The Picard Finale Finally Gives Star Trek Fans Something They've Wanted For Years
This post contains spoilers for the "Star Trek: Picard" series finale.
In the "Star Trek: Voyager" episode titled "Timeless" (November 18, 1998), Chakotay (Robert Beltran) and Harry Kim (Garrett Wang) found themselves lost in an alternate future after the destruction of their ship. It seems that 15 years before, the Voyager was tinkering with something called a quantum slipstream when the experiment went wrong and the entire starship crashed, killing almost everyone. Chakotay and Kim endeavor to steal a time-altering widget that would allow them to restore the past as it was. In stealing said widget, however, they are pursued by a Federation starship. The ship is the U.S.S. Challenger, a Galaxy-class vessel captained by ... look, Trekkies! It's LeVar Burton as Captain Geordi La Forge! He finally got that command that he always — or at least once — wanted.
Geordi's place in the captain's chair in the "Voyager" alternate future would play itself out in official canon in "The Last Generation," the series finale of "Star Trek: Picard." While Picard (Patrick Stewart), Riker (Jonathan Frakes), and Worf (Michael Dorn) left the Enterprise-D to mount a rescue, Geordi would stay behind to command the ship. For the first time since 1998, Trekkies got to see Geordi in command. The character fulfilled a dream he once had as a young lieutenant.
Of course, careers change. Starting with the third season of "Star Trek: The Next Generation," Geordi served as the chief engineer aboard the U.S.S. Enterprise-D and provided the show with the bulk of its wonderful multisyllabic techno-jargon. In wearing the gold uniform, the color used to denote engineers and security officers, La Forge presented himself as being on a very particular career track. He was not aiming to command a vessel, preferring to focus on machines and technical details.
Timeless
La Forge's technical know-how, in the "official" timeline of "Star Trek: Picard," eventually led him to become the chief curator at a Federation starship museum where ancient ships are put on display. He bore the rank of commodore. For an engineer, this is an appropriate place to end up. He also had a reputation as one of Starfleet's best tinkerers, and Captain Liam Shaw (Todd Stashwick), previously an engineer himself, became a little starstruck when talking to La Forge face-to-face.
But in the first two seasons of "Star Trek: The Next Generation," the young Geordi La Forge wore a red uniform, a declaration that he was on the command career track. The officers in red uniforms aimed to be leaders, needing to study all aspects of a ship and train themselves to manage teams and oversee all of a starship's functions. La Forge clearly wanted to be a captain eventually, and would happily sit in the captain's chair when asked. Even though he was, at the time, only a lieutenant (junior grade).
La Forge was a bridge officer, which put him in close proximity to the captain's chair on multiple occasions. This made the ship's snippy original chief engineer, Lieutenant Logan (Vyto Ruginis), rather miffed in the season 1 "Next Generation" episode "The Arsenal of Freedom" (April 11, 1988). In that episode, the bulk of the Enterprise's senior staff became stranded on a planet, pinned down or injured by automated weapons fire left behind by a long-dead civilization. La Forge was left in command of the ship, dealing with a similar weapon in orbit. When the Enterprise was buffeted by phaser fire, Logan charged to the bridge demanding a command position.
La Forge, stalwart, refused. Good for him.
'The Arsenal of Freedom'
Indeed, in "The Arsenal of Freedom," Geordi's solution for the crisis du jour is brilliant. The ship attacking him is invisible and its attacks are increasingly destructive. He eventually has the great idea of separating the Enterprise's saucer section and ceding control of it over to Logan. Using the drive section, Geordi lures the invisible ship into the upper part of a planet's atmosphere, causing it to become visible as it heats up. La Forge has to get command advice from Counselor Troi (Marina Sirtis) and reassure the ensigns in his command that everything will be fine. When Picard returns to the ship, he lets Geordi stay in command until it is reunited with its saucer. It seems that Geordi would have made a pretty excellent captain.
La Forge's engineering career, of course, interrupted that particular ambition, leaving "Arsenal of Freedom" fans a little upset. It seemed that Geordi was fated to never be captain again.
Thankfully, "The Last Generation" will finally leave said fans sated. Geordi, now perhaps in his 80s, is left in command of the Enterprise-D he reconstructed himself (it was destroyed in "Star Trek: Generations"). At the helm sits Data (Brent Spiner) who pilots the ship, Millennium Falcon-style, into a vast Borg vessel, hoping to bomb its core. Geordi lets Data do his piloting, stays in contact with his team, and again asks Troi for advice. It's been decades for both the actor and the character, but it seems that being a captain was something he never lost a knack for.
"Picard" may not take place in a timeline where Geordi became a starship captain, but fans of the famed engineer finally get to see something they've longed for since 1988. It only took 35 years.