I didn’t mind Geordi during the show’s original run. Nowadays when you can binge rewatch the entire series, it often strikes me how often he’s…well, a bit of a dick.
I concur that season one Geordi was a lot better a character. I guess power does go to people’s heads because the moment he became chief engineer he became far more serious, less jovial and, outside of Sonia Gomez (who we really should have seen much more of), the way he treated subordinates was often pretty rough (he was really one for BARKING orders for a start).
He basically bullied Barclay in “Hollow Pursuits” and he bullied Scotty in “Relics” which was unforgivable for a number of reasons (sadly, I think the way Geordi viewed Scotty reflected the way Rick a Berman viewed TOS; it’s been documented that he saw it as an embarrassing, antiquated relic and far inferior to TNG).
His behaviour in “Galaxy’s Child” is borderline incel. Such an uncomfortable episode to rewatch, and so is the unfortunately named “Booby Trap” in retrospect. His reaction to Brahms feeling violated about his holodeck shenanigans? Getting angry at HER when she had every right to feel her privacy had been violated in a very intimate way. That showed such an unpleasant side to his character; and I somehow think the audience were meant to be on his side.
He was just such a creep around women. Levar Burton thinks Geordi’s lack of luck with women is motivated by racism on the part of the writers. I don’t see how it’s race related at all though. The character was basically a bit of a creep, very arrogant and prone to hypocrisy (his reaction to Barclay’s holodeck shenanigans mere weeks after romancing holo-Leah).
I also notice that across the series there are very few Geordi episodes that are actually much good. They tend to be a bit boring: “Aquiel” and “Interface” being two of the worst that come to mind. I like Levar Burton as an actor; he has an engaging quality about him, but the character not so much.
I concur that season one Geordi was a lot better a character. I guess power does go to people’s heads because the moment he became chief engineer he became far more serious, less jovial and, outside of Sonia Gomez (who we really should have seen much more of), the way he treated subordinates was often pretty rough (he was really one for BARKING orders for a start).
He basically bullied Barclay in “Hollow Pursuits” and he bullied Scotty in “Relics” which was unforgivable for a number of reasons (sadly, I think the way Geordi viewed Scotty reflected the way Rick a Berman viewed TOS; it’s been documented that he saw it as an embarrassing, antiquated relic and far inferior to TNG).
His behaviour in “Galaxy’s Child” is borderline incel. Such an uncomfortable episode to rewatch, and so is the unfortunately named “Booby Trap” in retrospect. His reaction to Brahms feeling violated about his holodeck shenanigans? Getting angry at HER when she had every right to feel her privacy had been violated in a very intimate way. That showed such an unpleasant side to his character; and I somehow think the audience were meant to be on his side.
He was just such a creep around women. Levar Burton thinks Geordi’s lack of luck with women is motivated by racism on the part of the writers. I don’t see how it’s race related at all though. The character was basically a bit of a creep, very arrogant and prone to hypocrisy (his reaction to Barclay’s holodeck shenanigans mere weeks after romancing holo-Leah).
I also notice that across the series there are very few Geordi episodes that are actually much good. They tend to be a bit boring: “Aquiel” and “Interface” being two of the worst that come to mind. I like Levar Burton as an actor; he has an engaging quality about him, but the character not so much.
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