io9: Wil Wheaton

What Superpower Should Wil Wheaton Have On Heroes?

Meredith Woerner — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 11:25:41 PST

Final proof that social networking can make the world a better place: Heroes' Greg Grunberg and baby-faced Wil Wheaton (Star Trek:The Next Generation) have been networking publicly on Twitter. And the upshot may be that Wheaton becomes the latest Trek veteran to pass on his wisdom to those troubled mutants. But which superpower should Wil Wheaton have? Click through to vote.

While we are normally against adding yet more guest stars to Heroes, this would be a quality catch as Wil is an actor I have been loving forever. Here is the entire Twitter chat between Grunberg and Wil:

From Grunberg's Twitter:

@WILW it's @greggrunberg from Heroes. Happy to be twittering you. I'm a fan. @Heroes @StarTrek about 11 hours ago from web in reply to wilw

Thinking how cool it would be for @WILW to have a cameo on Heroes. Will tell Tim and the writers tomorrow. Think he'd do it? about 11 hours ago from web

@wilw we need you to cameo on HEROES. how bout it? Let me know, it's Greg Grunberg from Heroes. Parkman. about 11 hours ago from web in reply to wilw

@wilw I'm sure Tim would LOVE to have you. I will talk to him tomorrow and see what he thinks. about 11 hours ago from web in reply to wilw

@wilw My twitter peeps are going nuts over the idea of having wilw on Heroes. Must make that happen. about 11 hours ago from web in reply to wilw

This is what Wil Tweets today!:

So this is unexpected: @greggrunberg says he likes my work, and wants to get me on Heroes. Says he'll talk to Tim Kring about it today. O_o about 1 hour ago from TwitterFox

Most excellent, we're totally down with this idea, just don't make him over-the-top evil, 'cause I like my Wheaton sweet.

What should Wil Wheaton's power be, should he score a cameo on Heroes?

Some Notable Absences at Comic-Con

Graeme McMillan — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 10:23:53 PDT

With this year's San Diego Comic-Con just around the corner, now is normally the time that publishers, movie studios, comic creators and various other celebrities start making the kind of noises that get fans excited about what's to come. This year, however, things are starting out slightly differently with the news that Paramount Pictures and publisher Tokyopop won't be exhibiting at the show.

Tokyopop's absence is just one in a long line of worries for the publisher, which has just been forced to pull back significantly on its publishing program, either releasing titles online only or cancelling them outright (One of the casualties of this decision is Brandon Graham's awesome King City), as well as having to make large-scale layoffs to its staff.

(One of the unexpected effects of Tokyopop pulling out? No Wil Wheaton at the con.)

Paramount's involvement, however, is slightly more in question. Initially, the studio had explained its absence by pointing out that their next big geek movies (including Transformers: Rise of The Fallen, the Star Trek remake and M. Night Shyamalan's live action version of Avatar: The Last Airbender) weren't coming out until next year, and that "the timing was off this year." But when Variety's Anne Thompson broke this story, she was contacted by a studio spokesman:

Paramount spokesman Mike Vollman just called me to say: "We have a vibrant and exciting schedule of activities planned for Comic-Con." The studio will be unveiling a number of marketing materials on these pics.

So, while they may not have a booth as such, apparently you'll still get fliers for all their products. It may not be as fun as a lifesize Iron Man armor, but I guess that it's something...?

(Flickr image by Karl Monaghan)

Comic-Con Update: Paramount Goes Viral [Variety]

Captain Wesley Crusher, Starfleet Investigative Services

Ed Grabianowski — Mon, 05 May 2008 08:00:00 PDT

The Star Trek franchise has always been about "big picture" stories, but the next Trek series should take the opposite approach, narrow the scope and focus on a few well-developed characters - primarily Wesley Crusher. Yes, the much maligned ensign should be brought back as the captain of a Starfleet science vessel that warps around the Alpha Quadrant solving mysteries for the Federation. Think of it as CSI . . . in space! Here's how it would work.

Sure, it's basically an "X...in space!" idea. And it could be difficult writing forensic mysteries with tricorders and ship's computers involved. And I know some of you would gnaw your own arms off to escape watching any TNG episode featuring Wesley Crusher. Still, the idea of Captain Crusher and his Oberth class starship investigating murders, thefts, temporal discrepancies and bizarre engineering puzzles is very appealing.

Why Wes Crusher? The link to the past is an obvious benefit, and leaves plenty of room for cameos by old friends. But more importantly, today's Wil Wheaton is not the Ensign Crusher you once knew and hated. If you've followed his post-Trek career at all, you know that he has a certain everygeek quality and self-effacing awareness of his somewhat annoying role in sci-fi history that is pretty charming. You can check out his blog for proof (he's apparently an io9 reader!). There's a little bit of Wil in each and every one of us - he's the nerd who got to actually be on Star Trek. In my mind (this idea literally came to me in a fever dream), Wil could convey a mature version of Wesley's wide-eyed enthusiasm, a captain who loves solving problems with science and never loses touch with that "Wow, this stuff is really cool" attitude.

Oh yeah, about that whole resigning from Starfleet and tripping around the universe with that space-hippie, The Traveler? One word: retcon. Photo by: Jake of 8bitjoystick.com.