10 most disliked Star Trek characters, ranked
2. Wesley Crusher (Star Trek: The Next Generation)
Ah, Wesley Crusher, a character who often finds himself at the top of the "Most Hated" lists in the Star Trek universe. Let's beam into why, shall we? Picture a young, bright-eyed whiz kid, always ready with a solution that somehow eludes the seasoned crew of the USS Enterprise. Sounds like a hero, right? Not quite.
Fans often found Wesley's character a bit too perfect, almost unnaturally so. He's the proverbial boy genius who, more often than not, swoops in to save the day, making the highly trained, experienced adults around him look, well, a bit less stellar. This "Wesley Saves the Ship" trope started to wear thin, just like his welcome.
It's frustrating when a show undermines its veteran characters to prop up another. It's also a really obvious way for the writers to make fans like a character or believe in them instead of allowing it to happen naturally. More often than not it backfires.
Then, there's the issue of relatability - or the lack thereof. Wesley Crusher, played by Wil Wheaton, was meant to be a character that younger audiences could connect with, a bridge between the complexities of space and the average teenage experience. However, he often came across as more of an overachiever than your average Joe. His problems were high-stakes space dilemmas, not the usual teen angst about teenagehood or homework. This made it hard for viewers to see a bit of themselves in Wesley, unless they too were plotting course corrections for starships before their sixteenth birthday. In a universe filled with aliens, time travel, and intergalactic diplomacy, Wesley's character just didn't connect with the audience in a way the writers wanted him to.