Star Trek: The Next Generation Did Its Most Underrated Character Dirty For No Reason

Star Trek: The Next Generation failed Wesley Crusher, and things could have been so much different. A fixture of The Next Generation’s first few seasons, Wesley Crusher, thanks to poor writing, was the object of fan derision, and issue eight of DC’s Star Trek: The Next Generation comic from 1990 introduced fans to a better written version of the character.

Star Trek: The Next Generation #8 was written by Michael Jan Friedman and drawn by Gordon Purcell and Pablo Marcos. Data has befriended Randy, a child whose mother serves on the Enterprise. Data is taken over by an evil force in the issue, and his friendship with Randy helps the android override the dark force that has claimed him.

Wesley Crusher, Star Trek: The Next Generation's Child Prodigy, Explained

Wesley Crusher Was Not Popular With Star Trek Fans

When Gene Roddenberry created Star Trek: The Next Generation, he laid down rules that would help distinguish the show from its predecessor. These new rules would also show how far humanity has progressed since the days of Kirk and Spock. One of the biggest changes was that Starfleet allowed personnel to bring their families to where they serve.

Doctor Beverly Crusher, the Enterprise’s Chief Medical Officer, took advantage of this policy by bringing her son Wesley aboard the ship. Wesley was highly intelligent and very precocious. He also found himself mixed up in the crew’s adventures, despite not being in Starfleet himself. He even saved the ship in a few early episodes of The Next Generation.

And this earned the character a great deal of ire from Star Trek fans. They felt the idea of a child prodigy saving Starfleet’s flagship every week was preposterous, and they had a point. However, Wesley Crusher was Star Trek’s first regular child character, meaning the show’s writers were essentially breaking new ground with him.

As a result, Wesley Crusher was not exactly the best written character in those early episodes of Star Trek: The Next Generation. In time, though, the writers found their verve with Wesley, and he became a more realistic, fully-realized character. The damage was done, however, and Wesley left in the show’s fourth season.

Randy Was A Lot Like Wesley, But Better Written

Randy Helps Data Overcome a Great Evil

Randy, introduced early in DC’s Star Trek: The Next Generation run, is what Wesley Crusher could have been with better writing. Randy sets Data down the path to reasserting himself, but sole credit for the victory does not go to him. Instead, it becomes a team effort, with Randy doing some of the heavy lifting.

Furthermore, Randy is precocious like Wesley, but he is not perfect either. In an earlier issue, Randy sees Data for the first time, but is a little freaked out by him. Data puts the child’s mind at ease, and they become friends. Randy adores Data, and when he learns what has happened to Data, he immediately wants to help.

Unfortunately, Randy Will Never Be Seen on Star Trek Again

However, Randy Was a Glimpse At What Wesley Crusher Could Have Been on Star Trek: The Next Generation

Interestingly enough, Wesley is present during this entire adventure. The story is set sometime during The Next Generation’s third season, when he was still an Acting Ensign. Wesley watches Randy help save Data, and it is not a stretch that the young Ensign sees something of himself in the child.

Unfortunately, not long after this issue was printed, Paramount tightened up the license, and original characters created for the comics, like Randy, were abandoned. This is a shame, as he demonstrates just how Star Trek: The Next Generation failed Wesley Crusher, through no fault of actor Wil Wheaton. It shows that Wesley would have been more popular with better writing.