Wil Wheaton Shares Memories of The Future
I owe Wil Wheaton big time. The debt goes back over twenty years. He has no idea, of course, but I've never forgotten what he did for me.
The year was 1987. Anyone who doesn't know what Wil as doing in that fateful year couldn't possibly understand the story I am about to tell.
My family was heavily into Star Trek. We watched reruns of The Original Series every weeknight after dinner. I loved the show. It must have been on at five o'clock. It was still light out. I had plenty of time to fashion a tricorder and communicator from paper plates after the show. The technology was very impressive when you just got a VCR, much more than now when a Corporate usb drive can hold nearly as much information as the Enterprise computer only without the sexy voice.
I was seven. I had no idea how uncool my interest was, but I wouldn't have cared. I'm still oblivious to cool.
The least cool part of all this dorky behavior was my strong desire to marry Spock when I grew up. With total abandon, I crushed on the pointy-eared science officer. Not Leonard Nimoy, but his half Vulcan, uber-logical character. I don't remember how it started or the why in my first grade girl brain. I didn't think I could actually marry Spock, mind you, but the idea featured in my daydreams for a good many years. Pretty much, I wanted to be the girl in the episode All Our Yesterdays only with a different ending. More akin to Sleeping Beauty in space.
Thanks to Wil Wheaton, all my little girlfriends at school were watching Star Trek: The Next Generation. They thought Wesley Crusher was totally dreamy. Star Trek was instantly cool, or at least normal. I was a little off beat, but not a total weirdo and outcast. In my childhood, on into my teens, those moments were few and far between. I don't take them for granted.
When Wil asked listeners to his podcast to help spread the word about his new book Memories of the Future, how could I not?
I snagged his snazzy artwork from the official podcast website. If you are thinking squid, look again. Then picture them on a larger scale with one in space and one trapped beneath the surface of a planet. Need a hint?
Your hint happens to be from Wil writing about the first season of The Next Generation on AOL's TV Squad back in 2007. His writing there lead directly to Memories of the Future, a Mystery-Science-Theater-3000-esque look at those early ST:TNG episodes. It is the sort of poking fun which can only be accomplished when you have a deep and abiding love for the target.
Seldom would I recommend a book before I have read it. Memories of the Futurecast has taken the guesswork out of book buying. Each week for the last ten weeks, Wil has read an excerpt from the book for the podcast. Hilarious. His off-the-cuff comments are priceless. I'm not afraid to admit I've laugh-snorted a couple times while listening.
The funny is great. But the best part is the inside view of the crew and making of a television show which is more than just television to the fans. For my generation especially, Wil is a link to why we love science fiction and all things geek.
You can download a copy for a mere $10 or $19.87 (get it?) in paperback. The least we can do to make up for Wil spending his youth in the sweaters Wesley Crusher loved to wear is to buy Memories of the Future.
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