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A character with a visor was a mistake

Ocular Implants > Visor.

Pulaski should have performed that surgery on Geordi.

Considering he declined the surgery (as I recall it was a "no go-backsies" surgery that could have possibly left him with no eyes no ability to use the VISOR) I don't think she had much say in the matter.

The writers did that because they wanted Geordi to keep the visor for personal reasons. I'm just saying that would have been a good opportunity to ditch the silly visor.
 
Ocular Implants > Visor.

Pulaski should have performed that surgery on Geordi.

Considering he declined the surgery (as I recall it was a "no go-backsies" surgery that could have possibly left him with no eyes no ability to use the VISOR) I don't think she had much say in the matter.

The writers did that because they wanted Geordi to keep the visor for personal reasons. I'm just saying that would have been a good opportunity to ditch the silly visor.

It was because he couldn't see as well with ocular implants as he did with the VISOR.

As to how much information the VISOR gave him and his brains ability to interpret it, I compare it to my bifocal contacts. As I understand it, the contacts are made of concentric circles, one for distance the other for reading. It took me a few days to be able to switch between the two, other just can't, they either see up close or distance. Geordi must have taken to the visor right away, so he saw no reason for the ocular implants until they matched the VISOR's range of vision.
 
Well I guess I'm alone in feeling the need to see an actor's eyes in a performance. I don't like it when actors give interviews with sunglasses on, and I don't like it when characters have their eyes covered a lot of the time. I need to see their eyes to feel any kind of connection.
 
It was because he couldn't see as well with ocular implants as he did with the VISOR.

As to how much information the VISOR gave him and his brains ability to interpret it, I compare it to my bifocal contacts. As I understand it, the contacts are made of concentric circles, one for distance the other for reading. It took me a few days to be able to switch between the two, other just can't, they either see up close or distance. Geordi must have taken to the visor right away, so he saw no reason for the ocular implants until they matched the VISOR's range of vision.

It's a TV show. The writers could have Geordi see with a magic piece of bacon strapped to his shoe. Just write it so that the ocular implants work better than the visor.
 
No. Blind people frequently wear sunglasses- they are no less emotional than people whose eyes you can see.

No offense but what an utterly STUPID reply. I'm not saying people can't be emotional when their eyes are covered. I'm talking that from a performance point of view where you have to relay emotions and a character to an audience, having your eyes covered is a major disadvantage and I really felt that with Geordi.

Yeah but Star Trek is about Infinite Diversity in Infinite Combinations. Saying that you should have a blind man, but just have him look completely like a non-blind person is facile, because blind people DO look different, you don't read them by watching their eyes- Geordi's character reflected this. Next you'll be complaining that Odo was tough to read because makeup covered his entire face. Well, yeah, but you'd hardly call Odo 'unemotional', would you?

Edit: Er, what Christopher said.
 
As I recall, Geordi was also a nod to a disabled Star Trek fan, George LaForge -- a fan who died before Next Generation went into production. George was a quadriplegic, which wouldn't have worked well in an ongoing action-adventure series, so they changed the disability to blindness. It was a compelling note of optimism about the future. An optimism that's common in Star Trek.
 
But more like pessimism today. I'd like to think that by the mid 24th century we'll be able to come up with something much better than a dorky looking visor that causes immense pain and only allows the person to see in Virtual Boy graphics.
 
It was because he couldn't see as well with ocular implants as he did with the VISOR.

As to how much information the VISOR gave him and his brains ability to interpret it, I compare it to my bifocal contacts. As I understand it, the contacts are made of concentric circles, one for distance the other for reading. It took me a few days to be able to switch between the two, other just can't, they either see up close or distance. Geordi must have taken to the visor right away, so he saw no reason for the ocular implants until they matched the VISOR's range of vision.

It's a TV show. The writers could have Geordi see with a magic piece of bacon strapped to his shoe. Just write it so that the ocular implants work better than the visor.

Yes, and they could have made the character with normal vision.

It's a TV show. The writers define the rules of it. As it stands the VISOR was the best Federation technology had at the time, as far as being able to see the fulll EM Spectrum. Geordi liked it, could deal with the head aches and when Ocular Implants caught up with the VISOR he made the change. All because it was a TV show.
 
The whole point of the VISOR was to show that people with disabilities were fully functional members of the crew. It was a visual way of saying that and reinforcing that.
 
But more like pessimism today. I'd like to think that by the mid 24th century we'll be able to come up with something much better than a dorky looking visor that causes immense pain and only allows the person to see in Virtual Boy graphics.

Yeah, and they'd probably have seatbelts too. But their goal wasn't to create an exact simulation of the future, it was to tell stories that engaged and resonated with a present-day audience. Geordi was meant to be a positive symbol for disabled viewers to relate to. That wouldn't have worked if he'd just had his disability completely cured by magic future science.


I have to admit, whenever I see this shot in Future Imperfect, it kinda does make me wish we got this Geordi instead.
http://tng.trekcore.com/gallery/albums/s4/4x08/futureimperfect066.jpg

Levar may have done wonders behind that VISOR, but he really DOES look radically more expressive without it. Not to mention just a lot sharper looking.

Whereas I just think he looks more ordinary that way.
 
Ocular Implants > Visor.

Pulaski should have performed that surgery on Geordi.

Considering he declined the surgery (as I recall it was a "no go-backsies" surgery that could have possibly left him with no eyes no ability to use the VISOR) I don't think she had much say in the matter.

Also, I believe there was a line of dialogue where Pulaski explained that the tech for occular impants wasn't quiet where it was with the Visor. At the time occular implants offered 80% of the vision provided by the Visor.
 
Also, I believe there was a line of dialogue where Pulaski explained that the tech for occular impants wasn't quiet where it was with the Visor. At the time occular implants offered 80% of the vision provided by the Visor.

Heck, that might've been insurmountable. One, the VISOR was wraparound and offered a wider uninterrupted field of view than eyes are capable of. Two, the VISOR had a larger width than the pupil of a humanlike eye and thus could've detected longer wavelengths in the microwave part of the spectrum than even a bionic eye could. So just by dint of shape and design, there are things the VISOR could do that no eye-shaped sensors could no matter how technologically advanced they got.
 
It was because he couldn't see as well with ocular implants as he did with the VISOR.

As to how much information the VISOR gave him and his brains ability to interpret it, I compare it to my bifocal contacts. As I understand it, the contacts are made of concentric circles, one for distance the other for reading. It took me a few days to be able to switch between the two, other just can't, they either see up close or distance. Geordi must have taken to the visor right away, so he saw no reason for the ocular implants until they matched the VISOR's range of vision.

That and he probably had gotten tired of always having his visor snached off when ever he was captured.

It's a TV show. The writers could have Geordi see with a magic piece of bacon strapped to his shoe. Just write it so that the ocular implants work better than the visor.

Yes, and they could have made the character with normal vision.

It's a TV show. The writers define the rules of it. As it stands the VISOR was the best Federation technology had at the time, as far as being able to see the fulll EM Spectrum. Geordi liked it, could deal with the head aches and when Ocular Implants caught up with the VISOR he made the change. All because it was a TV show.

I still say it was getting tired of the snatching off of, especially since the last time it happened it was bugged when he got it back and they used said buf to blow up the Enterprise-D.

But more like pessimism today. I'd like to think that by the mid 24th century we'll be able to come up with something much better than a dorky looking visor that causes immense pain and only allows the person to see in Virtual Boy graphics.

Yeah, and they'd probably have seatbelts too.

You want them to be strapped to an exploding console? :wtf:

Also, I believe there was a line of dialogue where Pulaski explained that the tech for occular impants wasn't quiet where it was with the Visor. At the time occular implants offered 80% of the vision provided by the Visor.

Heck, that might've been insurmountable. One, the VISOR was wraparound and offered a wider uninterrupted field of view than eyes are capable of. Two, the VISOR had a larger width than the pupil of a humanlike eye and thus could've detected longer wavelengths in the microwave part of the spectrum than even a bionic eye could. So just by dint of shape and design, there are things the VISOR could do that no eye-shaped sensors could no matter how technologically advanced they got.

Yeah but eye-shaped senmsors can't be taking off and moved into the new room where the bad guy is free to bug it so he can find out how to blow up your ship without surgery so the chances of you would probably know something was fishy.

Plus Geordi probably got tired of being left in the darkness becuase who ever captured him this week is a sick f@#k who thinks torturing and/or brainwashing and/or experimenting on a guy who can't see becuase you took his Visor is a fun way to pass time.
 
You want them to be strapped to an exploding console? :wtf:

If they remembered how to make seatbelts, they'd remember how to make circuit breakers too. Exploding consoles are dramatic license just like flying around the bridge is.


Plus Geordi probably got tired of being left in the darkness becuase who ever captured him this week is a sick f@#k who thinks torturing and/or brainwashing and/or experimenting on a guy who can't see becuase you took his Visor is a fun way to pass time.

I don't blame that on the VISOR, I blame it on the writers who couldn't think of a good use for it other than a torture implement.

As I've said before, I've become convinced that TNG would've been a better show if they'd made Worf the chief engineer and Geordi the security chief. Then we could've seen the VISOR developed as the superpower it should've been -- and its vulnerability to tampering would've been Geordi's kryptonite, the thing that balanced out the advantages it gave him, rather than being the only thing they ever did with it so that it seemed to have no advantages.
 
Well I guess I'm alone in feeling the need to see an actor's eyes in a performance. I don't like it when actors give interviews with sunglasses on, and I don't like it when characters have their eyes covered a lot of the time. I need to see their eyes to feel any kind of connection.

So... if you didn't connect at all with Geordi, did you at least half-connect with Martok?
 
You want them to be strapped to an exploding console? :wtf:

If they remembered how to make seatbelts, they'd remember how to make circuit breakers too. Exploding consoles are dramatic license just like flying around the bridge is.


Plus Geordi probably got tired of being left in the darkness becuase who ever captured him this week is a sick f@#k who thinks torturing and/or brainwashing and/or experimenting on a guy who can't see becuase you took his Visor is a fun way to pass time.

I don't blame that on the VISOR, I blame it on the writers who couldn't think of a good use for it other than a torture implement.

As I've said before, I've become convinced that TNG would've been a better show if they'd made Worf the chief engineer and Geordi the security chief. Then we could've seen the VISOR developed as the superpower it should've been -- and its vulnerability to tampering would've been Geordi's kryptonite, the thing that balanced out the advantages it gave him, rather than being the only thing they ever did with it so that it seemed to have no advantages.
There were several times that certain frequencies or colors that Geordi saw had an impact on knowing what to do Engineering-wise, so, I believe they did use it to some degree as an advantage to his Engineering job.
 
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