Hi, I'm loving the early days and cannot wait to read the future Logs and posts by readers. There are so much I could talk about in this Log alone but I'd like to touch on Wesley.
I think there can be problems in both TV shows and films where they make one particular person too powerful. In the end they have to kill them off, have them leave the show or "loose their powers". I'm sure we can all think of numerous examples but not sure we can discuss them here as they concern other shows and non ST films. This is the problem they had with Wesley as in the early days he was very often the go-to person for providing the solution. I also think he lacked a good back story.
I would love to hear why other people liked or disliked Wesley so why not post your thoughts here.
I was only 8 or 9 when I first watched it. Don't remember an awful lot but I loved Wesley and was super surprised to find out people hated him. One of my favorite episodes was the one about his entrance exam to starfleet academy and his psych test. Maybe being a 9 year old helped?
I hadn't thought about 'the Wesley problem' as a shortfall of backstory before! But of course, what little history he has he has to share with his mother, which doesn't help. 😂 Would also love to know where people stand on this character... We might have to wait for more subscribers, though - still early days.
My memories of watching TNG are relatively distant so I don't remember specifically but what I do remember is that the character seemed poorly written and didn't fit into the story or cast very well. Perhaps it's a resonance of my being a child trying to fit into an adult world and I didn't want to be reminded of it. But he was there so they kept (mis-)using him. My feeling is that he was crammed in in an attempt to bring a teen audience to the show. Been very interesting to read Wheaton's story (although I've not read his book(s) I've read his blog from time to time over the years) and realise how ambivalent he was about the whole thing.
I absolutely think the purpose of the character was to appeal to a teen audience. I also don't think this worked as intended... the teen audience tends to identify with young adults, not fellow teens.
Hi, I'm loving the early days and cannot wait to read the future Logs and posts by readers. There are so much I could talk about in this Log alone but I'd like to touch on Wesley.
I think there can be problems in both TV shows and films where they make one particular person too powerful. In the end they have to kill them off, have them leave the show or "loose their powers". I'm sure we can all think of numerous examples but not sure we can discuss them here as they concern other shows and non ST films. This is the problem they had with Wesley as in the early days he was very often the go-to person for providing the solution. I also think he lacked a good back story.
I would love to hear why other people liked or disliked Wesley so why not post your thoughts here.
I was only 8 or 9 when I first watched it. Don't remember an awful lot but I loved Wesley and was super surprised to find out people hated him. One of my favorite episodes was the one about his entrance exam to starfleet academy and his psych test. Maybe being a 9 year old helped?
Guess it was pretty cool to see your own brother on TV! 😂
I hadn't thought about 'the Wesley problem' as a shortfall of backstory before! But of course, what little history he has he has to share with his mother, which doesn't help. 😂 Would also love to know where people stand on this character... We might have to wait for more subscribers, though - still early days.
My memories of watching TNG are relatively distant so I don't remember specifically but what I do remember is that the character seemed poorly written and didn't fit into the story or cast very well. Perhaps it's a resonance of my being a child trying to fit into an adult world and I didn't want to be reminded of it. But he was there so they kept (mis-)using him. My feeling is that he was crammed in in an attempt to bring a teen audience to the show. Been very interesting to read Wheaton's story (although I've not read his book(s) I've read his blog from time to time over the years) and realise how ambivalent he was about the whole thing.
I absolutely think the purpose of the character was to appeal to a teen audience. I also don't think this worked as intended... the teen audience tends to identify with young adults, not fellow teens.