesley was an interesting character, he portayed a precocious kid really well, and seems to have won over Picard, who did not like kids (which was never explained why) and especially did not want one on the bridge.
Don’t be a dick.
my apologies.
To be fair, Wesley was an interesting character, he portrayed a precocious kid really well, and seems to have won over Picard, who did not like kids (which was never explained why) and especially did not want one on the bridge.
Did it ever occur to you that people don’t like the character of Wesley, because they don’t like you? Or, perhaps it’s just that the character of Wesley is an effeminate, brown-nosing momma’s boy who appeals to no one, practically begs to be bullied, even in the enlightened 24th Century. Either way, what kind of grown man still whines like this about a character on a show that ended nearly a quarter of a century ago? I realize that since ST:TNG the arc of your career hasn’t exactly been on the upswing, but damn. Move on.
Surely you are smart enough understand that the, ‘Shut up, Wesley!’ still has traction in large part because you inexplicably still allow it to hurt you. For God’s sake, stop being a baby and own it. The Lego mini figure is awesome—that you have spent any energy even complaining about it simply validates everything everyone thinks about you and the character in the first place.
Let me follow that up with Wil’ reply to my comment. Don’t be a dick.
Like the takei/shatner rift, it’s all just hearsay.
Go back to the blog you came from. You aren’t welcome here.
I must have struck a nerve.
You know, it’s a fact that no one will ever make a Lego mini figure of me.
Yet despite the B-level fame and career you have carved out for yourself from playing the annoying Wesley on ST:TNG, and then yourself on Big Bang Theory, you still can’t help but whine. I guess some people are incapable of appreciating what they have. Were it me, I would embrace the self-deprecating humor of it, take a look around me and realize that I have it better than almost everyone else on the planet earth.
800 million people world-wide live in abject poverty. Tens of thousands are murdered for their religious beliefs. The people of North Korea are enslaved, starved and tortured in their prison nation.
Lego made a mini figure of Wesley Crusher crying like a bitch. You are the undisputed king of First World problems.
So, imagine for a moment that you’re an actor. A young actor. You’re given a at-best marginally written, poorly-formed character that is belittled and ridiculed on the show that you as a person loved. And, because you are a young actor who, by the way, didn’t really want to BE an actor but wouldn’t be able to put this into terms for another 8-10 years, maybe you don’t do the best job at portraying this character.
Now, fandom, being as polarizing as it is, either loves this character or hates it and, by extension, you as a person.
Now deal with this for 30 plus years.
The episode in question, Datalore, actually says more about Picard than it does Wesley as he is EXTREMELY quick to disregard the person HE made ensign and BTW, Later in the Episode, I think Wes sums it up perfectly when he says something to the effect of “If I’d been any other crewman, you would have listened.”
In any case, I happen to not really like Wesley as a character. As I said, I think he is marginally written and poorly formed at best. But I do like Wil. I’ve seen LOTS of other stuff hes done and he seems like a neat guy that I wouldn’t mind knowing.
So, there you go. Love him or hate him, separate the actor from the part.
Wil, I was a teen when TNG came out. I always liked the character. I was smart enough to understand that the writing was uneven. Don’t let haters get you down–you have a wonderful legacy of creating stuff that the haters won’t ever match. Hope it’s a great new year for the Wheatons.
Yeah, spot on Will. Hopefully they do a season 3+ version of Wesley as a redshirt Lt. looking cool. 😉
When I saw it I assumed it was Wesley yelling in frustration while the rest of the officers totally ignored his research that the nearby star/alien/temporal abnormality etc was about to destroy them all. Sorry to hear it was supposed to be otherwise 🙁 .
Not that my opinion matters but you are a talented successful actor. I may not agree with your political views 100% but so what? I still think you’re a great actor.
Whatever “we” (fans) might say about Wesley in jest or not can’t take that fact away. Your accomplishments will live on beyond your mortal life, how many of us can say that? When I am dead I will be forgotten.
You are in a select, small, club of artists that have a successful body of work that will immortalize them in some way.
I grew up watching Star Trek and because of TOS and TNG I decided to pursue a career in technology, I am in my mid late 40s now. While the young version of me that watched TNG was not as smart as Wesley I could relate to the character somewhat. The impact that character had on my life is just as great as the impact that Kirk, Spock, Riker, and Piccard had.
My issues with the character of Wesley:
Poor Writing.
There was no definite ending to this character, at least not one I thought Wesley deserved. I would have liked to see him back in Starfleet working his way up the ranks in engineering, science, or even command. The ending was a disappointment for me. However, it had the ring of truth to it. Why? Because it sort of said “hey, people that are a little different don’t last in Starfleet without a lot of effort”. When you think about it all the captains from all the different series had issues hanging on to a career. However Wesley’s end was especially poorly done.
Less of the “boy wonder saves all” and more being part of a team and developing as a person would have been great, this is just more “poor writing”.
I agree with Wil. Compare the Wesley character in season one to the Wesley character in the season 5 episode “The First Duty.” The character in that episode showed a lot of depth, personal anguish, guilt, etc. Of course it was written by Ronald Moore.
The first two seasons were really bad – like “Spock’s Brain” bad – compared to seasons 3+.
ST:TNG improved so much after Ronald Moore was hired (and after Roddenberry’s role was reduced). Same with ST:DS9. Completely different shows after Moore got involved.
I’ve cited that episode Coming of Age many times, specifically the scene where Wesley meets Rondon, as one of the best in that universe. Watching the comments here makes me think of it again. Wesley had a broader view; had to have a broader view. Not an easy position, but the point of Star Trek, ultimately.
The older I get the more I realize how optimistic it really was, and how much we need that optimism. Because there’s sure no shortage of everything else.
Besides all of that, the insignias are more reminiscent of TOS than TNG. 😏🖖
Wil, just wanted to speak up and say YES. I loved Wesley. I still do. As a kid a few years younger than you, it was awesome to see Wesley on that ship. I could relate to Wesley much more so than the adult characters. You and your character were inspiring, made TNG relevant to the younger fans, and I thank you.
I am 35 and watched TNG growing up and I was super happy Wesley existed. I was a young person watching this show, and seeing another young person involved in these amazing space adventures was just great!!!
Exactly, I always liked Wesley and I never really ‘got’ what all the internet fuzz about Wesley was about. I figure it has evolved in somewhat of a meme, because I feel it was less so 20 years ago online than now.
Nevertheless, I do like the set, including the ‘crying’ Wesley. Although I can imagine the disappointment when you think “is this what they’re going to remember Wesley for?”.
I have a Ph.D today because I wanted to be like Wesley and have a turn on the bridge. I don’t understand why people feel this way about the character and never have. I was 13 when the show started and he was my gateway to TNG. I was actually sad when he eventually left. To this day, he and Jake on DS9 are important characters to show young people they belong in the world of Star Trek and it is not just an adult playground.
I can only speak for me, but I appreciate all you did for my generation. Thanks.
Wil, I don’t know if I ever mentioned this before but here goes:
The Shut up Wesley thing is totally an adult thing to do to teens. If your parents never did that to you then I am happy. But it happened to me all the time. I think that whole situation, while not right, is kinda normal. You see a kid is smart, capable and think: Hey let me pawn off (chore I don’t like) on this kid. And when you do you expect a whole lot more than a first run result that you will get. You expect the kid to do the job to a degree that might be improbable, or a fantasy. You expect the kid to do it like you would. And since you expect the kid to do the job the way you would, after all he/she is smart enough, when they don’t do the job like you would, when they don’t come to the same conclusions that you would you get exasperated. And the worst part is that in this job (in my case it was caring for siblings who were only a year younger) you expect that if there is an issue the kid will fix it.
So, let’s say that the writers weren’t looking for anything but a reflection of life, albeit a twisted one, and what you see is Picard realizing he wasn’t gonna get what he hoped from Wesley. He was expecting to turn a smart kid loose, do the job, handle unforseen issues and then never have to hear about it. At all. Period. My parents did that with me all the time. And when I met with a situation that required more adult input I got :Shut up, Sherry” Partly because whenever I had similar mistrust issues regarding adults my parents knew in regard to their interactions with my siblings those issues contradicted what my parents knew. I had “unpopular” views and my parents didn’t like it. Wesley contradicted what everyone knew about Data and therefore the problem was with Wesley’s interpretation of events… and then also with the faith previously entrusted by virtue of his intellect.
Of course, it could have been lazy writing and not a misfire of a complex parental relationship. But since the same kind of thing always happened to me that episode really resonated. And I was always consoled and then COUNSELED by my Gramma. “your parents don’t understand blah blah blah”, “they are under a lot of pressure”, “they don’t see things the way that you do blah blah blah”, “have a cookie or four”. And usually ending with “it won’t always be like that and in the end they will find out you are right. Once that happens a few times then they won’t tell you to shut up so much.” And the ever bittersweet, (when you get old enough to work) “it will always happen until people learn to trust you. You just have to ride out the frustration. blah blah blah don’t gloat when they come back to ask you to fix something.”
And sure enough…. the further you go in the story lines the better it does get. Wesley was right about Data being off, cause well… not Data. And then they learn to trust him. Trust him enough to go back and “check on a science experiment” so he can sneak it aboard Riker’s ship for a test. Embarrassed a Pakled in that episode too if I remember correctly. Similarly, it took a while for me to get to that point with my parents where I could be trusted with my opinion and not have all hell break loose when in direct opposition to either of my parents. I ended up being the deciding vote when there was voting involved. So Gramma was right, it did get better. And it happens in almost every job that I have ever had. And when I get mad, I just remember that in the course of a few seasons Wesley won enough respect by digging in, not letting his resentment show, and humbly fixing what should not have gone wrong if they had listened to him in the first place. And I do what Gramma suggested, I eat a cupcake (graduated from cookies) or four and wait it out.
I’ve gotten one guy fired and gained 30 pounds in my lifetime, but damnit… when I’m right I’m right.
And unlike Wesley, I gloat. I’m on the cusp of Capricorn so fuck the haters.
I think that was all too subtle for most people to get back then. And now. Well, probably ever.
I know I’m a little late to the party (like a few internet years), but hey. I certainly agree with the “don’t bash Wesley” and the “don’t blame Wil crowd”. I used to watch TNG as a kid with my parents, starting when I was < 10 years old (we also watched reruns of ToS at that time). I liked Wesley back then and still like him. In fact I stumbled on your blog via Dork Tower sometime in 2004 or 2005 when John Kovalic posted on his blog that you wanted to put one his Wesley/Wil comics on your blog. My reaction was: “The guy who played Wesley has his own blog? How awesome is that?” I kept reading your blog because of the actual content, but it was Wesley who brought me here in the first place.
I started watching TNG because of you / Wesley, and it was a gateway drug to all things sci/fi.
I was 7 years old in 1987 when TNG came on the air, and I grew up watching ST:TNG as my first Trek alongside my Dad who is a life-long Star Trek fan. I gotta admit, I didn’t like Wesley Crusher very much as a child. I fit the profile for the kind of kid who SHOULD have liked Wesley, but for some reason he rubbed me the wrong way and I never got over it. Today though… Wow… I’m an adult now. I see SO MUCH of myself at that age in this character. Even in the, “Shut up, Wesley!” line I see my own experiences as a precocious, smart-ass, outsider. More than that I see a lot of myself reflected in the person who played that character and grew up to be so much more. Just having read your blog and books, watching table-top, and coming to know the Wil Wheaton as a person separate from that character… I understand your frustration and what’s more I think you’re probably right. Thanks for being a part of something I genuinely love and also continuing to celebrate it despite this quote that has plagued your adult life.
It would have been so much easier to just leave the default Lego minifig smile in place; it’s very reminiscent of the eager/naive smile beaming from Welsey’s face so often in the first couple of seasons, and is much more accurate. The fact that they went out of their way to show an expression that the character never actually had on his face at any point in the series (no seriously, I can remember him being scared, horrified, sad, but never literally crying in this manner) for the sake of a cheap fandom joke… the word “disappointing” really is accurate. Not criminal, not outrageous, but disappointing and condoning of the type of bullying that the “Shut up, Wesley” line embodies.
As for the wise words of trolls who keep spouting #firstworldproblems… Wil isn’t suing the manufacturer, he’s just expressing a personal opinion on a personal blog. That’s what these are FOR, people.
Sad that the creators of the set chose to portray Wesley in such a negative way. The other characters in the set were not “frozen” at their worst — and they all had their trials — and many of us remember Wesley maturing over the course of the series. Wesley, “The Boy.” got ignored way too often in those early stories but things got better. Geeze, almost like in real life! Your concern over this minifig is understandable and the manufacturer’s choice of expressions regrettable.
Wow, you wrote all this over a Lego? What is wrong with you? Seriously. It’s like you never grew up. How old are you? Don’t you know that if you act like a perpetual child, some people might be tempted to say “Shut up Wesley”? Get over yourself, grow up, and try to understand that TV is fiction. It is not real life.
You call yourself “MrReasonable” and came all the way here to insult him. How mature can you be?
I know I’m really late to this party but I just wanted to chime in but I am one of the people who is disappointed now that I have seen this for exactly the reasons you mentioned. I love Legos, I love Star Trek, and I really love Wesley once he got decent writing. (I even liked him before that) I love the idea that there was a kid that smart, smarter than the adults. I like that there was someone I could identify with not just look up to in someway that makes sense. As your career has continued it has continued to inspire and delight me because I get to see you; somebody that I identified with, get to do all the cool geeky things I know I would enjoy doing if I was in similar circumstances. I’m sorry that people are being jerks about this but I’m glad to see that you are continuing to be a role model even when I know it must be awfully hard to. Thank you for standing up for your fans when otherwise we might not of had a voice about it.
It’s been such a long time since I’ve seen that episode. Wow, not only were they not writing Wesley properly yet, they clearly weren’t writing Picard with any consistency either. That actually upsets me from a writing standpoint. It’s so unlike Picard to be so overly emotional and just plain stupid. Everything that he had done up until then would lead me to believe he wouldn’t react that way. This guy outwits Q! The man spares the Borg. He’s a deep thinker and unfathomably perceptive.
It reminds me of the writing from the TNG films turning into an angry and violent action hero.
I think the only other time I’ve seen Picard written that poorly on the show, was the Native American episode when Wesley had enough of Starfleet’s cold indifference and turned in his badge. I was so proud of him for telling Picard off. (Then Picard goes and does the exact same thing with far less justification in Insurrection.)
Shut up Wesley is a stupid meme, even by meme standards. I’m sorry you have to put up with stuff like that.
This attitude towards Wesley has always annoyed and confused me. I’ve seen the same things in other fandoms too – for example, I’ve seen many nasty comments about Dawn from Buffy, not only online but even in magazines. Like Wesley I suppose she starts out as a young teenager, but in my opinion she is written far better than him in their respective first seasons. Regardless, she gets the hate.
Wesley isn’t my favourite character – I follow your blog for you, not your most famous role! I see no need to bash him though or make jokes about him or disparage anyone who loves him. No doubt there are people who aren’t so keen on my favourites too. Fine with me as long as they don’t bash them every chance they get!
To sum up – I agree with your post completely.
For what it’s worth, I am one of those who loved the character Wesley because he was so much like me at that time in my life: an awkward teen who was way smarter than most people were comfortable being around. And as corny as it sounds, it was comforting to see a character on a popular show that I could relate to. It’s infuriating (but unsurprising) that so many people trash his character – too many people in this world are assholes.
To anyone who tells you “Shut up Wesley”, simply laugh and say “suck my fat one you cheap dime store hood.”
Stand by me was a far better role than Wesley. Appreciate that and laugh with us at Wesley.
Haha he should totally do that! Love it!
I’m one of those kids from 30 years ago who looked up to Wesley Crusher. I loved the idea that there was a place for younger members of society in the future, and I was frustrated by the way he was treated. Even the other Sci-Fi nerds at school teased me for liking Wesley. So looking at this set (which is otherwise awesome) I’m disappointed and hurt to see, once again, that Wesley is reduced to a joke.