Remember when you were a teenager? That feeling that you knew exactly where you were going? You knew exactly how it was gonna work out. And it was gonna be easy. Sure, grown-ups tried to tell you that nothing is ever easy and that you need to work hard, but you did not listen. You knew better. You knew it was gonna be different for you. Those rules did not apply to you.
How did that work out? Are you where you thought you would be? Is life anything like what you expected it to be? I do not think so. It is so hard to understand how all this works when you are young. Sometimes, I still struggle with it. Can you imagine how hard it would have been if you were an actor. You had starred in a critically acclaimed motion picture. You were part of the cast of a huge syndicated series on TV. Would those stubborn teenage moments still cause problems?
They would if you were Wil Wheaton. Yes, Wil Wheaton from Stand by Me. Yes, Wil Wheaton who played Wesley Crusher on Star Trek: The Next Generation. Why am I writing about Wil Wheaton? Because I just finished reading his book — Just a Geek.
You have to understand, Wil and I go way back. It started back in 1986, when my parents would not let me watch Stand by Me just because it was rated R. I knew it had to be the coolest movie. All the others kids were talking about it. And when I finally got to see it (over at some other kid’s house) it did not disappoint. Gordy was my favorite character. I am sure everyone has seen the movie, so I will not go in to it. But that was just the beginning.
Wil and I ran into each other again in 1987, when Star Trek:TNG went on the air. Wesley Crusher, boy wonder, was allowed to roam all over the Enterprise. I hated him. First of all, I was quite the Star Trek expert and at the time I was not too sure about this Next Generation thing, but I was real sure about one thing. Star Fleet would not tolerate some kid sitting on the bridge, tinkering in engineering hanging out with officers. It made me mad, it was not realistic at all. Yes, I was actually mad because a show about People Flying Around in Space portrayed a child on the ship in an unrealistic way. Hey, I was 15 what did I know. I hated Wesley for another reason, although I was not aware of it at the time, I was very jealous of Wesley. He got to be on the Enterprise! Not only that, but he had every opportunity. He got to learn engineering with the brightest engineers in Star Fleet. He got to see Command from Picard and Riker. He got advice from Guinan. If I had had those opportunities, I would have looked like a boy genius too! Anyhow, after Wesley went off with the Traveler, I did not see Wil again for a long time. And, actually I did not really know Wil, I had never met him, but it seemed like I knew those guys, Picard, Worf, Data, Riker, and even Wesley.
The next time I ran into Wil Wheaton was a couple of years ago. And in the strangest the place— the Internet. I had read an article about Aggregate News Readers and thought they sounded cool. I downloaded a free one off the internet and used it to collect headlines from CNET and such. In the process, I discovered blogs and I discovered one authored by (you guessed it) Wil Wheaton. I started reading it and was blown away. This guy was … well … just a guy. I kept reading, I could not help it. I found that I was getting to Wil more than I could have thought possible, considering I have still never met him. It is partly because of his blog that I started this one. When ST:TNG came out on TNN (now Spike,) I found I looked at Wesley very differently. Maybe because, I was no longer a teenager or maybe, because I felt like I knew the guy played Wesley. Maybe, because my son was sitting there watching with me. And suddenly Wesley was not a punk he was a Role Model.
This brings us back to Wil Wheaton’s book: Just a Geek. I loved it. The book is difficult to categorize. It is not really a biography. It is not fiction. It is sort of the story of Wil Wheaton dot Net. It is also the story of Wil Wheaton coming to terms with his decision to leave Star Trek, and his discovery of himself as an adult. This does not sound that compelling, I guess, but it is. I found that I could relate. This is odd, because I’ve never been a famous actor. But I have done things I regret very much and I have had to learn to live with that. I, also, have had to adjust to the fact that I am just a geek and learn that that is ok.
The book is delightful to read. Wil has a talent for bringing a story to life. And he is funny. I got several odd looks from the kids as I laughed out loud while reading it. Wil opens himself up in an almost painful way. The honesty of some the stories he relates made me want yell, “No Wil, don’t do it!” But, I was powerless to help him, and I could feel the hurt that he experienced. To be honest it was a little uncomfortable to see him so vulnerable. It always is uncomfortable to see someone’s vulnerabilities like that. What is remarkable, is that he chose to share those moments with everyone. This has just reinforced this notion that Wil is an old friend, even though he is only marginally aware of my existence.
Should you read the book? Yes! If that was not persuasive enough, then here is my recommendation. Go to WWdN, read some entries. If you find that you enjoy that site, I am certain you will enjoy his book.
I had originally named this post: alt.wesley.crusher die.die.die, referring to a newsgroup from the Usenet, back when that was cool. It just cracks me up that people bothered to hate Wesley that much. Like I said I hated Wesley, but I never felt the need to organize a group about it. I think it can only be viewed as flattering that the Wesley character attracted enough attention to find its way into the history of the internet. I changed because it seemed so negative, and if wanted negative I would talk about Bush :)
