{"id":34142,"date":"2014-05-23T13:17:18","date_gmt":"2014-05-23T20:17:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.trektoday.com\/content\/?p=34142"},"modified":"2014-05-23T22:50:56","modified_gmt":"2014-05-24T05:50:56","slug":"wheaton-owes-crusher-to-gerrold","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/trektoday.com\/content\/2014\/05\/wheaton-owes-crusher-to-gerrold\/","title":{"rendered":"Wheaton Owes Crusher To Gerrold"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"WheatonLarryKing052314\"<\/p>\n

According to Wil Wheaton<\/strong>, his role of Wesley Crusher came courtesy of David Gerrold.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Wheaton had come to Gerrold’s notice in Stand By Me<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Wheaton shared his story while on Larry King Now<\/em> promoting his forthcoming show The Wil Wheaton Project<\/em>.<\/p>\n

“There’s a great story that David Gerrold, who was one of the writers on Next Generation<\/em>, who wrote the classic Star Trek<\/em> episode The Trouble with Tribbles<\/em>, said to Gene Roddenberry<\/strong>, ‘I don’t think you should put a kid on this show; people don’t like kids on science fiction shows,'” said Wheaton. ”<\/p>\n

But Roddenberry was adamant about having a young character on the show. “And Gene said, ‘I want to have a kid on the show so that younger audiences have a character to connect to, and I want family to be part of this new series.'”<\/p>\n

Gerrold had a recommendation since Roddenberry was so determined on the matter. “And David Gerrold said, ‘If you’re going to put a kid on the show you better put a kid in that role that can handle it; I have just seen this kid Wil Wheaton in Stand By Me<\/em>. He’s a big deal with the teeny-boppers and teen magazines, and I think you should come and read him for the part.’ David gave me the memo that he sent to Gene<\/strong> and Bob Justman<\/strong>, and I have it at home.”<\/p>\n

Wheaton’s new project, The Wil Wheaton Project,<\/em> airs on SyFy<\/em> May 27 at 10 PM.<\/p>\n