“We’re in the 24th century, can’t we put that technology in an ocular implant?” Burton said.
Whoopi Goldberg just beamed up a sweet Star Trek: The Next Generation reunion with LeVar Burton on The View.
The 67-year-old talk show moderator welcomed her former costar, 66, to the series for a mini cast reunion alongside Burton’s daughter, Mica, who portrays the actor’s onscreen daughter on Star Trek: Picard.
Burton’s appeared on one episode of the Patrick Stewart-starring Paramount+ sequel series as his iconic character, Geordi. Cohost Sara Haines questioned why the Star Trek staple doesn’t wear his legendary visor eyewear on the new show.
“I wear it at home,” Burton joked before explaining the situation. “After many years, we always talked about how Geordi’s visor was one of the ways we telegraph the sophisticated nature of the technology of the 24th century, but, it really became important to me after a while: We’re in the 24th century, can’t we put that technology in an ocular implant? And we did.”
“I had it done last week. I’m not wearing glasses, babe! That’s what’s different,” she said. “I had the lens removed, they removed the lens and replaced it. When everyone was here last time, I tried to read the monitor without my glasses and I couldn’t do it, and I was so upset, but when we came back on Monday, I was like, wa-pow! So, I know what that visor meant.”
Burton continued to discuss Geordi’s physicality, adding that he “has eyes that are actually blue, which is wild, because the contact lenses I wear are just black lines on a white field, there’s some chemical reaction that nobody seems to understand that makes his eyes blue.”
Goldberg has long used The View as a platform for Star Trek reunions, with Stewart making headlines in 2020 when he asked the Oscar-winning Ghost actress to return as Guinan for season 2 of Picard.
“I’ve said this on the show before, but Star Trek was one of the great experiences, from the beginning to the end,” Goldberg said through tears. “I had the best, best, best time ever.”
The View airs weekdays at 11 a.m. ET on ABC. Star Trek: Picard is now streaming on Paramount+.