If I had to put it in one sentence it would go like this: the Memories of the Futurecast podcast version (iTunes link) of Wil Wheaton’s book Memories of the Future is the funniest thing I heard during the last 6 weeks and those 13 episodes undoubtedly lifted me up in a time when I needed it.
The long version is longer. Star Trek The Next Generation (TNG) was on German television, and I may be wrong, but it was the first rerun (What is a rerun? – Oh, you’ll find out…). My best buddy and I had this plan of taping every single episode. It must have been somewhere between 1993 and 1995. I remember I used to watch every episode. And I think I had a crush on Troi. I loved the holo deck. And Data. (Well who didn’t love Data.) Somebody gave me a book for my birthday, the Beckmesser’s Guide to The Next Generation – it had all the continuity errors and other trivia in it, and somewhere I think I have a coffee table book about the 7th season. I must have been seriously into it, although listening to Wheaton’s podcasts I had to think really hard who Tasha Yar was… In the end, we had a big box full of VHS tapes, we had every episode. To get some was really tricky – I was on a week-long vacation and had written specific instructions for my mom, for when to change to a new tape, what buttons to press, but she did fine. That box was collecting dust until my parents separated and I had to take a good look at what was in the attic. There was the box. Never. Watched. A. Single. Episode. Again. I called my buddy and we agreed to put it to rest. I think that was 2002, and even in Germany you had to search hard for somebody who would’ve taken the tapes, even as a gift.
Anyway, Wheaton wrote a book about how he remembers TNG, well, being ON The Next Generation since he played Wesley Crusher. It is very funny. Living in Germany and almost always being behind trends, I didn’t know there were Wesley-hate-clubs, although listening to him recounting some of the dialogue and synopsis, I have no trouble understanding this. He (Wheaton) would probably be the subject of some Where are they now show, had he not stood the test of time (he’s actually pretty exactly my age 😮 ). He acts, does voice acting and writes. Yeah, there’s more than this sweater to the man, and I swear his voice sounds like George Clooney at times.
Well. Listening to the Memories of the Futurecast had me erupting with laughter, chuckling to myself and “hah”-ing several times. Too bad I don’t ride the subway anymore, I love those incidents. To everybody, go check it out. To Wil: Thanks.