Exclusive: LeVar Burton Talks New Roles, Roddenberry, Blogging and more

Ahh, remembering my childhood watching Levar Burton on reading rainbow and TNG. Definitely looking forward to seeing his new movie on lifetime.

Levar was on the twit podcast two weeks ago talking tech.

Here’s my Levar Burton story: I remember watching Next Gen every day after school and LaForge was easily my favorite character. He is one of the reasons I became an Engineer. I remember back when I was about 12 talking amongst friends about the characters on the show and the topic of how many black characters were on the show came up. I was momentarily stunned because in all my years watching this show, I never gave it a second thought (or even first thought for that matter) about the color of anyone’s skin. I never thought of LaForge or Worf as black. I suppose the moral of this story is that I’m very grateful for LeVar Burton’s influence on my life from Next Gen to Reading Rainbow. LeVar, if you end up reading this… thank you.

Note: the Abbreviation for Nebraska is NE, If you put NB on a letter it will end up in Canada,

Ok, went to his website and the actual quote that AP asked him about is:

“To this day it trips me out that I was such a HUGE fan of the original Star Trek series and today I am a part of that history. Getting to meet and then getting to know Gene Roddenberry was a dream come true. He was a hero of mine, this amazing visionary who had created a future realm that I wanted to help birth into being. It was however, confusing to me and disappointing to discover that this “great man” was also human. Ultimately, and this revelation has only come in the past few years, I have come to really appreciate those parts of Gene I couldn’t reconcile when I was a younger man. Those parts that he himself had already embraced and made peace with. Since then I have tried to be more forgiving where my heroes are concerned.”

LeVar confuses ME. Who is this guy? I almost gleen from that he learned that Roddenberry used the N word or something in his life? Is this idealistic, 5th grade mentality or what? OF COURSE Roddenberry was complex. Did it make him a bad man? Does it make LeVar a better man?

This whole line of thought totally disgusts me. Fault him for being a man, who chased short skirts? Really??? He didnt BILLieve in God? Who didn’t know this?? Whats this guy talking about????

The only thing that I think happening here, as I have always thought, is that LeVar Burton is a man of small mechanical proportions who compensates by thinking that because he had a role in “Roots” that his fecal deposits do not offend one’s olfactory senses.

You know what is so sad, is that he’s so effing cool simply for what he has accomplished in movies and tv that seeing him try to roundaboutly take out A LEGEND is the lamest statement of lame statements. Talk about a black chip on the shoulder. Whats next? If the gloves dont fit, you must acquit?

who just effing whoa. BITE THE HAND, buddy. Especially when the guy is dead…. and his wife just died.

I find LeVar’s remarks about Gene Roddenberry totally disrespectful. He should be ashamed of himself.

THE WOMEN!!

=h=

10.

You honestly have no idea of the context of Mr. Burton’s feelings regarding Gene Roddenberry or anything else for that matter. It is very disconcerting when we find our idols are flawed. Not that we shouldn’t expect it, but it’s still sometimes jarring. Why don’t you get off of your high horse and think a bit before you rant about how others should perceive those they esteem.

12

Well put.

re 12. Steamblade

No, I read his entire blog entry and understand the context of what he was saying. I am not on a high horse. My point of consideration is that Gene Roddenberry’s son reads this site as do many other loyal constituents such as myself. I thought that LeVar’s comments were counterproductive, thoughtless, and rude.

I honestly DO understand what Mr. Burton’s feelings are regarding Gene Roddenberry. He made that very clear in his post, which I did copy and paste here.

THE WOMEN!!

=h=

re: hitch1969© speaks with wise tongue™

Yes! You are correct! No one should express their opinions of people once they are dead!! I totally agree!

/sarcasm

If Mr. Roddenberry was that way, not saying it isn’t gonna change anything and, more than likely, his son knows at least some of the situation… so, the only person hurt by it are those who hold Mr. Roddenberry up on a high pedestal of infallibility who, like a fanatic, can’t accept that while the person they admire may have been great and had some great ideas(as LeVar stated), also had myriad flaws.

It is the good and the bad which makes up everyone and to ignore the bad of someone is to ignore the truth of someone which, in my opinion, is far more disrespectful than uttering some less than “shining” comments about a person after their death.

Can’t wait for the next half of the interview!

– Gene was a human being and full of contradictions. –

Well, aren’t we all? ;)

and P.S> who even effing cares!

A further note, re: Burton’s blog comments with regards to Roddenberry:

His statements are completely appropriate. In that blog, one of the things he talks about is the effect of fame upon a person and his/her behavior. He’s talking about the different expectations people have of the famous, and about how sometimes people might or might not live up to those expectations. He wasn’t talking to diss Roddenberry, he was talking about realizing that no one is perfect. And at no point does he bring up race in discussing Roddenberry.

#25:

First off, slander is spoken. In print, it’s libel.

Secondly, he didn’t libel anyone. He didn’t accuse anyone of any crime. He was talking about fame, and realizing that people are people. I’m terribly sorry if it offends you that he apparently wasn’t as cynical about Roddenberry’s character as you would have preferred him to be, but I think his observations about realizing that you have to take the good with the bad in a person, even a childhood hero, is completely valid, and is in no way a libelous statement against that person.

You call me racist and I submit to you, that the entire HUMAN RACE is racist and these issues will never – ever – be solved.

Dude, you’re changing the topic. Burton talked about realizing that Roddenberry wasn’t perfect and then about realizing that it was unrealistic of him to expect Roddenberry to be perfect. At no point did he invoke the issue of race. You chose to attribute Burton’s feelings and behavior to Burton’s race, which is a deeply racist reaction. You should be ashamed.

For LeVar to point out things in Roddenberry, that as a man, he has not resolved himself – is A CHEAP SHOT.

You also apparently have no reading comprehension, because part of Burton’s point was realizing that he, himself, is as fallible as Roddenberry, and that therefore it had been unreasonable of his younger self to expect perfection. In other words, Burton is criticizing his younger self moreso than he is Roddenberry.

But you are, again, changing the subject. For you to arbitrarily decide that Burton must be motivated by a sense of racial entitlement says MUCH MORE about you than it does about Burton. You have shamed yourself by assuming that the issue is racial and then attack Burton on the basis of his race. Gene Roddenberry would not approve, however much you might try to portray yourself as his “defender.”

Good stuff, Levar. Keep it up!

Wow! I love it when people start calling each other something’-ists’! My head is spinning from all the self-righeousness here!

Mr Burton was making a good point about flawed idols. We all know Gene was a better ideas man than a writer and producer. Notoriously, if an episode of Trek had a story problem, Gene was the fixer-upper.

Later on, a Cult of Roddenberry did develop and I found all the Gene-worship in the TNG era a little hypocritical. He was a man who worked to feed his family, just like the rest of us!

I found the contradictions Levar pointed out irritating in TNG. It almost seemed as if Mr Roddenberry was acting out some sort of denial onscreen. The decision to ignore religion among humans in TNG and the virtual eradication of people’s cultures in the show in order to create a rather robotic underplayed, passionless, self-righteous version of human beings made the show a real letdown for me! And, ironically, Levar Burton was one of the icons of black culture as Kunta Kinte!

Is this the great vision? That after Kirk’s time, humans lose thier humanity and become a faceless, mulched together, sexless, raceless society of automatons?

Anyway, I’m glad to see Mr Burton has moved on from Trek and is doing new things.

Good luck to him, especially with the quitting smoking. I fell off the wagon again last night – in fairness, being single on Valentine’s day is a good excuse!!

On Roddenberry’s alleged sexism:

In this famous speech of his (also rereleased on the ST-MP film score double CD), he said that he had been reproached with being sexist, e.g. portraying the women in StarTrek as sex objects. His answer was quite disarming: He said that there was nothing wrong with being a sex object and that he enjoyed being regarded as a sex object himself from time to time. (And Kirk, who was not only a womanizer but also a “sex object” himself, is actually a prime example of “sexism against” a male character in Star Trek.)

I don’t know: If Roddenberry’s ways were “sexist”, it was sexism of the healthy kind. I rather see him as having been not as prudish as most other people, as a libertine, as someone who didn’t shy away from free and eroticized views, which must have been revolutionary in TOS-era television.

I guess LeVar Burton—as much as I like him—has fallen into the trap of looking at past events through modern eyes, from our times that are to some extent ruled by anti-libertarianism, political correctness and (maybe a little too much) anti-defamation initiatives, something that apparently also influenced TNG. Just because Roddenberry would in today’s interpretation be diminished as a “sexist”, doesn’t mean that he actually was one.

Ah and TNG never had an Admiral Satie? TOS never Russians and Japanese on board? If you don’t like TNG, that is fine, yet I am still irritated by “faceless, mulched together, sexless, raceless society of automatons”. Last time I checked there were people of all species, genders and skin colours in TNG as well as TOS, the difference to today being that gender or race or whatever does not matter anymore.

“Kirk was a womaniser, in part from the stress of his job. He was in a position of power, had a good income, was a damn fine starship captain, so why wouldn’t he have plenty of women cozying up to him?”

I am irritated again by this. That might be your view upon Trek, but TOS never was about that. Kirk did not work for money or to get the interest of woman, he worked because he loved his job.

I did not intend to become personal, sorry if I sounded aggressive.

Last time I checked it was Kirk who lusted after Rand, not vice versa.

My nationality has little to do with the books I read, the movies I watch, the food I eat, etc. Cultures mix and everyone is free to pick out what he or she likes, so why should this trend not continue, especially in the fictional world of Trek where Earth is united for nearly 200 years already during TOS?
But you are right, that was more clear in TNG where we had a french Captain drinking english tea and reading english literature. By the way, Picard never lectured anyone, especially not an alien culture, the Prime Directive prevents that. And Picard neither lectured us in “Drumhead”, those things stand in the constitution of any democratic country and should be self-evident to anyone but those who still life in the Dark Ages.

36. horatio: ‘I did not intend to become personal, sorry if I sounded aggressive.’

‘scool! No sweat. I had people here be really offensive to me, but I’ve survived! ;)

‘Last time I checked it was Kirk who lusted after Rand, not vice versa.’

No, Rand did her best in eps like Miri to give Kirk a woody! Kirk did lust after her as well, cos he liked pulling anything in a miniskirt, so that’s probably why it was better for all concerned that she get shipped off somewhere else!

‘My nationality has little to do with the books I read, the movies I watch, the food I eat, etc.’

Well it certainly influences mine! I’d love to pick up a French book or a Swedish one, but at best I need an English-language writer to translate it for me! And I like Asian food because I’m interested in it from both a taste and a cultural/historical point of view! In TNG, you’d simply get a computer to pre-fab a bland wasabi sauce with alcohol-free sake and not be interested in where it came from!

‘Cultures mix and everyone is free to pick out what he or she likes, so why should this trend not continue, especially in the fictional world of Trek where Earth is united for nearly 200 years already during TOS?’

You’ve answered your own question. In TNG, cultural identity has died in favour of an amorphous . . . thing! Cultures haven’t so much mixed as faded away. And when different cultures cease to give us anything new and the ‘conflict’ or argument between differing ideologies ceases, we curl up and die, as innovation ceases!

‘But you are right, that was more clear in TNG where we had a french Captain drinking english tea and reading english literature.’

That’s because Patrick Stewart took control of his character after a couple of years, threw out the French baggage that was aimed at tempting actors such as Louis Jourdan for the role and turned Picard into an RSC-cadenced Englishman. Unfortunately, eventually all the writers and actors started copying Mr Stewart’s speech patterns, leading to the overblown sub-Shakespearian dialogue that made so much modern Star Trek seem a bit of a joke outside the fan world.

There was nothing ‘worthy’ about how Patrick Stewart portrayed Picard: he just got fed up after the first two seasons of iffy writing and producing and started to play Picard his way!

‘By the way, Picard never lectured anyone, especially not an alien culture, the Prime Directive prevents that.’

The Prime Directive in TNG was an excuse for the Federation to behave like self-appointed gods. The behaviour of the crew towards the fate of Boraal II in Homeward is one of the most disgusting, criminal acts ever portrayed in Star Trek. Picard should have been tried for genocide after that episode! Imagine in the present day and age if a volcanic island is about to blow and the US Navy had vessels that could save the inhabitants and doesn’t, citing economics and social factors. There’d be an outcry and justifiable comparisons with the Nazis! The Prime Directive is a vital guideline in TOS that became an dangerously unbendable law in TNG, with catastrophic consequences!

‘And Picard neither lectured us in “Drumhead”’

No, Picard and his crew regularly played ‘lets laugh at the freak’ whether it be snickering at Data’s computer-like behaviour, Barclay’s mildly dysfunctional behaviour or anything to do with the Ferengi. It took Quark in DS9 to give the Federation two fingers over their patronising attitudes!

‘those things stand in the constitution of any democratic country and should be self-evident to anyone but those who still life in the Dark Ages.’

And so with taking yourself too seriously again! Chill out, man(/woman?)! Picard threw Satie’s words back at her because she was being a grade-A bee-actch! But we didn’t need a speech there. Jean-Luc should have taken a leaf out of the wonderful Bill Adama’s book at that point and simply told Satie to ‘shove it up [her] ass!’ ;)

#38

I find myself siding more with Horatio in this particular debate. Kirk may not have been prone to as much speech-making as Picard, but he absolutely looked down his nose at many cultures-of-the-week, and often went so far as to change their society ‘for the better’ (see: A Taste of Armageddon, The Apple, Return of the Archons, A Private Little War, The Cloud Minders), something the Picard character would have vehemently objected to.

In terms of cultural identity, it was still present in the TNG-era (Picard’s French origins are explored in more than one episode, Riker being from Alaska, Crusher’s Scottish heritage, O’Brien’s Irish ancestory, etc.). I’d say it was more subdued, which only makes sense in the face of so many alien societies and races being encountered. Right now, our ‘universe’ is Earth. So we identify ourselves in relation to that. But in the Star Trek era the Universe *is* our universe. The scale increases dramatically, so it would be likely that identifying ourselves as Human or from Earth would make more sense than identifying ourselves as Asian or being from Russia. It’s not that those identifications become meaningless, they just become secondary to our planetary origins.

In terms of TNG ‘snickering at Data’s computer-like behaviour, Barclay’s mildly dysfunctional behaviour or anything to do with the Ferengi…”, come on! How many times did Kirk or McCoy use Spock’s race/mannerisms as the butt of a joke? Then look at how bemused they all are at Bele’s description of racism on his world.

What’s there to learn from Picard saying ‘shove it up your ass’? We *did* need Picard to extrapolate and demonstrate how dangerous Satie’s thinking was. I count ‘The Drumhead’ as one of Trek’s finest moments, in part thanks to Picard’s words to Satie.

Why is everyone blowing this out of proportion?

LeVar’s opinions are just what they are – opinions. There’s no need to defend what he said, or to put him down for what he said… This has turned into a topic not about Star Trek or anything related, but a huge political… affair!

Seriously, guys, is all this bickering necessary? Maybe you should set up a forum elsewhere to argue.

I seriously do not mean to offend anyone, I’m just thinking in the best interests of the site.

Gee whiz, guys… you’d think Gene Roddenberry was your patron saint or something. Mr. Burton’s comments were not even remotely libelous, insulting, or anything else that should raise the dander of Trekkies.

Personally, I agree pretty much entirely with the sentiments expressed by Mr. Burton…in a way, I went through kind of the same thing in discovering Gene Roddenberry’s faults, though he was never really that much of a hero to me to begin with. To be honest, my opinion of him right now is fairly low–but he did make a darn fine television show, and for that alone, he has my respect. Everything else beyond that is secondary…

#43.

I meant “apparently,” in context with what the future would hold should we ever have a black president and that application to the book.

And it wasn’t the story alone that I deemed racist, it was the authors note, or foreword, that talked about how none of the TV heroes growing up looked like him so in writing his own book the heroes would be people he identified with. Which is fine by me, so long as the heroes aren’t heroes for killing white people. Hearing this, coupled with some of the other racial crap that he’s been involved in leads me to brand him a racist and I simply don’t see how I could ever be a fan of the guy, let alone want to get to know him.

Don’t call people ignorant because you don’t understand the point they’re making or don’t agree with them. We’re all entitled to our pet-peeves prejudice and annoyances, including Levar Burton. All I’m saying is that I cannot reconcile the two perspectives, his and mine.

39. horatio: ‘ Bitch, bastard, a lot of ‘colourful metaphors’.’

Yeah, well we have a rich language and it’s fun to fling around metaphors!

‘No wonder you don’t like Picard.’

Actually, I like Jean-Luc a lot and I like Patrick Stewart’s portrayal of him. I just don’t think the character always got the writing he deserved. The Inner Light remains one of my absolute favourite Picard stories and one of my absolute favourite TNG episodes. But Jean-Luc didn’t need to spout homilies. It was lazy writing IMO to get jean-Luc to start spouting the PC aganda of the week. Picard is the sort of guy I would love to seek wise counsel from, even though I wouldn’t necessarily agree with him!

‘Anyway, I take the airlock out of this ridiculous discussion,’

I was quite enjoying it!

‘soaked with anti-intellectualism and sexism.’

Um . . . where exactly? Please elaborate! FYI, people who start wagging fingers and citing racism, sexism and so on are usually just afraid of the discussion! And I didn’t call you self-righteous! :)

‘If there ever is a bright new future, some people have to say behind. (yeah, now you can call me self-righteous again)’

I refer you to Bill Adama’s earlier remark! ;)

40. sean: ‘I find myself siding more with Horatio in this particular debate.’

Fair enough! There’s room for all opinions here even for a ‘sexist, anti-intellectual’ prone to ‘ridiculous discussion’ like me!

Kirk may not have been prone to as much speech-making as Picard, but he absolutely looked down his nose at many cultures-of-the-week, and often went so far as to change their society ‘for the better’ (see: A Taste of Armageddon, The Apple, Return of the Archons, A Private Little War, The Cloud Minders), something the Picard character would have vehemently objected to.

Yeah, but generally Kirk changed these cultures for the better! Are you telling me that a society that frog-marches its citizens to disintegration booths at the say-so of a computer is a good thing? In the, the citizens of Gamma Trianguli are controlled by a machine. In A Private Little War, Kirk takes the lesser of two evils and arms Tyree, giving him a fighting chance even if the outcome is distasteful! And in The Cloud Minders Kirk shakes up an unfair society In The Paradise Syndrome, he stops a bunch of intelligent people from becoming a bunch of stoner’s!

‘ In terms of cultural identity, it was still present in the TNG-era (Picard’s French origins are explored in more than one episode’

Yeah in a French vineyard somewhere in California with his English-accented brother, wife and nephew! ;) The only genuinely French-seeming Picard we ever saw was Jean-Luc’s mother!

‘Right now, our ‘universe’ is Earth. . . It’s not that those identifications become meaningless, they just become secondary to our planetary origins.’

You see, I disagree. I’m from the Westcountry in England. I’m slightly accented and I know who Gus Honeybun is! I’m English, but equally the English, Scots, Welsh, Cornish and Irish have very distinct identities. Given the multicultural society we now live in, both our native cultures and the cultures of the people who have moved here have become more pronounced if anything!

‘In terms of TNG ’snickering at Data’s computer-like behaviour, Barclay’s mildly dysfunctional behaviour or anything to do with the Ferengi…”, come on! How many times did Kirk or McCoy use Spock’s race/mannerisms as the butt of a joke?’

Well, have you never come across a cultural quirk that you’ve found funny! If we can’t laugh at ourselves and each other, we might as well curl up and die!

‘Then look at how bemused they all are at Bele’s description of racism on his world.’

I think they were probably more bemused by his horrible make-up!

‘What’s there to learn from Picard saying ’shove it up your ass’?’

That the trial is a self-righteous charade and doesn’t deserve anything more than contempt!

‘We *did* need Picard to extrapolate and demonstrate how dangerous Satie’s thinking was.’

I think her behaviour spoke quite well for itself. She hanged herself with her words.

‘I count ‘The Drumhead’ as one of Trek’s finest moments, in part thanks to Picard’s words to Satie.’

I count Bill Adama’s ‘trial’ as one of television’s finest moments!

Ah! It’s all fun! It’s not worth getting het up on a website about a TV show!