That’s an excellent question. I wonder if it has something to do with your age when you first saw the series, or maybe the problem that adult writers tend to not write kids very well. I bet at least part of it is that Picard himself treats Wesley pretty poorly in several episodes. Oh, and the fact that he solves the problem of the week ludicrously easily a couple of times, in a Gary Stu sort of way.
Wesley was a Mary Sue. The writers of Star Trek should’ve been able to avoid that trope given the original Mary Sue was a character in a Star Trek fanfic.
Why the hell is a kid at the helm Starship? Apparently because “he’s a genius”. Someone piloting an airliner has to have many many hours of experiencing before they’re allowed to do that, but apparently in the future you just have to be a smart kid, experience doesn’t matter?
And yeah he solves the problems adults can’t figure out. It’s this weird thing where writers think they need a kid in something so kids will like it. And even better yet, a kid that’s smarter than the adults! It winds up just annoying everyone.
Why the hell is a kid at the helm Starship? Apparently because “he’s a genius”
It is so dumb.
But later I forgave it completely when Galaxy Quest lampooned it so thoroughly, with another kid at the helm, who is allowed to just shout about how stupid it is. :)
Generally agree with you but piloting a ST starship is different from piloting an airliner, main thing being that the starship is stable in space. Like you can cut all power to engines completely and it isn’t going to fall into a planet or star, other than during specfic maneuvers. There’s also the rest of the bridge crew present to take over if something comes up that he couldn’t handle. I see it as more equivalent to letting a kid take the helm on an ocean ship. Still some potential for it to go wrong, but if the kid isn’t a little shit wanting to see what happens if he yanks the wheel, it’ll probably be fine.
Between the shields and deflector array, anything that could pose a threat would likely be picked up by the sensors long before it was close. Other than a cloaked ship ambushing them, but even then I bet Riker could just bark out “computer execute evasive maneuver alpha and beam Wesley to sick bay. Data, take the helm. Red alert!”
That fanfic was a TNG fanfic based off of a character from one of the episodes. Wesley predates her by a few seasons. In fact, he may have been a partial inspiration for the fanfic version of the character.
That’s an excellent question. I wonder if it has something to do with your age when you first saw the series, or maybe the problem that adult writers tend to not write kids very well. I bet at least part of it is that Picard himself treats Wesley pretty poorly in several episodes. Oh, and the fact that he solves the problem of the week ludicrously easily a couple of times, in a Gary Stu sort of way.
Wesley was a Mary Sue. The writers of Star Trek should’ve been able to avoid that trope given the original Mary Sue was a character in a Star Trek fanfic.
Why the hell is a kid at the helm Starship? Apparently because “he’s a genius”. Someone piloting an airliner has to have many many hours of experiencing before they’re allowed to do that, but apparently in the future you just have to be a smart kid, experience doesn’t matter?
And yeah he solves the problems adults can’t figure out. It’s this weird thing where writers think they need a kid in something so kids will like it. And even better yet, a kid that’s smarter than the adults! It winds up just annoying everyone.
Tbf, there are is lot’s of space in space to practice driving gnihihi. I’ll show myself out
It is so dumb.
But later I forgave it completely when Galaxy Quest lampooned it so thoroughly, with another kid at the helm, who is allowed to just shout about how stupid it is. :)
Generally agree with you but piloting a ST starship is different from piloting an airliner, main thing being that the starship is stable in space. Like you can cut all power to engines completely and it isn’t going to fall into a planet or star, other than during specfic maneuvers. There’s also the rest of the bridge crew present to take over if something comes up that he couldn’t handle. I see it as more equivalent to letting a kid take the helm on an ocean ship. Still some potential for it to go wrong, but if the kid isn’t a little shit wanting to see what happens if he yanks the wheel, it’ll probably be fine.
Between the shields and deflector array, anything that could pose a threat would likely be picked up by the sensors long before it was close. Other than a cloaked ship ambushing them, but even then I bet Riker could just bark out “computer execute evasive maneuver alpha and beam Wesley to sick bay. Data, take the helm. Red alert!”
That fanfic was a TNG fanfic based off of a character from one of the episodes. Wesley predates her by a few seasons. In fact, he may have been a partial inspiration for the fanfic version of the character.
Well the person that created Mary Sue probably shouldn’t get so much flak if they were making TNG fanfic in 1973.
I have a feeling we don’t have the same origin story for that character.
Huh, TIL. I honestly had somehow connected Mary Sue with the Mary Tyler Moore Show. TBF, I don’t think I have ever seen a single episode of that show.