Geordi is not really not that likeable of a character and it's really too bad

[spinagogue]

This isn't a master thesis or anything; just a thought I had during a series rewatch.

I noticed that particularly Picard and Riker are often disrespectful toward him. E.g., being short with him, summarily dismissing his ideas and reproaching him when he says something they disagree with. I think this happens more in the early seasons.

Of course, this part isn't Geordi's fault (although it does tend to make him look weak). The problem is that Geordi often treats his own subordinates with the same kinds of disrespect. I'm thinking about how he treats Wesley, and as one specific example, his open dislike of "Broccoli" (as they called Barclay), who was just an awkward but not at all rude guy or anything.

I don't know. I could be way off. Thoughts?



.

 

[Zapp Brannigan]

One problem with "Hollow Pursuits" is that almost everyone is rude or dismissive of Barclay, in ways that aren't in line with what we've done to expect from their respective characters.

Picard was a bit of a jerk to many people in early seasons. After all, his first reaction to Riker in "Encounter at Farpoint" is opting to haze him by ordering him to do a manual saucer reconnection, instead of doing it the normal, computer-guided way they're supposed to do it.

Ignoring the usual early-seasonitis that affected everyone, as well as when he's being a jerk because the writers just need him to be one for story purposes, Geordi is the kind of nerdy guy who can't quite relate to women or is a little awkward at times. His best friend is a robot, after all! But, overall, he's a decent guy.

 

[Frontis]

I just say I often could identify with Gerordi. I have a heart for characters who are outsiders in some way. Just like Worf and Data in TNG.

 

[Qonundrum]

Considering I like Broccoli, especially with some onions and garlic and sprinkled with some ginger and tumeric, it was Geordi who took the softer approach* to help Barclay. Then again, Guinan got tired of telling others what to do, so by the time we get to "Ensign Ro", she took to the situation firsthand.


* at the partial behest of Guinan, who might not have a dossier on each crewmember but sure as heck knows a lot about them all

 

[Frontis]

There are people who think Guinan would have been the perfect councelor, I'm one of them

 

[Qonundrum]

I just say I often could identify with Gerordi. I have a heart for characters who are outsiders in some way. Just like Worf and Data in TNG.

Ditto. Geordi, Barclay, Ro, Data, Seven, Hugh, Worf but without the ponytail for another ten years or so... easy to identify with many of their traits.

 

[Frontis]

I like the DS9 Worf even better.

 

[Richard S. Ta]

I like Geordi, but I’m a big fan of Levar Burton which probably helps.

 

[Phoenix219]

S1 Geordi was great. Fun, charismatic, likeable, with a young-cool factor that disappeared almost IMMEDIATELY after the transfer to engineering. S1 Geordi didn't really have ANY nerd-factor.

He should have been a continuing bridge member; O'Brien should have been made the new Chief Engineer. Shit, he was already called CHIEF. Of course what do i know - in my reimaginings, not only would he be the chief engineer, but Pulaski would have been the doctor all 7 seasons. Even the same dialogue would sound better coming from her. lol. I think Bev is pretty unlikeable as well.

 

[C.E. Evans]

Season 1 Geordi was a young sarcastic jokester who didn't take too many things seriously. In season 2, he grew up and dedicated himself to be chief engineer of the best ship in the Starfleet. He did become more serious, less flippant, and started to have problems relating to people who didn't see things his way (no pun intended). He was the master in technical matters regarding the Enterprise and frequently offered words of wisdom to junior engineers--but at the same time, he didn't suffer fools easily and could be exasperated at times. In that sense, Geordi was just keeping it real and had a low tolerance for b.s.

His dedication to his craft did make Geordi unlucky with women during TNG, but we would find out how that eventually played out in PIC...

 

[DarKush]

I didn't find Geordi unlikable. Though in part I've always liked LeVar Burton so that factored into how I saw Geordi. If anything, I think Geordi was a very underdeveloped character. I never cared for him being such a loser with women, I also thought it took way too long to have his family on the series (and we never even met his sister). I enjoyed that glimpse of Captain LaForge we got in VOY and would've loved to have gotten a spin off series with Geordi captaining the Challenger.

 

[AntonyF]

One problem with "Hollow Pursuits" is that almost everyone is rude or dismissive of Barclay, in ways that aren't in line with what we've done to expect from their respective characters.

So true. Rewatching it last week I was really surprised by this.

There's still the nine year old in me that sees TNG for the utopia it tries to portray. And seeing them be mean and unprofessional kind of irked me more than I'd ever felt before. Because then I think are they always like this behind people's backs?

 

[Frontis]

S1 Geordi was great. Fun, charismatic, likeable, with a young-cool factor that disappeared almost IMMEDIATELY after the transfer to engineering. S1 Geordi didn't really have ANY nerd-factor.

He should have been a continuing bridge member; O'Brien should have been made the new Chief Engineer. Shit, he was already called CHIEF. Of course what do i know - in my reimaginings, not only would he be the chief engineer, but Pulaski would have been the doctor all 7 seasons. Even the same dialogue would sound better coming from her. lol. I think Bev is pretty unlikeable as well.

The development of O'Brien's character from TNG to DS9 was one of the best in Star Trek history. I'm glad they saw his potential as a main character.

 

[somebuddyX]

I love Geordi. I have one and one leg's worth of Geordi action figures. I used to freeze him in a block of ice and then thaw him out when I was little until he broke apart and all I had left was his leg. I later bought another Geordi off ebay, along with a Captain Picard who we stuck in my sister's turtle tank. Sometimes if you looked at Picard through the water he looked like he was pulling his own Picard Maneuver.

 

[Moviefan2k4]

I always liked Geordi; he and Data were two of my favorite characters, along with Beverly and Deanna. Levar Burton has repeatedly told a story about an early story concept, that was sadly never used on the show. It involved Geordi and Data using their respective talents to form a duo privately referred to as "the perceivers", where investigating different matters with Geordi's visor and Data's brain could provide some different perspectives.

 

[Zapp Brannigan]

S1 Geordi was great. Fun, charismatic, likeable, with a young-cool factor that disappeared almost IMMEDIATELY after the transfer to engineering. S1 Geordi didn't really have ANY nerd-factor.

He should have been a continuing bridge member; O'Brien should have been made the new Chief Engineer. Shit, he was already called CHIEF. Of course what do i know - in my reimaginings, not only would he be the chief engineer, but Pulaski would have been the doctor all 7 seasons. Even the same dialogue would sound better coming from her. lol. I think Bev is pretty unlikeable as well.

So true. Rewatching it last week I was really surprised by this.

There's still the nine year old in me that sees TNG for the utopia it tries to portray. And seeing them be mean and unprofessional kind of irked me more than I'd ever felt before. Because then I think are they always like this behind people's backs?

It's like Riker and Ro Laren. Why is Riker a hardass to Ro? Because the plot calls for it in that episode.

Thankfully, the meanness towards Barclay, including from Geordi, goes away after "Hollow Pursuits," and the crew is pleasant towards him, because of the aforementioned bad writing.

 

[Michael]

Discounting one-off scenes where the script demanded Geordi being portrayed as somewhat unlikeable (like the already mentioned “Hollow Pursuits” or “Galaxy’s Child”) I always loved Geordi and he is in fact my favorite character from The Next Generation.

 

[at Quark's]

This isn't a master thesis or anything; just a thought I had during a series rewatch.

If it were, I'd probably be holding a few thousand Master degrees myself by now.

I noticed that particularly Picard and Riker are often disrespectful toward him. E.g., being short with him, summarily dismissing his ideas and reproaching him when he says something they disagree with. I think this happens more in the early seasons.


Of course, this part isn't Geordi's fault (although it does tend to make him look weak). The problem is that Geordi often treats his own subordinates with the same kinds of disrespect. I'm thinking about how he treats Wesley, and as one specific example, his open dislike of "Broccoli" (as they called Barclay), who was just an awkward but not at all rude guy or anything.

I don't know. I could be way off. Thoughts?

He's an engineer first, not a people manager (though his function requires him to do that as well). So perhaps he's not really disrespectful, just a bit (socially) inept in that area, though not so bad his personnel complains about it. As we know, he hasn't enjoyed unmitigated success when it comes to dating, either. I've never felt him to be consciously disrespectful toward people- annoyed or exasperated sometimes, maybe.

 

[Akiraprise]

S1 Geordi was great. Fun, charismatic, likeable, with a young-cool factor that disappeared almost IMMEDIATELY after the transfer to engineering. S1 Geordi didn't really have ANY nerd-factor.

He should have been a continuing bridge member; O'Brien should have been made the new Chief Engineer. Shit, he was already called CHIEF. Of course what do i know - in my reimaginings, not only would he be the chief engineer, but Pulaski would have been the doctor all 7 seasons. Even the same dialogue would sound better coming from her. lol. I think Bev is pretty unlikeable as well.

I also did not find Geordi to be unlikeable, with the exception of "Hollow Pursuits," until Picard gave him a kick in the butt after having his own faux pas. Geordi was a bit socially awkward and maybe a touch introverted. I can relate.

Beverly though I never cared for. Pulaski was a huge improvement (I know, not a popular opinion!) especially after they got her over the early S2 Data stuff. She'd have been fun to keep around for the rest of the series and watch her personality change as she became more familiar with the crew.

 

[Timewalker]

I didn't find Geordi unlikable. Though in part I've always liked LeVar Burton so that factored into how I saw Geordi. If anything, I think Geordi was a very underdeveloped character. I never cared for him being such a loser with women, I also thought it took way too long to have his family on the series (and we never even met his sister). I enjoyed that glimpse of Captain LaForge we got in VOY and would've loved to have gotten a spin off series with Geordi captaining the Challenger.

I wonder just how much of 24th century Federation society might still have some dismissive attitudes toward people they perceive as having a disability. And as we saw in Season 1, that includes Geordi himself, as it's revealed that one of the things he wants most is to be able to see as other humans see.

I liked the friendship he had with Tasha. Who knows where that might have gone if she hadn't been written off the show.

He's an engineer first, not a people manager (though his function requires him to do that as well). So perhaps he's not really disrespectful, just a bit (socially) inept in that area, though not so bad his personnel complains about it. As we know, he hasn't enjoyed unmitigated success when it comes to dating, either. I've never felt him to be consciously disrespectful toward people- annoyed or exasperated sometimes, maybe.

Scotty might disagree on that last point. Geordi was incredibly disrespectful toward him.

I also did not find Geordi to be unlikeable, with the exception of "Hollow Pursuits," until Picard gave him a kick in the butt after having his own faux pas. Geordi was a bit socially awkward and maybe a touch introverted. I can relate.

Beverly though I never cared for. Pulaski was a huge improvement (I know, not a popular opinion!) especially after they got her over the early S2 Data stuff. She'd have been fun to keep around for the rest of the series and watch her personality change as she became more familiar with the crew.

I liked Pulaski. She was a breath of fresh air, regardless of the "McCoyisms" she was given (antipathy toward transporters, seeing Data as an ambulatory machine, rather than as a person, etc.). There's a fan theory that she's actually McCoy's great-granddaughter, so that would explain a lot of her character. Grow up with a beloved, sometimes-curmudgeonly country doctor, and some traits and attitudes might rub off.

But on the topic of Geordi... he wasn't as rude or dismissive of people as Riker and Picard, so I'll give him that. It was interesting to see him play Watson to Data's Holmes on the holodeck. But holy crap, I don't blame Leah Brahms at all for being outraged at the flirty stuff the fake-Leah got into with Geordi. He should have deleted that after it wasn't needed, as apparently there is a serious social taboo against recreating real people on the holodeck without their permission - as they repeatedly told Barclay.