Geordi La Forge was destined to happen, with or without Uhura

Geordi La Forge was always going to happen on Star Trek: The Next Generation.

Sometimes, fans just want to oversimplify and recontextualize things just to put someone over. I get it, it’s easy to just say things and hope that it sticks, and hope no one challenges you. It’s even easier to do it with a beloved icon.  But that’s just not what we do here.

Recently CBR posted an article that said Geordi La Forge would not have existed without Uhura. It was such an odd statement to make, as the character of Geordi was based on a fan, George La Forge, and had no ties to Uhura at all.

The article tries to tie the two together, even if there’s nothing really there, and does so with misinformation. Firstly, George La Forge died in 1975, not in the mid-1980s when the show was being developed. Secondly, his name is George, not Jordan, as the article states. Thirdly, the role of Geordi was never intended specifically for an unknown actor as implied, one of the most popular athletes of his time, Reggie Jackson, was in strong consideration for the role.

So the creation of Geordi had no connection whatsoever to Uhura. Whether Uhura existed or not wouldn’t have impacted the character’s creation at all, as George was a disabled fan and friend of Gene Roddenberry.  So upon finding out that George had passed away, Roddenber and David Gerrold created the character of Geordi La Forge, a blind pilot who flies the U.S.S. Enterprise-D.

The decision to make the character a black man also was not inspired at all by Uhura. It was Gerrold wanting someone from the core group to be black that drove that decision. So to make a silly statement like “Geordi La Forge would not have existed without Uhura!” really undercuts who George was and his tie to Roddenberry.

Nichelle Nichols’ Uhura is an icon in her own right

Let’s respect who George La Forge was, and his impact on how and why the character of Geordi was created. We don’t need to rewrite history for the sake of Nichols or Uhura. Their legacy and reputation are cemented.

No one can take away the social impact of Nichelle Nichols, and no one should. What she did historically was revolutionary and had a huge impact on the 1960s culture as a whole. She faced some tough situations that none of us could probably imagine. She deserves, as the “yutes” of today would say, her flowers for all the things she did.

What Nichols did was impressive. With all due respect intended, however, Nichols had zero influence on the character of Geordi being created or cast. It’s important to remember history as it happened, not as you may want to write it. She had a profound impact, but not every character after her owes some sort of debt to Uhura just because they have some similarities.

To say otherwise is to undermine those who actually did have an impact on the how and why a character was created.

With that said, both Nichelle Nichols and George La Forge had a tremendous impact on the history and legacy of Star Trek. Just as Burton has had. In 20 years, who knows, maybe Burton will inspire the next great Trek character.