One FanCon headliner had to beam back to his home planet. Another star from The Federation came aboard to take his place.
Due to a casting offer he couldn't refuse, actor Brent Spiner was forced to back out of his scheduled appearance at this spring's Northern FanCon event. It is always a risk that pop-culture conventions must contend with.
With Spiner (who played Commander Data on the iconic show Star Trek: The Next Generation) on an undisclosed away-team from the mother ship, there was a position open on the bridge.
Enter, LeVar Burton. Yes, Lt. Geordi La Forge is reporting for duty in Prince George.
But beyond Star Trek: The Next Generation, Burton has a stellar resume - not just an interstellar history on screen.
He was the host and remains the executive producer of hit children's television series Reading Rainbow for which he won 12 Emmy Awards, the show itself getting 26 of the statues.
He roared into the public's view in 1977, however, before all of these long-running series came to be. Burton's first role as an actor was a massive part to play. He brought to life writer Alex Haley's famous protagonist Kunta Kinte in the groundbreaking television production of the novel Roots. The novel had been a smash bestseller, the primetime show was devoured by audiences of the day, and teenaged rookie actor LeVar Burton was a sudden star.
Due to the subject matter of Roots - keying on the personalized history of the American slave trade - it also made Burton into an instant touchstone for African Americans struggling then to emerge from white-dominated U.S. culture, and that struggle is still far from finished.
This inclusionary work has been a working condition of his from that time on. Reading Rainbow was unique in its widespread success with a black host of a children's show. The character of La Forge was not the first black role for the Star Trek series but he was still early to that table as well, coupled with the fact La Forge was vision-impaired and saw through high-tech eyewear attached to his head.
In perhaps a perfect artistic nod to his work as an advocate-by-example, Burton was tapped by superstar director Michael Mann to play Martin Luther King Jr. in the acclaimed film Ali starring Will Smith.
He even has a couple of footnotes in the early rap music movement, appearing in the video for the Cameo hit song Word Up and his voice is sampled in the DC Talk song Time Is, found on their album Free At Last.
He even won a Grammy Award for Best Spoken Word Album for the package The Autobiography of Martin Luther King Jr.
Today, Burton is active as a director and executive producer, bringing creative projects to the stage and screen that he believes in like the documentary The Science of Peace, the documentary The Tiger Woods Story, the feature film Blizzard starring heavyweights Christopher Plummer and former Star Trek cast-mate Whoopie Goldberg (it was produced by a Canadian company and thus earned a Genie Award nomination), and several episodes of household name TV shows. He even holds the record for directing more episodes of the Star Trek franchise than any other former cast member.
A multi-dimensional performing artist and writer, he has touched lives at all ages, from all backgrounds, here and across galaxies. He is coming to the Prince George stage to meet local audiences, sign autographs, and hold public discussions about the many faces he has portrayed and the many voices he has used over the years to inform and to entertain.
Northern FanCon happens May 13-15 at the CN Centre/Kin Centre complex. There are day passes and weekend passes that get you in on the convention action and the celebrity panel discussions. There are also VIP passes that get you up close and personal with the celebrities.
Go to www.fancon.ca to purchase tickets now, and check out the growing lineup of celebrity guests headed our way.
