LogFAQs > #932770078

57. Wesley Crusher
Lieutenant, why do people use drugs?

Wesley Crusher is one of the most epic miscalculations in science-fiction history. Hes not as bad as Jar-Jar Binks or basically anything that happened to Terminator after the second movie, but hes pretty bad. Its a testament to how good the rest of TNG is that it still manages to be entertaining even when laden down with him.

I cant imagine anyone reading a Star Trek character ranking doesnt already know why this character is awful. Hes a boy genius with Gene Roddenberrys middle name, whose greatest problems are that adults underestimate him and that he doesnt understand why people would ruin their lives with drugs (someone thought that was compelling television in 1987). The idea that a ship full of the greatest minds the Federation has to offer would fail to figure out the things Wesley casually comes up with is preposterous. Despite this, Wesley does have a couple of episodes where he isnt actively ruining things, and they do eventually do one interesting thing with him in the episode where he covers up a friends death, so he places above Neelix and Pulaski.

Hell, even Wesleys stupid acting ensign uniform is bad. Everyone else dresses according to their position while he has a gray jumpsuit on. Its really easy to see why Wesleys scenes were cut from Nemesis and his role reduced to an extra at the table with all of the main characters.

Looking back on things, I might admit that Wesleys lows arent as bad as some of the people Ive ranked above him, but the idea of this character so offends me that Im sticking his ass in the bottom three anyway. Even ignoring how Wesley has Roddenberrys middle name as his first name, does anyone like boy geniuses outside of comedy cartoons aimed at nine year-olds? It wasnt until Joss Whedon made Angel that the name Wesley was redeemed for fictional characters.

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Started: July 6, 2005