I NEVER disliked Wesley Crusher. Just thought I'd get that out of the way. I preferred him FAR over Tasha or Troi. I always just accepted his part in the cast as a supporting character and took his presence at face value. I had no idea of all the negative opinions of the Wesley character until well into the 2nd season, and I remember being completely baffled by it and not a little indignant about it on Wil Wheaton's behalf.
I've enjoyed Wil's blog and a several of his other books. He's a very funny and engaging writer and SMART. I'm still a little surprised that he never got a post-graduate degree in engineering or science. He's also especially funny in his too-few appearances as himself in The Big Bang Theory, where even though he's supposed to be "too cool for school," he really fits right in with all those brainiacs. (Note to BBT execs: make Wil a regular character! Or at least bring him in more often.)
But about the book: it's a really quick and easy read, and it's funny with a huge helping of snark. At times, maybe a little too much snark. I understand where he might cringe to see his adolescent self on the screen for jillions of people to see, but his reminiscences are touched with the memories of so many unfortunate and hurtful experiences, both with the stupid-crazy Trek fans AND with some of the people who worked on the show (I should clarify that it was only the production crew that he had problems with, NOT the cast. Thus far I have not read or heard that he had any negative experiences from the other cast members.) None of the bad stories are told here, but I and others who've kept up with him on and off through the years have read enough to know what he's not telling us in the book. None of it was his fault. It was all completely out of his control. As a minor child he was treated poorly and unfairly by the very adults who were supposed to be looking out for him and supporting him. Here it seems as if he's trying to apologize a little for his being there when he has NOTHING to apologize for; he had as much right to be there as any of the other actors and I always enjoyed the too-few Wesley-centered episodes I saw.
Still, unlike myself, HE has long since let that go and he now maintains great warmth and humor as he writes about each of these episodes. I always have had such good memories of the ST:TNG series that I had forgotten some of the truly cringe-worthy episodes that came out of that first season ('Code of Honor' must be the worst 45 minutes of television EVER.) I went back and looked at all the titles of the first season and came up with about 4 or 5 episodes I would be able to enjoy watching again; and really, a couple of my all-time favorite episodes came out of that 1st season. But though there are some really poor quality episodes in the first season, most of them were not really "bad," they just had a little too much lame dialogue and some weak plots. I feel embarrassed on behalf of the cast for some of these episodes, and wonder if at the time they thought the story-lines and plots were as bad as many of the viewers realize these days. If this show had come out NOW and NOT in 1987, it would have barely lasted the usual 13 episodes. But I don't remember having any negative feelings or opinions about it back then; mostly we just thought it was awesome that Trek was getting some updates my generation could identify with and we appreciated that enough to sit through some pretty awkward shows. OTOH, Patrick Stewart was worth watching from the very first scene of the first show, and really rose above some of those lame lines of dialogue. Wil expresses his deep respect for Patrick's talent, and I can share now that, at a Trek convention I went to in the early 90's, I learned that Patrick thought the world of Wil and defended him mightily to an auditorium full of rude and hateful fans. (And it was the appalling behavior in general of that atrocious audience that made me vow to NEVER attend another Trek convention in this city; I was so ashamed just to be among them.)
But I will say this specifically to Wil: I enjoyed your character, I thought you were severely under-used in later seasons in the manner of poor Uhura from TOS, you were treated terribly by the crew, I missed you when you left the show and in "Final Mission," "The First Duty" and "The Game" you proved just how talented you are. When I think of all the cool "Wesley-centered" episodes they could have written for you as you grew older I feel cheated. There are other things I admire about you, but they are unconnected to this book or the show.
Unfortunately, there is only this volume available. It covers only the first half of the first season. It's been 2 years now and there's no indication that we're ever going to get anymore of these stories from him. And I'm really disappointed; I was looking forward to see what he'd have to say about shows like the unintentionally silly and hilarious "Angel One," the excruciating episode "The Child" and later on, favorites like "The First Duty" and "Final Mission," and creepy ones like "The Game" (which I really "heard" more than actually watched on the screen as I spent most it covering eyes.) I'm HOPING he's just busy with acting jobs or maybe other books he wants to finish first. If anyone knows whether there IS going to be a Volume 2 and more, please let me know!
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it's great. It's a highly subjective behind the scenes opinion ...
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