Wil Wheaton?

[jackfaire]

I don't get it. I am a geek. A huge geek. I love video games, graphic novels, Star Trek was awesome etc.

I am not going to treat him like some geek god.

Others seem to they seem to revere him for what I dunno.

Can anyone explain this fascination people have with Will Wheaton to me?

[the_std]

He is the definition of "geek made good". A lot of people saw him as a child on Star Trek and dismissed him as another geekling who will never do anything constructive with his life, as so often happens with child actors. But he has thrown off the prejudices and handicaps that often come with being a child actor, especially one associated with such a nerdy phenomenon as Star Trek, and this has made him pretty awesome in the eyes of the geek community at large.

It also helps that he is in the same age demographic as a lot of his fan base, and that usually tends to make someone more accessible, and therefore more popular, than someone who was a different generation.

I don't hero-worship him like some people do, but I admire what he has done with his life and the positive example he has set for a whole ton of geeks all around the world.

[Rapscallion]

Somewhat healthier than Kim Kardashian, I reckon - at least he's done something with his life.

Besides, he managed to escape from being Wesley Crusher. That deserves credit alone.

Rapscallion

[jackfaire]

Besides, he managed to escape from being Wesley Crusher. That deserves credit alone.

Rapscallion

Amusingly with the exception of him being the center of geek worship that is pretty much what I know him for.

[Andara Bledin]

It also helps that he is in the same age demographic as a lot of his fan base, and that usually tends to make someone more accessible, and therefore more popular, than someone who was a different generation.

He's also pretty legitimately accessible, too. He's a regular at a ton of conventions with a variety of themes (trending towards gaming primarily), as well as still working in TV, movies, and voice acting.

^-.-^

[linguist]

He is the definition of "geek made good". A lot of people saw him as a child on Star Trek and dismissed him as another geekling who will never do anything constructive with his life, as so often happens with child actors. But he has thrown off the prejudices and handicaps that often come with being a child actor, especially one associated with such a nerdy phenomenon as Star Trek, and this has made him pretty awesome in the eyes of the geek community at large.

this. he's proven to everyone who can be bothered to pay attention that he's so much more than just that kid in star trek. and as for those that can't be bothered, fuck 'em. at the same time, he's not one that moves past child stardom and tries to entirely leave it behind. he knows that without wesley crusher and a handful of other movies he did as a kid (stand by me being one of the most well known), he wouldn't be where he is today, and he's humble about it.

He's also pretty legitimately accessible, too. He's a regular at a ton of conventions with a variety of themes (trending towards gaming primarily), as well as still working in TV, movies, and voice acting.

this, too. he regularly interacts with fans not only live at cons, but also via twitter, his blog, and his semi-regular podcasts. plus he's a pretty damn good writer who's written several books.

the one thing that i respect him for above all else is that when he married his wife, she came with two kids, and he's raised them just as if they were his own. he never refers to them as his stepsons, they are just his sons. this is a very personal thing to me because i had that, too when my mom married my dad. however, i realize that i was pretty lucky and not all stepchildren get that, so when i see someone marry into a "ready-made" family and take on the kids with love and acceptance rather than just viewing them a part of the package or necessary baggage, it warms my heart. and his love for his family comes shining through in his writing, especially when he does live readings of it, which is pretty awesome.

[CaptainJaneway]

If you are into Eureka on the sci fi channel you can catch him there. Unfortunately they are cancelling the show. Season five will be the last.

I love star trek and use to go to all the conventions back in the late 80's into the late 90's. When next gen first started everyone hated wesley not sure why but hey each to their own.

The last convention I went to was on 9/10/01 in ny to see William Shatner. Interesting enough he had spoken about going to see the Michael Jackson concert the night before too. I actually video taped most of his speech even though you were not suppose to.

[jackfaire]

I love star trek and use to go to all the conventions back in the late 80's into the late 90's. When next gen first started everyone hated wesley not sure why but hey each to their own.

Most of my friends it was because TOS was about space cowboys and TNG was more like a military base in space. The having families on board was more realistic too.

They tried to present the star ships analogous to Submarines, Aircraft Carriers and other ships where your out on the sea for six months.

Instead it's more like Fort Hood or Fort Lewis where you bring your family with you to where your assigned only the fort travels. The reason is things like a five year mission. Tell me that realistically most people would go 5 years without fraternization.

[Andara Bledin]

Tell me that realistically most people would go 5 years without fraternization.

Well... Later on, there is the holodeck.

^-.-^

[Ginger Tea]

Yes and which poor sod gets to clean up afterwards?

I only know him as Wesley, I had seen Stand by me and perhaps a few others of his earlier works (was he in red dawn with Swayze?) but he was just some guy in a movie, not a name I would take not of, hell I didn't even recognize him and it was only watching Stand by me again a year or two after TNG aired in the UK, how ever many years into its actual run that is, that I twigged who he was.

I had read his name in a few penny arcade posts but thought "nah can't be the same guy" just assuming someone in the games industry just happened to have the same name as Wesley Crusher, mind you at the time I would have played Wesley even though he did get alot of stick for his character, mostly cos he spent alot of time with Gates McFadden, hey she's his mum only in character, I didn't know the term MILF at the time, but I did have a thing for her and really hated the season or two with her from LA Law as the doctor.
you took away mah eye candy, she reminded me of Lesley Anne Warren in clue as Miss Scarlette

[Evandril]

I love star trek and use to go to all the conventions back in the late 80's into the late 90's. When next gen first started everyone hated wesley not sure why but hey each to their own.

The reason I hated his character was the way he'd always 'save the day' in far too many episodes, and was the Mary Sue of Star Trek, IMO.

[linguist]

The reason I hated his character was the way he'd always 'save the day' in far too many episodes, and was the Mary Sue of Star Trek, IMO.

he spent a long time hating the character himself for that very reason, and avoided anything to with it. eventually wheaton came to accept that without wesley crusher, his life would have been very different, and now he embraces him with a healthy dose of self-deprecation. you should listen to his podcast "memories of the futurecast," which he presented in conjunction with his book "memories of the future, vol. 1" (vol. 2 coming soon, hopefully!), in which he takes each episode of season one of st:tng and basically makes fun of how bad they were, along with his memories of what was happening behind the scenes as the season was being filmed. the wesley-centric episodes are especially funny.

[Ginger Tea]

There was something written about Doctor Who, that although it's aimed at children, they didn't want to see people their own age in it, Wesley was there to appeal to the younger audiences, but most would rather not have someone who is a teenager on the bridge, having him as a side character to show that families live on the ship is one thing, having a teenager save the day, when you have a crew with decades of experience fail is another.

And back to Dr Who, he would be a very creepy character if he took children off on adventures in his little blue box, out side of Amelia Pond and the mother/son in the Empty child, I don't recall him working with children much on set outside of the Sarah Jane Smith Adventures, well save for the episode where SJS is reintroduced in School Reunion.

[jackfaire]

*Nods* It's a believability factor. We look at Crusher and think no way I could be that in a few years but we look at Riker and are like Hell yeah that is who I am going to be when I grow up.

[senor boogie woogie]

I like Trek, but to me The Next Generation (or TNG) kind of ruined his acting career. The Westly Crusher character was just universally disliked. He was great in "Stand by Me" and then he did TNG, and that was the end. I am sure he made enough money.

It seems to me that a lot of Star Trek actors are stereotyped as Trek actors and cannot break out of that role. Some like Shatner and Patrick Stewart has, but I rarely have seen the other players of the newer series in anything else.