Star Trek: Picard Gave LeVar Burton Flashbacks To His Community Cameo

The third season of "Star Trek: Picard" was very judicious about the way it introduced its many legacy characters. Prior to release, the season boasted a reunion of the main cast of "Star Trek: The Next Generation," which may have led to some trepidation by Trekkies. Was this going to be an awkward nostalgia fest wherein all the characters spill into the room at the same time merely to repeat catchphrases? Luckily, showrunner Terry Matalas knew better. A new NextGen character was revealed every other episode or so (of the ten-episode season), allowing audiences to become used to their presence and to absorb their backstory before Matalas sprung another actor on us. 

It took until episode six of the series, "The Bounty," before audiences were re-introduced to Geordi La Forge (LeVar Burton). Geordi, previously the chief engineer of the Enterprise-D, had now become the curator of a starship museum, where he repaired and maintained antique vessels (and, luckily, also kept them powered up and stocked with weapons). Geordi was well-known throughout Starfleet as one of the organization's best engineers and carried a great deal of prestige. 

Indeed, Captain Liam Shaw (Todd Stashwick), also once an engineer, was mildly starstruck to meet the great Geordi La Forge when he came on board Shaw's vessel, the U.S.S. Titan-A. Knowing that La Forge was coming onto his bridge, Shaw geeked out a little bit. 

As one might imagine, Burton himself has encountered a great deal of geeking out in real life. In a recent interview with StarTrek.com, Burton said that he has met his fair share of Trekkies and enthused fans — fans approach him often — and was distinctly reminded of an episode of "Community" on which he appeared.

On "Community," Donald Glover plays a character named Troy who, like many of us, is an enormous LeVar Burton fan. Burton played himself on "Community" in an episode where he was hired to introduce himself to Troy by a rival. The rival knew Troy would be overwhelmed with anxiety at meeting his hero. Troy was aghast, having only wanted a photo of Burton. "I only wanted a picture! You can't disappoint a picture!" he screamed. 

Captain Shaw was a little more dignified, but he still geeked out. Only now, it was Burton's character that someone could geek out about. Burton recalled the surreality of that moment, as his real life and his fictional life seemed to intersect. Burton said: 

"I haven't talked to him about it — 'him' being Terry Matalas — but I imagine that scene that I play with Todd on the bridge of the Titan when his character, a former engineer, meets Geordi La Forge for the first time. In my own life, I have that moment at least once a day. It's the Donald Glover moment from 'Community,' and it was pretty meta playing that scene with Todd because it felt like it was taken right out of the book of my life."

Burton has gone on record multiple times with some very strange fan stories. Between "Roots," "Reading Rainbow," and "Star Trek: The Next Generation," Burton has essentially had obsessive fans around him for the bulk of his career. 

In 1997, after the release of "Star Trek: First Contact," Burton appeared on "Late Night with Conan O'Brien" to tell some of his many "weird fan" stories. For one, a fan once told Burton that he made a living committing check and credit card fraud at a local shopping mall, but that he and his criminal compatriots would be allowed to cut their day short on the nights that "Roots" aired. Another time, a woman in full Klingon regalia asked that Burton autograph a certain bare part of her anatomy. He was game enough to do it. 

In a more recent interview with io9, Burton recounted that story, but this time in front of his daughter Mica (who played Geordi's daughter Alandra on "Star Trek: Picard"). Being tactful, Burton said that he's signed "mammary glands." Mica, 28, thought for a moment, then said, "Oh! Boobs!" She was more amused than aghast. The bulk of that interview consisted of giggling. 

While Burton has always spoken positively about "Star Trek," in a 2014 interview with HuffPost Live, he said he preferred his work on "Reading Rainbow" as the bellwether for his career success. "The best gig I ever had," he said. "It's more than just a job. It's my passion." Teaching kids to love books and reading, he feels, is far more important than anything he may have done on "Star Trek" (as positive an influence as the series might have been). 

He did say, though, that he prefers the original "Reading Rainbow" theme song over the version sung by Chaka Khan.