Star Trek: Exploring The Wesley Crusher Problem
Over the years, Star Trek has featured a magnitude of diverse and intricate alien lifeforms and civilizations. It has brought a staggering array of futuristic technology (some so influential real life technology is being based upon it) and beloved characters to the small screen. With all these great heroes of space, pioneers of the utopian vision of humanity's future, there are bound to be some characters who were intended to be fan favorites, but unfortunately were met with annoyance. None exemplifies this so much as Wesley Crusher.
Wesley, young son of the ship's chief of medicine Beverly Crusher, has borne the brunt of much criticism of The Next Generation. Many fans find him spoiled, annoying, and awkward. The problem with his character was not specifically found within the universe, as he never really did anything wrong, at least no more wrong than other characters. Many people cite the poor reception to the character as a reaction to the poor acting skills of Wil Wheaton. While he was great in other roles, such as Stand By Me, Wheaton was not best suited for TNG’s fast-paced, intense filming schedule.
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The problem mainly came down to the writers. There were plenty of chances for Wesley to have been a great character, Wheaton acting and all, which comes through occasionally. The episode “The First Duty” has some of the best Wesley Crusher moments. Pockets of greatness shine through throughout his many appearances. However, these are often overshadowed by the terrible writing on display for most of Wesley Crusher's tenure on the show.
The writers of the show, primarily during the first few seasons under the guidance of Gene Roddenberry, kept pushing for a utopian future narrative, and kept pushing
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