Summary
- Lt. Commander Geordi La Forge, a beloved character from Star Trek: The Next Generation, was blind since birth but used an advanced VISOR to see.
- Geordi's VISOR allowed him to see light in the infrared and ultraviolet ranges, and he could use it to evaluate unknown phenomena or transmit visuals to a viewscreen.
- In later Star Trek movies and the series Star Trek: Picard, Geordi upgraded from his VISOR to ocular implants, providing him with telescopic vision and similar abilities to the VISOR.
Blind since birth, Lt. Commander Geordi La Forge (LeVar Burton) used an advanced VISOR to see on Star Trek: The Next Generation, before he eventually received upgraded ocular implants before Star Trek: First Contact. La Forge spent most of TNG serving as Chief Engineer on the USS Enterprise-D under the command of Captain Jean-Luc Picard (Patrick Stewart). His lack of sight never slowed him down, and Geordi became an accomplished engineer who could devise creative solutions to nearly any problem. La Forge's friendship with Lt. Commander Data (Brent Spiner) became one of Star Trek's best friendships and Geordi remains one of Trek's most beloved characters.
While still in the planning stages for TNG, Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry expressed a desire to have a disabled character as one of the main cast members, and the character of Geordi La Forge was born. Although Geordi sometimes wished for traditional human sight, his VISOR allowed him to see elements of the world around him that were invisible to others. As technology in the world of Star Trek improved, Geordi eventually upgraded from his VISOR to advanced ocular implants sometime after the events of Star Trek Generations. These provided him with even more abilities than his VISOR and had a more streamlined look.
