The Hated Star Trek Character Everyone Finally Loves
If you haven’t been watching Star Trek: Prodigy on Netflix, you’re missing out—among other great reasons to stream, this CGI animated show is basically the closest thing to a Voyager revival we are ever going to get. So far, we have seen the return of characters like Janeway, Chakotay, and the holographic Doctor, but the show’s second season also had something special for TNG fans: the return of Wil Wheaton as Wesley Crusher, everyone’s favorite brainy ensign turned interdimensional traveler. Fans were overjoyed to see Crusher return, and according to Wheaton, these positive vibes are “35 years overdue.”
Wesley, The Doctor
This came up in a recent interview, and Wheaton was generally very positive about how Star Trek has treated Wesley Crusher in recent years. As you may remember, the second season of Picard elaborated more on what this character does as a Traveler—specifically, he and the rest of his colleagues monitor the timeline and help preserve life throughout the galaxy.
He’s basically like Star Trek’s version of the Doctor in Doctor Who, a comparison he enthusiastically agreed with in the interview.
Roddenberry’s Stand In
After discussing Wheaton’s general delight at bringing Wesley Crusher to Prodigy and his joy at being Star Trek’s resident Time Lord (which lined up with some “Wesley as Time Lord” fanf iction he had been writing for years), the interview turned to the elephant in the room.
Wesley has always been a divisive figure, and he was introduced to TNG as an annoying teen sidekick who could magically solve even the toughest dilemmas. He was basically Gene Roddenberry’s Mary Sue self-insert character and angered countless fans from the very beginning.
Wesley Haters
Because of this, it wasn’t entirely clear how the fandom would react to Wesley Crusher’s return in Prodigy, and Wheaton was pleasantly surprised to see that almost everyone enjoyed his robust return to the franchise.
The interview got a bit personal, with Wheaton admitting that he had a “terrible home life” when he was young and that his only real escape was working with his “Star Trek family.”
It was correspondingly devastating to discover his many haters who would do things like write awful hate mail and “were cruel to this child at conventions and stuff in ways that would never fly today.”
A Younger Wheaton
Fortunately, the positive reception to Wesley Crusher’s return served as a reminder to Wheaton that the idea that “nobody likes Wesley… is empirically false.” Instead, he had a vocal minority of haters and a larger number of major fans who have told him “you inspired a generation of kids.”
The revelation of how much Wesley is genuinely loved was enough to make Wheaton wish he really was a Time Lord who could travel to the past and tell his younger self “Buddy, I know how much it hurts right now, but I promise you there’s a day coming where it’s really okay.”
The Original Prodigy
Wheaton also revealed that the Prodigy creators wanted to bring him to this fan-favorite cartoon because “Wesley is the original prodigy.” Now, like a good Star Trek hero, he gets to embrace his first, best destiny…inspiring other brainy kids to embrace both their authentic selves and Star Trek.
In this way, he can help a new generation of fans boldly go where they have never gone before: on a journey of acceptance and growth.
Source: Collider
