Читать книгу The Unauthorized Trekkers’ Guide to the Next Generation and Deep Space Nine - James Hise van - Страница 21

LIEUTENANT GEORDI LA FORGE

Geordi is trained to work on the bridge and as an Away Team member. His unique prosthetic eyes allow him to perform some of the functions of a tricorder and are actually a visor-like device worn on his head, which can detect the entire spectrum of electromagnetic waves, all the way from raw heat to high-frequency ultraviolet. Other crew persons seem blind by comparison, although Geordi often wishes he could see the way they do, since he has been blind since birth.

Although in his early twenties, Geordi has the maturity of a seasoned Starfleet graduate and has the highest respect for Captain Picard, hoping to emulate the captain when he gets older. His best friend aboard the Enterprise is the android Data. Each aspires to be “fully human,” because even though they have traits that make them superior in what they can achieve compared to their normal counterparts, neither asked to be different, nor wants to be.

LEVAR BURTON

Due to the longevity of the original series, the new crew has more than one actor who was a Star Trek fan before landing his role, and LeVar Burton is one of them. He states that he has long “appreciated Gene Roddenberry’s approach to science fiction. Gene’s vision of the future has always included minorities—not just blacks, but Asians and Hispanics as well. He’s saying that unless we learn to cooperate as a species, we won’t be able to make it to the twenty-fourth century. I think that by projecting that image, we’re actually creating a reality for today.”

Philosophy has long been an interest of LeVar Burton. At thirteen he entered a Catholic seminary, with the ultimate goal of becoming a priest. But after two years he discovered an interest in existentialism and by fifteen was reading Lao-Tzu, Kierkegaard, and Nietzsche.

“I began to wonder how I fit into the grand scheme of things. The more I thought about it, the less sense it made that the dogma of Catholicism was the be-all, end-all, of the universe,” Burton explains. Following what Burton describes as his “pragmatic search,” comparing the things he did well with the things that excited him about being a priest, he decided to pursue an acting career.

“What attracted me to the priesthood was the opportunity to move people, to provide something essential. I was drawn by the elements of history and magic. As a priest, you live beyond the boundaries of the normal existence. It’s like joining an elite club. You see, it’s not that different from acting, even the Mass is a play, combining these elements of mystery and spectacle.”

NIGHT AND DAY

After he left the seminary, Burton won a scholarship to USC, where he began working toward a degree in drama and fine arts. But the contrast between the sedate, introspective life in a small-town seminary and the USC campus, which he calls “Blond Central,” was startling. “I’d never had so much freedom, and it was difficult to concentrate the first year.” It was during his sophomore year at USC, while only nineteen, that he auditioned and landed the pivotal role of the young Kunta Kinte in the award-winning miniseries Roots.

“I think the producers had exhausted all the normal means of finding professional talent and were beating the bushes at the drama schools,” the actor ventures. The role would win him an Emmy nomination and subsequent acting roles, which prevented his return to college.

Burton starred in a number of made-for-TV movies, such as the Emmy-nominated Dummy; One in a Million: The Ron LeFlore Story; Grambling’s White Tiger; The Guyana Tragedy: The Story of Jim Jones; Battered; Billy: Portrait of a Street Kid, and the miniseries Liberty. The actor has also been the host of PBS’s highly acclaimed children’s series Reading Rainbow since its inception in 1983. Among his film credits are Looking For Mr. Goodbar, The Hunter (with Steve McQueen), and The Supernaturals (with Nichelle Nichols).

The actor was born in Landsthul, West Germany, where his father was a photographer in the Signal Corps, Third Armored Division. His mother was first an educator, then for years a social worker who is currently working in administration for the County of Sacramento Department of Mental Health. Burton is single and resides in Los Angeles with his German shepherd, Mozart.