Mina-san, Ohayou!
On 19 Dec Mike Noakes wrote:
: Besides, I thought it was kinda neat finding out that Wesley "I
: made sure to pack a warm sweater before taking off to explore the infinte
: dimensions of space/time" Crusher was a Rodenberry SI.
Actually, I don't think it was a *self*-insertion. I doubt that
it was Roddenberry who designed and wrote the character (although
I don't have any proof either way). I think Wesley was created by
the writers as an homage to Roddenberry, and in their eagerness to
pay tribute to the Star Trek creator they made Wesley into a Mary
Sue, leading to the fact that Wesley couldn't appear in an episode
without saving the Enterprise or at least the life of a main
character - and consequently to the existence of newsgroups named
alt.wesley.crusher.die.die.die and similar.
This is an example for my main point in the essay - that
self-insertion and Mary-Sue-ism are *not* the same. You can make
a character into a Mary Sue, even if they are not a representation
of yourself, and you can insert yourself without turning your
avatar into a Mary Sue.
Sebastian