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Wesley Crusher

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Wesley Crusher
Portrayed byWil Wheaton

Wesley Crusher is a character in the television series Star Trek: The Next Generation, appearing regularly in the first four seasons and sporadically afterwards. He is the son of Beverly Crusher and is portrayed by actor Wil Wheaton.

Overview

In the television series Star Trek: The Next Generation, Wesley Crusher first arrived on the Enterprise-D with his mother, soon after Captain Jean-Luc Picard assumed command. And we all waited for Crusher's final appearance. It was a long wait. Crusher's father was killed while under Picard's command, with Picard delivering the message to Wesley and to his mother, Beverly. Picard initially found Crusher irritating, as he is often uncomfortable around all children, a fact which he discloses to his second, William Riker in the pilot episode "Encounter at Farpoint". In early episodes of the series, Picard did not allow Crusher on the bridge of the ship. Through the progression of the series, however, Picard comes to realize that Crusher understands many things beyond his age and has inherited his mother's high level of intelligence, while Crusher himself also learns to overcome his initial animosity towards Picard following his fathers' death. Picard begins to afford Crusher more opportunities on board the ship. An alien known as The Traveler expresses to Captain Picard that Wesley possesses a unique intelligence and great potential when provided encouragement and opportunity, comparing him to a child prodigy like Mozart. Picard soon appoints Crusher as an acting ensign.

Crusher eventually takes the entrance exam for Starfleet Academy. His test score ranked lower than required, and he was not accepted into the Academy in his first attempt, as detailed in the episode "Coming of Age". Later, he misses his second chance to take the Academy entrance exam during the episode "Ménage à Troi" in which he assists the Enterprise-D crew in rescuing Riker, Deanna Troi, and Lwaxana Troi from hostile Ferengi, for which Picard grants him a field promotion to full ensign.

Crusher is then invited to reapply the following year, taking the exam and being accepted into the Academy where he joins an elite group of cadets known as Nova Squadron. His involvement with this group leads to his losing academic credits ("The First Duty"), when a squadron-mate was killed attempting a dangerous and prohibited flight maneuver and, under pressure from the team leader Nick Locarno, Crusher abetted the squadron's efforts to cover up the truth. Although the crew's intervention and Crusher's own testimony saves him from expulsion, all of Cadet Crusher's academic credits for the year are cancelled and he is required to repeat the year and graduate after most of the rest of his class. He remains in the Academy thereafter until the Traveler re-contacts him, whereupon he resigns his commission and goes with the Traveler to explore other planes of reality ("Journey's End").

He subsequently appears in the non-canon A Time To... novel series, visiting his mother. He is also seen sitting next to his mother in the background of the wedding scenes in Star Trek Nemesis. In a scene deleted from the movie,[1] Captain Picard asks Wesley if he's excited to serve on board the USS Titan (Captain Riker's ship), and Wesley tells him that he will be running the night shift in Engineering. This implies (though the scene was deleted) that Wesley returned to Starfleet at some point prior to the events of the film.

Reception

Many fans, including Wil Wheaton himself,[2] considered the character to be a Mary Sue and a stand-in for Gene Roddenberry, whose middle name was "Wesley." On TV Tropes, "Creator's Pet",[3] a trope describing a character who is liked by the creators but disliked by audiences, was formerly named "The Wesley" after him.[4] A 2011 Family Guy episode, "Not All Dogs Go To Heaven" included the main The Next Generation cast and featured Wil Wheaton in character as Wesley, being bullied by Patrick Stewart as infantile and annoying.

Some fans disliked the idea of a young boy who seems to constantly save the whole ship as a deus ex machina plot device. Commentators have observed at least seven times in which Wesley, "who has trouble getting into the Starfleet Academy" and is on a ship "filled with Starfleet's best and brightest crew members", has come up "with the needed solution".[5][6]

References

  1. ^ Star Trek: Nemesis 2002. Paramount Pictures. DVD.
  2. ^ Wil Wheaton. "Star Trek: The Next Generation: Code of Honor". TV Squad. Retrieved 2011-08-03.
  3. ^ "The Wesley - Television Tropes & Idioms". Tvtropes.org. Retrieved 2010-10-14.
  4. ^ Pat Pflieger (2001). "Too good to be true: 150 years of mary sue". 3. Presented at the American Culture Association conference. Retrieved 2007-01-15. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  5. ^ Phil Farrand, "Updated Conundrum Tote Board" The Nitpicker's Guide for Next Generation Trekkers, Vol. 2 New York: Dell (1995): 319
  6. ^ Gillmor, Dan. We the media. p. 78. ISBN 0-596-00733-7.
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