Last week in my Star Trekking post, I began another look back at Star Trek: The Next Generation, this time putting the focus on specific characters from the series.
I started at the top of the hierarchy with Captain Jean-Luc Picard.
Where do I go next? Below is the list of who follows.
- La Forge, Geordie
- Crusher, Beverly
- Barclay, Reginald
- Guinan
- Crusher, Wesley
- Pulaski, Katherine
- Riker, William
- Ro Laren
- Q
- Troi, Deanna
- Worf
- Yar, Tasha
- O'Brien, Miles
- Troi, Lwaxanna
- Data
The list includes main characters and recurring guests on TNG.
And we're going to start today with Geordi La Forge.
When the cast for Star Trek: The Next Generation was first announced in 1987, it is likely the best known name on that list was Levar Burton. He was known for his iconic role of Kunte Kinte on the groundbreaking miniseries Roots and his warm, endearing presence as the host of the PBS kid's show Reading Rainbow.
Burton was cast as Geordi La Forge, a Starfleet officer with the distinctive characteristic of being blind. With the aid of a special visor, Geordi could see beyond the spectrum of normal human vision.
And... that was about it. There really wasn't much to Geordi La Forge beyond the vision gimmick and even that wasn't fully utilized. Season 1 threw some focus on Geordi in "Arsenal of Freedom" where he winds up in charge of the Enterprise, totally fails to rise to the occasion of leadership and in a panic, orders a saucer separation.
Season 2 improved things a bit by giving Geordi La Forge a purpose, making him chief Engineer of the Enterprise and developing a friendship with Data as seen in "Elementary, My Dear Data".
But for whatever reason, whether it was the writing or Levar Burton's acting or some other 3rd thing, episodes that focused on Geordi La Forge were never my favorites.
Episodes like "Identity Crisis", "Aquiel" and "Interface" seem to me to struggle to be interesting. Maybe Enterprise engineers are not supposed to be interesting. (I will admit that episodes of Star Trek TOS that focused on Scotty never interested me much either.)
"The Next Phase" was a good one where Geordi La Forge and Ro Laren are presumably killed but actually get turned into invisible, immaterial phantoms. It's fascinating to watch Geordi trying to science the shit out of his predicament while the only person who could possibly understand him is Data... who cannot hear or see him.
"The Mind's Eye" is an interesting twist on The Manchurian Candidate with a mind controlled Geordi being manipulated to carry out a Romulan plot.
Geordi La Forge's lack of being interesting actually works in this story's favor. Geordi being turned into a secret assassin is made more disturbing because Geordi is so dull and mundane.
No exploration of Geordi La Forge would be complete without the Dr. Leah Brahms episodes, "Booby Trap" and "Galaxy's Child".
In the first of these two episodes, Geordi La Forge is having some trouble solving a power drain being caused by some alien whatsit so he goes to the holodeck to re-create the lab where the Enterprise was first designed. The holodeck helpfully whips up an interface in the form of Dr. Leah Brahms, the chief designer of the Enterprise.
Holodeck Leah is super smart but also warm and compassionate and cute as a goddam button so yeah, Geordi starts to fall for her.
The second episode features the real Dr. Leah Brahms paying a visit to the Entherprise to find out what the hell the chief engineer is doing to her ship. Real life Leah is super smart but not so big on the warmth and the compassion and boy, she is so NOT cute when she discovers holodeck Leah.
SIDE NOTE: In the series finale "All Good Things", future Geordi La Forge refers to his wife and mother of his children as "Leah".
My personal favorite episode for Geordi La Forge is the 3rd season entry "The Enemy". Geordi is trapped on a hostile planet with a Romulan.
The crew of the Enterprise are in a quandry over a Romulan incursion through the Neutral Zone to a planet known as Galorndon Core.
There's a plotline playing out on the ship with a captured Romulan near death and only a blood transfusion from Worf can save him. Worf is all "fuck that" because Romulans killed his Klingon parents on Kitomer.
But this is a post about Geordi La Forge so let's keep our attention on Galorndon Core, a dark, cold, wind swept hellscape of a world, the darkness shattered by bursts of lightning like energy.
For reason of plot, Geordi missed his beam out window and is stranded on the planet. The planet's violent fluctuations of energy bursts are making his neuro-connection to his visor all wonky.
And he's not alone. There's another Romulan on the planet's surface. If Galorndon Core doesn't kill Geordi, then the Romulan will.
Bochra the Romulan tries to be all... well,you know, Romulan although his situation is as fucked up as Geordi's.
Geordi and Bochra get to know each other.
BOCHRA: You're afraid of dying.
LAFORGE: You bet I am. Who isn't?
BOCHRA: I'm not.
LAFORGE: Right.
BOCHRA: To die in the service of my people.
LAFORGE: Ah, the Romulan path to glory.
BOCHRA: You can be sarcastic now, but in a few millennia, when humans are extinct and the Romulan Empire spans the galaxy.
LAFORGE: You really believe that stuff, don't you, Commodore?
BOCHRA: You may address me as Centurion Bochra.
LAFORGE: Bochra? Good, solid Romulan name. What's the matter?
BOCHRA: Nothing.
LAFORGE: Wrong. Your heart rate just shot way up. (taps the Visor) It translates a wide range of radiation into neural impulses. Allows me to see.
BOCHRA: Without it, you're blind?
LAFORGE: Yes.
BOCHRA: How did this happen?
LAFORGE: I was born that way.
BOCHRA: And your parents let you live?
LAFORGE: What kind of question is that? Of course they let me live.
BOCHRA: No wonder your race is weak. You waste time and resources on defective children.
LAFORGE: Whoa. I must be having some sort of polarity shift. The diagnostic insists everything's fine. Hey, hey, your body temperature's gone up another full point.
BOCHRA: What are you saying?
LAFORGE: I don't know. It must be this place, all that electromagnetic soup, it's wreaking havoc on our nervous systems. Your metabolism's messed up, so's my interface with the Visor. We've got to get out of here while we still can.
While Bochra tries to talk the talk of Romulan superiority and bully Geordi La Forge into contrition, Geordi ain't having it. He has zero patience for Bochra's Romulan propaganda bullshit.
LAFORGE: Bochra, you're in bad shape and my vision's getting worse. Now there's a beacon out there that'll get us back to my ship, but not if I can't find it.
BOCHRA: I cannot surrender to the Federation.
LAFORGE: Then stay here and die.
BOCHRA: If the situation were reversed would you not die to avoid capture?
LAFORGE: I don't know. I might, if I thought it was necessary. If the stakes were high enough. But they'd have to be pretty damn high. I guess I'd make a pretty lousy Romulan, huh?
BOCHRA: I no more wish to die than you do.
LAFORGE: Bochra, there are times when it is necessary to die for one's ideals. Do you believe this is one of those times?
(Bochra puts down the phaser)
LAFORGE: Come on. Let's go find that beacon. Whoa!
BOCHRA: What is it?
LAFORGE: Everything's gone blank. I'm blind.
Reviewing that exchange, I can't help but relate this our current socio-political state here in America. Too many people trying to adhere to some kind of cultish ideology even when it's in conflict with their self interests. What happened in the most recent mid term election were candidates who, like Geordi La Forge, engaged in a counter to such ideology with a plain spoken appeal to pragmatism, to seeks solutions to make a bad situation better, to see beyond hate.
BOCHRA: I've lost almost all feeling in my legs.
LAFORGE: My synapses must be turning to jelly. The Visor's fine. I just can't see a thing.
BOCHRA: How do we locate the beacon?
LAFORGE: We don't.
BOCHRA: Do all humans give up so easily?
LAFORGE: Bochra, we're lost, unless you've got something that can smell neutrinos.
BOCHRA: We have the sensor device you are carrying.
LAFORGE: Tricorder? It's not set up to detect neutrinos.
BOCHRA: Your eye device does. Connect them.
LAFORGE: That's crazy. They don't speak the same language. Besides, I'd never be able to get an accurate sampling. Wait a second. Wait, I wouldn't need an accurate sampling, just need a pointer. A neutrino Geiger counter. No, it's still not possible.
BOCHRA: You cannot do it?
LAFORGE: Under normal circumstances, maybe. Here, no way.
BOCHRA: Why?
LAFORGE: Because I can't see. Adapting the neural output pods of the Visor is tricky work. It can't be done by touch.
BOCHRA: Then I will be your eyes.
So we get a Federation/Romulan alliance because two people realize they need each other to survive.
LAFORGE: Make sure the scanner select limiter matches the Visor output range.
BOCHRA: Not so fast.
LAFORGE: Now, place the neural output pods in contact with the tricorder scanner heads.
BOCHRA: Ready.
LAFORGE: Let her rip.
BOCHRA: Bearing three five zero.
LAFORGE: We did it! The first Federation-Romulan co-venture.
BOCHRA: The storm may be breaking.
LAFORGE: With any luck, there'll be an electromagnetic window opening up and we can get out of here.
BOCHRA: At which point, I'll be your prisoner.
LAFORGE: Can you walk?
BOCHRA: I don't know.
LAFORGE: Let's find out. Come on. (he hauls Bochra up) Okay, let's go.
BOCHRA: Straight ahead.
LAFORGE: Okay.
BOCHRA: To the right.
Geordi La Forge and Bochra struggle against their respective afflictions but successfully rewire the visor and make their way to the beacon.
In space, the Enterprise and a Romulan warbird are nose to nose on the edge of a fight. A stressful stalemate stymied by a timely beam up by Geordi and Bochra to the Enterprise bridge.
PICARD (to Bochra): No one is going to harm you.
LAFORGE: You have my word on that.
TOMALAK [on viewscreen]: If he has been in any way mistreated.
BOCHRA: I have given them no information, Commander, but I have not been mistreated. In fact, this human saved my life.
PICARD: Commander, we shall return your officer and escort your ship to the Neutral Zone.
TOMALAK [on viewscreen]: That is acceptable.
(Transmission ends)
PICARD: Good to have you back, Commander.
LAFORGE: Good to be back, sir. Actually, I have Centurion Bochra to thank for it.
Oh that darn Geordi! He can make friends with anybody, even an enemy like a Romulan.
He will do again with a Borg in "I Borg".
Whatever weaknesses Geordi La Forge may have had as a character, I do appreciate his gearhead approach to life's problems. What matters most to Geordi is the problem in front of him and the best way to solve it. He may lack the gravitas of Picard or the bravado of Riker but that's part of his everyman charm, I suppose.
Geordi La Forge is just here to help and will not let silly things like political ideology get in the way of a good solution.
Next week on Star Trekking, Dr. Beverly Crusher takes the spotlight.
Thanks as always to Chrissie's Transcripts Site for the script excerpts.
Until next time, live long and prosper and keep the warp core in optimal working order.
