This date in 2335 will be the birthdate of Geordi La Forge, character on Star Trek the Next Generation.
He is portrayed by LeVar Burton. Other actors considered for the role were Wesley Snipes, Reggie Jackson, Kevin Peter Hall, Clarence Gilyard, and Tim Russ (Tuvok on Star Trek: Voyager).
La Forge was born on February 16, 2335, in Mogadishu, Somalia of the African Confederation on Earth to Silva La Forge, a Starfleet command track officer and eventual Captain of the USS Hera (NCC-62006) and Edward M. La Forge, a Starfleet exozoologist. He has a sister, Arianna. He has said that with two parents in Starfleet he was an "army brat", frequently moving homes depending on where his parents were stationed. Burton's own youth was similar: he was born on an American military base in Germany.
Geordi's parents were played by Madge Sinclair and Ben Vereen. Sinclair has played Burton's mother in four different projects. She also played his wife in Roots.
La Forge has been blind since his birth and uses technological devices that allow him to see, most notably his trademark VISOR. VISOR is an acronym for "Visual Instrument and Sight Organ Replacement". It scans the electromagnetic spectrum, creating visual input, and transmits it into the brain of the wearer via the optic nerves. The prop used on the show, however, is nothing like as high tech as that. On the first day of filming, they improvised, using an automotive air filter and a hair band. Burton has said the device was unpleasant to wear. 85 to 90% of his vision was lost while wearing it, which he said was quite ironic: he was playing a blind man who could see thanks to this device but in reality he was a sighted actor rendered almost blind by the prop. It also gave him constant headaches.
He attended Zefram Cochrane High School and Starfleet Academy from 2353 to 2357. In 2357, he was assigned as an ensign aboard the USS Victory under Captain Zimbata. He was then transferred to the USS Hood serving with then Lt. Commander William Riker, during which he was promoted to lieutenant junior grade.
He got the gig on USS Enterprise-D because he once stayed up all night to fix a shuttle craft for which Captain Jean-Luc Picard had reported a minor problem. This devotion to duty impressed Picard so much that he requested La Forge on his next command.
He served as helmsman of the USS Enterprise-D in the first season of The Next Generation, then occupied the role of the chief engineer for the rest of the series and in the films before appearing as a commodore in Picard.
The character was named for George La Forge, a quadriplegic fan of the original Star Trek series, who died in 1975.
La Forge has two daughters, Alandra and Sidney, who joined Starfleet by 2401. Like their father, Alandra has become an engineer while Sidney has become a pilot.
Gene Roddenberry originally planned for La Forge to be gay, while the show’s producers originally planned to make La Forge a teacher in the starship’s school. There were also plans to have La Forge revealed as an alien. He was going to discover that his father was not who he thought he was, and his mother had been impregnated by an alien. There was to be a storyline in which his alien relatives came to get him, but the idea was abandoned.
Beta
(Combat Team Series #2)
Steff was abducted by an evil alien race, the Orbs, at fourteen. Used as a weapon for years, he eventually escapes, but his problems are just beginning. How does a man support himself when his only work experience is a paper round and using an Orb bio-integrated gun?
Warlord is an alien soldier who knows little but war. When the centuries-old conflict which ravaged his planet ends, he seeks out another world where his skills are still relevant. There are always wars on Earth, it seems. However, none of Earth's powerful armies want him.
Natalie has always wanted to visit England and sees a chance to do so while using her martial arts skills, but there are sacrifices she must make in order to fulfil her dream.
Maggie resorted to crime to fund her sister's medical care. She uses her genetic variant abilities to gain access to the rooms of wealthy hotel guests. The Ballards look like rich pickings, but they are not what they seem. When Maggie targets them, little does she know that she is walking into a trap.
Hotel owner Hamilton Lonsdale puts together a combat team to pit against those of other multi-millionaires. He recruits Warlord, Natalie, Maggie and Steff along with a trained gorilla, a probability-altering alien, a stockbroker whose work of art proved to be much more than he'd bargained for, a marketing officer who can create psionic forcefields, a teleporting member of the landed gentry, and a socially awkward fixer. This is Combat Team Beta.
Steff never talks about his time with the Orbs, until he finds a woman who lived through it, too. Steff believes he has finally found happiness, but it is destined to be short-lived. He is left with an unusual legacy which he and Team Beta struggle to comprehend; including why something out there seems determined to destroy it.
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