Ask Wil Wheaton Anything (Part Deux)

A little over three years ago Slashdot interviewed Wil Wheaton, at the time best known for his role as Wesley Crusher on ST:TNG. Since then his blog WWDN has allowed him a creative outlet that has made the world sit up and take notice. Wil is now a regular participant in ACME Comedy Theatre, has published two books ( Dancing Barefoot and Just a Geek ), has done voicework for video games such as GTA: San Andreas, cartoons such as Teen Titans, and speaks regularly at conventions such as Gnomedex and Linucon. Wil enjoyed the first Slash interview so much it appeared in Just a Geek, and we're glad to have him back for a second go-round. Feel free to fire away, one question per comment please. We'll post his responses once we get them back.

ST:TNG, Your charecter exit

Sorry for the Star Trek question, but it is something that I have wondered for quite a while. With your character in ST:TNG, he(/you) left the ship with 'the traveler' to do great and wondrous things. I always wondered when you were going to come back and save the ship from some otherwise horrible fate, it of course, never happened. At the time, did you see that exit for your character as an easy way to write you out of the script for good, or as a combination of plot advancement for your character, while still allowing you to work on other projects?

Re:ST:TNG, Your charecter exit

Apropos of nothing, I always thought that a much cooler thing to do with the Wesley Crusher character would have been this: Have him be so embittered by the whole Starfleet Academy thing that he and a group of fellow disgusted cadets stole a Starfleet ship and became pirates or mercenaries. Wesley Gone Evil would have been great - and probably would have been a lot more fun for Mr. Wheaton to play.

Re:ST:TNG, Your charecter exit

Wesley Gone Evil would have been great - and probably would have been a lot more fun for Mr. Wheaton to play.

Better yet, send him to Spring Break destinations with a ton of beads and call it Wesley Gone Wild.

Re:ST:TNG, Your charecter exit

> Sure, one ship against a whole fleet of pissed off starfleet officers.
>
>No matter how bright Wesley is supposed to be or how great Picards father-complex is, the fleet would have vaporized them in days.

Wes: "I reprogrammed the holodeck so it was possible to rescue the ship."
Q: "What?"
Picard: "He cheated."
Wes: "I changed the conditions of the test. I got a commendation for original thinking. I don't like to lose."
Q: "Then you never faced that situation. Faced being written out of the series."
Wes: "I don't believe in the no-win scenario."

Re:ST:TNG, Your charecter exit

Wesley Gone Evil would have been great

Add to this the rebel Riker's twin and the Data evil brother and we have a great beginning for an all evil crew.

//I know, they are both dead or something like that.

Re:ST:TNG, Your charecter exit

This is a great idea and everything, but it will never work.

No matter how hard I try, I can't grow a goatee.

Re:ST:TNG, Your charecter exit

Wil, can you test something out for me? Write some random offtopic post, and see if you get modded +5. Maybe even just write a bunch of odd letters. ;-)

The Horrendous Truth.

Wil, is it true that youre really the guy who makes all those Goatse posts?

It's worse than that. I have it on good authority that Wil Wheaton *is* the Goatse Man.

Either that, or Tubgirl, I forget which.

Dread Pirate Wesley

Let's see, he could be shanghaid by a rogue pirate who teaches him the trade while telling each night, "Have a good sleep, for more likely than not I'll kill you in the morning" and then retires, leaving Wesley the ship and crew.

Wesley could then return to Starfleet headquarters, looking for his true love (an upperclassmen he met during his brief time at the acadamy) only to discover that she has become betrothed to an evil planetary governor who, unbeknownst to her, has ambitions to take over neighboring star systems and start interstellar war.

After being left for dead after being tortured using an octopus like extra-terrestrial creature that attaches its tentacles to major nerve bundles by the governor's minions. The purpose of the torture was to gain the vital "warp energy" that Wesley has learned to harness so the governor's assassins, can more through space like ghosts. Wesley rebuilds his strength and storms the governor's stronghold only to find out that the governor is his long believed dead father.

In the climactic battle, Wesley defeats, but does not kill his father. Wesley's true love does kill Wesley's father in a pique at being used to draw Wesley in. In his dying breath, Wesley's father renounces his evil and Wesley gives him the full starfleet funeral that he deserves.

Wesley realizes that he has evolved beyond common man and despite his feelings for the girl resumes his wandering of the universe, looking for wrongs to right and balances to be restored.

Hey, it's better than anything Rick Berman has produced in the last 10 years.

myke

Thoughts on the future of Enterprise

Okay, let me start out by saying I'd understand if you don't keep up with the new Trek shows, and if that's the case you should chalk my question up to being those of a truly pathetic geek and possibly make "magic xylophone" [simpsoncrazy.com] jokes about it.

That said, if you do still follow Trek I'd be curious to hear your thoughts on the progress of "Enterprise" given your status as someone framiliar with the entertainment industry (esp. as it relates to this particular line of shows).

I have been so impressed by the last two seasons (except the Nazi arc at the start of this season) that I'd go so far as to group them with some of the best episodes of season 3 TNG. The characters are finally starting to fill out, the plots have gotten away from the standard "it's the Borg again!" horseshit and they've even had relatively decent dialog.

I get the impression, however, that it's not going to be enough to save the series based on the timeslot it's been relegated to. While my TiVO stays in Fridays even though I don't, I can't believe that even Trek fans regularly stay home Friday nights in sufficiant numbers to save the show, not to mention all the people who stopped watching in season 1 or 2 and won't end up flipping past sometime to give it a second chance now.

Is "Enterprise" as doomed as I think it is?

Re:Thoughts on the future of Enterprise

I can't believe that even Trek fans regularly stay home Friday nights in sufficiant numbers to save the show

Too easy.

Re:Thoughts on the future of Enterprise

I'm hesitant to suggest that somebody got a clue somewhere, but yes, I've actually really enjoyed the last two seasons of Enterprise (except for the stupid alien Nazis, but what the heck, I'll throw in one for free). That's something I really can't say about any of the intermediate Treks. TNG was between good and awesome throughout its run (and I too never hated Wesley, come on, geeky kid who gets to hang out with the engineers of the Enterprise? It's an irresistable dream for those of us Trek fans nearly the same age as Wil.), but I never really got that into DS9 and Voyager.

First season Enterprise almost made me shut it off forever, too. Come on, how many "poke the alien, wonder why it killed you" episodes can we do? You know, the ones that follow these steps: find mysterious lifeform or situation and bother it until it gets incredibly pissed and tries to hurt us? You know, kind of like that Aussie guy with a similar show...

I'm glad to see that they've gone to longer, mini-arcs for episodes recently. The stories are well told and well thought-out, and there's enough time to do it without feeling hurried. Well done, well done.

acting?

In "Just a Geek" you pretty much ended the book by saying that acting (tv/movie, not ACME) is no longer a priority. Are you still looking for a Big Part or have you given up on that altogether?

Personal preference question

Do you use pepper spray, tear gas, or mace on people you meet on the street who call you Wesley Crusher?

Re:Personal preference question

Do you use pepper spray, tear gas, or mace on people you meet on the street who call you Wesley Crusher?

Oh I'll take this one right now:

Yes.

Re:Personal preference question

haha, how about this one; why don't you post in your /. journal anymore?

For a brief time, I toyed with the idea of putting all my computer-related thoughts here, my political thoughts at dailykos, and my los angles-related thoughts at blogging.la, but then I decided that it was stupid to do all that, when I could just put them all on my blog.

I still post to blogging.la from time to time, but other than that, I pretty much stay in my own yard at WWdN.

Oh, and I do *all* my goofing off at totalfark, and occasionally UltraFark.

Re:Personal preference question

*resists urge to mod -1 for showing off about access to secret societies* :-)

Re:Personal preference question

Dude. This doesn't work like a real "Ask Slashdot" if you're coming in here and answering the questions . Get the hell back on your side of the fence and wait for the selected questions to hit your inbox - and for gawd's sake... try to act surprised.

Sheesh.

You'd think we were doing the William Shatner interview again. And no - you can't ask yourself questions.

;)

Re:Personal preference question

And no - you can't ask yourself questions.

Sorry, but I can't resist ...

Will, if you could ask yourself one question in this interview, what would it be?

Only important TNG question

Deanna Troy or Dr. Crusher?

Now that you are a fully grown man

Are you disappointed that you did not turn out to be that hunk that Q turned you into as an adult, then changed you back by your request?

Re:Now that you are a fully grown man

Having just finished reading the previous /. interview and some of the ensuing comments, I ran across the same question, worded surprisingly similarly, and, more importantly, answered [slashdot.org] by señor CleverNickName [slashdot.org] himself.

Changing Attitudes

I never had any of the disdain that seems to paint your detractors, Wil, yet I also never found myself admiring you until I began to read your blog.

What has your newfound share of fans and admirers taught you? Was it always your intention to, via the internet, change people's minds about who you are and what you've been trying to accomplish?

Marina Sirtis

So was Marina Sirtis as much of a complete hottie as she was on the show? She's what got me into ST; up until I saw her I wasn't much of a fan.

Women et. al

I know this is one of those things that was asked to Gabe and Tycho of Penny Arcade, but as Ashley Judd's first on-screen kiss, do you have any advice on finding women? ;)

On that matter, what do you think priorities should be in looking for that sig. other?

Re:Women et. al

Hahaha, I got an offtopic moderation in an "Ask / Talk about anything thread..." SCORE!

Looking back...

Looking back from where you are today, Mr. Wheaton, what would you consider your greatest achievement that you take the most pride in? Your work as an actor? Your widely-acclaimed blog? Or maybe your published memoirs?

And, on a related note, are you anywhere close to where you expected you'd be by now?

Actor to Actor

Wil,

You talk alot on your blog about your experiences, not only in your personal life, but also your professional life.

Now with two books under your belt, has anyone ever pitched the idea of writing a 'Acting in Hollywood for Dummies'?

Basically what to expect in the process of agenting, casting calls, marketing yourself, how to deal with rejection, overcoming fears, etc.

I think with your writing style, this would be a fun book to read, and accessible to non-actors who would be interested in what the 'real' Hollywood life was about.

What about the flip side?

In your response to a comment titled "Usenet," from the previous interview, you make it quite clear that people hating you for being Wesley pisses you off. Do you have anything in particular to say to the people who like you for being Wesley?

Re:What about the flip side?

Do you have anything in particular to say to the people who like you for being Wesley?

I think he's covered most of that in the restraining orders. ;)

Child Actors

Would you let your own children enter the tv/film industry? Why or why not?

the question on everyones mind.

Will you ever put a leech on your nuts in another movie?

Please say yes.

It's a vital plot point in my screenplay.

Blog Comments

I know from reading your blog that you've had to deal with some sticky issues reagarding people leaving comments to your posts. My question is: In your opinion, what do you feel would be a better way of having people comment on a story without having the moderation power of a Slashdot type site at your disposal? Or is this even feasible given the way most blog type scripts are designed.

What pays the bills?

It's a serious question. What keeps the roof over your head?

A lot of my favorite actors (you're included in there) will work for a little bit and then disappear for a great length of time.

A good example is Bruce Campbell. You see him in a small film like Bubba Ho-Tep or a quickie walk-on like in Spider Man, and then he disappears from the face of the earth. And I always wonder, what pays the grocery bill meanwhile?

How do you manage it? And please feel free to ignore this if it's too personal.

Residuals

Actors get a certain amount of money from DVD sales, rebroadcast rights, etc, dictated on a sliding scale by the Screen Actors Guild. Eventually if an actor gets enough work, the residuals alone can (almost) pay the bills - assuming of course that you get enough roles to start getting a decent amount of income.

I can't speak for Wil, but I'd imagine having a reoccurring role on one of the most popular TV series ever probably generates a decent amount of income from residuals. Certainly for someone like Bruce Campbell, who's done tons of work over the years, he's probably decently well off.

So...

What was your experience with the editor of 30 Years of Adventure: A Celebration of D&D?

Fatherhood

How many different places in your life do your tech-side and parent-side collide? I'm curious if, for you, there are more rather than fewer places than Joe-Sixpack-With-An-iMac -- video editing, family pixel-mashing, that sort of thing.

Moderation totals

Do you think you'd get modded +5 nearly as much if you weren't Wil Wheaton?

And a follow-up question

Do you find your celebrity here on Slashdot creepy at all? What are your thoughts on cults of personality in general in the geek world?

celebrity poker

Hey Wil,

I'm a longtime reader of WWDN and I know you're big into poker.
Is there any chance of you making an appearance on Celebrity Poker on Bravo?
It'd kick ass to see you on there in action ;)

What do you think of Stargate?

What do you think of Stargate (SG-1/Atlantis)?

A true geek?

You claim to be a geek/nerd, but yet you have a 6 digit slashdot userid (129189). How do you explain this discrepency?