Star Trek TNG: 5 Times Geordi LaForge Was A Jerk (& 5 Times He Was Awesome)

Geordi LaForge represented one of the most interesting and relatable characters of Star Trek: The Next Generation. This character was born blind but overcame his handicap thanks to the use of a technologically advanced visor and his own determination and drive to succeed at any cost.

He excelled as a key member of the Enterprise crew due to his astonishing record and outstanding character traits. Unfortunately, he was also a bit of a jerk who needed to be reminded of it at times. Here are five of LaForge’s coolest moments, and five of his worst.

10 Awesome: First Time In Command Of The Enterprise

LaForge started out as a comms officer in the first season of Star Trek: The Next Generation, and it wouldn’t be until later that he’d take on the role of Enterprise Chief Engineer. As such, he was still relatively green when it came to the concept of being in command.

When the Enterprise away team investigated a remote planet for clues as to the disappearance of a Federation ship, they left Geordi in charge of the Enterprise. When the ship was attacked by a highly advanced autonomous weapons system, LaForge had to learn how to inspire his subordinates and motivate them as a leader. He ended coming out on top with some ingenious moves that proved he had what it took.

9 Jerk: Insults During First Contact

Geordi wasn’t always known for being so hospitable or kind to the various races the Enterprise encountered through its travels. He was especially antagonistic towards Starfleet’s past and current enemies, most notably the Romulans, but he served up his ire against botched first contacts, too.

When the Enterprise encountered the super-powerful entity known as Nagilum in the season two episode “Where Silence Has Lease,” the ship’s sensors detected nothing beyond the viewport they were communicating through. LaForge responded in rude fashion with “sure is a damned ugly nothing.” Not the best way to soothe tensions.

8 Awesome: Helping A Romulan Change His Tune

Despite his dislike of the antagonistic Romulans, Geordi was forced to work with one in season three when he was left behind on a hostile planet during an away mission. With atmospheric interference preventing a beam-up, Geordi and a Romulan named Bochra set aside their differences and began collaborating on a plan to make it out alive.

The end of the episode saw Bochra and LaForge beamed onto the Enterprise bridge where the former informed Commander Tomalak that not only had he not been mistreated, but that Geordi had saved his life. It was the start of a mutual friendship between the two despite the fact that neither would see the other ever again.

7 Jerk: His Treatment Of Leah Brahms

When the Enterprise was caught in a thousand-year-old booby trap that killed a previous spacefaring species, they had just two hours to find a way out before lethal radiation killed them all. In order to devise a working propulsion model that could carry them out of the asteroid field without killing them, LaForge ran a Holodeck program going back to the initial stages of the Enterprise’s engine construction.

Once there, he ordered the computer to create an interactive hologram of one of the lead propulsion scientists, Dr. Leah Brahms. She was given an extrapolated personality subroutine to make her more relatable, and LaForge quickly fell in love. Not long after, the real Dr. Brahms visited the Enterprise, but she was far different than the Holodeck facsimile he had created. From the word go, he treated her with contempt and anger, until some wise words from Guinan set him straight.

6 Awesome: Defying Death

While rushing to assist a crippled Romulan vessel in need of help, Geordi LaForge and Ensign Ro were seemingly killed in a freak transporter accident. They awakened not long after aboard the Enterprise, but not the way they had intended. They were able to pass through objects and people, and none of the crew members could see or hear them.

Ro believed that they had died and passed into the afterlife, but LaForge was having none of it. He rejected superstition in favor of scientific facts as he began trying to piece together what happened. In the end, he was able to reverse the process and bring them both back, right in the middle of their rather unorthodox funeral celebration in Ten Forward.

5 Jerk: Treating Barclay Like Dirt

LaForge was always one of the few Enterprise crew members to support the neurotic Lieutenant Barclay, but he didn’t start out that way. His initial impatience with Barclay left him blind to the man’s host of personal insecurities and raging self-doubt. While he was justified in Barclay’s pursuits getting in the way of his duties, he handled it the entirely wrong way.

The ever-heroic Captain Picard stepped in and gave LaForge a stiff rebuke and some tough words about how to handle Barclay, and it didn’t involve transferring him to another starship where the problem would be offloaded onto another crew. At that moment, LaForge was forced to undergo a little self-examination.

4 Awesome: Outsmarting The Pakleds

LaForge was happy to beam aboard a ship run by the Pakleds, a race of intellectually stunted humanoids with a lot of social awkwardness. He helped them repair their engines which they claimed was inoperative, but things took a serious turn when they took him hostage and began making demands on the Enterprise.

After being hit multiple times by phaser blasts, LaForge was in need of medical attention, but he held it together long enough to carry out a plan after getting subtle clues from the Enterprise bridge crew. Playing pretend, he managed to defuse the situation without anyone getting hurt.

3 Jerk: Impatience With Mr. Scott

LaForge might have been a brilliant engineer, but he showed no respect for the elders of old who had laid the groundwork for the teachings he took for granted. One of them was Montgomery Scott, formerly of the original starship Enterprise under the command of James T. Kirk.

When Scott’s transporter pattern was pulled out of a jury-rigged buffer after decades of cycling, he found himself in a 24th century that had left him behind. Feeling like a useless old relic, Scott attempted to ingratiate himself in engineering, but LaForge quickly grew impatient and rude. Once again, Picard was forced to step in and give Geordi a little talk about the nature of patience and respect.

2 Awesome: Defending An Innocent Woman

Romantic feelings could have played a role in Geordi’s defense of Starfleet officer Uhnari, but that doesn’t mean his heart was in the right place. When Uhnari becomes the prime suspect in the murder of a superior officer, the evidence begins to mount against her.

In the end, it is revealed that a deadly alien life form was responsible for the murder, which meets its end via LaForge’s phaser. Rather than simply believe the evidence, LaForge saw her character and didn’t rush to judgments before all the facts had come in.

1 Jerk: He Belittled Other Officers

Just like Commander Riker, LaForge might have been viewed as a friendly guy by most of the Enterprise crew, but he wasn’t above making fun of them or putting them in an uncomfortable spotlight at inopportune moments. This made him unpredictable to talk to, as he could seem like a bit of a bully depending on who was around.

The most obvious instance was when young Ensign Wesley Crusher sat in on a poker game, only to lose his nerve during a good hand. LaForge went too far by saying “Wesley, you may get straight A’s in school, but there’s a lot you need to learn about poker.” A bit much.

About The Author