Star Trek’s Wesley Crusher Problem: TNG Didn’t Know How To Write Wil Wheaton’s Boy Genius

Star Trek: The Next Generation turned Wesley Crusher (Wil Wheaton) into a problematic character, which stems from their inability to properly write Wesley as a boy genius. Wesley was one of the main characters of the TNG cast when it began with “Encounter at Farpoint” in 1987. As the only child among the senior staff of the USS Enterprise-D, it’s no surprise that Wesley often got saddled with questionable storylines. As the son of the Enterprise’s Chief Medical Officer, Dr. Beverly Crusher (Gates McFadden), Wesley had access to more areas of the ship than most children would have, and he proved to be quite the prodigy.