Wesley Crusher - Overview

Overview

In the television series Star Trek: The Next Generation, Wesley Crusher first arrived on the Enterprise-D with his mother, soon after Captain Jean-Luc Picard assumed command. Captain Picard was annoyed by Crusher at first, as Picard is uncomfortable around all children, but he comes to realize that Crusher understands many things beyond his age and has inherited his mother's high level of intelligence.

An alien known as The Traveler expressed to Captain Picard (who was told not to tell Dr. Crusher) that Wesley had a unique intelligence and great potential if provided encouragement and opportunity, comparing him to a child prodigy like Mozart. Picard soon appointed Crusher as an acting ensign.

In early episodes of the series, Picard did not allow Crusher on the bridge of the ship. Crusher eventually took the entrance exam for Starfleet Academy. His test score ranked lower than required, and he was not accepted into the Academy in his first attempt. ("Coming of Age"). Later, he missed his second chance to take the Academy entrance exam in order to assist the Enterprise-D crew in rescuing William Riker, Deanna Troi, and Lwaxana Troi from hostile Ferengi. Picard soon granted him a field promotion to full ensign ("Ménage à Troi").

Crusher was invited to reapply the following year, took the exam, and was accepted into the Academy where he joined an elite group of cadets known as Nova Squadron. His involvement with this group led to his losing academic credits ("The First Duty"), when a squadron-mate was killed attempting a dangerous and prohibited flight maneuver and, under pressure from the team leader Nick Locarno, Crusher abetted the squadron's efforts to cover up the truth. Although the crew's intervention and Crusher's own testimony saved him from expulsion, all of Cadet Crusher's academic credits for the year were cancelled and he was required to repeat the year and graduate after most of the rest of his class. He remained in the Academy thereafter until the Traveler re-contacted him, whereupon he resigned his commission and went with the Traveler to explore other planes of reality ("Journey's End").

He subsequently appears in the non-canon A Time To... novel series, visiting his mother.

He is also seen sitting next to his mother in the background of the wedding scenes in Star Trek Nemesis. In a scene deleted from the movie, Captain Picard asks Wesley if he's excited to serve on board the USS Titan (Captain Riker's ship), and Wesley tells him that he will be running the night shift in Engineering. This implies (though the scene was deleted) that Wesley returned to Starfleet at some point prior.