Oh my god. The previous three episodes were insanely cheesy and I was beginning to doubt my ability to follow through on this project after starting out well with Encounter at Farpoint. But now. Now I get it. I really like this show. A lot. It’s fantastic! This is what I want my sci-fi space travel to be!
So, how shall I explain it?…it spoke to me. Everything finally came together; an interesting plot, beautiful acting.
Our universe has a definite beginning, but once you reach the Big Bang, you can’t measure anything that may have occurred before with our current understanding of how the universe works. The idea that thought is yet another dimension connected to the four dimensions of space and time, it’s just, well, not something I ever thought about, but it makes sense. Without consciousness to be aware of space or time, do they really exist?
Einstein once said of time that the concept of a minute was, well, relative:
Put your hand on a hot stove for a minute, and it feels like an hour. Sit with a pretty girl for an hour, and it seems like a minute. THAT’s relativity.
Relegated to an hour, it’s interesting how the show approaches these broader intertwined concepts of philosophy and physics. Maybe there is something to be said for the power of thought. On certain days in the office or over the course of a weekend, the perceptive change in how quickly or slowly time passes makes me wonder how much thought really does effect time and space.
I’m going to broach the Wesley thing. For all the hate he gets, I just don’t see it (yet). Sure he’s nerdy and kind of obnoxious in his desire to be on the bridge. And he’s definitely gotten them out of a jam or two where the adults should have stepped it up and figured things out, but it’s not enough to make me hate him the way so many fans of the show apparently do. Rather, this episode makes me feel really bad for the kid that a stranger alien is suddenly his best friend.
Obviously, he’s one of those really smart kids whose desire to learn makes them a bit of an outcast. You never see Wesley hanging out with kids his own age. He’s always working on homework, building a science experiment, or getting underfoot of crew members who don’t have time for him.
When we get to the end, after Riker admits that Wesley did attempt to tell them what he saw going on with the Traveler, and after the Traveler tells Picard that Wesley has a natural gift…it’s like maybe there’s some hope for the kid after all! The moment when Picard makes Wesley an acting ensign; the giddiness and thrill of finally being encouraged and recognized is adorable; you can’t help but cheer him on as the scene unfolds.
Well done Star Trek. Well done. Keep it up and I’ll be quite the fan.
Memories of the Future: Chapter 6
Admittedly, I read the chapter before watching The Last Outpost. I’m quite happy that with Where No One Has Gone BeforeI managed to put the book down before watching the episode because my reaction to the show and to the book are so different. I was so excited after watching that episode that switching to Wil Wheaton humor was a bit of a shock.
So, we’re trucking along on the funny and then, Wil Wheaton, you missed a perfect Spinal Tap joke:
Kosinski: You’re on ten here, all the way up, all the way up, all the way up, you’re on ten on warp speed. Where can you go from there? Where?
Riker: I don’t know.
Kosinski: Nowhere. Exactly. What we do is we need that extra push over the edge of the galaxy, you know what we do?
Riker: Put it up to eleven?
Kosinski: Eleven. Exactly. One faster.
Sigh. I’m so disappointed in you. If I were a gamer I’d make some sort of reference about +2 to awesomeness for me joke. Jell-O and Spinal Tap. I am on a roll.
Oh hey, +3: there’s also a Wizard of Ozjoke here–”There’s no place like home. There’s no place like home.” Maybe Picard wasn’t wearing his Starfleet-issued ruby red slippers.
Besides being my favorite episode so far, the corresponding chapter is so far my favorite as well–it flows well and I laughed a number of times on the subway. Again, no cute nerds to see what I was reading and this time the little old lady across the way glared at me. As entertaining as the synopses of the episodes are, I can’t decide if my favorite part of each chapter is the “Behind the Scenes” look or the “Bottom Line.” With Where No One Has Gone Before, I think it’s the “Bottom Line” and getting a glimpse from one in the know about future characterization and a deeper understanding of just what the actors were doing that helped to make the show such a hit.
Maybe it’s because I’m coming into Star Trekwith tons of pop-culture references that I expected to hate Wesley. EVERYONE hated Wesley. Within his own writing, I sometimes I feel Wil Wheaton is a little hard on the boy.* Sure Wesley can be a dweeby know-it-all, but I don’t hate him like many fans of the show did. I feel bad for him. Looking back, I was never mean to “that kid” in high school, but I certainly didn’t go out of my way to be nice to “that kid” either. Feeling bad for friendless Wesley is like redemption.
Reading the chapter made me question my own reaction to this particular episode. Finally there was something good and then snarky Wil Wheaton comes along and CRUSHES that reaction! Was it really as good as I thought? As I have been doing, I went back and re-watched Where No One Has Gone Before. I still really liked the episode–snark be damned–and am hoping that’s not just a reaction to how bad the previous episodes were. Yes, there are some inconsistencies that don’t fit quite right, but overall, it’s just that the rest of what’s good makes up for the problems.
Overall, some stellar performances and well laid-out story; it jumps leaps and bounds (can one say…it goes to Warp 11?) past the previous three episodes, and Wil Wheaton seems to have hit a nice stride with Memories of the Future (The Last Outpostbeing the weakest chapter for me so far). Just be nicer to Wesley! If anything, Troi is the one who I could really do without. Anymore obvious empathy for the inconsequential and inability to pick up on the important stuff and I’m going to start my own alt.troi.die.die.die fan club.
*That totally sounds much creepier than anything the Traveler said about Wesley. NOT intentional!
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{ 10 comments… read them below or add one }
Let me say for the record that I never disliked Wesley as much as I had it in for Riker. I would have loved a “Who shot JR, er Riker” episode. He is the epitome of every middle management policy-spouting bureaucrat you’ve ever met. I’m enjoying your thoughts about the series so far, and loved the Einstein quote — keep it up and make it so.
.-= Jacks´s last blog ..new york anniversary =-.
Thank you! I couldn’t agree more on Troi. I never had a problem with Wesley at all. Starting to wonder if this breaks down across gender lines? Hmmm…
I never really liked Wesley that much (except in “The Game” which a great episode), but listening to him go 800 miles over the top in his own loathing for the character honestly sounds forced most of the time. It’s as if he’s been worn down by all the Wes hate he’s had to endure over the years and has decided to try to get in the Wesley haters’ good graces by becoming the biggest Wesley hater of them all. IMHO, he needs to lighten up just a bit.
I think that might be part of it. But it’s probably not just enduring the Wesley hate (which seems to me to come from more of the diehard TOS fans who were cool to TNG to begin with) but also walking around and having people call him “Wesley Crusher” instead of “Wil Wheaton” well into his adult life. He’s probably had so many people treat him like he really was Wesley Crusher that he overcompensates. Thank goodness that he has a really strong web presence as Wil Wheaton and can now claim that identity far more strongly.
I was never a Wesley hater, I hated Troi and Beverly Crusher – not because they were women, but because they were boring. Some of the Crusher eps are decent (I like “Remember Me” and “Attached”), but Troi was just…blaaaah.
As a science nerd the same age as Wesley when the show aired, I sympathized hard with the character. The Traveler episodes were a couple of my favorite episodes of the series and the character, so I understand your perplexity when reading Wil’s synopsis. (I also thought the final episode of the series was a perfect ending and have been sorely disappointed by the movies that came out after the series.)
You gotta admit though, First Contact was BOSS.
I can’t really explain my personal Wesley hatred at this point in the series without spoiling a few plotlines. Suffice it to say, I simply didn’t find it even remotely believable that he would be doing the things aboard that ship he wound up doing. I think for me, he serves as embodiment of a tendency all Star Trek writers have to force characters into unrealistic positions so they can avoid true characterization, which is to say he is a plot device. Though I am the exact age of Wil Wheaton and would have loved to have been in his position, even in my youth it annoyed me that the writers would have Wesley do the things he did.
Nevertheless, a number of my favorite episodes are Wesley episodes. I loved the third season premier, which is an episode I think most people forget. And I liked him once he moved into a more distant position from the show. They did some very interesting things with Wesley toward the end.
Well, a bit of mixed results.
My favorite comment received so far has been, “OMG, I had the biggest crush on Wesley!”
There apparently is love for young Crusher out there. Somewhere.
Perhaps beneath the pale moonlight? Out where dreams come true?
@Jen & others: definitely no gender gap, there was no Wesley-hating from my friends and I. I thought the whole empath not really being any use as an empath OR as a Starfleet officer was far more annoying in the first season as far as annoying characters are concerned.
.-= Frans´s last blog ..Of a Small Cut by a Knife Not Made for Stabbing =-.