Star Trek's Wesley Crusher Problem: TNG Didn't Know How To Write Wil Wheaton's Boy Genius

Wesley Crusher was a problematic character for Star Trek: The Next Generation as the writers didn't know how to best represent a boy genius.

Star Trek: The Next Generation turned Wesley Crusher (Wil Wheaton) into a problematic character, which stems from their inability to properly write Wesley as a boy genius. Wesley was one of the main characters of the TNG cast when it began with "Encounter at Farpoint" in 1987. As the only child among the senior staff of the USS Enterprise-D, it's no surprise that Wesley often got saddled with questionable storylines. As the son of the Enterprise's Chief Medical Officer, Dr. Beverly Crusher (Gates McFadden), Wesley had access to more areas of the ship than most children would have, and he proved to be quite the prodigy.

Despite his young age, Wil Wheaton was one of the most famous actors when TNG began due to his starring in the film Stand by Me in 1986. Wheaton was clearly a very talented actor, but the writers of TNG seemed unsure how to write for him. In many of TNG's early episodes, Wesley swoops in to save the day, somehow coming up with a solution that none of the much more experienced officers on the Starship Enterprise could devise. It made little sense that Wesley was able to save the entire ship as often as he was, and this repeated plot device grew old quickly for many fans.

Star Trek: The Next Generation's executive producer Rick Berman stated in interviews that Wesley Crusher served as a stand-in for a young Gene Roddenberry. The legendary creator of the Star Trek franchise, Roddenberry loved the character of Wesley and included him in many of the storylines of TNG's first season. Unfortunately, because of his status as a prodigy and boy genius, Wesley often came across as pretentious and unlikable. He solved problems on the Enterprise way too easily, when the highly intelligent officers of the ship were unable to find solutions.

Wesley's first time saving the ship comes in TNG season 1, episode 2, "The Naked Now." After most of the crew members become infected by an unknown contagion that makes them feel intoxicated, Wesley singlehandedly takes control of the Enterprise and declares himself acting captain. He creates a force field and barricades himself in Engineering, where he gains control of the entire ship. It takes the Chief Engineer nearly the entire episode to disable Wesley's force field, even with the help of Commander Will Riker (Jonathan Frakes). Despite being affected by the polywater intoxication, Wesley is able to reverse the Enterprise's tractor beam (even though the Engineer says this would take weeks) and save the ship from a collision.

In spite of his young age, Wheaton gave consistently solid performances as Wesley, and critics praised Wheaton's performance as Gordie in Stand by Me. He did the best he could with the material he was given by the writers of Star Trek: The Next Generation. The writers seemed to struggle with how to write for a gifted teenage boy, particularly one on a starship surrounded by professional adults. Wheaton could not help the stories he was given or the way fans reacted to his character, but he faced much of the backlash. In his annotated memoir, "Still Just a Geek," Wil Wheaton discusses his feelings about the fans' hatred of Wesley Crusher. He wrote:

"When I was younger, people gave me such a hard time about Wesley Crusher, there was a time in my late teens and early twenties when I resented Star Trek. It felt so unfair that people who had never met me were so cruel and hateful toward me as a person because they didn’t like a character I played on a TV show, I wanted to put Star Trek behind me and forget that it was ever part of my life."

Wheaton goes on to say that he later realized that Wesley also had a positive impact on many people, especially kids who watched TNG. Thankfully Wheaton has now fully embraced his Star Trek history, and he remains very active in the Star Trek fandom. Not only does he make regular convention appearances, but Wheaton also hosts the official Star Trek aftershow entitled The Ready Room, where he gets to interview many of the actors from various Trek shows.

Although Wil Wheaton left Star Trek: The Next Generation as a series regular in season 4, he appeared in four more episodes over the course of the series. In TNG season 7, episode 20, "Journey's End," Wesley chooses to leave Starfleet and join the mysterious group known as the Travelers. Wesley returns in Star Trek: Picard season 2 and reveals that he and the other Travelers work to observe and preserve various species and cultures throughout time and space. He extends Kore Soong (Isa Briones) an invitation to join the Travelers, which she gladly accepts.

Wesley's status as a Traveler opens the door for Wil Wheaton to appear in nearly any Star Trek series since he can now travel in space and time. Although he is not supposed to interact with his friends or family, Traveler Wesley could still appear as an unseen observer or interact with Trek characters he has never met. The Travelers are a fascinating group that still largely remain a mystery, and a future storyline could offer more insight into their culture. Plus, Wil Wheaton will always be a welcome face on Star Trek no matter what people think about his Star Trek: The Next Generation character.

Rachel Hulshult is a writer of Star Trek Features for Screen Rant. She has an MFA in Screenwriting from the University of North Carolina School of the Arts. She loves getting lost in imaginary worlds, and if she's not writing, she's probably reading a fantasy novel or watching a sci-fi TV show. She dreams of working on the bridge of the USS Enterprise, but writing about Star Trek is cool, too.She owns too many books and worked in a public library for several years before deciding to pursue writing full-time. She has also written test prep articles and study guides for Study.com.