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Time to geek out gladly over the marvels of maintenance and engineering.
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00:00The man, the legend, the engineer extraordinaire, it is the article about Geordie. What has this
00:07man done for Star Trek? What has Star Trek done for this man? Let's find out as we dive in. I'm
00:12Sean Ferrick for Trek Culture and here are 10 things you didn't know about Geordie LaForge.
00:17Number 10. Away teams and jealous pupils. After 20 years or thereabouts, Star Trek was returning
00:22to live action television. What Gene Roddenry had defined in a 16-page pitch in the 1960s was now a
00:2848-page treatment for the show that had to follow. The Star Trek The Next Generation writer's
00:32director's guide, aka the series Bible, sets out then as much as this new Trek was as what it was
00:38not, what had and had not been changed from the original. A similar process of transformation
00:42occurred to the character of Geordie from those first jots of ink to the screen. Down in writing
00:46as Lieutenant J.G. Geordie LaForge, there is much that is the same about the character in his initial
00:52biblical sketch. With all the sensitivity of the late 80s, lol, Geordie is described as birth defect
00:59blind but with prosthetic super high-tech artificial eyes. He was already best friends with data, however
01:04in this Geordie was assigned the role of away mission regular with no mention of the con or
01:09engineering. Perhaps the oddest point of difference in the Lieutenant's extended bio, which thankfully
01:14didn't make it to air, is that his speciality was the Starship School for Children. Odd way to say
01:19teacher, but okay. Geordie would have equally to deal with a gaggle of pupils jealous of his
01:24vision abilities so marvelously beyond their own. Another reason in retrospect that they shouldn't
01:30have allowed kids on board a bloody Starship. Number nine, George LaForge. During the very beginnings
01:35of the creation process for Star Trek The Next Generation, Gene Roddenberry had expressed his desire
01:39to have a disabled crew member on board the Enterprise D, as stated in the 50-year mission The Next 25
01:44Years. It was story editor, creative consultant David Gerald who had written for Star Trek The
01:49Original Series and started the Animated Series, who then prepared a memo listing various disabilities
01:54from which Roddenberry focused on blind. The first casting call for a Lieutenant Geordie LaForge,
01:59as given in Star Trek The Next Generation, The Companion, further indicated that, with the
02:04help of a special prosthetic device, Geordie's vision far surpasses anything the human eyes can
02:09see. The story behind the creation of Geordie's visor will be discussed now in a few minutes.
02:13In choosing a name for the character, David Gerald looked to honour the memory of one fan of the
02:18original series in particular, George T LaForge Jr., who had suffered from muscular dystrophy
02:23and sadly passed away in 1975, aged only 19. Gerald suggested the name to Roddenberry who
02:28thought it was a terrific idea. Our honoured fan also has his namesake in Beta Canon. In
02:32Gerald's 1980 Star Trek novel The Galactic Whirlpool, there is an admiral George LaForge,
02:38and in the 2016 Star Trek Enterprise novel Live by the Code by Christopher L. Bennett, Captain
02:43George LaForge features as one of Geordie's ancestors. Number 8, Baseball, Vampires, and
02:48a Vulcan? The Star Trek The Next Generation Companion gives LeVar Burton as the most recognisable
02:53name among the band of space newbies at the time of casting for The Next Generation. Well,
02:57there was that unknown Shakespearean actor. Burton had already been lauded for his role in
03:01the hugely successful series Roots and for Reading Rainbow. Before Burton got the part, however,
03:06there were a few other recognisable faces in the running for the role of Geordie LaForge. In a memo dated 13th of
03:11April 1987 that was never meant to be seen outside of Paramount, but that found its way onto the
03:15internet via Slice of Sci-Fi in 2006 and then to Trek Movie in 2010, can be seen a list of actors in
03:21consideration for roles in The Next Generation. Under Geordie, amongst others, is Baseball Hall
03:26of Famer and actor Reggie Jackson, given as the favourite for the part, as well as future vampire
03:30hunter Wesley Snipes, who told Collider in 2021 that he had been disappointed when he found out he
03:35hadn't got the Geordie role. There's a final name that immediately stands out in the memo,
03:39Tim Russ. He very nearly got to play Geordie too, it seems. In the 1995 documentary Star Trek Voyager
03:45Inside the New Adventure, Rick Berman stated, a good point of trivia for fans of Star Trek,
03:50Tim Russ was the first runner-up for the role of Geordie eight years ago. Now it's sweet revenge
03:54for Russ. Still, that didn't stop the writers trying to get a joke into the Voyager scripts
03:58about this Geordie fact. Number seven, shoot at will and Riker too. LeVar Burton currently holds
04:04joint first place for the most Star Trek episodes directed by a Star Trek cast member,
04:08nine of Enterprise, eight of Voyager, ten of Deep Space Nine, and two of The Next Generation. That's
04:1329 for who's counting. Only Jonathan Frakes is up there on the podium alongside him, with 28 episodes
04:19already directed, plus one upcoming confirmed for season five of Star Trek Discovery. Of course,
04:24Frakes was behind and in front of the camera in both Star Trek First Contact and Star Trek
04:27Insurrection, so that does make two more in the directorial one-upmanship Frakes already directed
04:33Star Trek Klingon the video game. In his first ever turn as director on Second Chances, Burton would
04:37have to shoot two versions of Riker Frakes through complex blue screen and stunt work, calling it
04:42trial by fire in the season six TNG DVD extra Bold New Directions. In that, Burton also largely credits
04:47the fine example of Jonathan Frakes for inspiring him to take on the directorial role in the first place.
04:53He would direct Frakes again in another Riker-heavy episode, The Pegasus. By his absence,
04:58Geordi took a more literal shot at Will Riker in the Star Trek Voyager's Death Wish. In the episode,
05:04we find out that the Q, Quinn, rescued Will Riker's wounded ancestor Thaddeus Riker from the front lines
05:10of the American Civil War. In the first draft of the script, however, it was Geordi's great-great-grandfather
05:15that was saved by Quinn. In that version, if Quinn hadn't intervened, and in a knowing wink to the
05:19real-life audition process, Geordi would never have been born and Tuvok would have become chief engineer
05:24of the Enterprise-D. Number six, save that one for Harry Kim. During the run of Star Trek The Next
05:30Generation, a storyline was pitched for Geordi LaForge that would have dramatically changed the
05:34character forever. As Jerry Taylor described it in the 50-year mission, The Next 25 Years,
05:39we wanted to make Geordi an alien. He was going to discover that his father was not who he thought he
05:43was, and that his mother had an almost Rosemary's Baby kind of thing and had been impregnated by an alien.
05:48As a result, Geordi was actually half-alien, and now, at his present age, his people were coming back to
05:53get him. Of course, that plan never made it to screen, but if it sounds familiar, then it's
05:56because it's pretty much half of the premise for Identity Crisis, wherein a parasite from Tarkannon
06:013 transforms Geordi, non-permanently, into an alien. The idea is even more similar to what happened to
06:06Harry Kim in Favourite Son. In that episode, Kim's metamorphosis was a Terezian retroviral trick. Had
06:13they followed the initial script for Favourite Son, however, Kim would have discovered that he had,
06:17like the plans for Geordi, really been an alien all along, and would continue to be so.
06:21Number 5. He's a Rainbow
06:23Those who grew up in the United States, and undoubtedly a good number of those who didn't,
06:27will already be eminently familiar with LeVar Burton's iconic work as host of the children's
06:31educational TV series Reading Rainbow, which ran on the PBS network from 1983 until 2006. The show
06:38then became a veritable American institution, both it and Burton garnering a multitude of awards.
06:43The worlds of Reading Rainbow and Geordi LaForge have intersected on several occasions,
06:47as part of the first episode of Reading Rainbow's sixth season, aired in 1988 and entitled The Bionic
06:52Bunny Show, a name also fit for one of Data's poetry recitals, Burton gives viewers quite a
06:57detailed behind-the-scenes look at making Star Trek The Next Generation, then filming its first season.
07:02In the episode, audiences were also treated to the first ever Next Generation bloopers, including one
07:07where part of a clapperboard falls on a startled Geordi slash Burton at the helm. In 2014, Burton launched
07:12a Kickstarter campaign to vastly expand the reach of his Reading Rainbow app, to bring Reading Rainbow
07:18back for every child everywhere. His fellow Star Trek actors turned out and forced to help. Burton
07:23hosted a series of Reading Rainbow live fundraising events with his Next Generation co-stars and Kate
07:28Mulgrew, Jerry Ryan and William Shatner as special guests. Star Trek Enterprise alum Seth
07:32McFarlane also pledged to match $1 million of the whopping $5,408,916 ultimately raised by the
07:42Kickstarter. Number 4. Variations on a theme of Brahms. How is Leah, Picard asked Geordi in the alternate
07:49future Vineyard of all good things. Just wonderful, busy as ever, the former Enterprise D engineer, now 25-ish
07:55years older, replies. Whilst no surname is given in the exchange, it's certainly more than implied that
07:59this particular Leah is Leah Brahms, the prodigious Warpfield theorist we first met in Booby Trap. The
08:05novelization of All Good Things does, in fact, confirm this as such. After Geordi's highly inappropriate
08:11behavior in Booby Trap, and then again in Galaxy's Child, one might have expected him to be dragged to
08:16the 24th century version of the HR department, at least not down the aisle. Nonetheless, and this despite
08:22the fact that Dr. Brahms already had a husband in Galaxy's Child, the theme of Geordi and Leah seemingly
08:27inevitably going to get married is one of that recurs in beta canon. For example, Brahms has given
08:33us Geordi's first wife in Star Trek Online, and in the Star Trek Countdown from 2009 comics, the pair
08:40are said to be married. Geordi's behavior toward Dr. Brahms clearly made LeVar Burton uncomfortable too.
08:45As he told the Shuttlepod show in 2023, as part of Geordi's canon, he had stalked this woman who
08:50designed the Enterprise engines, Dr. Leah Brahms. He had created a hologram, and then she came on the ship,
08:56and he met her. And it was like, wow, what a creepy freaking thing to do. I didn't dig it at all.
09:02Thankfully, Geordi was about to get some much needed character development in the form of Star
09:06Trek Picard's third season. Number three, Shards of Night Night? When asked by a journalist from
09:12Gizmodo's io9 why he felt the time was right to return to Star Trek, LeVar Burton replied,
09:17Terry Metallus, twice. Burton then went on to praise Metallus for his openness to input from the actors
09:22on their character's development prior to Star Trek Picard's third season. In the Shuttlepod show,
09:27Burton stated that the only character request he'd made of Metallus for Star Trek Picard was to move
09:31away, as he put it, from the hackneyed trope of the engineer is awkward around women. Burton wanted
09:37Geordi to have a healthy relationship and a family. Metallus and the writers certainly provided him
09:41with that in the best possible way. In an interview for Entertainment Weekly, Metallus revealed that he
09:45and Burton even shared a tearful moment over Zoom when they first discussed Geordi's arc for the season.
09:50Art then followed life as Burton's daughter, Mika Burton, was cast to play Elantra LaForge.
09:55In March 2023, father and daughter appeared together on The View, hosted, in part, by none other than
10:00Whoopi Goldberg. Thirty-some years ago, Goldberg had given a baby Mika an embroidered cashmere blanket
10:06that came to be called Night Night. Symbolic, perhaps, of both the permeance and change that was balanced
10:12so brilliantly for all of the TNG characters in Picard's third season, Mika still holds on lovingly
10:17to what is now the shards of Night Night. Number two, Geordi's visor. The Star Trek The Next Generation
10:24writer-director's guide goes into some detail about what was at that point referred to as
10:28Geordi's unusual prosthetic device, which allowed him to perform some of the functions of a tricorder
10:33by extending his vision well beyond the visible spectrum into the ultraviolet and the infrared.
10:38The guide Bible also mentions that there were even plans for Geordi to get a replacement set of human
10:43eyes in one episode, which would end up being a huge disappointment for him. According to The
10:49Next Generation Companion, to create Geordi's visor, visual instrument, and sensory organ replacement,
10:54as we know it today, the art department worked for about three months on different designs and
10:58prototypes without much success. Michael Okuda then brought in a plastic hair barrette, which
11:03repurposed to fit, did the job surprisingly well for a lot less money. In The Next Generation Season 1 DVD
11:09extra The Making of a Legend, LeVar Burton also gives the visor acronym as Visual Input Sensory
11:14Optical Reflector, which is perhaps a little better than its actual name. Geordi's visor has also
11:18directly inspired real-world technology aimed to assist those with visual impairments, most notably
11:24Enhanced Vision's NASA Research Geordi Joint Optical Reflective Display. The device, still on sale,
11:30is a wearable digital magnifier that uses an HD camera for distance, intermediate, and near viewing
11:36for people with low vision, and has an HDMI input for people watching TV. Number one, The Day Mars
11:42Stood Still. The character we met at the beginnings of the 25th century was markedly changed, yet still
11:48the same Geordi, now a Commodore, so outranking Riker. He was also a family man, more cautious,
11:53understandably less willing to charge headlong into the fray. Plus, he'd spent the last 20 years on one
11:58hell of a side project. For LeVar Burton, Bounty, from Star Trek Picard's third season, was the first time he had
12:03played LaForge since Star Trek Nemesis, although he did lend his voice to Star Trek Online in 2017
12:08for the featured episode Beyond the Nexus, and then again in the game's season 14. Geordi was also a
12:14main player in the beta canon, canon-ish works, and the run-up to one major galactic event for two
12:20universes, the Romulan Hobus Supernovae. All the way back in 2009, Geordi appeared in Star Trek Countdown,
12:26the four-part comic book prequel series set to J.J. Abrams' Star Trek, set in 2387. In it,
12:31Geordi has resigned from Starfleet and taken to Starship Design, most notably of the jellyfish
12:36of later Spock and Red Matter fame. In case you didn't get the Tekking Clock of Impending Doom
12:41hint the first time, another pre-nova prequel comic series entitled Countdown was released
12:46in 2019 and 2020, this time prefaced by Star Trek Picard. In this series, Geordi has the Herculean
12:53task of heading up construction of the Romulan evacuation fleet at Utopia Planitia shipyards.
12:58This fact is then picked up in Una McCormick's 2020 novel, Star Trek Picard,
13:02The Last Best Hope, whereupon Mars is set aflame by the rogue since.
13:06That's everything for our list, folks. Was there anything that blew your mind or anything that
13:10you were like, nah, I already knew that? Let us know in the comments below. Thank you so much
13:13to the wonderful Jack Coyde for writing the article upon which this is based. You can catch
13:16that over on whatculture.com. I have been Sean Farrick, you can catch me on the various socials
13:20just by typing in my name. And don't forget to follow Trek Culture on the various socials as well.
13:24Folks, we are so close to 300,000 subscribers. If you, my lovely friends, would be so kind as to
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13:37thank you so much to everyone who has already done that and thank you so much who is doing that now.
13:42Yous are all bleeding awesome. Look after yourselves until I'm talking to you again. Remember,
13:47you are wonderful. You are amazing. There is only one of you, so treat it well. Thanks very much, folks.
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