John Logan Deleted Wesley's Speaking Scene from NEM!

[Ro_Laren]

Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr John Logan!!! Read this article from Trekweb.com:

Actor Wil Wheaton brought Lieutenant Commander Wesley Crusher back to life as the Assistant Chief Engineer of the U.S.S. Titan in a 4-minute Star Trek Titan short movie produced for Star Trek The Tour.

Star Trek Nemesis screenwriter John Logan talks briefly to Star Trek Magazine about the deleted scene he wrote for the movie, which can be found at the Special Edition DVD of Nemesis, which indicates that Wesley is commissioned and assigned as part of the engineering crew of the U.S.S .Titan (see photo).

Logan said he'd had a backstory prepared for the surprise cameo. With the movie focus on family, Logan said "I totally accept, as a fan, the idea of him going back to Starfleet - that he'd been through this [Traveler] experience, and it has led him back home again. The idea that he is going to be part of that [Titan] crew and that family, that the Crusher family will continue on with Will and Deanna, I thought was really neat." Logan's regret was in not being able to work all that in as an explanation - or being allowed to.

The Star Trek Titan 4-minute short movie from the Star Trek The Tour, starring Wheaton as Lt. Commander Wesley Crusher and Tim Russ as Commander Tuvok is available at IESB

He should have left it in!!! Having Wil Wheaton in uniform in the film confused the crap out of people!! In my personal cannon he is back in Starfleet as an Engineer on the Titan.

The Relaunch TNG novels from A Time to... series say: [SPOILER="A Time to..." series novels]that Wesley is still a Traveller. He showed up naked at the wedding and Captain Picard had the Enterprise beam down a uniform for him to wear. So why was the freaking rank insignia on the uniform??? Who knows....

[/SPOILER]

 

[T'Baio]

I think the reason John Logan is a bad writer is because he uses words like "neat".

 

[Haytil]

John Logan didn't cut the scene, the director Stuart Baird did. It sounds like John Logan wished he could not only have had the scene kept, but also wished for the opportunity to expand on it.

I have the normal edition DVD, which has Wesley in the background in uniform in a deleted scene, but no dialogue. As a viewer, I didn't find it confusing at all. He's there, it's been several years since he went with the Traveler, he's in a uniform...the natural conclusion was that he was back in Starfleet.

Why is that hard to understand?

We don't need to be spoonfed, all the obvious details are there for us to pick up on. It's the difference between showing the viewer rather than just telling. And it's much better this way.

 

[BriGuy]

Oh, yes, I was so confused my head hurt and blood came forth from my nostrils.

I was in a stupor for three months afterwards. I couldn't work, or eat, or walk.

I developed bed sores.

I had to poop in a pan.

It ruined my life. I have yet to recover.

- or -

It was No Big Deal.

 

[FalTorPan]

Ro_Laren said:
Having Wil Wheaton in uniform in the film confused the crap out of people!!

Right... because everyone continues to do the same thing forever and ever, since deviating from that pattern is too confusing to others.

 

[cultcross]

FalTorPan said:

Ro_Laren said:
Having Wil Wheaton in uniform in the film confused the crap out of people!!

Right... because everyone continues to do the same thing forever and ever, since deviating from that pattern is too confusing to others.

Well, its a tad confusing when he's the only character whose been established to not be doing the same thing for ever and ever. Two regular characters we ever saw walk away from Starfleet, and yet here they both are in the same scene, back towing the party line, in full uniform, without a word of explanation.

 

[cardinal biggles]

BriGuy said:
Oh, yes, I was so confused my head hurt and blood came forth from my nostrils.

I was in a stupor for three months afterwards. I couldn't work, or eat, or walk.

I developed bed sores.

I had to poop in a pan.

It ruined my life. I have yet to recover.

They make pills for that now.

 

[archeryguy1701]

Ro_Laren said:
Having Wil Wheaton in uniform in the film confused the crap out of people!!

You have to keep in mind how many people would notice that he was actually in the movie. Nemesis has been one of my 3 or 4 favorite Trek movies, and I literally never noticed him sitting at the table during the wedding until someone mentioned it to me a week or two ago, and I went to look for it. So, ignoring the major nit-pickers, I'm not sure how many people's heads started spinning when he showed up in the background.

 

[cardinal biggles]

^They could probably all fit together in the ball pit at the local McDonald's.

 

[Admiral Buzzkill]

Ro_Laren said:
Having Wil Wheaton in uniform in the film confused the crap out of people!!

Who?

 

[Squiggy]

People!

 

[Admiral Buzzkill]

...who need people...

 

[cardinal biggles]

Ro_Laren is apparently one such person.

 

[WillsBabe]

Having Wes back in uniform didn't confuse me. I just figured he'd come back from his travels and was in Starfleet again. I imagine that with long-lived species etc Starfleet would allow sabbaticals and career breaks of some kind. I like the idea of his serving on Titan. It's a pity that didn't get mentioned on-screen.

 

[archeryguy1701]

So, I would like to post an amendment to my previous statement. Something got me to start thinking (it's a scary concept, I know), and I checked one of my DVD's. The reason I've never noticed Wesley at the wedding scene was because he was never actually there! Now, be patient as I explain. The Nemesis DVD I've always watched up until a few weeks ago was the original DVD I bought. And when I was a young wipper-snapper, I only bought the full screen edition because the blacks bars used to annoy the hell out of me. So, I went back and checked that DVD a few minutes ago... they cut Wesley completely off the screen! Worf and Data aren't even there for most of the table scene. This goes a long ways towards explaining why I've never seen the laddie in my many viewings of the movie.

 

[Kegek]

Frankly, you'd have to know who Wil Wheaton is and be looking for him to notice, I think. More glaring is the deletion of dialogue explaining why Worf is no longer a Klingon Ambassador, as Worf is in the movie and his return to his old job happens without any clarification.

However, both concerns would only concern the fans like us and have no bearing on the film's actual story. The cuts were relatively sensible.

 

[Tomalak]

The lack of an explanation for Wesley's appearance was the very least of John Logan and Stuart Baird's crimes. In fact, given the bulk of the movie, it was a good call.

 

[Technobuilder]

As much as John Logan claimed to be a fan of Star Trek, from what he wrote, you'd think he hated it.

Wes is a Traveler. Travelers can wear any kinds of clothes they want. They can even pretend to be in Starfleet if they want to.

 

[Balrog]

cardinal biggles said:

BriGuy said:
Oh, yes, I was so confused my head hurt and blood came forth from my nostrils.

I was in a stupor for three months afterwards. I couldn't work, or eat, or walk.

I developed bed sores.

I had to poop in a pan.

It ruined my life. I have yet to recover.

They make pills for that now.

Who wants to poop on a pill?

 

[Brutal Strudel]

FalTorPan said:

Ro_Laren said:
Having Wil Wheaton in uniform in the film confused the crap out of people!!

Right... because everyone continues to do the same thing forever and ever, since deviating from that pattern is too confusing to others.

But wouldn't going from being a Traveller to being an assistant engineer on the Titan be analogous to going from post-doc studies in particle physics to kindergarten?

The problem with Worf and Wesley being in the movie is that their presence requires us to celebrate character retrogression. I had the same problem with the TOS movies--in order to keep the crew together , the supposedly best crew in the fleet was made into a bunch of dead-enders.