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Meanwhile, in the Alpha Quadrant
Being in a Star Trek mood these last weeks also ends you checking up on people's rewatches, reviews and the like. And good lord, but much as I find I still adore the characters, I'm now also recalling what that a vocal part of ST fandom was and is easily as toxic as current day fandoms. The Wesley hate. Ugh. You'd think the kid personally assassinated a great many pet dogs. BTW, I maintain that "Wesley is such a Gary Stu and saves the Enterprise all the time, no wonder people hated him" is one of these "everyone knows..." things where people feed more on fannish osmosis and bashings than actual canon. Going by summaries from episodes since I can't rewatch them all, Wesley saved the day a total of six times, in seven seasons. Even if you only count season 1 - 4 since he then stopped being a regular character, and was only a recurring guest star thereafter, that's still nowhere near "always" dimensions. What's more, he's by no means universally adored by all the characters, or, well, any of them. He's liked, not least because the TNG bunch are an ensemble there the characters do like each other, but no one's best friend or idol or special protegé. (Well, the Traveler's, but the Traveler shows up a total of two times, once in the first and once in the last season.) Nor does he render beloved characters superflous by his existence, which is another Sue/Stu criteria. Nor is Wil Wheaton bad in the role. Now don't get me wrong, I think both Jake and Nog are better examples of how to write teenagers in a ST show, and I've been known to dislike some teenage sidekicks in my time. (See also: Richie in Highlander.) Sometimes, it just happens. But I'm still baffled as to the sheer dimensions of the unrelenting Wes hate. (And a mulish part of me wishes that Wil Wheaton gets an appearance in the new Picard series just because of that. Also because I happen to like Wesley.)
On to more joyful aspects of fandom, to wit, fanfic recs:
TNG/Voyager crossovers:
Of Borg: in which Seven of Nine meets Jean-Luc Picard. Short and to the point. There are surprisingly few stories using this premise, at least at the AO3, given the obvious shared element here.
There lies the port: and here's Kathryn Janeway meeting Picard on her lonesome. Due to the Janeway cameo in Insurrection (I think? Or maybe the awful Nemesis, I never watched that more than once), it's canon that the two know each other and are on a first name basis, so Janeway, post-Voyager's return, trying to figure herself out might very well do so with the help of an old friend.
On to more joyful aspects of fandom, to wit, fanfic recs:
TNG/Voyager crossovers:
Of Borg: in which Seven of Nine meets Jean-Luc Picard. Short and to the point. There are surprisingly few stories using this premise, at least at the AO3, given the obvious shared element here.
There lies the port: and here's Kathryn Janeway meeting Picard on her lonesome. Due to the Janeway cameo in Insurrection (I think? Or maybe the awful Nemesis, I never watched that more than once), it's canon that the two know each other and are on a first name basis, so Janeway, post-Voyager's return, trying to figure herself out might very well do so with the help of an old friend.
no subject
Re: his earlier characterization - I just looked through my episode notes and apparently he did not make enough of an impression to be mentioned. ;-) I do remember that I expected much worse from fandom osmosis, though, so you are certainly right with your "everybody knows" remark. I think he suffered from the general low writing quality at the beginning, but that's also true for Riker or Deanna for example. And while he never became a favourite character and his last appearance is on my dislike list, I generally appreciated that he got to leave the ship for Starfleet Academy. Plus, his episode set there was another good one IMO.
no subject
No arguments re: the general writing quality early on, and this impacting the characters. Mind you, here's a Wesley detail I've always appreciated in the definitely-found-its-feet-now era of the show, i.e. the third season, specifically, Best of Both World I: when Riker gives the order to ram the Borg Cube (just before Data has his breakthrough with Picard down in engineering), the episode took the seconds to give us a shot of Wesley reacting to the news he's just been told to turn kamikaze pilot. It's not verbalized, we just get the reaction shot, and you can see Wesley first horrified and then steeling himself to go through with it. It's that kind of thing which makes the character real for me.