Let’s See What’s Out There. Engage.

Being a Star Trek fan for as long as I can remember, I was very excited when Wil Wheaton announced that he would be writing a book about Star Trek: The Next Generation, which would include some of his behind the scenes memories that accompany his years on that show. Of course it helps that I am a fan of Wil’s writing. I was having difficulty deciding if I should review Memories of the Future: Volume 1 because I am not exactly unbiased when it comes to Wil and his work. I have a great deal of respect for Wil, both professionally and personally, so it would really suck if I had to say something negative about him or his work.  If you have read any of my reviews, I tell it exactly how I think it. I hold no punches and I will either say if something is good or if I think it stinks.  Coming to the decision to write this review was a difficult one given the above. This review is going to be a long one but I think necessary.

Let me back up just a bit to 1987. I was 11 years old and the world was right once more because Star Trek had a new incarnation on television. This event was so important to my 11 year old geek self, that it was included in a yearly science fair project. The year in question, my project was on important scientific discoveries in Astronomy spanning centuries. Dab smack in the middle of my timeline of important scientific discoveries was: 1987 – Star Trek returns to television. To make this incarnation of Star Trek even more important to me was the character of Wesley Crusher, acted by none other than Mr. Wheaton himself. Finally there was somebody I could relate to for many reason. Wesley was me, only cooler because he was on a spaceship and got to explore the galaxy and lived in the future and his toys were so much better than mine.

Flashforward to 1994 and the final episode of The Next Generation aired. I had never missed an episode. Soon afterwards, the reruns aired nightly and in order. When those episodes started to rerun, there I was on my couch every night with my VCR and remote control, recording every single episode in order and pausing for commercials. Once a tape was full, I would carefully label each tape with season, episode number and name. I still have the majority of these tapes and I watch them often. A few of the tapes got lost during various moves or became the victim of small children, but for the most part my library is intact. I am actually amazed that they are still viewable and have held up.

Why did I just waste a few paragraphs telling you this instead of getting straight to the review? I think that knowing these things about myself are critical to reviewing this book as I hope will soon be apparent.

If you are not at all familiar with Memories of the Future, Wil walks us through the first 13 episodes of Season 1 of Star Trek: The Next Generation. Included in each episode recap are: episode title, original air date, written by, directed by, stardate, synopsis, quotable dialogue, obligatory technobable, behind the scenes memory, the bottom line and final grade. It is very important for you to know that it is written in a very snarky fashion with a lot of humour, a certain amount of foul language, sarcasm, wit and sexual innuendo. If you are hoping or wanting formulated episode summaries or a tell-all book, then you will not enjoy this book. Wil draws us into his life as it was while filming and working on these episodes. In the case of Volume 1, we get a lot of exposure to 14 and 15 year old Wil Wheation mixed in with his adult sense of humour. The 14 year old Wil (with all the angst that goes on during that wonderful period known as “awkward puberty”) is fused with adult Wil (who can now express that awkwardness) as if they had experience some sort of transporter accident.

Memories of the Future holds no punches either when it comes to exposing the weakness that were the first half of the season. If you do not want your beloved Trek to be ripped a part and made fun of and even worse by someone who was a part of it, again you will not enjoy this book. Because Star Trek was so important to me growing up, because it was a huge part of my life, there are a few instances in the book where I found it hard to handle. At this is of no fault to Wil. I actually give him huge props that he is able to be so critical of the first season, because there is no way I could have done it. The hardest parts I found to read and found myself wincing at the most, was when Wil would slam the character of Wesley Crusher.

I am sure many people cheered and will cheer at this and I understand that. For me though, the character of Wesley was one of the biggest factors that make me love this incarnation of Trek so much.  I was Wesley Crusher and having that character helped me deal with my own awkwardness and the sense of not belonging that I felt among my peers, due largely in part to my above average intelligence and being the lone geek in my group of friends. Again, props to Wil here. Especially since the flack he would endure for years to come because of this character he played and the bad dialogue he was forced to say, would be a source of some pain. The fact he can poke fun at it and voice what many have thought and continue to think deserves recognition. I doubt many of us could do that.

Now this is where my review gets even more mixed. There are many qualities of this book that I just love and make it so much better for me. However, these elements hold back the book as well. First, if you have never watched an episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation a lot of the humour may be lost upon the reader. There are parts of the book where the humour only works if you have watched the episodes in question.  This brings me to another point about the humour.

There are a lot of “inside jokes” so to speak in this book. Some of the portions I enjoyed the most were not about the episodes, but how Wil managed to weave in Beavis and Butthead jokes, a “sight gag” about being the oldest sibling (which I am myself), Stand By Me references, and a HILARIOUS Jonathan Coulton reference (that unless you are familiar with the song in question the reader will never understand why it is there or may miss it completely and how brilliant it is). These references will be lost on some readers and may leave them thinking, “Where did that come from and why is it there?” There are other references that unless you are a hard core geek/nerd or grew up in the generation that Wil and I grew up in (such as a reference to “And that is one to grow on” which I use often in my every day life and my site which later turned into “The more you know”) that will also be lost and may leave the reader wondering.

Another potential source of frustration for some readers is Wil often (to use an acting metaphor) breaks the forth wall. He goes back and forth between simple narrative and recapping the story to personal asides or other devices that break the wall.  These get plopped in the middle of the synopsis instead of being in the behind the scenes memories. Personally this is one of the reasons why I love Wil’s writing so much. He does not treat us as passive readers or talks at us. Instead, he really brings us into his world and speaks to us and with us, as if we were sitting beside him watching these episodes then something will happen to cause Wil to put the episode on pause and say, “OMG, I have a great story about this that just popped into my head. Did I ever tell you about the time…” I like this intimacy and breaking  the forth wall is something I often do in my own writing. However, for those who are accustomed to or are wanting technical writing, this could be seen as a negative.

The above is really the only negative things I can say about this book. They are not exactly negative but they are not exactly possitive. You can tell a lot of love went into this book. It is funny, thoughtful and full of insight. The reader is invited into a part of Trek they would not get to experience otherwise. If you are a hard core Trek fan this is a huge bonus. If you do not really care about these details and just want a technical book, then this book is probably not the book for you. To make this book and Wil even more awesome and to allow potential buyers of this book a better opportunity to make an informed decision regarding it, Wil has been doing weekly Memories of the Futurecast podcasts. The first 11 episodes are currently available with new episodes available every Monday. These include parts of the book plus some extra pieces of information you will only get from listening to them. These podcasts are free and I recommend that if you are still unsure if this book is for you (or even if you are sold) to download them and listen to them. PSA: do not listen to them while eating or drinking as this may cause you to choke or spew stuff all over your computer. Do not listen to them in areas where huge outburts of laughter may be inappropriate or where you may get funny looks from strangers.

Because this book cannot completely stand on its own for the reasons mentioned above, I give it a final rating of 8/10. I feel this book is a great addition to most geek’s libraries. Wil has already started work on Volume 2, which will finish recapping Season 1. When all is said and done, there will be 8 volumes, which will cover the first 4 seasons, which Wil was apart.  I cannot wait for the future volumes to be released!

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