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Dancing Barefoot
After nearly two years of blogging, Wheaton compiled and edited an autobiography from his blog entitled Just a Geek, to be released in June 2003. Several of the stories which didn't fit into Geek have been collected in a smaller companion volume, Dancing Barefoot, which is now available from Wheaton's publishing company, Monolith Press (www.monolithpress.com). The legions of Trek fans who have rediscovered Wheaton as a guy much like themselves, as well as those weblog readers who enjoy Wil's humor but don't know the difference between trilithium and tribbles, will find Barefoot irresistable. Those with only a casual interest in Wheaton but familiar with Trek will find the book's showpiece, The Saga of Spongebob Vegas Pants, well worth reading. Wheaton's conversational, intimate writing style may even convince them to read the rest of the book. Cartoon illustrations provided by Ben A. Claassen III are an excellent complement to the casual essays.
Barefoot begins with four short pieces, essentially vignettes of days (or even moments) in the author's life. These range from the amusing (ruminations on teenaged lust and paths untaken) to the melancholy (Houses in Motion, a paean to Wheaton's deceased great aunt), and one needn't be told that they were culled from journal entries, because they very much read that way. The best is Houses -- although it sometimes ranges into maudlin territory, it is also the most courageous writing in the book. Wheaton's generation has been raised on a diet of pop culture and cynicism, and it's invigorating -- if somewhat startling -- to see someone of that generation openly expressing such feelings of devotion and despair.
The man who spent his formative years aboard the starship Enterprise departs from the short form for the final and most engrossing portion of the book, the aforementioned Spongebob Vegas Pants. It's the chronicle of a Star Trek convention held in Las Vegas, during which Wheaton tolerates the alternatingly ugly and kindly faces of fandom, but eventually rediscovers his enthusiasm for the Trek universe. Those who have attended such conventions will immediately recognize the fan archetypes, while those who have never been to such an event may decide that they never, ever want to. Fortunately, the story is less about the horrors of being a convention guest and more about the resolution of Wheaton's conflicted personal feelings about having been a part of the Trek phenomenon -- including his unpleasant run-ins with the original captain of the Enterprise, referred to repeatedly as William F---ing Shatner.
Certain sections of Dancing Barefoot could have used another turn under an editor's pen. Sponge Bob Vegas Pants, in particular, has a few passages that don't serve the story much, but as with the deleted scenes on a special edition DVD, some readers will be grateful for the extra material, regardless of how it affects the overall pace. Frequent atticisms will sustain the rest of the book's audience through the book's slower passages, though, and the author's humility is an effective antidote for the feeling that one might be about to read the memoirs of yet another self-indulgent celebrity blowhard -- which Mr. Wheaton certainly is not.
Given that the engaging Dancing Barefoot comprises the material that didn't make it into Just A Geek, it feels much like an appetizer to the larger work. Let's hope the main course is as tasty.
No, not really. You are someone who has manged to seperate Wil Wheaton, the actor and human being, from Wesley Crusher, the scourge of mankind, and Satan's sex slave.
Boobies never hurt anyone. - Sherry Glaser.
Wil's a great actor. I remember him from way back when in Stand By Me, and even from The Last Starfighter. But the worst piece of writing I've seen in nearly any program was a TNG line where he meets Riker in the hallways of the Enterprise-D and says:
"Can I walk with you?"
Gahhh, I still think about it and it makes me cringe...but some folks could mistake the bad writing for bad acting. His revival is much welcomed for me, and that book will probably be an interesting read.
This is just a thought, but I think that some of the younger Star Trek: TNG viewers might have even been JEALOUS of Wesley Crusher.
He is smart for his age (as many teenage Star Trek watchers were, or at least tink they were), and I think it might be easy for some younger viewers who were around Wesley's age at the time to relate to him.
However, the kids watching the show lived in the world of Junior High and High School, possible where they were made fun of for being nerds, trekkies, etc... whereas Wesley lived on the Enterprise and got to have at least a few cool adventures.
So I think it was easy for a young Trek fan to wonder why they couldn't be in a "cool" situation like Wesley was. So they were jealous of him.
Some people might have also been jealous of a Wil Wheaton for being able to play Wesley on Star Trek and be on the Enterprise set rather than in school.
Personally, I'm jealous of Reginald Barclay. Yet another crazy, incompetent mental case with a better job than I have.
"You spoony bard!" -Tellah
Wesley Crusher was the boy on Star Trek, the son of Doctor Beverly crusher (the younger doctor from the 3rd season on), whose father was killed by a painful choice Picard made to save more lives. Wesley Crusher was a 16 year old character written by a 60 year old man to resemble how 10 year old boys looked at the world in the 50's. Ironically, Wil Wheaton played, in Stand By Me, a 10 year old character in the 50's written by a 60 year old man to resemble how a 16 year old boy looks at the world in the 80's.
Wesley Crusher had a few flirting romantic spats with girls, was nearly executed for walking on the grass, helmed the starship through far to many dangerous encounters, and was eventually canned due to near universal revilement of his character. Quite frankly, Wesley Crusher was insulting to the teenage audience of the show, as he was written with all of the deep understanding of the turmoils of youth shown in "The Family Circus". If it were set in modern times, the writers would have given Wesley Yu-Gi-oh cards.
His character walked off with the traveler after 4 seasons, never to be seen from again (until Nemesis, which I haven't yet seen). The void left by that departure was shortly thereafter filled by Lt. Barkley, another character whose sole purpose was to have blundering errors of judgement.
Wil Wheaton, on the other hand, is a very personable guy. He's honest and open, and his acting in Stand by Me and Toy Soldiers reflects this. He's also a nice guy in person, as friends working at A Wrinkle in Time have said. He's done his penance, and deserves to be taken as a serious actor outside of the Trek universe.
The ______ Agenda
I thought he was good in Stand By Me. But the thing that bugged me about Wesley, was they made him into such a whiney, little snot on ST:TNG. I was also bothered by the fact that this "Advanced" and "Modern" version of Trek still treated him as a "dumb kid." Despite calling him a "boy genius" in the opening teasers prior to the shows launch.
Had they written a better part for him, and treated him like an equal, I'm sure that fans would have liked him more.
But with that aside, I have to give credit to him for being able to take the good with the bad in stride. He's still able to look back on Trek and Smile, and still able to smile when fans face him and say "I really hated Wesley."
How many of the rest of us would be able to do the same without giving folks a big "F*** You?"
I for one can say, while not a "fan" of Wesley, I can give kudos to Mr. Weaton for hanging in there with a bit of class.
-Goran
Carpe Scrotum - The only way to deal with your competition.
- Crewmember on the USS Enterprise
- Codes and maintains his own website
- Uses Linux instead of Windows on his home machines
- Worked on the Video Toaster
- Obsessive blogger
- Posts on Slashdot
- Free Speech activist
- Frequent (but not frequent enough) guest and sometimes guest host of The Screen Savers
- Host of Arena on G4
- Gamer, both video and role-playing
What more can you ask for? Seems to me that Wil Wheaton has become the shining star of Geek Culture, the Ubergeek. He's both articulate and telegenic, and has a deep understanding of technology's role in society. Should Wil Wheaton decide to run for office, I'd vote for him in a minute.Interociter
-=What do I want? I'm an American. I want more.