Star Trek: The Next Generation was a series that pioneered in a plethora of fields during its time. Be it practical effects, CGI, or, production design, the iconic series was always one step above the norm.
This presented its own set of difficulties as the crew of The Next Generation had to be ready for the next big challenge. LeVar Burton’s portrayal of Geordi La Forge in episode 18 of season four, proved to be just that challenge.
LeVar Burton’s Character Went Into an Identity Crisis
Before we delve into how the effect was achieved, let’s talk about what actually went down. Being an adventure-exploration series set in space, Star Trek: The Next Generation often delved into aliens and horrors.
When the 18th episode of the fourth season, titled Identity Crisis was released, the world wasn’t ready for it. Starring LeVar Burton’s character of Geordi La Forge meeting his old friend Commander Susanna Leijten (Maryann Plunkett), the duo delves into a mystery surrounding their missing crewmates from the previous mission.
When Captain Jean-Luc Picard orders that the Enterprise be turned to the planet Tarchannen III, strange things start happening to La Forge and Leijten. To keep it brief, La Forge gets converted into an invisible alien who is visible under UV light only and how that effect was achieved, is an iconic tale.
How LeVar Burton Was Turned Into An Alien!
Well, not LeVar Burton, per se, but his character of Geordi La Forge became a horror creature that glowed under UV light. With popping blue veins on the hands and his face, the alien was quite fearsome, and the crew of Star Trek: The Next Generation did that… without CGI!
It all started when director David Livingston imagined how they could make La Forge and Leijten glow. In the book Captains’ Logs: The Unauthorized Complete Trek Voyages (via SlashFilm), Livingston stated that the idea of using UV lights on-set came up and they loved it.
[I] went to Michael Westmore and Bob Blackman and said we want to do this, and they designed these suits and we painted them with U/V [paint] and put these contact lenses into this woman’s eyes that glowed. […] LeVar looked fabulous.
And by ‘fabulous’, he means horrifying. The alien was remarkable and the scene where La Forge recreates the unsolved mystery in the Holodeck was something straight out of a horror movie.
The director further revealed that on-set practical effects were used that made the set look eerie and it was something different but completely intentional.
We used heavy blue light for the set lighting, and it’s different lighting than you see elsewhere because all the source coming from behind the camera is blue light. That’s a decision we made and it should look harsh and unrealistic and not well-lit because it’s not lit from one single blue source. It’s basically a beacon shining out. It looked different than anything else and that was intentional.
Identity Crisis is hailed by many of the fans as one of the best episodes of Star Trek: The Next Generation. The series ran for 7 seasons before concluding in 1994.
TNG received a rating of 8.7/10 on IMDB and a whopping 92% on Rotten Tomatoes. The iconic show is available to stream on Paramount+ in the U.S.
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