Talk:LeVar Burton

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[edit] Website

LeVar recently aquired ownership of levarburton.com from a well known celebrity domain cyber-squatter in exchange for a Star Trek "First Contact" crew jacket.

[edit] Reading Rainbow years

I had changed the description of when Burton was on Reading Rainbow to indicate an end in 2005 because at the Reading Rainbow page it states that "The show is no longer producing anymore new episodes after 2005. It will continue to air in reruns." I have again changed it to say "2005" but if this is in error feel free to change it back, but also edit the Reading Rainbow page to reflect that the show is still in production, if that is the case. --Qirex 02:11, 16 January 2006 (UTC)

Yom changed it back to (1983 –); I had to go digging to find the change, however, because it was marked as minor. In any event, it appears the show is still filming new episodes, as per the Reading Rainbow article, so I've left the change as-is. OldDaedalus 21:59, 27 March 2006 (UTC)

The current wording avoids entirely the issue of whether it's still ongoing, simply saying that it started in 1983. Given that the Awards list reflect that he's received awards for it as late as 2005, readers should be able to work out that it's a really long-running show. That, to me, would seem the only point of trying to include the parenthetical years. The RR website, btw, has a direct question of Levar in which a kid asks him how to enter the Reading Rainbow Contest, and he says "The contest will start early in January, 2007." He also is asked how long has he been hosting the show and he says "I've been the host for 23 years.". The use of the continuous perfect tense is instructive, I think, as to whether the show's still ongoing.—CzechOut 20:51, 30 September 2006 (UTC)

[edit] African-American?

When did "African-American" become a catch-all for English-speaking western black people? He was born in Germany and currently lives in Nova Scotia. Does going to a college in California and being black make you an "African-American Actor"?

Political correctness strikes again! Yeah, I think it's pretty ridiculous, too. I would personally suggest German-American of African descent, or black actor born in Germany. M.Neko

He was never German-- he was a U.S. military child. To set the record straight about the false claims that Burton was German-- As a child, Burton was a U.S. military brat (not a derogatory term to those of us who grew up in the military). He was born at an American military hospital while his parents were stationed in Germany. Like all U.S. military kids-- Burton was always an American, regardless of the technicalities of birth. And by the way, kids who grew up military tend to be very exceptional communicators (an adaptive skill that goes with the mobile culture of military kids).

72.16.201.2 18:54, 21 November 2006 (UTC

I looked at the city he was born in, and it's noted for the US army base, which is technically American soil. Perhaps he's an 'army brat' and was born on the base, in which case, he WOULD be African-American as the term is understood. (Although I do agree with you about it being inappropriate as a catch-all term.)--Stella luna 19:20, 31 July 2006 (UTC)

He and his parents are American so it isn't to do with "political correctness" he was only born in Germany because his father was posted there at the time Doc Meroe 23:25, 29 October 2006 (UTC)


Military Brats, there are millions of us: That's right he was born at a U.S. military hospital. He was the child of an American military family that was stationed in Germany at the time. You know a few million American military kids were born and/or lived overseas attached to U.S. military bases while their families served their country, but somehow there are a lot of Americans who seem to be oblivious to this.

65.102.255.230 21:40, 10 December 2006 (UTC)

65.102.255.230 21:38, 10 December 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Source: Military Family Circumstances

Levar Burton is listed as a U.S. military brat (child of a military family) under the "Famous Brats Section" of the Wikipedia "Military Brats subculture" article==

This is a slice of American experience that often gets overlooked. It was a part of Burton's childhood experience.

67.42.243.184 23:11, 28 January 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Photographs

Though many know of LeVar primarily through his work on TNG, it was most definitely not his only role. As such, I personally do not see why the only photograph of him in the article is an in-character shot of him as Geordi, with a VISOR (which itself is not really the best style of image available, as the VISOR tends to obscur facial features). Aren't there any other fair/free use images of him somewhere that can be appended? Ourai т с 06:38, 16 September 2006 (UTC)


65.102.255.230 10:44, 11 December 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Rating

This page needs some fairly heavy editing. It seems to have been written by people with a Star Trek bias. I'm not sure, precisely, how "notable" it is to list every single episode of Star Trek that he directed. The only notable thing, and it's not that notable, is that he's directed more episodes than any other ex-Star Trek actor. Say that and be done with it.

Reading this article as it was when I first encountered it, I would have left with the impression that he is mostly notable for his Star Trek experience—yet 100% of his critical acclaim comes from other work. I've begun a list of nominations and awards he's received over his career, just to balance things a little bit, but much more work needs to be done here to bring the article away from its biases, much less to actually raise it up to "B level".

I would heartily concur with Ourai, above, who suggests that the picture is massively inappropriate as the sole representation of Burton in a general biography article.CzechOut 08:28, 30 September 2006 (UTC)

Not wishing to "criticize and run", I've taken a stab at trying to transform the introductory text of the site into something that at least gives a fuller accounting of his professional credentials. Hope no one minds. I haven't removed the ST directorial credits, but I really think either a) they should go or b) everything else he's done should receive an episode-by-episode breakdown as well. For this reason, I'm challenging the neutrality of that section of the article.—CzechOut 20:57, 30 September 2006 (UTC)
I do wish to "criticize and run." This article is poorly written and lazily edited, particularly in comparison to the other articles about Star Trek cast members. Any particular reason...? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 71.239.133.107 (talk) 07:40, 9 October 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Other Appearances- Voice

  • He also did the voice over for some Intel / Pentium commercials. An interesting commnetary on how he would treat problems on the Enterprise's computers versus what we have to put up with.
  • Thanks whoever put in the note about "little fluffy clouds" because I love that song and would never have realized it's him Rebent


[edit] Death Rumors

Any truth to the rumor on AutoAdmit's law discussion board that Burton died in a car crash on June 18th, 2007? http://www.xoxohth.com/thread.php?thread_id=646733&mc=3&forum_id=2 —Preceding unsigned comment added by 75.92.121.84 (talk) 19:19, 18 June 2007 (UTC)

I don't know about that; but, didn't LeVar Burton also appear on some of the "Christy" episodes with Kellie Martin? I may be mixed up on this, but someone knows . . It was a mistake for them to cover up LeVar's beautiful eyes with that headband on "Star Trek" I think . . . He was so good in "Roots" and is also very good in the reading program now. He seems like such a nice guy doing the jobs he enjoys at this juncture. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 65.7.77.165 (talk) 22:32, 4 September 2007 (UTC)
If and when (the geek in me wants to believe he is immortal) he dies it will most likely be immediately verifiable through a quick news search. It's not just his long and established career with Star Trek, it's also because of his work with Reading Rainbow the last two decades that will draw a fair bit of media attention. Gh5046 05:48, 5 October 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Who is Gary Hausbeck?

Article mentions Gary Hausbeck as a cast member who has directed episodes of four different latter-day Star Trek series. Who is Gary Hausbeck? Conigliarodundee 15:19, 23 August 2007 (UTC)

I've checked this out on the official Star Trek site and also the Star Trek fan wiki. Not one mention of him. Suggest he's made up and that Burton really is the only person to direct all four shows - which, what with it being announced on one of the official DVDs you'd expect it to be true. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 217.18.20.226 (talk) 13:45, August 29, 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Geordi in Star Trek XI?

Theres a statement in the Next generation section that says "He is slated to play the role of Geordi in JJ Abrams' Star Trek XI." that I'm pretty sure is erroneous. The reference listed is to a youtube video tribute to Burton, and since Star Trek XI has been confirmed to be about the characters from TOS, I doubt that Burton is involved in any way with the new Trek film. Correct me if I'm wrong and there's some reliable source that I haven't seen yet... Toad of Steel (talk) 18:00, 28 November 2007 (UTC)

I removed that information. A fan made video of the theme song to Reading Rainbow is not a reliable source. Gh5046 (talk) 23:40, 28 November 2007 (UTC)

[edit] The Midnight Hour

I'm not sure if it usable or notable, but he had a starring role in the movie The Midnight Hour.--Rockfang (talk) 13:13, 15 January 2008 (UTC)