Levar Burton Reveals Star Trek Secret To Kids
Star Trek: The Next Generation audiences became very familiar with the sight of Chief Engineer Geordi LaForge explaining some of the crazy technology glimpsed in the show. However, most fans are unaware of the utterly charming idea that Geordi actor LeVar Burton did that in real life.
In a fifth-season episode of his hit show Reading Rainbow, Burton helped explain to kids how a prop was brought to life, and this obscure prop has a fascinating story almost as compelling as any Enterprise adventure.
The TNG episode that LeVar Burton dished about on Reading Rainbow was “When the Bough Breaks,” which features residents of a cloaked planet who have been suffering from fertility issues and need the help of the Enterprise crew to have children. The nature of the episode means that plenty of cool technology is on display, including the planet’s cloaking device and its energy shield. Fittingly enough, onscreen engineer LeVar Burton dove into the prop behind this tech on Reading Rainbow.
When watching the episode, it first looks like the entire thing is a life-size set piece. One of the big secrets that LeVar Burton revealed (with the help of Star Trek: The Next Generation effects supervisor Robert Legato) is that the whole thing is actually a three-foot-long maquette.
Fittingly enough, onscreen engineer LeVar Burton dove into the prop behind this tech on Reading Rainbow.
On Reading Rainbow, Legato thrilled children by revealing that this interstellar bit of set dressing was made from some very down-to-earth components: specifically, different parts of model kits for various aircraft carriers, cars, and tanks.
By itself, this would already have been some cool Trek trivia, and it’s always great seeing the charismatic LeVar Burton dropping some obscure knowledge on us. But many years after that 1988 episode, veteran franchise design guru Michael Okuda revealed some more details about this maquette. As it turns out, this thing was made from some components that are an integral part of Star Trek history.
For example, Okuda said (with admittedly imperfect recollection) that he thinks the maquette for this obscure episode was made with, among other things, leftover components from the model kit used to create the famous Space Dock seen in Star Trek: The Motion Picture.
One of the big secrets that LeVar Burton revealed (with the help of Star Trek: The Next Generation effects supervisor Robert Legato) is that the whole thing is actually a three-foot-long maquette.
There were other model parts used, including parts from a space shuttle launch tower kit. Above and beyond the cool design that LeVar Burton’s show had already alluded to, the most interesting thing about this maquette is the clever way that it was both built and re-used.
Looking back, it’s really cool that LeVar Burton used his time on Star Trek: The Next Generation to tell secrets about the show to his young audience.
According to Okuda, there wasn’t enough budget to do anything elaborate, so he came up with the idea to create something internally lit that would look really cool in silhouette. The result worked better than anyone had expected: the whole thing took very little time to put together and looked very dramatic onscreen.
Okuda himself was pleased enough that he reused a pattern utilized in this maquette to later create very different sets, including a Klingon transporter room and a Starfleet interrogation room.
Looking back, it’s really cool that LeVar Burton used his time on Star Trek: The Next Generation to tell secrets about the show to his young audience. It’s equally cool that the franchise had the benefit of such a visionary designer as Michael Okuda. Amazing amounts of work go into the props and set pieces that many fans take for granted in even the most obscure episodes.
But you don’t have to take our word for it. Go back and check out the old Reading Rainbow clip above to experience this nerdy nostalgia for yourself.
