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59-665: Richard William "Wil" Wheaton III (born July 29, 1972) is an American actor and writer. He portrayed Wesley Crusher on the television series Star Trek: The Next Generation , Gordie Lachance in the film Stand by Me , Joey Trotta in Toy Soldiers , and Bennett Hoenicker in Flubber . Wheaton has also appeared in recurring voice acting roles as Aqualad in Teen Titans , Cosmic Boy in Legion of Super Heroes , and Mike Morningstar/Darkstar in

118-464: A deus ex machina plot device. Commentators have observed at least seven times in which Crusher, "who has trouble getting into the Starfleet Academy" and is on a ship "filled with Starfleet's best and brightest crew members", has come up with "the needed solution". Fans' dislike for Crusher has become something of a pop-culture meme , reflected in other TV shows such as The Big Bang Theory ,

177-531: A Revision3 syndicated video podcast called InDigital along with Jessica Corbin and Hahn Choi. He hosted a NASA video on the Mars Curiosity rover which landed on Monday August 6, 2012. He has hosted "2nd Watch", interviews with cast members and producers of the science-fiction series Falling Skies that appears online after each episode. On April 3, 2014, Wheaton announced on his blog that his new show called The Wil Wheaton Project would premiere on

236-501: A technology evangelist for the product. Afterward, he returned to Los Angeles, attended acting school for five years, and then re-entered the acting world. In the late 1990s and early 2000s, Wheaton appeared in several independent films , including the award-winning The Good Things (2001), in which he portrays a frustrated Kansas tollbooth worker. For his performance in Jane White Is Sick & Twisted (2002) he received

295-426: A child and his mother as being an enabler of that abuse. He also stated that his parents forced him to become an actor; he is currently estranged from them. Wheaton made his acting debut in the television film A Long Way Home (1981), which starred Timothy Hutton . He voiced the character of Martin in the animated film The Secret of NIMH (1982), the film adaptation of Robert C. O'Brien 's book Mrs. Frisby and

354-1079: A different author, to commemorate the 40th anniversary of Star Wars . Wheaton married Anne Prince on November 7, 1999, and lives in Arcadia, California , with her and her two sons from a previous relationship. Upon reaching maturity, both sons asked Wheaton to legally adopt them, which he did. Wheaton was roommates with Chris Hardwick while Chris attended UCLA . They met at a showing of Arachnophobia in Burbank, California. Wheaton has struggled with alcohol addiction. In January 2021, Wheaton announced he had been sober from alcohol for five years. Wheaton lives with complex post-traumatic stress disorder , generalized anxiety disorder , and chronic depression . He supports mental health nonprofit organizations in raising awareness for these conditions. He criticized Dave Chappelle for making jokes about transgender people during Chappelle's comedy film The Closer . Wheaton said popular comics had influenced him to think homophobic humor

413-706: A letter. In it, she explains that Merteuil convinced her to cast Danceny as her lover instead of marrying him. Tourvel later comes to Valmont and spends the night, leaving before he wakes the next morning. Her loss causes him to realize he truly cared for her. He goes to Tourvel's residence to find she has reconciled with her husband. Valmont leaves roses for Tourvel on her unkempt bed and slips out without being seen. Valmont returns to Merteuil and proposes marriage, saying they would be better off working together than against one another. She sadly reminds him that they were married once before and that any marriage between them could only end in betrayal. Merteuil then reveals that Danceny

472-657: A live audience. The game was hosted and recorded by Wizards of the Coast with Chris Perkins as the dungeonmaster. Wheaton starred in the Kickstarter -funded game There Came an Echo by Iridium Studios. In Dungeons and Dragons Online , he became the dungeon master of the Temple of Elemental Evil quests. Nintendo of America announced on Twitter that Wheaton would be voicing Abraham Lincoln in Code Name: STEAM . Wheaton does

531-487: A person because they didn’t like a character I played on a TV show, I wanted to put Star Trek behind me and forget that it was ever part of my life." In a 2016 issue of Wired magazine, Wesley Crusher was ranked 31st of the 100 most important Starfleet characters in the Star Trek science fiction universe. Valmont (film) Valmont received an Oscar nomination for Best Costume Design ( Theodor Pištěk ). It

590-538: A recurring character in season 2 of Star Trek: Prodigy (2024). He is the son of Beverly Crusher and Jack Crusher and is portrayed by actor Wil Wheaton . In the television series Star Trek: The Next Generation , Wesley Crusher first arrives on the Enterprise -D with his mother, soon after Captain Jean-Luc Picard assumes command. Crusher's father was killed while under Picard's command, with Picard delivering

649-577: A virgin bride while keeping a lover of his own, his concealment of the upcoming marriage, and his slight of her character, Merteuil plans revenge. She approaches her former lover, the womanizer Vicomte de Valmont, and proposes that he take Cécile's virginity before her wedding night to humiliate Gercourt. Valmont is not interested in Cécile, as he is pursuing Madame de Tourvel, a married woman. Tourvel, well known for her virtue, had been warned of Valmont's debauchery and deliberately avoids him. Merteuil makes Valmont

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708-476: A wager: if he succeeds in bedding Madame de Tourvel, he may also bed Merteuil; if he fails, he must consign himself to a monastery. Meanwhile, Cécile's teenage music teacher, Danceny, starts writing love letters to Cécile, and the two fall in love. After learning of this, Merteuil attempts to create opportunities for the pair to consummate their love, but Cécile is too innocent and Danceny too honorable to take advantage. Frustrated, Merteuil takes Cécile on holiday to

767-455: Is a fictional character in the Star Trek franchise. He appears regularly in the first four seasons of the television series Star Trek: The Next Generation ( TNG ), and sporadically in its next three seasons. He also appeared in the feature film Star Trek: Nemesis (2002) in one episode apiece of the television series Star Trek: Picard (2022) and Star Trek: Lower Decks (2023), and as

826-483: Is carrying his child. The grieving Madame de Rosemonde, Valmont's aunt, is overjoyed by the news. Cécile and Gercourt are soon married in a grand ceremony, with Danceny surrounded by a pack of eligible young women. Meanwhile, Merteuil remains alone, having lost Gercourt, Danceny, and Valmont. Some time later, Madame de Tourvel lovingly places a rose on Valmont's tomb before returning to her waiting husband. The plot of Valmont differs significantly from Laclos's novel. In

885-406: Is finally seduced and ends up making love with him. In the morning, she writes to her husband about her new lover, then leaves for the market to prepare a meal. When she returns, Valmont has already left. To "reward" Valmont, Merteuil indifferently spreads herself on the bed and waits for him to get on with it, causing him to storm out. As revenge, he goes to Cécile and convinces her to write Danceny

944-430: Is in her bed; he had come to threaten her, but she seduced him and told him everything. Valmont leaves in a fury and goes to Cécile, suggesting they leave the country, so that Cécile will be free to love whom she chooses. Instead, Cécile reveals that she has confessed everything to her mother, who orders Valmont from the house. The next day, Danceny challenges Valmont to a duel to avenge Cécile's honor. Valmont prepares for

1003-563: Is only one where life in the galaxy doesn't end in endless suffering and that involves the seven cadets sticking together. As extra-dimensional scavengers called the Loom move to destroy the universe, Crusher helps the cadets find the Protostar and vanishes after promising to distract the Loom to buy them time. In the second half of the season, Crusher is captured by Asencia and his mind probed to create temporal weaponry that she intends to use to destroy

1062-594: Is the author of Dancing Barefoot (2004) and Just a Geek (2004). He released a revised follow-up, Still Just a Geek , in 2022. Wheaton runs his own blog , Wil Wheaton Dot Net . In June 2005, he became that month's featured Tech writer for the SuicideGirls Newswire. In 2017, Wheaton wrote the short story "Laina" for the Star Wars anthology From a Certain Point of View . The book features 40 short stories, each by

1121-579: The Ben 10 franchise's original continuity. He appeared regularly as a fictionalized version of himself on the sitcom The Big Bang Theory and in the roles of Fawkes on The Guild , Colin Mason on Leverage , and Dr. Isaac Parrish on Eureka . Wheaton was the host and co-creator of the YouTube board game show TableTop . He has narrated numerous audio books, including Ready Player One and The Martian . Wheaton

1180-539: The Chicago Sun-Times , Roger Ebert gave Valmont three and a half out of four stars. Comparing it to Dangerous Liaisons , which was based on the play rather than the novel, Ebert wrote that Valmont was a much different film than its predecessor. Where Dangerous Liaisons was "cerebral and claustrophobic, an exercise in sexual mindplay", Forman's version was "more physical" and the seductions more arousing. In his review for Rolling Stone , Peter Travers gave

1239-671: The 2016 general election . Immediately following the Sutherland Springs church shooting on November 5, 2017, Wheaton on Twitter stated in response to Congressman Paul Ryan 's call for prayers for the victims that "The murdered victims were in a church. If prayers did anything, they'd still be alive, you worthless sack of shit." Wheaton subsequently clarified his opinion after receiving criticism, writing "I apologize to those of you who are sincere people of Faith, who felt attacked by me", but accused "the right wing noise machine" of using his comments "to deflect attention and anger away from

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1298-625: The SyFy network at 10 pm on May 27 for an initial projected run of twelve episodes. However, on August 29, Wheaton blogged that SyFy canceled the show after only one season. Wheaton has hosted Star Trek aftershow The Ready Room since the second season in 2020. Wheaton is a Dungeons & Dragons player, and played during the PAX 2010 event using the 4th edition rules. Wheaton, along with webcartoonists Jerry Holkins and Mike Krahulik of Penny Arcade , and Scott Kurtz of PvP , played in front of

1357-582: The Traveler tells Captain Picard that Wesley possesses a unique intelligence and great potential when provided encouragement and opportunity, comparing him to a child prodigy like Mozart . Picard soon appoints Crusher as acting ensign . In the episode " Coming of Age ", Crusher takes the Starfleet Academy entrance exam, but fails to pass it. In the episode " Ménage à Troi ", he misses his second chance to take

1416-615: The English dub of Steins;Gate , and in a 2009 Family Guy episode, " Not All Dogs Go to Heaven ", which included the main The Next Generation cast and featured Wil Wheaton in character as Crusher being bullied by Patrick Stewart . Wheaton wrote: "When I was younger, people gave me such a hard time about Wesley Crusher, there was a time in my late teens and early twenties when I resented Star Trek . It felt so unfair that people who had never met me were so cruel and hateful toward me as

1475-545: The Federation in a war. Crusher is eventually rescued by the cadets, but reveals that he had allowed himself to be captured in order to guide Asencia into creating the technology that they will need to send the Protostar back in time and restore the timeline. Although the Doctor is able to treat Crusher's injuries, the damage to his brain puts Crusher's Traveler powers out of commission for the time being. Working with Janeway to rescue

1534-609: The Rats of NIMH (1971). Wheaton also appeared in Hambone and Hillie (1983), The Buddy System (1984) (opposite Richard Dreyfuss and Susan Sarandon ), and The Last Starfighter . He had a few lines in Starfighter which were ultimately cut from the theatrical release, but Wheaton is still visible in several scenes. Wheaton first gained widespread attention for his work in Stand by Me (1986),

1593-670: The Traveler to explore other planes of reality. Crusher is next seen sitting next to his mother in the background of the wedding scenes in the feature film Star Trek: Nemesis . In a scene deleted from the film, Captain Picard asks Crusher if he is excited to serve on board the USS Titan (Captain Riker's ship). Crusher tells him that he will be running the night shift in Engineering, which would have indicated that Wesley returned to Starfleet prior to

1652-637: The award for Best Actor at the Melbourne Underground Film Festival . Wheaton regularly portrayed a fictionalized version of himself on The Big Bang Theory , becoming a recurring guest star and then side character on the show. In June 2024, Wheaton announced that he was retired from on-screen acting. Wheaton is known for his voice acting career. He voiced the role of Martin Brisby in The Secret of NIMH in 1981. In August 2021. Wheaton voiced

1711-493: The cadets, Crusher struggles to adjust to not being able to rely on his powers before Janeway reminds him that Crusher was a Starfleet officer before he was a Traveler and his natural talents are more valuable to them than his space-time powers. Given a confidence boost, Crusher plays a pivotal role in the rescue mission using his skills as a pilot and later his intellect to reprogram a tricorder to remotely bring their ship in for departure. Crusher later helps to figure out how to open

1770-460: The character. Wheaton commented about his critics in a 2004 interview for WebTalk Radio: Later, I determined that the people who were really, really cruel – like the Usenet weenies – really are a statistically insignificant number of people. And I know, just over the years from people who've e-mailed me at my website and people who I've talked to since I started going to Star Trek conventions again in

1829-467: The country estate where Valmont had gone to pursue Tourvel. When Merteuil suggests that Valmont help Cécile write love letters, he complies, goes to Cécile's room and ends up taking her virginity. Afterwards, a guilt-wracked Cécile runs to Merteuil for comfort, believing that neither her future husband nor Danceny will want her now. Merteuil encourages the girl to marry Gercourt and keep Danceny as her lover. Despite her many attempts to avoid Valmont, Tourvel

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1888-513: The denouement. Madame de Tourvel's future is less tragic: instead of dying of a broken heart, she returns to her forgiving and understanding older husband. Valmont was released to theaters in the United States on November 17, 1989, for a limited run. The Region 1 DVD released in 2002 by MGM is missing a short sequence after Valmont wakes up alone from his last night with Tourvel. In the sequence, Valmont takes flowers to Tourvel's home later

1947-408: The duel by drinking himself into a stupor and arrives hung over. The honorable Danceny refuses to duel him in his condition and is willing to accept an apology. Instead, Valmont attacks, forcing Danceny to kill him in self-defense. Valmont's funeral is filled with his former lovers, including Merteuil, who is devastated at the loss of her best friend and oldest rival. During it, Cécile reveals that she

2006-409: The essential qualities of its main character's literary counterpart, but solid casting and Milos Forman's deft direction help mitigate those flaws." On Metacritic , it has a weighted average score of 55 from 14 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews". The film was not as highly acclaimed as Stephen Frears ' Dangerous Liaisons , which was released less than a year earlier. In his review for

2065-619: The events of the film and held the rank of Lieutenant. Crusher returns in the Star Trek: Picard season 2 episode Farewell . In the years since Star Trek: Nemesis , he has rejoined the Travelers, traveling across space and time. In the year 2024, he approaches Kore Soong and reveals that he and his fellow Travelers were responsible for creating the Supervisors and the Watchers to help ensure

2124-502: The exam; but when he helps the Enterprise -D crew rescue Riker, Deanna Troi and Lwaxana Troi from hostile Ferengi , Picard grants him a field promotion to full ensign. In the third-season episode " The Bonding ", Crusher reveals that following his father's death, he felt animosity towards Picard, because Picard was in command of the Stargazer during the mission in which Wesley's father

2183-480: The film a mixed review. While observing that the film was "rapturously beautiful, enticing us into a lush, aristocratic world", he felt that there was "nothing funny in the sight of Merteuil's decking out Cécile like a whore, nothing sexy in Valmont's indifferent rape of Cécile, nothing heroic in Valmont's futile duel with Danceny." Travers concluded, "Overlong and marred by clashing accents and acting styles, Valmont lacks

2242-474: The film adaptation of Stephen King 's novella The Body . In Stand by Me , Wheaton played the lead role of Gordie Lachance, a 12-year-old storyteller mourning the loss of his elder brother. In her review of the film, Sheila Benson of the Los Angeles Times wrote that "Wheaton makes Gordie's 'sensitivity' tangible, but not effete. He's a gem". In addition to being successful at the box office, Stand by Me

2301-535: The last five years, that there are so many more people who really enjoyed everything about the show, including my performance, including the character. Wheaton left Star Trek: The Next Generation due to concerns over how the production team addressed a scheduling conflict related to his wish to appear in the 1989 film Valmont . Wheaton returned to Star Trek in 2002, 2022 and 2024, reprising his Wesley Crusher role in cameo appearances in Star Trek: Nemesis ,

2360-555: The message to Wesley and to his mother, Beverly. Picard initially found Wesley irritating, as he is often uncomfortable around children, a fact he discloses to his first officer, Commander William Riker , in the pilot episode " Encounter at Farpoint ". In early episodes of the series, Picard does not allow Wesley on the ship's bridge. However, during the first season, Picard comes to realize that Wesley understands many things beyond his age, having inherited his mother's intelligence, and grants him more opportunities onboard. An alien known as

2419-491: The novel, Cécile miscarries Valmont's child, and at the end retires to a convent; in Valmont she is pregnant at her wedding. In the novel, letters between Valmont and Merteuil are exposed, and Merteuil is publicly ridiculed and humiliated; in Valmont , the letters are not mentioned, and Merteuil has no downfall except in the eyes of Cécile and her mother. She also does not suffer from the physical disfigurement described by Laclos in

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2478-470: The role that unfettered access to weapons of mass murder played in the latest incidence of mass murder in America". In September 2024, Wheaton joined other actors from the Star Trek franchise on a livestream to support the campaign of Vice President Kamala Harris in the 2024 United States presidential election . An asteroid was named after him: 391257 Wilwheaton . Wesley Crusher Wesley Crusher

2537-471: The same day, but on arrival discovers that she is back with her husband. Unseen by either, he leaves the flowers on her bed before heading off to confront Merteuil. The sequence is included in the 2000 MGM VHS release, and is also in the high-definition transfer shown on MGM HD . On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes , 50% of 34 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 6.3/10. The website's consensus reads: " Valmont undermines

2596-479: The season 2 finale of Star Trek: Picard , and as a voice actor in the second season of the animated show Star Trek: Prodigy . Wheaton played Joey Trotta in the action film Toy Soldiers (1991). After leaving Star Trek , he moved to Topeka, Kansas , to work for NewTek , where he helped to develop the Video Toaster 4000 doing product testing and quality control and later used his public profile to serve as

2655-438: The shadows, sending disguised messages to the crew. Crusher eventually brings the young cadets to meet him in person, explaining that the temporal paradox is destroying their universe and while the other Travelers have abandoned it as a lost cause, Crusher is unwilling to give up on the universe that was his home and more importantly where his mother still lives. Crusher reveals that having studied billions of possible futures, there

2714-487: The squadron's efforts to cover up the truth. Although the Enterprise crew's intervention and Crusher's own testimony saves him from expulsion, Crusher's academic credits for the year are revoked; he is required to repeat the year and graduate after most of the rest of his class. He remains in the Academy until the Traveler recontacts him in a later season 7 episode, " Journey's End ", where he resigns his commission and goes with

2773-463: The universe's survival. He offers Kore a position with the Travelers, although he can't guarantee her safety, and she accepts. Crusher returns in the second season of Star Trek: Prodigy where he tries to help the young crew of the Protostar rescue Captain Chakotay from the future and then to deal with their inadvertent alterations to the timeline. In the first half of the season, Crusher acts from

2832-676: The villainous John Juniper in the video game, I Expect You to Die 2: The Spy and the Liar . Wheaton appeared in 12 episodes in a recurring, guest-starring role on Eureka , playing Dr. Isaac Parrish, the head of the Non-Lethal Weapons Lab at Global Dynamics and a thorn in Fargo 's side. Wheaton also voices the character of the former scoutmaster and current sous-chef Earl Harlan in the popular dark, surreal-comedy podcast Welcome to Night Vale . From September 2006 to September 2007, Wheaton hosted

2891-566: The voice narration on the Secret Hitler companion app for the Secret Hitler social deduction game. Wheaton has spoken out against misogyny in video game culture , and wrote a profile of Anita Sarkeesian for the 2015 Time 100 . A fictionalized version of Wheaton was included in the comic book PS 238 , in which he harbors the power of telekinesis . Wheaton's debut comic book The Guild: Fawkes, which he wrote alongside Felicia Day ,

2950-635: The wit and erotic charge of Dangerous Liaisons . But Forman's vision is, finally, more humane, more devastating." In her review in The New York Times , film critic Janet Maslin observed that the film "contributes virtually nothing to the body of information surrounding Les Liaisons Dangereuses ." Maslin's major complaint was that the film lacked the "bite" of its predecessor, trivialized its characters, and showed "a troubling lack of focus". In her review in The Washington Post , Rita Kempley

3009-496: The wormhole and chooses to accompany the Protostar along with the crew to see the mission through. Privately, Crusher reveals to Dal R'El that the important thing that he had predicted for the group to do that will shape the future of the galaxy is still yet to come. After the crisis is over, Crusher visits his mother for the first time in years and is introduced to his little brother Jack, having been rebuked by Janeway for not seeing his mother more often. The Wesley Crusher character

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3068-463: Was Fabia Drake 's final film role. In 18th century France, the Marquise de Merteuil, a wealthy widow, learns that her secret lover Gercourt will marry Cécile de Volanges, a 15-year-old who was raised in a convent to ensure her chastity. It is rumored that Gercourt cannot easily break off relations with his "former" mistress who is mentally unbalanced. Angered over the hypocrisy of Gercourt's insistence on

3127-572: Was acceptable when he was young. In 2022, Wheaton participated in Celebrity Jeopardy! , playing for the National Women's Law Center . He reached the finals, defeating Troian Bellisario and Hasan Minhaj in the quarterfinals, and John Michael Higgins and Joel Kim Booster in the semifinals. He finished in third place, behind winner Ike Barinholtz and runner-up Patton Oswalt , earning $ 100,000. Wheaton campaigned for Hillary Clinton in

3186-617: Was born July 29, 1972, in Burbank, California , to Debra "Debbie" Nordean (née O'Connor), an actress, and Richard William Wheaton Jr., a medical specialist. He has a brother, Jeremy, and a sister, Amy, both of whom appeared uncredited in the Star Trek: The Next Generation episode " When the Bough Breaks ". Amy appeared alongside Wil in the 1987 film The Curse . As an adult, Wheaton described his father as being abusive to him as

3245-439: Was equally unimpressed with Valmont , describing it as "sumptuous suds, a broadly played trivialization of de Laclos's 18th-century novel of boudoir intrigue". Kemply concluded: With its callow cast and playful tone, there is nothing dangerous about Forman's variation on the novelist's schemes. It's a naughty costume dramedy in which the erotic conquests of bored libertines are transformed into children's kissing games. The film

3304-420: Was killed. By the end of the episode, he no longer harbors these feelings. The following year, Crusher is invited to re-take the Academy exam. He is accepted, and joins an elite group of cadets known as Nova Squadron. In the fifth-season episode " The First Duty ", a squadron-mate is killed attempting a dangerous and prohibited flight maneuver and, under pressure from the team's leader, Nick Locarno, Crusher abets

3363-530: Was nominated for the Golden Globe Award for Best Motion Picture – Drama and became known as a coming-of-age classic. Wheaton played Wesley Crusher, a "boy genius and Starfleet hopeful", during the first four seasons of Star Trek: The Next Generation . He appeared in an additional four episodes of the remaining three seasons. The Wesley Crusher character is a "polarizing" character; while some Star Trek fans love him, others are vocal about their hatred for

3422-603: Was released on May 23, 2012. Wil Wheaton has been a narrator for dozens of audiobooks, including his own works. He has been a finalist for the prestigious Audie Award multiple times, and received an Earphones Award from AudioFile magazine. Wheaton has performed improvisational and sketch comedy at the ACME Comedy Theater in Hollywood. He has a traveling sketch comedy/improv troupe called "EarnestBorg9" that performs science fiction-related comedy at conventions. Wheaton

3481-408: Was unpopular among some Star Trek fans. Many considered the character a Mary Sue , and a stand-in for Gene Roddenberry (whose middle name was Wesley). The character's role in the show was greatly downplayed after the first season when Roddenberry's involvement in the show's production became more peripheral. Some fans disliked the idea of a boy who seemed to regularly save the whole ship using

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