Levar Burton lets us know what it was really like under Geordi's visor

You are communicating with the only person on the planet that (apart from the movies) has never seen STTNG! Do you recall season and episode, because I want to see how – if at all – they accounted for (or were themselves baffled by?) the clothing change (much less their ages)!

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IMDb: Star Trek: The Next Generation: Rascals
"Star Trek: The Next Generation" Rascals (TV Episode 1992) - IMDb

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Thanks! So, this is how I learn that one of Leonard Nimoy’s kids is a director? I see a very deep rabbit hole looming into view.

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I think you might be slightly misremembering. Their clothes were all a bit oversized when they stepped off the transporter (especially obvious in Lt. Rho on right) but they were provided with tween-sized outfits soon after.

rascals

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Now I believe the science. :wink:

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“Ro”

The character’s name is Ro Laren.

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That was one of those episodes where I was more than happy to let them throw scientific plausibility out the window because it provided an excuse to watch lil’ Picard have to throw a temper tantrum.

tantrum

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I’ll dis’ him a little for all of us. I like him as an actor, but as an interviewer I found him annoying. He kept cutting off Levar, talking over him, and asking inane questions. Levar has a lot of very interesting things to say if you’d let him speak and let him guide the conversation. Rob is doing a TMZ interview but Levar deserves a Terry Gross interview. Show the man some respect, FFS. He’s earned it.

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Apologies if my post implied the video wasn’t good. I only meant the headline was a trifle misleading, and the body lacking relative to it. If you came looking for his take on the visor, it didn’t require watching a nine minute video to get it.

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Tangentally related: I think that one of the things that I found mesmerizing about Fred Rogers when I was a kid was the fact that he was talking directly to YOU on the television. That and his great calm.

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The way all that hair is bouncing around! Were there any jokes about that?

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Best interview questions ever.

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AIUI today’s implants have something like six or ten or so electrodes each—whereas a young person with “normal hearing” can probably distinguish a thousand different pitches :thinking:

Rob Lowe is a great example of an actor who is loveable in character but kind of a POS in real life

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And has/had sex with teenagers.

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I find that is the default for a good number of US talk show hosts. I’ve given up on most of them because I kept shouting at the screen “Shut up and let the guest speak!!!”

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So, I wasn’t the only one who put on my sister’s hair band to imitate this?

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Whereas the hair bands in Star Trek were largely inspired by the previous generation of glam rock.

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Technology doesn’t develop in a straight line; a society that prioritizes engineering over biomedical research may very well develop interstellar travel before being able to grow people new eyes.
To those who might say that the bigger accomplishment is the lack of stigmatization of disability, I would say that that may be true but as someone with a pretty severe sight-related disability, I’d much rather have a readily available solution that wouldn’t require bolting some gadget to my face.

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The real reasons for Geordi to get the visor were:

  1. It was a way to include visible representation of people with physical disabilities in the show. Throughout the run of ST:TNG and its movies there were hints that Geordi could have upgraded his prosthetic for a conventional looking sight aid sooner, but chose not to because he didn’t feel any need to conform to other people’s expectations. Riker, who was briefly made an honorary Q, even used his powers to restore Geordi’s sight but Geordi asked him to turn him back to the way he was. Years later, the villain from Star Trek: Generations scoffed at Geordi’s choice not to wear a “normal”-looking prosthetic just to underscore how evil he was.
  2. By making the visor a surgical appliance that only worked for Geordi it gave his character unique abilities that turned what might have otherwise been considered a liability into something akin to a superpower. If anyone could put on a super-vision-granting VISOR whenever they wanted then he wouldn’t be as valuable a crew member.
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