LeVar Burton see’s the impact of Geordi La Forge’s visor, even if he didn’t like it

LeVar Burton knows how impactful Geordi La Forge’s look was to the Star Trek fans.

LeVar Burton has never been shy about his feelings on Geordi La Forge’s look for Star Trek: The Next Generation. The visor that Geordi wore was very hard to see out of. It restricted his eyesight and caused him to be unable to see what he was doing a great majority of the time.

He hated wearing it for those reasons and so many more.

Yet, Burton knows the look was very famous and very impactful. Speaking to Rolling Stone, Burton did end up going into how popular that look really was. Not before going into the fact he knew they could always shrink the technology to be more comfortable.

"Rolling Stone: It’s crazy that warp speed is a thing, but Geordi needs a visor to see.Burton: Well, I had that conversation with the powers that be. They always maintained that Geordi’s visor was a shorthand language of communicating the technological sophistication of the 24th century. I learned to be OK with that, until I wasn’t. We did seven years and one movie [1994’s Star Trek Generations]. After that, I was done. I was tired of having my eyes covered and was really insistent. We found a way, as I always knew we could, to shrink that technology into an ocular implant."

As bad as it was for LeVar Burton, Geordi La Forge’s look truly was iconic

The look became huge, one reason had to be the popularity and success of the X-Men around this time and one of their standout characters in Cyclops. He, like Geordi, also wore a visor but he shot optic blasts that he couldn’t control unless he wore the device. So not exactly a one-to-one with him and Geordi.

Geordi’s look did inspire people, however, as the look was eye-catching and helped him stand out among the cast.

"Rolling Stone: I was so excited about that. It took long enough.Burton: It did. At the end of the day, it served its purpose. Geordi’s visor is iconic. You know exactly what you’re looking at when you see it. The idea that young people, male and female, put headbands over their eyes and play Geordi La Forge, is proof positive that it is an iconic image. Can’t argue with that."

The visor really is cool to look at. That can’t be disputed. It may have been a pain to wear but it really did help his character stand out among the rest of the characters on Star Trek: The Next Generation and it certainly helped Burton’s popularity on the program as well.