Thursday, March 02, 2023

Leave Wesley (and Wil) alone

Carol and I started watching Star Trek: the Next Generation when it premiered in 1987. Being adults, we never had anything against the young character Wesley Crusher, played by Wil Wheaton, and not having social media at the time, we were mostly unaware of the nasty fan backlash against the character. While it seemed unusual at the time to have a teenage boy on the bridge of the Enterprise, the storyline worked and Wil Wheaton was obviously a talented actor who was very earnest in his portrayal. Others were outraged that this kid had the temerity to sit at the helm and mostly took it out on the young actor.

Unfortunately, for over 35 years, Wil has had to endure abuse by these "fans" who, like all sociopaths, can't see the effect their base reactions have on the actual people they are hurting. Even though they're bitching about a fictional character.

How does Wil feel about this?  He recently broke his silence to let everyone know.

“Okay, so. Disclosure: I am the actor who played Wesley. I have spent a great deal of time thinking about exactly this, because angry nerds have been yelling at me about it for 30 years.
His post is worth a read, showing not only the depth of thought he put into his portrayal of Wesley, but with a subtext of how all of this abuse has impacted him and reflects on the actual life he's lived.

Huge respect to Wil Wheaton from me.

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