this post was submitted on 23 Feb 2026
452 points (98.3% liked)
TenForward: Where Every Vulcan Knows Your Name
6780 readers
749 users here now
/c/TenForward: Your home-away-from-home for all things Star Trek!
Re-route power to the shields, emit a tachyon pulse through the deflector, and post all the nonsense you want. Within reason of course.
~ 1. No bigotry. This is a Star Trek community. Remember that diversity and coexistence are Star Trek values. Any post/comments that are racist, anti-LGBT, or generally "othering" of a group will result in removal/ban.
~ 2. Keep it civil. Disagreements will happen both on lore and preferences. That's okay! Just don't let it make you forget that the person you are talking to is also a person.
~ 3. Use spoiler tags.
Use spoiler tags in comments, and NSFW checkbox for posts.
This applies to any episodes that have dropped within 3 months prior of your posting. After that it's free game.
~ 4. Keep it Trek related. This one is kind of a gimme but keep as on topic as possible.
~ 5. Keep posts to a limit. We all love Star Trek stuff but 3-4 posts in an hour is plenty enough.
~ 6. Try to not repost. Mistakes happen, we get it! But try to not repost anything from within the past 1-2 months.
~ 7. No General AI Art. Posts of simple AI art do not 'inspire jamaharon'
~ 8. No Political Upheaval. Political commentary is allowed, but please keep discussions civil. Read here for our community's expectations.
Fun will now commence.
Sister Communities:
Want your community to be added to the sidebar? Just ask one of our mods!
Creator Resources:
Looking for a Star Trek screencap? (TrekCore)
Looking for the right Star Trek typeface/font for your meme? (Thank you @kellyaster for putting this together!)
founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
view the rest of the comments
Wesley was a Mary Sue. The writers of Star Trek should've been able to avoid that trope given the original Mary Sue was a character in a Star Trek fanfic.
Why the hell is a kid at the helm Starship? Apparently because "he's a genius". Someone piloting an airliner has to have many many hours of experiencing before they're allowed to do that, but apparently in the future you just have to be a smart kid, experience doesn't matter?
And yeah he solves the problems adults can't figure out. It's this weird thing where writers think they need a kid in something so kids will like it. And even better yet, a kid that's smarter than the adults! It winds up just annoying everyone.
It is so dumb.
But later I forgave it completely when Galaxy Quest lampooned it so thoroughly, with another kid at the helm, who is allowed to just shout about how stupid it is. :)
Tbf, there are is lot's of space in space to practice driving gnihihi. I'll show myself out
Generally agree with you but piloting a ST starship is different from piloting an airliner, main thing being that the starship is stable in space. Like you can cut all power to engines completely and it isn't going to fall into a planet or star, other than during specfic maneuvers. There's also the rest of the bridge crew present to take over if something comes up that he couldn't handle. I see it as more equivalent to letting a kid take the helm on an ocean ship. Still some potential for it to go wrong, but if the kid isn't a little shit wanting to see what happens if he yanks the wheel, it'll probably be fine.
Between the shields and deflector array, anything that could pose a threat would likely be picked up by the sensors long before it was close. Other than a cloaked ship ambushing them, but even then I bet Riker could just bark out "computer execute evasive maneuver alpha and beam Wesley to sick bay. Data, take the helm. Red alert!"
That fanfic was a TNG fanfic based off of a character from one of the episodes. Wesley predates her by a few seasons. In fact, he may have been a partial inspiration for the fanfic version of the character.
Well the person that created Mary Sue probably shouldn't get so much flak if they were making TNG fanfic in 1973.
I have a feeling we don't have the same origin story for that character.
Huh, TIL. I honestly had somehow connected Mary Sue with the Mary Tyler Moore Show. TBF, I don't think I have ever seen a single episode of that show.