Forgive me if this has been dealt with before, but a conversation with a fellow fan about "Insurrection" reminded me that Geordi's eyes regenerate due to the planet's properties. However, if I remember correctly, he has cybernetic eyes again in "Nemesis." It's been a while since I have seen both films, so can anyone shed some light on this? Are we supposed to assume that, in terms of an in universe explanation, his eyes deteriorated once the Enterprise left the Briar Patch? Or did the writers and producers just screw up? Or, are my friend and I misremembering the details?
One might argue that the phenomenon in ST:INS did not so much "cure old age" as it very locally "reversed time". That would nicely jibe with how the locals can manipulate the perception of time, apparently making themselves go faster so that the universe seems to slow down in comparison. So Picard's neck might grow younger, and LaForge's eyes might do that as well - but the effect would be completely reversible once people departed the region of influence of those fancy metaphasic rings. Indeed, perhaps prolonged exposure to the effect might actually be harmful, as parts of your body grew younger and others grew older? Perhaps only lifelong exposure, or then no exposure at all, would be tolerable? This would explain why nothing ever came out of the Ba'ku planet, why no wars were fought over it, and why the planet does not come up in ST:NEM discussions even though one major theme of that movie is aging. Timo Saloniemi
If I was Geordi whenever I took shoreleave or a vacation I would go to the Baku planet! Not only is it a beautiful place but every vacation he took he would get eyesight too!
Then again, for LaForge to go from VISOR to eyesight would be akin to a decathlon world champion going quadriplegic. Then again, many people on holiday consider it virtue to be quadriplegic on a sunny beach... Timo Saloniemi
Thank you for the replies everyone! I completely forgot Geordi said "it probably won't last." All your insights and comments are appreciated!
I wrote a story for the Strange New Worlds contest set a few weeks after ST: Insurrection where, durin' a rescue mission, Geordi's eyes were damaged and he was forced to go back to usin' the ocular implants to explain why he had 'em in ST: Nemesis. I got a "very well written" note from the editor, but I didn't get in the anthology.
What if he simply had normal vision for awhile, then decided he'd rather have his cyber-vision restored?
Not necessarily. Just because Geordi's VISOR is able to provide him with more data than biological eyes doesn't necessarily mean he would find it preferable. He seemed to enjoy the experience of having "regular" sight quite a bit. And, as was alluded to by Data in "The Measure of A Man," we don't see tons of Starfleet officers voluntarily choosing to have their biological eyes replaced with cybernetic implants, even though that should certainly be doable. I suspect that "real" vision would still be considered by most to preferable to the VISOR, even though you can do more with the latter.
But LaForge has refused "real vision" several times already (beginning with the second season of TNG where Pulaski came aboard and casually told him that it wouldn't be that big a deal - apparently, Crusher and the docs previously working on LaForge had all been hopeless hacks), and has spoken positively of the VISOR except on the issue of the pain it causes. Sure, he enjoys the occasional holiday from his "supervision". But he doesn't seem to want to lose his superpowers completely and for good. It's fun to have at least one guy in the crew who isn't completely opposed to what the Borg do... Unlike Picard, who has an artificial heart because he must, LaForge has artificial eyes because he wants to. Timo Saloniemi
I really liked how Geordi's ocular implants looked in the movies -- certainly better than the "banana comb" he wore in the series, which obscured his expressive eyes. Somewhat off topic, I wonder if there are any Aenar, in Starfleet or not, with the same kind of ocular implants. -- RR
Something I wondered about - did his cybernetic eyes just pop out one morning when his "real" eyes grew?
They were never really clear on what the ocular implants were, though the fact that he regained the use of his "real" eyes in Insurrection suggests they might have been like a contact lens — something that fits over his own eyes and interfaces with his brain similar to the VISOR — rather than an actual replacement for the organ (e.g. Steve Austin). I think there's a line in his scene with Picard on the Ba'ku planet where he mentions Dr. Crusher removing the implants, so again, I'm thinking high-tech contacts.
How can the planet regenerate Geordi's eyesight anyway? Isn't he birth defect blind? It's not like he got splashed in the eyes with radioactive waste like Matt Murdock. He was born that way. That would be like Howard Stern going down to the surface of the planet and getting a bigger dick. It doesn't seem like the planet could fix what was pre-broken by nature.