I only recently discovered Wil Wheaton’s blog, and although I haven’t read every entry since, I have read a good number. He’s a good writer, but I’m not always in the mood for his sometimes very sentimental stuff about his family. Nevertheless, I was very interested in reading more about his time growing up on the set of Star Trek The Next Generation and Stand By Me, and so was happy to receive Dancing Barefoot, which is a collection of short pieces that got axed from Wheaton’s full-sized book, Just A Geek.
A large bulk of the book revolves around Star Trek. There is a recounting of when Wheaton meets one of his idols, William Shatner, for the first time, when Shatner was directing Star Trek V on a set next to where they were filming The Next Generation, which Wheaton was in. Shatner was apparently a real asshole to Wheaton, who was then just 15, and henceforth is known in what Wheaton writes as William Fucking Shatner, or WFS. Another story is about a Star Trek convention in which Wheaton participated in September, 2001 in Las Vegas to celebrate Star Trek’s 35th anniversary. It was a fascinating look at the Con experience from one of the actual performers, as opposed to a fan or objective observer. Wheaton pulls no punches, neither towards himself nor towards some of the more disturbing fans. One thing that Wheaton is good at is giving you his very personal perspective on things.
I am often amazed that even now after 15 years of getting beaten up by some of his fan base, he still hasn’t hardened into a pompous jerk or a recluse. Instead, he seems just as if not more sensitive as he recounts he was growing up. He wears his heart on his sleeve, so to speak, and is still hurt by those who display insensitivity. He still manages to be self-conscious about his identity as Wesley Crusher, despite proving himself over and over to be much more than that poorly written character. Of course he talks about this in his blog, but it’s something that he seems to have to continually remind himself and his readers.
I for one never despised his character the way some did. I felt the first two years of The Next Generation, in comparison to the rest of the series, were just not all that well written in general. I loved them all the same when I first saw them, but compared to later seasons they just seemed “cheesy,” kind of along the lines of the olds series, but just updated with better special effects. I was much more annoyed with Marina Sirtis’s character Troy, who seemed to only be there to have a large set of breasts on the bridge and whose comments about a foe’s emotional state seemed ridiculously obvious to anyone with a brain. But apparently some of the nuttier Star Trek fans who can’t separate reality from fantasy, took their hatred for the character Wheaton played and projected it onto the actor himself. This is ridiculous to begin with, but the fact they took out their anger on a 15-year-old kid is despicable, and apparently those wounds still haven’t healed for Wheaton and we get the sense they never will heal fully. In that respect I do have one thing in common with Wheaton, since I was teased and ostracized relentlessly as a kid for being short, chubby, and socially awkward.
One of the stories in Dancing Barefoot is about Wheaton going to his recently deceased aunt’s house for the last time, a house he went to on countless occasions. It’s a very heartfelt story about how this wonderful woman was going to be missed terribly. This was reminiscent for me in a couple of ways. Firstly, my wife’s aunt died just before we started dating, and she was a woman who was central to her entire family. Her home was where people would gather. Her death took a horrible toll on my wife and others who loved her dearly. Her house sat vacant for at least a year until it was finally bought by one of her nephews and is in the process of being renovated. The day after receiving Dancing Barefoot (and having finished the entire 115 pages of it), it so happened that we were going up to visit my own uncle and aunt in Orangeburg, NY. They had just sold their house that they had owned for somewhere around forty years and are moving into a condo in a retirement community. They wanted us to come and see the house for one last time and since we were more than happy to honor the suggestion. This is a house that I spent countless Passovers and Thanksgivings at, hanging out with my aunt Evelyn, uncle Nat, and various cousins, 2nd cousins and extended family. I remember one occasion where my uncle gave me a driving lesson around the neighborhood, and of course all the food. The ritual passover meal was not complete until my uncle had spilled wine on my grandfather, which we always suspected was a diversionary tactic that would help him hide the matzoh. The bus rides home from the house clutching my stomach in agony from all the excess food I’d eaten because it was so delicious I couldn’t stop when I was just full. I took some final pictures of the house and my uncle and aunt, so I thought I’d share them here:
Dancing Barefoot is a quick and interesting read, and gives one a flavor of Wheaton’s writing that one can get loads of off his blog – and for free! Still, I will most assuredly pick up Just a Geek real soon.
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