Wesley, a defence

nyarlothothep

Wesley is perhaps the most unpopular characters in Star Trek. However I will offer a defense in the interests of fairness.

Wesley was in fact a very good character. Most if not all teenagers are annoying and stupid. Wesley was annoying and stupid. Therefore Wesley was a very realistic character, his annoying stupidity, blatant sucking up to Picard and so forth were expressions of stupid teenager behaviour. What is more, Wesley's behaviour was not typical. He didn't smoke, drink, do drugs, have a motorbike or beat up crew members, he was incredibly nerdy and off kilter in making friends mostly with adults and idolizing Picard. In a sense his real life counterpart would be William Hague circa 1980.

Thus the writers took a very daring decision to introduce such a character, someone we all know from our own lives and who would probably not have been well liked. Yet in Star Trek, this person was given his fair dues, portrayed from his own perspective, in a positive light. Thus we get an insight into how this persons mind works.

In conclusion Wesley gradually became less annoying to the extent that by his departure he was tolerable. This in turn reflects the maturation of most people wherein by the time they are 18-24, they grow up and aren't as annoying anymore.

Derek Coleman

Why don't you marry him! :P

Yeah I actually hate the Wesley who was known as "The Boy" but I liked "Ensign Wesley Crusher" when he came back as an officer. The episode where Picard is injured on a planet and Wesley had to solve the puzzle of the water fountain was very good.
I think his character suffered in the early days because of the embarassing first season where everything was very cringe worthy. But as the seasons went on and the episodes got better I think his character did too.
He was probably GAY but I won't hold that against him.:rolleyes:

nyarlothothep

yeah he wasn't as bad when he came back but omg! in that episode he was just as annoying, more of the I love you captain nonsense, I actually can't watch that episode its so cringeworthy in those parts.

Derek Coleman

Haha. Come to think of it.... Whoever wrote Wesleys part must have wrote it to be a female. His dialogue and attitude is more suited to a teenage girl.

Cookie_Monster

There is no defence for Wesley. Period.

monkeyfudge

Will Wheton's reviews of the old episodes are great. He seems to hate Wesley more than anyone.

Earthhorse

Odd that you posted this today. I was just thinking this morning of that episode "The Game" in which Wesley plays a central part. One of the best episodes if you ask me. Never minded the Wesley character as much as others seemed to.

Johnny Storm

Earthhorse wrote: »

Odd that you posted this today. I was just thinking this morning of that episode "The Game" in which Wesley plays a central part. One of the best episodes if you ask me. Never minded the Wesley character as much as others seemed to.

Plus, in that ep The Boy did (almost) get it on with Ensign Ashley Judd - that's gotta count for something ?!?!?!? :rolleyes:

Personally I did think Westley was very annoying. OTOH I never found Jake Sisko annoying. Possibly a better actor ? or the fact that he was a normal kid rather than a super-genius?

norrie rugger

Johnny Storm wrote: »

Plus, in that ep The Boy did (almost) get it on with Ensign Ashley Judd - that's gotta count for something ?!?!?!? :rolleyes:

Personally I did think Westley was very annoying. OTOH I never found Jake Sisko annoying. Possibly a better actor ? or the fact that he was a normal kid rather than a super-genius?

or maybe Jake was just so boring that you could not get annoyed/excited or anything about the character.

I think that they wrote Wesley in the hope that he would ressonate with the geeks/nerds/dweebs etc, that were perceived as the regular Trek fan.
I think that people hate him as they know that they were like that in their teens

nyarlothothep

norrie rugger wrote: »

or maybe Jake was just so boring that you could not get annoyed/excited or anything about the character.

I think that they wrote Wesley in the hope that he would ressonate with the geeks/nerds/dweebs etc, that were perceived as the regular Trek fan.
I think that people hate him as they know that they were like that in their teens

I read somewhere that Wesley was intended to be the teen hearthrob.

MagicMarker

Wesley was on of my favourite characters actually. So there.

dyl10

Q is my favorite character, Wesley is everything Q isn't.
There's no case for Wesley

Pigman II

Can there be any better line than Picard going "SHUT UP Wesley!"

I think he is hated by a lot of Star Trek fans because Wesley is a nerd whereas they're only geeks. Wesley is smart and using his smarts to achieve in life (a nerd). This reminds these particular trekkies (who wish they were nerds) that they are merely geeks and that whilst they would like to convince themselves that they are intelligent and popular members of society they are really just outcasts spending endless hours wasting their time discussing whether Worf is Gay or which Enterprise has the best photon torpedoes (geeks).

He's the mirror that reflects their social failure back at them.

Johnny Storm

Pigman II wrote: »

Can there be any better line than Picard going "SHUT UP Wesley!"

I think he is hated by a lot of Star Trek fans because Wesley is a nerd whereas they're only geeks. Wesley is smart and using his smarts to achieve in life (a nerd). This reminds these particular trekkies (who wish they were nerds) that they are merely geeks and that whilst they would like to convince themselves that they are intelligent and popular members of society they are really just outcasts spending endless hours wasting their time discussing whether Worf is Gay or which Enterprise has the best photon torpedoes (geeks).

He's the mirror that reflects their social failure back at them.

WHAT?????? :eek:

Svalbard

I wanted to be Wesley. He was a kid who got to live on the Enterprise for feck sake. He even got to fly the thing. And I had a man-crush on Captain Picard too, I mean, who didn't?

Rawr

Svalbard wrote: »

And I had a man-crush on Captain Picard too, I mean, who didn't?

O.......K......moving along,

What I will say in Crusher's defence, as much as I hated the character (he's one of the main reasons Season 1 was so bad, in my opinion.)...he is not Naomi Wildeman.

At least he could fly the ship, at least he copped himself on became an officer. I really can't think of anything good to say about Wildeman....nothing at all!!

norrie rugger

Rawr wrote: »

I really can't think of anything good to say about Wildeman....nothing at all!!

she allowed 7 to have more screen time?

That is all that I can think of

Derek Coleman

Do you "fly" a spaceship?

It doesn't seem right to say fly. "Pilot" seems more apt. "Navigate" even? hmmm not sure.

IvySlayer

I hated him because he rescued the ship on several occasions when the best minds on the Enterprise, the flag ship, couldn't do it.

Rawr

I

Derek Coleman wrote: »

Do you "fly" a spaceship?

It doesn't seem right to say fly. "Pilot" seems more apt. "Navigate" even? hmmm not sure.

I dunno....
Maybe you can "space" a ship?

Svalbard

Derek Coleman wrote: »

Do you "fly" a spaceship?

Yes.