The fact that Levar Burton directed that episode was probably a factor as well.
Geordi in future TNG novels
- Thread starter Mr. Laser Beam
- Start date
Actually it does have to do with that. Gomez became a commander because she's a command-level officer as well as an engineer. She's first officer of the Da Vinci in addition to being commander of the SCE team.
Bev and Deanna didn't become commanders until they chose to to take the bridge officer's exam and put themselves on the command track. Vale didn't get promoted to commander until Riker chose her to become first officer of the Titan. Becoming a commander has routinely been portrayed (at least in the 24th century -- never mind the silliness of ranks in the TOS movies) as a step specifically associated with the command track, not as a generic form of advancement or reward as you're suggesting. If Gomez, Crusher, Troi, and Vale hadn't chosen to become command officers, they would've stayed lieutenant commanders indefinitely, and there's nothing wrong with that.
He's already "stepped up to the plate" in many ways. There's no reason why pinning another pip to his collar would add anything important to that. What's important is the job he does, not the title he holds.
Eleven years is actually a very quick time for such a promotion. In peacetime, I believe the best a US Naval Officer could do is go from Ensign to Lieutenant in 11 years. (Maybe Lieutenant Commander if they started in ROTC in college). Now granted, Starfleet doesn't do things the same way as conventional militaries do, but going from Ensign to Commander in that space of 11 years is still a bit absurd to me. Much like LaForge's marathon promotion from S1-S3.
I'm sorry to disagree with the writers, but since Arsenal, Geordi has always struck me as interested in the Command track. Keith, I haven't read your book yet, but after the happenings in Relics, I would question whether or not Scotty would be effective in talking LaForge out of taking a promotion. That said, I need to read your book to see how you had Scotty go about it. I think LaForge should have gone with Riker to Titan, or been up for Enterprise when Riker left. I've really never felt like Geordi "belonged" in engineering, rather that he was pigeonholed there in S2 because they needed someone in that position and didn't want to cast a new actor.
Yeah, I think it'd be far more realistic if not everyone became a captain, if just for how they have to contrive ways for the crew to stay together for these books and not make every one of the crew a captain.
Bingo.
One of the few interesting elements of the "A Time To..." series was an apparent jading of the otherwise amicable and easygoing LaForge when it came to Starfleet's treatment of Data and Picard.
Bingo.
One of the few interesting elements of the "A Time To..." series was an apparent jading of the otherwise amicable and easygoing LaForge when it came to Starfleet's treatment of Data and Picard.
You're forgetting that a lot of people were probably promoted beyond what they should have been because of the Dominion war. Prior to those events, Gomez chose to transfer to a smaller ship because it gave better prospects for promotion and she was right, but hundreds of thousands of Starfleet officers were killed or maimed in the war and they needed to fill those posts. Remember Nog never actually graduated from the Academy, he was given a battlefield commission of Ensign, and later promoted to Lieutenant JG. The war screwed things up so it's entirely likely that an Lieutenant JG before the war could end as a full Commander by the end of it.
Have you been reading my fan-fic?
Which one, you have more than half a dozen? I don't get much time to read everything on here, which fanfic were you referring to?
Special Ops.
Lieutenant Freeman gets promoted to LTC at the start of the War and makes Commander at the end.
Lieutenant Freeman gets promoted to LTC at the start of the War and makes Commander at the end.
I haven't put in a shameless plug here yet for my upcoming semi-Geordi-centric eBook The Insolence of Office, have I? I'll have to make sure to get around to doing that sometime soon.
Semi? See... The guy can't catch a break. 
But Seriously,
Thanks for the update, I look forward to that story.
But Seriously,
Thanks for the update, I look forward to that story.
Lwaxana.
I googled and that's part of the ebook-series coming out soon right? Well ... as a Geordi-fan, you might have convinced me to buy an ebook for the first time in my life. And I'll have to buy the entire ebook-series then of course. Or is there any chance that "Slings and Arrows" will be a book sometime? Then I'd rather wait.
Tino said:
Turtletrekker said:
The fact that Levar Burton directed that episode was probably a factor as well.
You think? How painfully obvious.I would be interested to know what captain would've appeared hadn't Burton directed that episode.
Are you implying it was narcissism on Burton's part? I doubt it. Unlike in film, TV directors aren't the real decision-makers in story terms, since they come and go from week to week. I think it was more a case of the producers deciding, "We want a big cameo for this sweeps episode, so let's hire LeVar to direct so we can have him appear as Geordi too." So if it hadn't been Burton, it might've been Frakes, assuming he wasn't busy on a movie.
Nope. I didn't wanna imply that Burton said something like: "If you want me to direct, I wanna be in it."
Like you said, directors don't have that much power. If I were TPTB, a director with such an attitude wouldn't last very long. I have a series to make and have no time to worry about some director's attitude. Directing will be fine, please. ;-)
I wouldn't even go that far that they hired Burton just because they needed him to make a cameo. They could've used him even if he didn't direct that show.
It was probably more like that having him on the set anyway, why don't we make Captain Never-Mentioned-Before into Captain La Forge. I'm sure Burton didn't mind. That's what I actually meant in my post above.
The Dominion War began in mid-2373 and ended in late-2375. It wouldn't surprise me at all if Gomez didn't shoot up the ranks from say, LT(JG) to Lt Commander during the War, but by your reasoning (which is good), I'm sort of surprised that she didn't go further during the War. Furthermore, it would make no sense, using your reasoning for LaForge (or Riker, Data, etc) to not be promoted beyond where he should have been. Really, during the War, Riker, Data, LaForge, and even Worf should have ended up as starship commanders, based on losses incurred within the Federation.
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