Geordi La Forge Geordi La Forge was a Human male Starfleet officer who originally was the helmsman of the during 2364 , with the rank of lieutenant junior grade . He was promoted to lieutenant and later lieutenant commander and became the chief engineer of the " Enterprise " - D and later , both under Captain Jean - Luc Picard . ( ; ) Early life . Geordi La Forge was born on February 16 , 2335 in Mogadishu , Somalia to parents Captain Silva La Forge and noted exozoologist Commander Edward M . La Forge . Due to a birth defect , he was born blind . As an adult , he stood 170 centimeters ( appr . 5 ' 7 " ) tall and was right - handed . ( ) Sometime prior to 2340 , Geordi was trapped alone in a burning building ; he later remembered this as one of the most frightening moments of his life . ( ) When he was five years old , Geordi received his first VISOR , which allowed him to see ( although not the same way the average Human does ) for the first time in his life . ( ) At age eight , Geordi was brought his first pet , a Circassian cat , and he remembered his excitement for years to come . ( ) Young Geordi spent time with both his parents as a child , sometimes separately . For a time Geordi lived with his father , Edward , while Edward studied invertebrates in the Modean system . On other occasions Geordi was away from his father , on outpost s near the Romulan Neutral Zone with his mother Silva . ( ) Geordi went to Zefram Cochrane High School sometime prior to 2353 . ( ) Early Starfleet career . He attended Starfleet Academy from 2353 to 2357 , where he excelled at engineer ing and idolized Zefram Cochrane . ( ) Among his reading during the Academy , La Forge read about the . ( ) His first deep space assignment was as an ensign aboard the under Captain Zimbata . In 2362 , La Forge participated in the investigation of the disappearance of the Federation colony on Tarchannen III . ( ) La Forge later transferred to the , where he served under Captain Robert DeSoto . On the " Hood " La Forge knew William T . Riker , but only professionally . ( ) Riker knew La Forge the longest of all of their shipmates aboard the " Enterprise " , and the two developed a close friendship during their later years together at that assignment . ( ) At one point in his career as a young officer , La Forge was assigned to pilot Jean - Luc Picard on an inspection tour . En route to their destination , Picard made an off - hand remark about the shuttle ' s engine efficiency not being what it should be . In response to this , La Forge stayed up all night refitting the shuttle ' s fusion initiator s . When Picard discovered what La Forge had done the following morning , he knew immediately that he wanted La Forge with him on his next command . ( ) Aboard the Starships " Enterprise " . The " Enterprise " - D . Conn Officer . In 2364 , he was named conn officer on the USS " Enterprise " - D under Captain Jean - Luc Picard . ( ) While investigating the deaths of the crew , La Forge contracted a variant of polywater intoxication , causing him to lose his inhibitions . Dr . Beverly Crusher used La Forge to test her vaccines and was able to develop a cure . ( ) The first test of his ability as a starship commander came during an encounter with an advanced planetary defense system in orbit around the planet Minos . With the senior officers ' away team s entrenched at the planet ' s surface , La Forge gave the order to send the " Enterprise " s saucer section to safety and then returned to Minos with the stardrive section to work out a way of evacuating the away teams . While battling a cloaked drone in orbit , he devised a strategy to lure the opponent into the planet ' s atmosphere , thus revealing its location . In this tense situation , he proved that he had the ability to successfully lead a skeleton crew to victory . ( ) His special vision was impressively demonstrated during an away mission to the drifting freighter " Batris " . The VISOR data was directly transmitted to the " Enterprise " - D ' s main bridge viewscreen via his visual acuity transmitter , allowing the bridge crew to gain an insight into Geordi ' s view of the world and to follow the progress of the mission until the datalink failed . ( ) Chief Engineer . In 2365 , La Forge was promoted to full lieutenant . He transferred from the command division to the operations division and was named chief engineer . Over the course of the next several years , it became evident that this transfer had been a wise decision . His technical and analytical abilities , his versatility , and his cooperative leadership style were very well suited to the requirements of a senior engineering officer aboard a major starship . Just one year later , in 2366 , he was promoted to lieutenant commander . ( ) An especially demanding situation arose in 2365 , after the ship ' s main computer had been infected by an Iconia n computer virus by way of the log files of the . Those files were the only useful item that remained of this starship after a catastrophic loss of antimatter containment had caused it to explode with the loss of all hands . La Forge was eventually able to disprove suspicions of a general design flaw in " Galaxy " - class starship s which had arisen when the alien program caused more and more shipboard systems to fail . Working with Lieutenant Commander Data , whose positronic brain had been infected as well , he found the solution to the problem in time to save the " Enterprise " - D from seemingly inevitable destruction . ( ) Geordi learned about one particular disadvantage of following in the footsteps of Starfleet ' s legendary engineers when members of a race known as the Pakled took him hostage , hoping to gain technological knowledge . Although injured , he successfully devised an escape method without further bloodshed . ( ) La Forge used a hologram of Dr . Leah Brahms , the engineer who designed the " Galaxy " - class , after the " Enterprise " was ensnared in a Menthar booby trap . He and the hologram Brahms worked extremely well together and figured out an escape route for the " Enterprise " . In the process , Geordi became strongly attracted to Brahms . ( ) Later that year , Geordi was trapped on a desolate planet with a Romulan . He and the Romulan at first tried to kill each other , but soon resolved their differences and worked together to survive . ( ) In 2367 he met the real Leah Brahms . La Forge was ecstatic at the chance to meet her , even if on a solely professional level , but he was in for a surprise . Whereas the hologram Geordi had assembled was kind , creative , and warm , the real Brahms was rude and , much to Geordi ' s chagrin , married . They worked together to solve a problem on board , but Dr . Brahms found out about the holoprogram and became infuriated . They were eventuallly able to laugh about it , but a romantic future for the two seemed unlikely . ( ) He met an old friend named Susanna Leijten whom he had served with aboard the " Victory " . She told La Forge that several of their crewmates , with whom they had formed an Away team to Tarchannen III , had disappeared . Shortly afterward Leijten started to transform into an alien being . La Forge too became infected , but before he was transformed into an alien , he discovered that shadow aliens on the planet had implanted a parasite into the away team members that turned them into the aliens . This was how they reproduced . La Forge was rescued and given an antidote that stopped the transformation . ( ) At the end of 2367 , La Forge was captured by the Romulans , who brainwashed him into assassinating the Klingon Governor Vagh . Klingon ambassador Kell worked with the Romulans from the inside . By tracing Kell ' s signal to La Forge ' s visor , they were able to stop the assassination attempt . ( ) When the " Enterprise " was hit by a quantum filament that caused massive power failure throughout the ship , La Forge and Dr . Crusher were trapped in a cargo bay with dangerous explosive materials . They daringly decompressed the bay while they were still in it , to jettison the materials into space . ( ) He worked with the scientists on Penthara IV after the planet ' s mantle was damaged by an asteroid hit . His first plan failed , but a new one more risky than the first worked and the planet was saved . ( ) Later that year , the " Enterprise " discovered an injured Borg drone in the Argolis Cluster . La Forge helped to repair the drone and in the process made friends with him , naming him " Hugh " . Starfleet initially planned to use Hugh to infect the Borg Collective , but Hugh ' s emotions , including those he felt towards his friend Geordi , prevented this plan . La Forge asked Hugh to remain onboard , but he declined in order to ensure the safety of the " Enterprise " . ( ) After answering a distress call from a Romulan ship , La Forge and Ro Laren disappeared during a transporter cycle . They could see each other and everything around them , but no one was aware of them , and they were presumed dead . They discovered that the Romulan distress call was related to an accident with their cloaking device , and decloaked themselves by creating enough chroniton fields to force Data to use anyon particles to decontaminate the fields , which also rematerialized La Forge and Ro . ( ) In 2369 La Forge , along with the rest of the " Enterprise " principal crew , traveled back to 19th century Earth to save Data . In the process , Geordi encountered Samuel Clemens . ( ) One of Geordi ' s dreams came true later that year , when the " Enterprise " answered a distress call sent out by the . He discovered that the ship ' s transporters were configured in a strange manner , and was able to rematerialize someone . That someone turned out to be Montgomery Scott , the Chief Engineer from the original . Scott had preserved himself in the transporter buffer for 75 years . Geordi was initially overjoyed to be working with such a legend , but Scotty ' s constant nitpicking about 24th century technology led Geordi to snap at him . This plunged Scott into a brief depression . Geordi eventually consoled him , pointing out that age does not dictate usefulness , and the two worked together to save the " Enterprise " . ( ) He was abducted by solanogen - based lifeform s , who experimented on him . ( ) Later that year , he became romantically involved with fellow Starfleet officer Aquiel Uhnari , who was suspected of murdering her coworker . He eventually proved that the murderer was a coalescent organism . ( ) In 2370 , he was captured by Lore , who was leading a group of rogue Borg , who had left the collective due to the individuality Hugh displayed , which Geordi helped to foster , in attacks against the Federation . Lore brainwashed Data into attempting to turn La Forge into a cybernetic organism . This plot was narrowly foiled . ( ) Later that year Geordi ' s mother , Silva , was listed as missing in action during a mission . Upon further investigation , Geordi found that her image was being used by aliens to lure him into helping them . ( ) He helped to prove that the Hekaran s Serova and Rabal were correctly asserting that warp drive was damaging the fabric of space , which was instrumental in creating the warp 5 " speed limit " . ( ) In 2371 , while on an away team investigating the Amargosa observatory with Lieutenant Commander Data , Geordi was knocked unconscious by Tolian Soran . Soran then kidnapped Geordi and escaped aboard a Klingon Bird - of - Prey . The Klingons traded him for Captain Picard . They put a spy device in Geordi ' s VISOR and used it to obtain the " Enterprise " s shield frequency . The device was removed after the destruction of the Klingon ship , but unfortunately the damage suffered from the Klingons caused a coolant leak which he was unable to fix . This meant a warp core breach was imminent and also meant the inevitable destruction of the " Enterprise " . ( ) The " Enterprise " - E . After the destruction of the " Enterprise " - D , he transferred to the new USS " Enterprise " - E in 2372 . He and the " Enterprise " then spent a year on a shakedown cruise . Some time between 2371 and 2373 he received ocular implant s capable of even more impressive functions than his VISOR . This advanced technology no longer required an external apparatus to see . In 2373 , the Borg attacked the Federation colony on Ivor Prime . The " Enterprise " was told to patrol the neutral zone ; Geordi argued that the " Enterprise " - E was the most advanced ship in the fleet , and should therefore be at the front lines . After Geordi made his case , Captain Picard decided to head to the battle . After destroying the Borg cube , the " Enterprise " followed the Borg sphere that had left the cube into a temporal vortex it had opened in Earth ' s atmosphere . Geordi , along with the entire crew of the " Enterprise " - E , was transported to 2063 . He and an engineering team beamed down to help repair the " Phoenix " , and La Forge got to work with his hero , Zefram Cochrane . He told Cochrane about his attendance at a high school named after him and a large marble statue erected in his honor . This rattled Cochrane , but he pulled together and made first contact as planned . The " Enterprise " then returned to the 24th century . ( ) In 2375 , while investigating an incident involving Data on the Ba ' ku planet , La Forge was able to temporarily see naturally through real eyes as a result of the metaphasic radiation emanating from the planet ' s rings . Despite this apparent gift , he , along with the rest of the senior staff , still assisted Captain Picard in working against the Federation ' s plans to exploit the planet , insisting that he would be unable to look at another sunrise when he was fully aware of the price that the Ba ' ku would have to pay for his restored vision ; in doing so , he was able to convince a reluctant Picard to accept the crew ' s help in saving the Ba ' ku . ( ) In 2379 Geordi took part in the " Enterprise " s mission to Romulus . After a fierce battle with the " Scimitar " , he helped his best friend Data in his task of self - sacrifice to save the " Enterprise " crew . ( ) La Forge , who was born blind , often wore a VISOR , a crescent - moon - shaped device attached at the temples that allowed him to see . It enabled him to " see " throughout the electromagnetic spectrum , from heat and infrared through light and radio waves . With the cybernetic technology connected directly to his brain , it required such a complex and broad - based input that the user had to concentrate to focus on one area . Eventually he received ocular implant s with electric blue irises and even more abilities . ( ; ) Engineering talents and specialties . La Forge had great talent for engineering and a keen judgment for needed modifications in the field ; his faith in technology and his ability to master it were normally an inspiration to those around him . As a junior officer , his specialties included antimatter power , dilithium regulators , holodeck program s , and climate - control computer s . His intense focus enabled him to master the complexities of warp engineering and other starship systems . Geordi ' s all - night refit of a shuttle engine after an off - hand comment by Jean - Luc Picard garnered the attention of the captain , as it was a testament to his no - nonsense skill and insight . ( ) During the Zefram Cochrane project , he recalled the " Phoenix " test vehicle ' s intermix chamber from memory . ( ) Legendary forces . In 2063 , La Forge helped his idol Dr . Zefram Cochrane , Human scientist , eccentric genius , and inventor of the warp drive , to launch his warp test vessel " Phoenix " in order to make the historic initial meeting with the Vulcan s . ( ) Similarly , when a transporter loop allowed Geordi to come into contact with the near - mythic engineer Montgomery Scott in 2369 , the two joined forces to free the " Enterprise " from a Dyson sphere ' s interior . ( ) Personal life . The major childhood trauma of being alone in his burning home caused him great distress , though he was pulled to safety after only two minutes . His isolation from his field - assigned officer parents amplified his feelings of solitude . ( ) Despite this , his outstanding characteristic was his adaptability to change and satisfaction with life . His sense of humor and affable nature remained strong , despite his growing responsibilities . ( ) He enjoyed the senior officer ' s weekly poker game , and though his artificial " eyes " allowed him to detect bluffing and see his opponents ' cards in the ultraviolet spectrum , he never " peeked " until a hand was over . ( ) He also delighted in scale model building of old sailing ships , chess , swimming , skindiving , the history of his profession , and fencing . He was not well suited for writing or the mandolin , despite a preference for guitar music . He liked iced tea and pasta , such as fungilli . Due to his nomadic upbringing , he was adept at various language s including Haliian . ( ) Personal relationships . Friendships . La Forge always tried to be on friendly terms with everyone around him , yet he only seemed completely at ease in company of his closest friend , Data . The two of them often role - played in holodeck simulations of Sherlock Holmes stories , in which Data assumed the role of Holmes and La Forge was Dr . Watson . ( ) Geordi was also close friends with Miles O ' Brien and Susanna Leijten . Possibly because of his own tendencies to retreat to fictitious settings , Geordi became friends with the extremely shy and nervous genius Reginald Barclay , trying to keep him in reality . ( ) Geordi also forged an unlikely bond with fellow " Enterprise " Chief Engineer Montgomery Scott after rescuing him from the crashed . ( ) Romance . Geordi was slightly insecure concerning dating and women , though he had significant relationships with Christy Henshaw , Lt . Aquiel Uhnari , and Dr . Leah Brahms . He may have also harbored a slight romantic attraction to his crewmate Natasha Yar . ( ) Self - conscious and slightly nervous , it took him considerable effort to get in contact with potential female partners . This apparently contributed to his falling in love with two women ' s holographic audiovisual representations when it appeared that he would never get to meet them in person . ( ) Christy Henshaw . Efforts to date " Enterprise " - D crewmate Christy Henshaw were initially unsuccessful , although she became much more interested in him after an encounter with the Zalkonian known as John Doe left him feeling much more confident . ( ) Leah Brahms ( hologram ) . Working with a holographic representation of engineer Leah Brahms , a key member of the " Galaxy " - class Starship Development Project and , in a way , the mother of the " Enterprise " s warp propulsion system , La Forge fell in love with her . Despite this attraction , he later noted that he still knew when it was time to turn off the holodeck and say goodbye . Upon meeting the real , married Dr . Brahms one year later , in 2367 , things were anything but rosy ; after discovering the holoprogram , she resented his usage of her image and accused him of exploiting her . Both had to work hard to find a way of cooperating , but eventually they became friends . ( ) Aquiel Uhnari . Investigating the supposed death of one and disappearance of another officer at a remote subspace relay station in 2369 , Geordi reviewed the personal correspondence of the suspected victim , Lieutenant Aquiel Uhnari . In the process , he came to know and like her so much that upon her unexpected apprehension , they formed a short relationship . ( ) Alternate realities and timelines . In two alternate quantum realities , La Forge was killed in 2370 . In one of them he died during an attack on the " Enterprise " - D by a Cardassian battle cruiser . ( ) Later that year , in an alternate timeline , La Forge ' s optic nerves regenerated due to the anti - time particles emanating from a temporal anomaly , restoring his vision . ( ) In another alternate timeline , La Forge had been promoted to the rank of captain by 2390 and was in command of the . In that year , he pursued Chakotay , Harry Kim , Tessa Omond and The Doctor in a stolen " Delta Flyer " to the Takara sector in an attempt to stop them from changing history by preventing the destruction of the fifteen years earlier . ( ) In an alternate future , around 2395 , Geordi had retired from Starfleet to become a novelist and was married to Leah Brahms . The couple were living on Rigel III and had three children , Alandra , Bret and Sidney . Leah became the director of the Daystrom Institute as well as quite a gardener . ( ) Holograms . Geordi La Forge was holographically duplicated on a number of occasions . Appendices . Background information . Geordi La Forge was played by LeVar Burton in all of the character ' s television and film appearances . The creation of the character began when Gene Roddenberry proposed having a disabled crewmember aboard the " Enterprise " . David Gerrold subsequently wrote a memo which listed various disabilities , from which Roddenberry selected blindness . Gerrold ultimately disapproved of how little of La Forge ' s face was usually visible due to wearing a VISOR . ( " " , pp . 98 & 99 ) After David Gerrold proposed the character should be named after George La Forge , it was also Gerrold who thought up the idea that Geordi La Forge be a black man . " " I suggested that we didn ' t have any black people on the ship in terms of our regular characters , " " Gerrold reflected , " " and in keeping with the ethnic character of the show , and if neither the captain or the first officer were black , then it was perhaps Geordi who should be black . " " ( " " , p . 99 ) The original March 1987 Writers / Directors Guide for TNG had La Forge with somewhat different interests and talents . He wasn ' t listed as the helmsman or even a bridge officer , instead being simply an " away mission regular " . His " specialty " was the " starship school for children " ( a reference to LeVar Burton ' s participation in the educational television series " Reading Rainbow " ) . The guide also stated that there was a plan to visit a planet where Geordi would receive the equivalent of Human eyes , " and their limitations lead to the major disappointment of his young life . " Aside from LeVar Burton , other contenders who the preproduction staff considered casting as La Forge included Reggie Jackson , Tim Russ , Wesley Snipes , Victor Love , Chip McAllister , Clarence Gilyard , Jr . , and Kevin Peter Hall . As of , all those performers were being considered for the part , with Reggie Jackson appearing to be the favorite option . According to Rick Berman in an interview in the special " " , Tim Russ auditioned for the role and almost got it , but was beaten by Burton . ( Russ later won the regular role of Tuvok in . ) It was Robert Justman who ensured LeVar Burton ' s audition , the two having worked together ( on television movie " Emergency Room " ) in the past . Burton himself later remarked , " Star Trek " certainly represented an opportunity to do good work . I like Geordi for a lot of reasons . First of all , his energetic attitude is much more loose than that of a lot of other characters . He has a sort of cynical sense of humor , and I like that about him . I liked the opportunity to play a character who is handicapped , yet that handicap has been turned into a plus for him , and there are all the emotional issues that go along with that . " " ( " " , p . 98 ) Geordi has held more ranks on screen than any other " Star Trek " character : he was an ensign in a in , a lieutenant junior grade in TNG Season 1 , a full lieutenant in TNG Season 2 , a lieutenant commander in TNG Seasons 3 through 7 and the four " Next Generation " feature films , a commander in the illusory future of , and a captain in an alternate timeline in . ( For further information on who has held the most ranks on screen , see also Nog . ) Geordi is notable for easily establishing friendships with initially hostile aliens , such as Bochra in and Hugh in . Geordi La Forge appeared in the first draft script of , though his part in the episode was rewritten to feature William T . Riker instead . Jonathan Frakes once explained that the reason La Forge was written out of the script was that LeVar Burton ' s head had recently been shaved and Burton , therefore , didn ' t look much like how audiences were used to seeing La Forge look . ( " TV Guide " , 17 - 23 Feb . ) His cameo in was after audiences had already seen the changes in Burton ' s appearance in . Geordi La Forge was also originally to have been referenced in . In the first draft of that episode ' s script , Kathryn Janeway critiqued , " " You read the diaries of Geordi La Forge and what he saw on the " Enterprise " - D . . . and you realize that only some things have changed [ since the 22nd and 23rd centuries , compared to the 24th century ] . " " All mention of La Forge was excised from the episode by the time the final draft of the script was issued . Apocrypha . The comic book series " " , a tie - in to the film , depicts Geordi as having left Starfleet by 2387 to design starships , including the " " , which is given to Spock prior to his confrontation with Nero . The novel " Losing the Peace " by William Leisner establishes Geordi ' s home town as , , part of the African Confederation and a thriving 24th century city . This was later included in La Forge ' s biographical data seen in the remastered version of . In " The Path to 2409 " from " Star Trek Online " , Geordi reentered Starfleet in 2397 and became the captain of the . He is set to return , played by LeVar Burton , in the upcoming mission " Beyond the Nexus " . In just about all the TNG novels set after the events of , La Forge ' s rank is established as being that of full commander . In the novel " Indistinguishable from Magic " set in 2384 , La Forge was serving in a temporary detached role of operations and second officer aboard the USS " Challenger " when he was promoted to captain and assumed command of the starship on the recommendation of Captain Montgomery Scott upon Scott ' s retirement . When he returned to the " Enterprise " - E , Captain Picard named La Forge to the role of Captain of Engineering based on the precedent set by Scott in the same role aboard the and the . In the " Genesis Wave " series , set in 2377 , Geordi La Forge admits his love for Leah Brahms , but assures her that he expects nothing in return . La Forge only asks her to meet him at an engineering conference in a few months ' time , and she agrees . In the novel " Indistinguishable from Magic " , set between 2382 and 2383 , La Forge and Brahms are reunited during the USS " Challenger " s assignment to investigate trans - slipstream drive . The two begin a romantic relationship , and after the " Challenger " is destroyed , Brahms moves in with La Forge aboard the after he accepts his original position . She is convinced to join him when he offers her the opportunity to work on only one vessel instead of many . The storyline in the " " comic indicates that La Forge and Brahms were married by 2387 . The eBook " The Insolence of Office " states that La Forge was ordered to have his VISOR replaced with ocular implants by Admiral or be reassigned to a less sensitive post . This was due to the Romulans manipulating La Forge through his VISOR in as well as the VISOR being used by the Duras sisters in their attack on the in , which resulted in the destruction of the " Enterprise " .