I am not one of those Star Trek fans who ever hated Wil Wheaton’s Wesley Crusher. In fact, it came as something of a shock to me when, in my early forays into that wacky World Wide Web that existed in the early 90’s, I came upon many a Trek page (and weren’t they all Trek pages, back then?) bemoaning the genius, the cuteness, the very existence of the Enterprise-D’s Littlest Ensign.

In retrospect (and having gone through the precocious Naomi Wildman years on Voyager myself), I now have some measure of understanding toward this anti-Wesleyan stance. But at the time, I was outraged. Outraged, I tell you! Because I was a teenage girl who also happened to be a sci-fi geek, and Wesley Crusher was then the epitome of all that I could ever hope for in a boy. I loved Wesley’s many brilliant innovations that saved many a day, and I remember staring at my TV screen, aghast, when Wesley began his steady fall from grace. First, by somehow not making it into Starfleet on his first attempt (shock!); second by taking part in a forbidden aerial maneuver and subsequent cover up while at the Academy (horror!); and third by coming over all Maquis and denouncing sound Federation policy before flitting off into the astral planes with that creepy Traveler guy (disbelief!). And, therefore, how the hell he was present in Starfleet uniform at Riker and Troi’s wedding in Insurrection I just don’t know. Seriously, what the fuck, guys? What the fuck?

But it is not my love of Wesley that led me to buy Wil Wheaton’s Memories of the Future, Vol. 1 (or, indeed, Wheaton’s other memoirs, Just a Geek, Dancing Barefoot and The Happiest Days of Our Lives). To be quite frank, I just don’t find most actors all that interesting; and certainly, an actor maketh not the character. I mean, I adore Mr. Spock, but have not and do not intend to read Leonard Nimoy’s autobiographies; I completely love William T. Riker, but I had dinner with Jonathan Frakes and his wife -- General Hospital’s Genie Francis -- at their house once and was relatively unmoved by the experience. (He’s a pretty good cook, though.)

Wheaton is different. He’s not just an actor. He has proper geek cred. His self-mocking appearances on The Big Bang Theory and The Guild coupled with his plentiful Tweets and blog postings (have made him as much geek commentator as geek idol. Wheaton is one of us, and so reading his unique perspective on The Next Generation’s troubled first season was an irresistible draw.

And one that did not disappoint.

Laden with frequent pop culture references, both obscure and explicit -- everything from The Princess Bride and Monty Python to Dilbert and Bugs Bunny, plus a bunch of songs now only heard on Oldies stations (‘cause those of us who grew up in the 80’s and 90’s are, like, old) -- Memories of the Future kept me in a constant bubble of chuckles, giggles, and outright laughter. Wheaton waxes lyrical on the inconsistency of the characterization, the incongruity of the plots, the incredibility of the effects and the increasing awfulness of Wesley’s wardrobe with a knowing, fond and self-deprecatory humor that is at once hilarious and bittersweet. It’s a loving trip down a particularly pot-holed memory lane with someone who not only knows it well but even better than you; I am not usually a big one for behind the scenes stuff, but Wheaton has a gentle hand with his on-set recollections, and is unflinchingly honest and unaffected about his experiences. But it is his snarky synopses that are the real highlights of this book; he takes apart each episode with tremendous elan, and I couldn’t but help admire his wordplay and witticisms even when I disagreed with him entirely. (Really, what was so wrong with “Lonely Among Us” [01.07]?)

Memories of the Future, Vol. 1 (somewhat optimistically priced at $19.95 for such a slim volume -- but worth every penny), is available from Lulu.com. And, yes, okay, you can pretty much read all the episode recaps therein at TVSquad.com -- which is where they first appeared -- but isn’t reading them in book form just… nicer? Plus, there’s the automatic e-mail from “Wil Wheaton” that shows up in your Inbox moments after your Lulu purchase; if I’m honest, that was kind of cool, and it, embarrassingly, remains undeleted.

I have just realized that it’s possible I now have an even more substantial crush on Wil Wheaton than I ever had on Wesley Crusher. Oh, dear. But at least I have a much better reason this time--and considering his more than one and a half million followers on Twitter, am in much greater company.

  -- Rachel Hyland

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For more content on Memories of the Future Vol. 1, check out the Memories of the Futurecast. It is a mark of how much I like Wil Wheaton that I can even forgive his misspelling of Tosche Station.

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