Wil Wheaton's take on 'The Battle'

Wesley Crusher has fond memories of his time during the Star Trek: TNG episode The Battle. Well, not really, but it is an interesting read anyway. Best part,

((Look, introducing Wesley -- a teenager -- as part of the main crew is like introducing a new product that consumers may not like. How the new product is framed and presented is incredibly important, because they must be convinced that the new product doesn't threaten the things they are used to and love. I don't think it is possible for the writers to have failed more spectacularly on any of those points than they did in this episode. We only get one chance to make a first impression, and what's the first impression of Wesley as Acting Ensign Crusher? He "plays around" with things, which implies a lack of respect for them.))

I found Wesley’s insight into the actual story fascinating. During this time, writers were coming in and leaving fairly quickly. It wasn’t exactly a great writing environment to work in and many of the first season shows were pretty bad. The Battle was one of the better episodes.

Let’s look at what Mr. Crusher has to say about the Ferengi…

((It's too bad the Ferengi were initially portrayed in The Last Outpost as such complete idiots. Had their introduction not been such a laughable disaster, they could have been a formidable enemy, similar to what the Cardassians eventually became on Deep Space Nine. However, they suffer from the same first impression issues that plague Wesley Crusher.))

I couldn’t agree more. I think the writers early on dropped the ball with the Ferengi. You can’t have villains in Trek that only have greed on their minds.