Star Trek: Picard's LeVar Burton Explains Why La Forge's Visor Is Missing
Geordi La Forge (LeVar Burton) is a steadfast officer on the USS Enterprise with a rather distinct piece of eye-wear on account of his blindness in "Star Trek: The Next Generation." Luckily, the future technology in the world of "Star Trek" features impressive advancements like warp drives that can break the speed of light, replicators that can manifest all types of food and drink, near-instant teleportation across distances, and even physiological augmentations that allow the visually impaired, like Geordi, to not only see, but to perceive reality in the entire electromagnetic spectrum. In other words, Geordi's iconic visor grants him greater vision than that of a normal human being.
However, it looks like Geordi's famous visor has finally been upgraded in "Star Trek: Picard" with the character's return, and while appearing on "The View," Burton was asked about the change. He replied, "After many years — we always talked about how Geordi's visor was one of the ways we telegraphed the sophisticated nature of technology in the 24th century. But it really became important to me after a while to just...we are in the 24th century! Can't we put that technology in an ocular implant? And so we did."
Technology is always progressing, especially in Star Trek
It appears that even though LeVar Burton appreciates his character and what Geordi La Forge represents to the visually impaired, Burton believes that the natural progression of technology would make the prolific visor obsolete at some point. This is why Geordi's visor is missing in "Star Trek: Picard," which also highlights how science is still progressing even in the far future.
Unsurprisingly, Geordi's visor has influenced real-life efforts down here on planet Earth. As reported by the official Stark Trek website, Geordi's visual aid is actually becoming a reality as scientists learn more about how the brain interprets sensory information, so it might not be long before people are donning real-life visors inspired by the famous "Star Trek" character. Though modern-day advancements might be a bit further away from the new cybernetic eyes that Geordi has in "Star Trek: Picard," it sounds like his visor might be right around the corner. Either way, it is awesome that the creators of "Star Trek: Picard" decided to make such a decision when it comes to Geordi, and how an in-universe explanation (and pleading from Burton) changed the character.