Geordi La Forge is a rare Engineering officer in Star Trek Fleet Command.
Captain Maneuver
Field Strip a Fusion Reactor – Increase Rewards from Defeated Armadas by 50%
In much the same way that Jaylah or Borg Jaylah will increase the rewards, Geordi LaForge will do so, but just from armadas. Full synergy with other TNG crew officers can get this up to 80%.
The maneuver name comes from the TNG episode, Booby Trap.
The line itself, however, has nothing at all to do with Geordi’s technical skills, but more at erm… frustrations with his personal life. Here’s the line itself in-context, albeit with Whoopi Goldberg’s NSFW adlib outtake left in.
Officer Ability
The Mind’s Eye – Increase damage vs. Klingon hostiles and armadas by (150%, 200%, 250%, 300%, 350%.)
This was a hole in the officer roster that’s been there for a long, long time. We’ve had two anti-Federation officers in M’Rel and Krell and two anti-Romulan officers in Yuki Sulu and Yan’agh, but we’ve only had L’Nar to increase damage against the Federation.
The rub is that Geordi will only work against hostiles and armadas. So it fills the hole there… kinda.
Geordi La Forge will be an officer that you’ll use against armadas that you know you can beat, much like you might use Borg Jaylah right now.
If you’re looking to knock down Klingon Armadas, then Geordi is your man. It’s also handy that he doesn’t just work against armadas. It’s kind of a cross between your Five of Ten, Kirk Spock crew against armadas, and your anti-hostile Pike crew. This will give you some flexibility, as it can be a hassle to be grinding out hostiles with your Pike crew, then have someone in your alliance start an armada, and you find yourself with the wrong crew.
The Mind’s Eye episode, in case you’ve forgotten, was the TNG episode based on the classic film, The Manchurian Candidate. In the episode, Geordi is captured and brainwashed by the Romulans.
LeVar Burton Background
Levardis Robert Martyn Burton Jr. was born in Landstuhl, West Germany in 1957. His father was a photographer with the US Army Signal Corps stationed in West Germany at the time, and his mother was a teacher and social worker. Returning to the United States, Burton was raised in Sacramento, California.
He was just 19, and still a student at USC when he got the role of Kunta Kinte in the acclaimed miniseries Roots. It’s one of the most successful and important miniseries of all time. Its finale was the most-watched scripted television episode ever, until the finale of MASH in 1983. The performance earned Burton an Emmy nomination. He lost to his Roots co-star Lou Gossett, Jr.
Becoming Geordi LaForge
First, as an aside, before we get to how Burton was cast as Geordi LaForge, I think you should know that the character was named for a real person. George La Forge was a huge Star Trek fan in the original series days, and he was a quadriplegic. He passed away at the age of 20 in 1975, and writer David Gerrold lobbied to have a character named after him.
The production team had an impressive list of stars in mind to play Geordi LaForge. Apart from Burton, they considered Tim Russ (who later played Tuvok on Voyager), Kevin Peter Hall (see the Data article), Chip McCallister, Victor Love, and Clarence Gilyard, Jr. (Conrad McMasters on Matlock, and the Theo in Die Hard.)
And they considered a then-unknown Wesley Snipes (who was disappointed in not getting the role) and a then very well-known Reggie Jackson. Yes, that Reggie Jackson, Mr. October. The guy who tried to kill Queen Elizabeth.
And as of April 1987, the favorite for Geordi was considered to be … Reggie Jackson of course.
It was Original Series producer Bob Justman who brought Burton into the mix, having worked with him on a 1983 pilot called Emergency Room. It wasn’t picked up for a series, but it was on the set where Burton let Justman know of his interest in Star Trek, peppering him with questions about the series.
LeVar directs
The history of Trek actors directing Trek goes back the Leonard Nimoy directing Star Trek III, but starting with The Next Generation, there evolved a director’s training program that helped several Trek stars develop successful careers behind the camera. The first episode directed by Burton was the TNG sixth season episode, Second Chances (the Thomas Riker episode.) After that, he did one more episode of Next Gen, The Pegasus, before going on to direct 10 episodes of Deep Space Nine, eight episodes of Voyager, and nine on Enterprise. He’s directed more Star Trek episodes than any other Trek actor.
Outside of Trek, he’s directed Charmed, Soul Food, JAG, and most recently NCIS: New Orleans.
Geordi on Voyager
In the Voyager episode, Timeless, Burton returned to the role of Geordi, this time playing the future role of Captain La Forge of the Galaxy-class USS Challenger. He tried and failed to stop Chakotay from traveling back to the past to save Voyager from an icy grave.