Tango01 | 14 Apr 2022 9:23 p.m. PST |
"Why did Wil Wheaton quit Star Trek: The Next Generation? Bringing Gene Roddenberry's iconic sci-fi property back to the small screen, Star Trek: The Next Generation introduced a new cast of space-faring adventurers that would become closer than family to the millions watching at home – the likes of Jean-Luc Picard, Data, and Will Riker. Most of The Next Generation's Enterprise crew were embraced by audiences, but one provoked backlash on a scale Star Trek had never before experienced – Wil Wheaton's Wesley Crusher. Introduced in The Next Generation's debut season, Wesley was the highly-intelligent prodigal son of chief medical officer, Beverly Crusher. Having a young ensign strolling around the Enterprise bridge thinking he knew better than the adults (and usually proving he did) grated on fans, who made no secret of how they'd grown weary of Wesley. After appearing regularly throughout The Next Generation's first four seasons, Wesley Crusher quit in season 4, choosing Starfleet Academy over the Enterprise, but dropping by for guest spots in seasons 5 and 7, as well as Star Trek: Nemesis…" Main page link Armand
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14Bore | 15 Apr 2022 4:25 a.m. PST |
To try and save a horrible show? |
ZULUPAUL | 15 Apr 2022 6:34 a.m. PST |
Worst character in the series. |
Eumelus | 15 Apr 2022 7:08 a.m. PST |
Oh, I don't know, worse than Neelix? worse than Dr Pulaski? |
Stryderg | 15 Apr 2022 7:26 a.m. PST |
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SBminisguy | 15 Apr 2022 9:14 a.m. PST |
It's not Will Wheaton's fault that Wesley sucked, he's not a bad actor. No, the addition of Wesley Crusher was a Producer-level mistake, that was not uncommon to shows of the period. There was a mistaken belief that you needed to have a kid or an animal to broaden the audience to young viewers. For example, they added a Space Monkey to Lost in Space, and in the original Battlestar Galactica they added a Kid AND a robot Space Dog. So Wesley's purpose was to make the show appealing to kids, which it already was, so the character was unnecessary and had no real purpose. They stuck with the character for far too long, flailing around to create a story arc. Many viewers, even kids, came to dislike the forced nature of the "super Kid whom Kids will like." They should have sent the character to Star Fleet Academy as soon as possible. |
thosmoss | 15 Apr 2022 10:47 a.m. PST |
I hear it was Gene Rodenberry's creation and insistence that a wiz-kid would intuitively understand the nuance of high-level physics. Rodenberry died, suddenly Wesley got less and less spotlight time. In all honesty, I missed the first couple years (damn college classes anyway). When I started to get caught up in the third season, I didn't understand what all the flame was about for Wesley. From what they showed, he was a well done character in interesting situations. Then I saw the first two seasons, and the answer came clear. |
Tango01 | 15 Apr 2022 3:14 p.m. PST |
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Tacitus | 15 Apr 2022 7:07 p.m. PST |
The article says he was prodigal (spending money or resources freely and recklessly; wastefully extravagant). How was he prodigal? Did they mean prodigious? Where have editors gone? Sorry, had a bad day… |
Stryderg | 15 Apr 2022 7:59 p.m. PST |
Will did a good job with his time on Big Bang Theory and The Guild (youtube series). So I don't dislike him as an actor. I just got really annoyed with Wesley Crusher who seemed destined to make the grown ups in the room look like idiots. |
Zephyr1 | 15 Apr 2022 9:30 p.m. PST |
Wesley left because it was awkward being around, as his mother was dating Riker (I'm sure they were happier when he left, too… ;-) |
Gonsalvo | 16 Apr 2022 3:21 a.m. PST |
I actually rather liked both the character and the actor. He is of course himself a major league board gamer, and has hosted a gaming podcast/youtube chanel. And yes, he got some revenge with his Big Bang series appearances! |
Frederick | 16 Apr 2022 1:53 p.m. PST |
I kind of liked him – and while I know I am in a minority here, I think the worst character was Q – in a series that was supposed to try to avoid it, Q seemed to me to be too much of a deus ex machina – and I thought it was lazy writing using the character it was used |
Tango01 | 16 Apr 2022 3:13 p.m. PST |
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Old Contemptible | 21 May 2022 11:25 p.m. PST |
Agree with Fredrick here. I really did not like Q. I avoided as many of his episodes as possible. I wish they had killed him off when they had the chance. I like to think kirk would have. His appearance on Voyager was just beyond the pale. Here is a guy who could really do these people some good and didn't. Why even have on that series. |
Tango01 | 09 Jun 2022 3:57 p.m. PST |
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