Mea culpa.

I will never understand why the Internet seems to take away the basic humanity of most people, and allows — no, enables — them to say things that they’d never say to another person face to face.

- Wil Wheaton, Just A Geek

I'm sorry to say that I owe Wil Wheaton an apology.

To be fair, I think that a lot of people owe Wil Wheaton an apology, and probably a lot of them owe him a much larger apology than I do, but that in no way excuses me from offering mine.

Even before his departure from Star Trek: The Next Generation, Wil Wheaton had become somewhat of a punching bag for the fan community.  People were unimpressed by the direction that the character of Wesley Crusher had gone in, and in spite of the fact that he was only working with the material created for him by the writers, he became the focal point for the fan community's resentment regarding the situation.

When he left The Next Generation in 1994, he continued to be a target of criticism, paradoxically for his decision to leave - and probably by the same people who hated his work on the show.  At that point in time, Wheaton fell off the map for me, to be honest.  I heard various bits and pieces of news that suggested he had left the world of acting and had shifted his interest to computers, but I really didn't pay attention.

However, I've just finished reading Just A Geek, his well-written and deeply personal autobiographical description of those years following his departure from the show - his struggle to find work, his frustration, anger and disappointment at his lack of success, and the difficult process of reinventing himself as a writer, both online and in published form.

One of the things he discusses is the feelings of failure from not having an income, and having to resort to the sad irony of selling bits and pieces of personalized Star Trek memorabilia in order to pay his bills.

Unfortunately, I wrote a post in 2012 that discussed the loss of The Next Generation from television, and speculated as to the possibility of a Next Next Generation starring the various child actors - now adults - from the show, with "Wil Wheaton as the infamous Wesley Crusher" and a link to one of the less fortunate exchanges between Wesley, his mother, and Captain Picard.*

The posting then went on to hope that Wil Wheaton wasn't behind on his mortgage payments, which might well provide the impetus for just such a series.

So, Wil*, I'm very sorry - I feel that I was kicking you when you were down, or at least making fun of a time in your life when money was a serious issue for you. By way of explanation if not defense, I wasn't aware of the details of your situation, but that's no excuse for bad behaviour.

I've edited my original post so that the phrasing has nothing to do with your financial situation, and I've changed the link so that it takes readers to your scene from Nemesis that was cut from the movie - which shows you in a far more flattering light as a performer. 

And again, my sincere apologies.  There's a lot of people left to go, but at least it's a start.

 - Sid

* Which I won't quote here.

** Or Mr. Wheaton, whatever you go by with apologetic strangers.  Having a public persona tends to create a sort of artificial intimacy, but under the circumstances it may be inappropriate.