LeVar Burton is why I am (1) a professional librarian and (2) a Trekkie.

@larryscarr3897

3 ай бұрын

But you don't have to take my word for it..😊😊

@nitehawk86

3 ай бұрын

Scotty and Geordi are 2 reasons why I went into software engineering.

I'm not american, so a I didn't know Levar Burton from Reading Rainbow, but his Geordi Laforge was my first black rolemodel as a kid (in Germany ). Part of my love for science is also thanks to this character. He always seemed so grounded (although beeing im space 🤣) and professional and was so often the only one who knew what was going on

@starshiptrooper2354

16 күн бұрын

My kids grew up watching him on reading rainbow. Great program

One thing I liked about LeVar is the fame from star trek didn't go to his head and he humbly returned to reading rainbow after TNG.

@QBCPerdition

3 ай бұрын

He didn't return, he never stopped. Reading Rainbow was and is a huge passion project for him.

@warshrike666

3 ай бұрын

Really i liked Levar too until i found out what a racist piece of garbage he actually is. Found out his family fought in the confederacy and was white. Que the meltdown totally disgusted me and ruined the character of Geordie.

@joshuapine9883

3 ай бұрын

Levar is a racist piece of shit

@ainsleydavid3541

3 ай бұрын

He's also a batshit crazy liberal that supports black supremacy, LGBT indoctrination on kids and almost got a stroke when he found out his ancestor was a white slave master, I'm black we don't care for levar we only like his character in star trek 😂 😊 😊😊😊😂

@mucy2807

3 ай бұрын

It’s shit boys. He’s a lefty, Hollywood tosspot who cares not for you lot. Hollywood, just saying. Check his hard drives……..😏

Ome thing about Geordi they mentioned at the beginning of the series but then dropped as a plotpoint is the headaches the visor gave him. That aways felt weird to me as they made a point in specifically bringing it up, but never actually followed up on it and at some point it just was forgotten and never mentioned again.

@GSBarlev

3 ай бұрын

I thought in "Encounter at Farpoint" Beverly basically said, "All your other doctors sucked. Gimme a week, and I'll have you fixed right up." I assumed that that happened off-screen.

@bricksloth6920

3 ай бұрын

I figured it was like anybody else who has chronic pain, he was expected to put a good face on and never mention it. But I might be a little jaded

@silversonic1

3 ай бұрын

As I recall, his headaches were mentioned as late as Season 5's Cause and Effect while Geordi was in Sick Bay.

@silversonic1

3 ай бұрын

​@@GSBarlevNo. She offered him alternatives, but he shot them down based on what he already knew about the VISOR's abilities. Dr. Pulaski would offer to replace his eyes in season 2, but it never went anywhere.

@kelleyk28

3 ай бұрын

Did anyone else read Peter David's "Q-Squared"? Great book! He mentioned it and in one time line, Geordi had it fixed. It was way before the movie. Weird that he covered it, but the show writers did not.

Man I would love for Snipes to play a Klingon warrior in something Trek

@MrTomSpencer

3 ай бұрын

After looking at his role as Simon Phoenix in Demolition Man I think he'd be a great villain.

@timeisakiller

Ай бұрын

Yeah.

I think my favorite character development nugget from PIC S3 is that, at the outset, Geordi outranks all of his former crewmates, with the exception of Picard himself.

@newprophet2011

3 ай бұрын

That is because, with the exception of Worf, he is the only member of the Enterprise command staff that maintained a consistent tenure in Starfleet. Troi retired, Crusher went off-the-grid to protect her baby, Picard resigned in disgust over the Romulan disaster, Data was considered lost, and Riker was in reserve status.

@DMSProduktions

3 ай бұрын

@@newprophet2011 Yep, hours put in COUNT!

My father once shook Levar's hand in an elevator. Upon coming home, my dad asked me to shake his hand. Right after doing so, he told me that he had shook Geordi's hand and had not washed his hand since. So, I guess I kind of shook Geordi's hand.

The hair clip is called a banana clip and what super popular in the mid 80's.

I remember watching that TNG episode of Reading Rainbow. Melted my mind.

@GR-nz3om

3 ай бұрын

It's what pointed me to star trek

@Houze968

3 ай бұрын

I think one of the scenes from that RR episode that stuck in my mind to this day was how they created the basic visual effects for the transporter sequence (at the time anyhow).... apparently, originally those effects were nothing more than glitter swirled in a cylinder of water and overlayed on

@funfact8660

3 ай бұрын

Roots

@spencerbissett3417

3 ай бұрын

My brothers and I (sons of librarians!) were always waiting and hoping to see the TNG episode of Reading Rainbow again!

@augiegirl1

2 ай бұрын

The channel “Grunge” released a video about Reading Rainbow about a month ago. I had NO IDEA that show started in Nebraska, even though I'm FROM THERE!

I was wowed so much by that Reading Rainbow behind the scenes episode I swore I’d work in TV one day. I grew up & worked as an editor in TV animation for 13 years & now I’m in features. Tried to tell LaVar this & thank him when he signed something for me at SDCC one year but Brent cut me off to show him a silver sharpie & how cool it was then I was ushered away for the next person. Felt a bit like Sheldon Cooper getting burned by Brent.

I definitely recognized Burton from Reading Rainbow, which was one of my favourite educational shows on PBS, when TNG premiered. I also recognized Brent Spiner as the rube from Night Court.

I didn’t start watching Star Trek until I was an adult but Reading Rainbow was such a big part of my childhood. I feel like Levar has been with me my whole life ❤❤

oh you'll milk that casting memo for ages: Picard was almost the first black captain, Keiko was considered for Tasha, The Traveller almost played Data, Crosby "the only possibility" for Troi and JD Roth for Wesley... this page is golden!

@jplum7708

3 ай бұрын

What??? I must have missed a bunch of episodes. 😂 Keiko was going to be Tasha? The traveller as Data? Looks like I've got some digging to do. Cool! Thank.

Baseball, Vampires, A Vulcan and a Predator. Kevin Peter Hall was on that list too.

@GabePuratekuta

3 ай бұрын

Who did he predate?

While it's not quite the same, I'd say that what they ended up doing on DS9 with Sisko's mother bears some resemblance to the idea for Geordi having secret alien parentage.

the fact that somewhere in the multiverse is a reality where Wesley Snipes played Geordi LaForge.....wow

11:35 - the E-sight devices are also said to have been inspired by Jordy's VISOR. Incidently, being legally blind La Forge is one of my all time favourite characters... it's still sci-fi, but he still is so inspiring

@chefdean7257

3 ай бұрын

Geordi. And Kudos !

I was 8 years old when Reading Rainbow debuted. It remains a favorite part of my childhood. Levar Burton played a pivotal role in my love of reading, and the many things that followed from that. It's small wonder he was one my favorite TNG characters. And, as in many things, even today he remains one of my heroes. 😻

It's not a main point in this video but it always makes me smile inside when I hear how close the cast of TNG is to this day and how the general rumors go about their relationships for the majority of the series/movies as well.

Reading Rainbow was what got me into Star Trek. I saw that episode with the behind the scenes stuff sometime in the early 90's and said "That looks cool. I need to watch that."

I think his role as a detective in Cameos Word Up video should have been on the list 😂😂

@TheSuperkooz

3 ай бұрын

yo i was thinking the exact same thing!

Levar does a podcast called "Levar Burton Reads". It's Reading Rainbow for adults.

As someone who is actually visually impaired myself, I'd like to thank you for mentioning the head warn magnification device. There are several others out there in existence now, many of which are better than that one, but it paved the way for these others to be developed.

Dude LeVar Burton inspired me to be the mechanical technician I am today plus reading rainbow helped me get interested in school and, I painfully hate to admit, helped me realize actors are people and characters are not people. Still he is the most influencing person in my life and yeah no one needs to be a hero, but they do need to know how to do their job 😆

Geordie La Forge and Data were my favorite characters in TNG. A good chuck of why La Forge was my favorite character was because of his actor, Levar Burton. I grew up on Reading Rainbow, so I was primed to like his character before ever seeing the show.

The episode of Reading Rainbow introduced me to Star Trek. Thank you LeVar

The name on the list that jumped out at me the most was Clarence Gilyard. He of Walker Texas Ranger and Die Hard (and the quarterback is toast) fame.

I always liked watching Reading Rainbow because of LeVar!!! I was ecstatic when i heard about the Reading Rainbow app!!!

The best engineer. Period.

My dad got me interested in Star Trek through TOS, and I grew up with Reading Rainbow. I was so excited when they made a new Trek series and gave Burton one of the main parts. It was like two of my best friends meeting each other.

When I was a kid I did not appreciate Geordi and LeVar Burton. I was too old for Reading Rainbow 🌈, so to me he was just Toby. However when I became an adult, I truly came to appreciate not only Reading Rainbow 🌈, but the Black representation on TNG.

I love that he did a reading rainbow episode of sttng

Fun fact, Levar was in the music video “Word Up” by the band Cameo…🤩🤩🤩

@brookatkins8111

3 ай бұрын

Say what ??? Gonna have to rewatch that ! I guess it’s a blink & you miss it ?

Always good to refresh trek knowledge

Levar Burton had a brief appearance on NCIS: New Orleans as Health Inspector Rufus Nero. He gave Wade all kinds of headaches.

There is a great interview with the man in a book I don't recall the name of which was not related to Star Trek around 2010. He is an interesting guy and very funny. Rolls his own cigarettes and will do anything to get the monologue done. Cool Cat.

Childhood crush. 🥰🥰 LeVar could still get it. ❤️

I really like the Geordi La Forge with his visor ,giving him a super human "cyborg" look , the he passes to contact lenses and it loses something , but I understand that was more confortable to the actor and easier to see is face . Always hoped the Visor V2 came back as Optical intensifier for Geordi to use from specific missions ,but never append

The names of Geordi's daughters mentioned in All Good Things are the same as the ones in Picard, so it would seem his marriage to Leah Brahms is still canon

@GR-nz3om

3 ай бұрын

Or maybe he just liked those names

@stove5035

3 ай бұрын

@@GR-nz3om possible, but seems unlikely that two different possible wives would have no impact whatsoever on the names of his kids

@GR-nz3om

3 ай бұрын

@@stove5035 those girls are not mixed

From slave Kunta Kinte in the year 1750 to a starship engineer in the year 2365. Has one man played 2 characters so far apart in status & years? While also hosting a children's program!! One the best to do it... Ladies, Gentleman & Trekkies, Mr. LeVar Burton👍

@battlesheep2552

3 ай бұрын

I dont know about children's shows, but off the top of my head Mel Gibson played Christ and Mad Max, that's like 2000 years.

@parkerottoackley6325

3 ай бұрын

Charlton Heston.... Moses, to, Planet of the Apes 😮

I noted an episode that I hadn't seen. That blew my mind. *_SEARCHING_*

I learned/taught myself how to use chopsticks because of an episode of Reading Rainbow. And eating at Asian restaurants has been so fun ever since! Everyone watching a mostly German white guy eating with chopsticks like I was born to it.

Geordi has received more promotions than any other crewmember on the Enterprise D or E.

After watching Picard, the 3 nacelle Enterprise D makes sense now that we know it's Geordi's personal project. You know how these weekend side projects go. You keep adding on & adding on, and it never gets finished...

Hey ... Patrick Stewart was in DUNE

I aways wondered about him and nice to see him doing well. He is my third favourite TNG character behind Data, Wolf and Picard....oh, sure, I like them all anyway, but you know what I mean. He is just awesome

@GabePuratekuta

3 ай бұрын

Wouldn't that make him your fourth favorite?

@andeeharry

3 ай бұрын

Yeah, I thought so too. I know, I made a mess of that@@GabePuratekuta

I remember when STNG first aired, I was still vety young and I had seen some StarTrek but really wasent in to it, my dad would take the TV hostsge for that hour or when any big game was. I didnt like it very much but it grew on me. Good times. Very few shows did we watch as a gamily. Double Dare was in right before STNG and my dad like all the other family LOVED it, so we had a quality hour and half of good family time.

Sisko also turned out to be half alien.

I like all those autographs. Identity Crisis was a creepy episode of Star Trek TNG was a parasite that turned Geordi into an alien ultra violet light being.

I always think of Holo-Brahms as the ship trying to seduce Geordi. I mean it's still creepy but it has a lot more narrative possibility if the ship is attempting to emote appreciation to the Lead Engineer. This doesn't change Real-Brahms taking umbridge and would still be an interesting psychological/diagnostic analysis of why the ship would use this opportunity to develop sentience.

@silversonic1

3 ай бұрын

Yeah. People do overlook the parts of Holo-Brahms speaking for the ship, such as when Geordi said nobody could do the necessary calculations to get out of the trap. "I can." "You mean the computer can..." Geordi himself shrugs the interaction off. Not to mention Holo-Brahms' parting words connecting her to the ship. Because she was the ship. It's not impossible, either. The computer made Moriarty, the Binars made Minuet, and in Emergence seemed to become sentient and gave birth.

@Adam_Boots

3 ай бұрын

I remember Geordi asking the computer to come up with the personality based on her logs. What Geordi interacted with is what the computer thought she was like, not what he wanted her to be. It would have been much creepier if Geordi had specified what she wanted her to be like.

I remember when the found the duplicate Riker he met with Troi and told he her he would never have made the choices Riker made. He would have chosen to stay. She did not point out that the marooned Riker would have made all of the exact choices the rescued Riker had made. This is one of those times were we get to see what would have happened to someone if events had played out separately. Up until the moment that the recued Riker metalized on the ship, and the marooned Riker materialized on the planet, they were both the same person. After this event they would have become different as each had different experiences. But the both would have responded identically to the events that took place to the other's experience chains. Though they were now very different people, they were both the person they would have become had there positions been reversed. In fact, reversing their positions would be meaningless.

Tim Russ as Geordi... ok that would have been something. But Wesley Snipes? omg...

I've just started watching your channel afew days ago I must say really enjoying them excellent work man

@null6634

3 ай бұрын

One thing I love from the channel are the Ups and Downs reviews of like every episode of Lower Decks and the other shows. They give a depth of knowledge on the ST universe, especially the Cetacean Observation parts. Also Sean and the other people on this channel take a positive point of view instead of the endless negativity found on a lot of the internet. This is one of my favorite YT channels.

@GabePuratekuta

3 ай бұрын

@@null6634 One thing that I love is that they're not rehashing the same videos or leaving the channel abandoned like most the the other WhatCulture ones.

I was a HUGE fan of Reading Rainbow, and I supported the attempt to resurrect it.

What suprises me most about the character is he is so rarely called by his last name. Picard. Riker. Dr Crusher. Troi. O'Brien. Ro. And Geordi? Why is he so rarely referred properly as LaForge?

No mention of Captain LaForge in an episode of Voyager?

Sacramento's own Levar Burton, 916 salute!

In point 6. You completely left out the fact the Ben Sisko was indeed half alien like they originally wanted Geordie to be.

Could you do a comparison video Geordi vs Scotty? It could be fun battle for the title of best engineer 😉

@funfact8660

3 ай бұрын

O'Brien and Torres would have something to say

@GSBarlev

3 ай бұрын

Look-I love Geordi, but I think the definitive ranking goes: Pelia < Billups < Hemmer < Geordi < Reno < Scotty < B'Elanna < Trip < *O'Brien*

@quikesteve

3 ай бұрын

@@GSBarlev How about a ranking video of all main canon engineers?

@QBCPerdition

3 ай бұрын

Just watch the episode Relics. LaForge vs Scotty in canon...and I think Geordi comes out on top.

On that list for Geordi was also Kevin Peter Hall, he played the role of the Predator, in.. Predator.

3:37 Jenny Augutter from Logan's Run as Dr. Crusher would have been interesting. Runner!!!

#1. Geordi is thirsty AF 🤤😅

So the VISOR can see all light across all the electromagnetic spectrum... does that mean Geordi can literally read the rainbow?

3:30 fascinating list!

One thing they missed out on with Geordi was exploring other uses for his visor. They touched on using it twice as almost using it as a body cam and linking with probes, but then never mentioned it again. Same with how they just abandoned Datas quest to build more androids... and then magically revealed Data spawned a whole race of them.

If Snipes had gotten that role, TNG would have been SO different.

More Tinykid and you'll hit a million in no time. Like... Every video should star Tinykid. Cheese is also top notch. Great narrators. Top notch always.

Really cool stuff.

At 8:50; Leah Brahms did not design the Enterprise engines, but was the leader of the design team and was responsible for their production, despite improvements left on the table that Geordi would incorporate, including some modifications to those improvements and some of his own. There's a 20th century expression that fits, "Shoot the Engineer and go into production." ;-) My character T'airn'KA (alien, warp drive specialist and accidental time traveler) tried to have at least some of the improvements added, but was overruled by Brahms and upper management.

It's funny to think how so many other people could have been actors behind the characters, somewhere in all those supposed alternate universes, as created by decisions we make diverging into such realities, there's an incredibly different and entirely different cast for TNG...

point six more for harry kim, was Benjamin Sisko deep space nine when he discover about his mother and while searching for the orb of the emissary

@tetravega567

3 ай бұрын

The Sisko is of Bajor

Omg I had no idea about number 4!

Always wished for a clip of Levar, in VISOR, perusing the ingredients list of a pack of Skittles. 🤓

the photo at 0:36 goes so hard

I believe Super7 needs to create the STTNG Ultimate figure of LTCMDR La Forge, Troi, Dr. Crusher, Ensign Crusher, LT Barclay, Q, etc

Awesome character and so cool 😁

When i was a kid, I never missed an episode of Reading Rainbow.

How many of us held a banana clip up to our face as kids pretending to be Geordie?

The video at 3:07 where is that from? I saw a video years ago showing the different actors modeling the uniforms with different poses but could never find it again. I think that is from that. Thanks.

Hi guys I've been around since before you had 100 K subscribed Keep up the good work 💪 And thanks for lowering the background music 🎶 It's distracting sometimes

3:22 This is fascinating. What might have been. Yaphet Kotto as the Captain? He would've been a good choice. But, I'm glad they picked Stewart. But, Wesley Snipes as Geordi? I love Wesley Snipes, but that would've been a bad choice.

I actually thought I was already subscribed! I am now! :)

Yeah this episode gets a platinum up from me

Riker’s ancestor Thaddeus must have been a close friend of Stanley Hazard.

SOOOO... in the list of potential actors, you're just gonna skip over KEVIN PETER HALL who went on the play the PREDATOR in the first two Predator films??

I think levar is also In "word up video" by Cameo , and i am not 100% sure of this one but also I think kate mulgrew is Pat benatar video for 'Running with shadows of the night" (2.50 min ish) looking very young

I had no idea Geordi was blind.

6:19 - ALIEN FATHER? EARTH MOTHER? Sounds like Starlord's entire backstory in 'Guardians of the Galxay' series of movies. Spock also had an alien father. B'lanna Torres had an Earth father, Alien mother. Deanna Troi was mother to child of an alien entity.

2:57 Come on Sean, PS was known in the UK, on the stage. It was the mid 1980s, there was no internet and hardly any UK media making it across to the US, and stage productions weren’t broadcast widely in the UK. Saying PS, who is now arguably more famous, was as known as LeVar Burton is just silly

That scene where Geordi growls at Jack "Stay way from my daughter"... Geordi might has well have told his daughter "You're having his babies"

@whitewolf3051

3 ай бұрын

While I haven’t seen any of ST Picard, other than video clips on KZread, that means Geordi’s grandkids will have heck of family tree. Howard - Crusher’s maiden family before she married into the Crusher family, Picard, LaForge, and whoever Geordi’s wife’s family is. That’s quite pedigree just with Picard and Dr Crusher alone, toss in LaForge and his wife’s family, and it gets more...hectic?!

7:30 was that Charles Fleischer?

Would be curious to know the number of episodes of TNG in which LaForge wore a beard, lol. A very random thing to ask, but I've been wondering for the longest time nonetheless

Ha! There were only, like, 9 things on that list that I didn't know.

If more people were like LeVar Burton, the world would be a better place.

I already knew ALL of these facts. Mind you this is now the second time I've watched it sooooooo..... 😂

I have wonder how much the visor prob interfered with Burtons vision. Also what did they use to white out is eye and how did they attach those red divots to his temples.

I knew that Geordi, along with Data, always ridicule Worf loosing poker games.

On the subject of Geordie's relationships, in the novels (before ST Picard came along) Geordie was seeing both Leah Brahms And Dr Tamala Harstadt. And both women knew about each other. When on Earth he would 'catch up' with Leah and when on the ship he would have his way with Tamala. Jammy sod.

This is going to be interesting but I still want to know where the hell the retro ups and downs are

Talk about the episode where Jordy tells them we can tell when humans are lying because of his visors inputs and this is actually why he seldom plays poker he can find out and he feels like he’s cheating