Top Five Wesleys

My brain comes up with weird ideas while driving to and from work. That's the only explanation for this:

Crusher:Wil Wheaton, of Stand by Me fame, got to be a kid growing up on a space ship. From what I've seen of Star Trek: The Next Generation, that would be an exciting place for anyone to grow up. From what I've seen of his blog, Wil is a pretty grounded down-to-Earth geek, and I believe I'll be adding that blog to my sidebar.

T. Owens:Admittedly, Brice Beckham was one of sitcomdom's more obnoxious child actors. But as his character grew up on Mr. Belvedere, so did I, and there was many a shared lesson learned.

Snipes: White Men Can't Jump. Passenger 57. Money Train. Drop Zone. Demolition Man. Wesley Snipes was ridiculously over-the-top in that last Rodman-esque role, but I liked it. D-man is one of my guilty geek pleasures. My friend Curt has made a valid argument that in this post-Blade era of Snipes' career, he's less of an actor and more Wesley Snipes saying few words and acting cool. I have yet to see Trinity and enjoyed the first two Blades. Valid argument notwithstanding, I defy anyone to think of five people or characters named “Wesley”.

Westley?!: Damnit! In the car this seemed like such a good idea, and now I see that Cary Elwes' character in The Princess Bride was in fact “WesTley.” I don't care. I love that movie. If anyone cares to dispute this inclusion, let me remind you ”Never go in against a Sicilian when DEATH is on the line!”

Wyndam-Pryce: Joss Whedon is brilliant with characters, from their interactions to their evolutions. I knew his X-men was going to be good because I knew how he wrote from Buffy, Angel, and Firefly. Alexis Denisof was originally an annoying, clumsy, by-the-book Watcher during his stint on Buffy. When he was added to the cast of Angel as a comic-relief replacement for Doyle, a potentially great character who was killed off suddenly(followed sadly by the real life death of Glenn Quinn, the actor who portrayed him), it seemed a questionable decision at best, forcing camp into a series some thought was too dark. Eventually the series found the right balance of angst and comedy, and when it was cut short in its fifth season, really felt like a show about a supernatural superhero team. Whedon writing X-men was seriously a natural progression. As for Wesley, he went through the single most amazing evolution of any television character. Led to misinterpret a prophecy that Angel would slay his infant son, Wesley delivered the child to Angel's nemesis, who subsequently leapt into another dimension. Wes was betrayed by the nemesis' lackey, who slit his throat, and left him for dead. He survived, but Angel would not forgive him, even after his son returned a short time later as an angry teen because time moved differently in the other dimension(similar to Magik's origin, hinting that Joss may have been an X-men fan even then). Wes changed. He stopped wearing glasses, stopped shaving, started sleeping with an attractive but evil female lawyer. By the time he rejoined his friends, he was a gun-toting, trenchcoat-wearing John Woo figure. I can remember one episode where he leapt in slow motion sideways, drawing two pistols and firing repeatedly at a demon. He followed that move by drawing a shotgun. The creature had a rocky hide and so ammunition was futile, but it made for a very cool fight scene. And though Wes was tougher, he still had his booksmarts and knowledge of spells and demonology, and was an invaluable asset to the team. Peter David sums up his overall arc better than I could, but don't click if you don't care to know how it all ended.

There. Five Wes(t)leys; one great post. Hard to believe I once thought I had a Carbon Monoxide leak in my car.