LeVar Burton is the Greatest Human Being Of All Time

Millie · Post by **Millie** » December 12, 2002, 11:17 pm

Discuss.

Midnyte_Ragebringer · December 12, 2002, 11:20 pm

Millie · Post by **Millie** » December 12, 2002, 11:23 pm

Bullshit. I doubt you will ever accomplish even 1% of what LeVar has done over the course of his career. Bow before him.

Mr Bacon · Post by **Mr Bacon** » December 12, 2002, 11:26 pm

Lavar Arrington plays a mean game of football.

Acies · Post by **Acies** » December 12, 2002, 11:32 pm

Well, I find him to be a classic example of Affirmative Action in Progress and how we have degraded as a society.
At first he was doing Sesame Street, entertaining children all over the U.S. and abroad, on his own merit. He did well for himself, and the kids found his energy great. Likewise with reading rainbow.

Then AA hit and he was the token mass minority in Star Trek: Next Gen.
I say mass minority because he was
a) Black, thus representing the African American people
b) Blind, thus representing the handicapped
c) Engineer, representing the blue collar workers who were fast dissapearing
d) Baby-sitter to Data's humanistics, which should speak for himself.

Again, preformed admirably but may have aquired the "token man" reputation, with people thinking "A black engineer to replace Scotty, ya, right (See Tuvak in Voyager, a black vulcan)."
Now that the AA craze is over, has anyone seen poor Levar Burton?
No, except on camios.
I think he is just now crawling back to the light with the new ST movie coming out tommarow.
March on, brave soldier, march on.

Millie · Post by **Millie** » December 12, 2002, 11:50 pm

First off, LeVar did not start off on Sesame Street, nor does he owe a damned thing to Affirmative Action (which does not exist in television casting, btw).

LeVar's breakthrough performance was as Kunta Kinte in the mini-series "Roots" (1977) -- an Emmy-nominated performance, and on one of the most watched shows in the history of the medium.

From there, he went on to do guest spots on "Sesame Street" and "Mr. Rogers." Eventually, he began hosting "Reading Rainbow," which is easily the greatest children's educational series of all time. I grew up on that show back in the 80s, as I'm sure quite a few people here did. RR has run for well near 20 years now, and it's still going strong. LeVar has won 5 Emmys for the show, which he both stars in and produces.

As Geordi LaForge on "Star Trek: The Next Generation," LeVar may have played a black, blind engineer. But none of these factors had anything to do with Affirmative Action, or the need to cast a token anything. First off, LeVar won the role on his own merits -- a role that did not call for an actor of any specific nationality or ethnicity. He wasn't even an engineer originally. He was the ship's pilot for the first season of the show, at which point Gene Roddenberry decided to make him the Engineer, because the ship didn't really 'need' a pilot for most of its duties. So Geordi didn't become Engineer because of some bizarre need to pander to working-class viewers (who, let's face it, probably wouldn't be watching Star Trek to begin with). And finally, Geordi was blind because the character was named after a real-life Geordi LaForge: a blind Star Trek fan who passed away shortly before TNG was created.

And perhaps most puzzling: how can LeVar be the 'token' black guy, when there were 2 other black actors in the regular cast? (Michael Dorn and Whoopie Goldberg). Part of being the token minority means being the only one on the show. I'd say TNG's cast was a pretty even mix of all walks of life, rather than an all-white cast with a token, all-purpose minority in it.

At the moment, you're not "seeing" much of LeVar because he's working primarily on Reading Rainbow. Yes, he still directs, produces, and stars in the show. Aside from that, he's taking a lot of time to focus on directing (he has directed many episodes of DS9, Voyager, TNG, and other assorted primetime series).

So in reality, none of your points makes any sense. You're just rambling on about AA, attempting to use it as a justification to bash LeVar and account for his career. Your bashing is groundless.

Vetiria · Post by **Vetiria** » December 12, 2002, 11:56 pm

Acies wrote:Well, I find him to be a classic example of Affirmative Action in Progress and how we have degraded as a society.
At first he was doing Sesame Street, entertaining children all over the U.S. and abroad, on his own merit. He did well for himself, and the kids found his energy great. Likewise with reading rainbow.

Then AA hit and he was the token mass minority in Star Trek: Next Gen.
I say mass minority because he was
a) Black, thus representing the African American people
b) Blind, thus representing the handicapped
c) Engineer, representing the blue collar workers who were fast dissapearing
d) Baby-sitter to Data's humanistics, which should speak for himself.

Again, preformed admirably but may have aquired the "token man" reputation, with people thinking "A black engineer to replace Scotty, ya, right (See Tuvak in Voyager, a black vulcan)."
Now that the AA craze is over, has anyone seen poor Levar Burton?
No, except on camios.
I think he is just now crawling back to the light with the new ST movie coming out tommarow.
March on, brave soldier, march on.

Are you just stupid?

Acies · Post by **Acies** » December 13, 2002, 12:03 am

Jesus Christ people, next time I make a joke I will make sure to put in an INSANE amount of sacrasim, just to drive the point home...
1) Not bashing Levar Burton, do not know that much about him
2) I do not think that anyone on the medium is "THE GREASTEST HUMAN BEING of all time", a title that by itself made me feel like making light of it.
3) Never seen roots, I will take your word for it Millie.
4) Jesus, you are a sensative person Millie, ease up

5) Vetiria, um, I really cannot counter such a well thought out arguement. Millie, boy I can handle that, but the power behind "are you just stupid?" is too much...
And just so the point is reached on that last one:

k?

Dregor Thule · Post by **Dregor Thule** » December 13, 2002, 12:09 am

Ignorance is bliss. AA got him the role as Kunta Kintei, the groundbreaking performance which defined him as a successful actor. At least, that's what I suspect you'll tell us. That without AA, the part of the black slave would have gone to some white guy. Jack Nicholson maybe! You seemed fixated on Star Trek and token minorities, when the whole concept of the show is the exact opposite. The original Star Trek represented a wide assortment of races not to try and appease some equality groups, but because the whole vision of the time they lived on was one of equality. There was a pretty big thing made about the fact that Kirk kissed the black lady in the show, the very first inter-racial kiss on TV I might add.

And then the matter of the Tim Russ character Tuvok. Oddly enough, he was one of the people up for the role as Geordi LaForge. He didn't get it obviously, but they still wanted him for something, eventually.

I'm such a geek. I learn too much Star Trek crap from watching TV at 3am while playing EQ.

Brittney · Post by **Brittney** » December 13, 2002, 12:09 am

LeVar is the man... I'd hit it.

Dregor Thule · Post by **Dregor Thule** » December 13, 2002, 12:11 am

Damnit, you replied as I was typing! Anyways, no, your message was not pumped with sarcasm, it came off as very serious. And I can't help but wonder if you realized your blunder and are trying to pass it off. I'll give you the benefit of the doubt, because yea, it was an outrageous thread topic, but Millie was going for that

H.. I mean she's like that.

Acies · Post by **Acies** » December 13, 2002, 12:22 am

Reedit:

Acies wrote: March on, brave soldier, march on

Truant · Post by **Truant** » December 13, 2002, 1:13 am

butterfly in the skyyyyyy

edit: typo, hi suns

Vetiria · Post by **Vetiria** » December 13, 2002, 1:26 am

Acies wrote: 5) Vetiria, um, I really cannot counter such a well thought out arguement. Millie, boy I can handle that, but the power behind "are you just stupid?" is too much...

Your post about AA was one of the more idiotic things I've read the past couple days (then again, I've stayed away from Falanthas's posts recently). It definitely had no sarcastic or joking tone to it.

Drustwyn · Post by **Drustwyn** » December 13, 2002, 1:41 am

Watch movie
http://www.newgrounds.com/portal/view.php?id=4

Krimson Klaw · Post by **Krimson Klaw** » December 13, 2002, 1:42 am

I won't give him the benefit of the doubt. He meant every word in his post. And just like me upon seeing Millies dismantling of all of his points, realized he had been 100% owned. Levar is an awesome person, no doubt.

Sylvos · Post by **Sylvos** » December 13, 2002, 1:52 am

You know I can do anything.
Take a look
It's in a book.
It's reading rainbow...

I think back to those days of getting home from school, hoping Transformers were on and finding that on the TV. After my initial rage, I would sit down and watch it. *sniff* memories....
I cry now for those lost days of youth.
Farewell.

Trek · Post by **Trek** » December 13, 2002, 4:01 am

His name in roots was Toby, get it straight

JloveFizzboom · Post by **JloveFizzboom** » December 13, 2002, 4:47 am

Roots was quite a good film - I was only 8 years old at the time, but I knew even then it was a groundbreaking work. I haven't seen the film in maybe 20 years, but I still remember "what's your name?" "Kunta Kinte" whips cracking....etc.

Was he the one who had half of a foot hachetted off too?

As far as "the greatest person on earth", I also don't think any actor fits that bill -- but he has done some truly great work, and his work on childrens' shows demonstrates a quality that not many have.

Nice to see a thread on this board that hasn't degenerated into asshattery and gaybashing vulgarities, btw -- well done

Xyun · Post by **Xyun** » December 13, 2002, 4:59 am

I would definitely put Lavar in the top 5 star trek personalities of all time.

Brittney · Post by **Brittney** » December 13, 2002, 5:21 am

LeVar also did a guest spot on savagesonblonds.com!

Voronwë · Post by **Voronwë** » December 13, 2002, 12:00 pm

and to think, all of this success as a blind man

Bronny · Post by **Bronny** » December 13, 2002, 12:07 pm

He also wrote a sci-fi book Aftermath, which I read just cause I liked him

It was not the best one I've ever read, but not the worst one either, and not real bad for a first attempt.

Bronny

Kylere · Post by **Kylere** » December 13, 2002, 12:23 pm

I met him while working as "orphan kid 019" on a production of Oliver!, and I must say, he was cool to everyone in the cast and crew.