A review by jessiqa
Memories of the Future, Volume 1 by Wil Wheaton

4.0

Wil Wheaton played Wesley Crusher on Star Trek: The Next Generation and therefore provides a unique perspective into the episodes of the program. This volume covers the first half of the first season. Each chapter is one episode and includes an "episode summary," "quotable dialogue," "obligatory technobabble," and "behind the scenes memory." These articles started out life on the TV Squad website but when funding went under, Wheaton realized he still wanted to write these articles, which are full of snark and tend to be fairly critical of the writers on the show. More on that later.

I first read the articles on TV Squad and then listened to Wheaton's Memories of the Futurecast where he read each article in a podcast format. That had the benefit of him occasionally adding some extra tidbit of behind the scenes memory. Later, when the book was published I decided to watch each episode and then read the corresponding chapter. This was an awesome plan: I haven't seen some of these episodes in about 15 years, so even though I sometimes recalled the plot from the podcast episodes, they were still fresh to me. Reading the book this way meant that the episodes were still at the forefront of my mind as I read each chapter, which made for greater impact in understanding the failings that Wheaton pointed out as well as sharing with him those sweet moments of a great scene.

Do not mistake this as a tell-all book about his experiences on the set. That's not the point of this book, but rather to have a look at each episode and poke a bit of fun at it. The fact is that most of these episodes suck. As a fan I still enjoy even those that aren't so good, just for the nostalgia, and Wheaton often puts the snark on hold to point out that a particular scene is very good or very well-handled by the actors given the crappy dialogue, etc. Despite the general poor quality of these episodes, Wheaton's jokes and perspective make the book highly enjoyable, i.e. we can laugh at the bad episodes because we know the show will get better. Next Generation fans will definitely find something to enjoy in this book, and then they will join me in my impatience for the next volume.