LeVar Burton, the goat
(midwest.social)
VetOfTheSeas
WholesomeWait. This is where the design for the “Baltimore, there’s more than murder here” bumper stickers come from?
He 100% earns a place in that ring of honor, but the difference that stands out is that Bob/Fred were the drivers/content of their efforts, where Levar was an actor, cast as host of a show. There is probably a quiet, nameless driving force behind Reading Rainbow that doesn't get the credit they deserve.
Again though, he's a very important figure in my own development and the development of so many kids. That's probably the difference felt though?
Does he still regularly do like banned book drives and shit like that to help promote reading?
Still doing his part, even if he was “just an actor”
its because he went blind and became an engineer
Him and a particular Jack Russell terrier hold a special place in my childhood memories. They're the reason I love books
Wish bone!!!!!!! That's how I learned about Odysseus.... but now that I think about it the dog banging the wife had real big sonic energy.
Over here people mostly only know Bob Ross, he actually made it onto German television.
Butterfly in the sky, I can go twice as high...
take a look
it's in a PDF!
A dictating spectrum!
I just saw this video (YouTube) about him yesterday. Like her I knew it was him in all many roles but I didn't KNOW know it was him. What a national treasure!
Some would say he was from:
"The Next Generation"
I will see myself out.
Reading Rainbow.... Part of CahLeFarNeahs Gahold. RIP Huell Howser too.
I just got a copy of Octavia Butler's "The Parable of the Sower" and I was ecstatic to realize it has a foreward written by LeVar Burton
Also a very good children's podcast Sound Detective and the short story podcast Levar Burton Reads
For the millennials in the audience, he also taught us about recycling and care of the earth as the voice of Kwame on Captain Planet.
About a decade ago I saw someone, it might have been Hank Green or someone in his genre, talk about how Captain Planet was counterproductive, treating the executives of energy companies etc. as inhuman monsters bent on destruction for the fun of it rather than people trying to do the difficult job of meeting the ever-increasing demand from the public at large for energy, food and material goods.
Turns out they're inhuman monsters bent on destruction for the fun of it.
I never noticed that!!
And of course, there was a Star Trek episode of Reading Rainbow. I think Sir Patrick Stewart also read a book on a couple of episodes.
Michael Dorn comes out of his trailer in Worf makeup, and says to the camera "Stand aside. I take large steps." which I'm still laughing at.
For anyone interested, there is q pretty good documentary about Reading Rainbow. It's called # Butterfly in the Sky iirc
Yeah he was great in Star Trek
which is wild. Ross-Rogers-Burton-Nye all belong in the same conversation
I mean close. Nye has been problematic.
Isn't his problem mostly that he's kind of a jerk in person because he doesn't want to be bothered, as opposed to doing anything wrong explicitly?
I did a brief look and it seems like most people are upset that he's talked about science that has political connotations.
Glad to know if I missed something though!
Mr. Wizard, > Nye.
Beakman > Nye
Not if the conversation is "deceased educators from your childhood".
I like LeVar Burton for Star Trek: The Next Generation, but I've also read (and listened to) his book, Aftermath. It's a bit heavy on racial tones, but I think that was the point. In his dystopian future, the sun causes a lot more cases of skin cancer, but only in those fairer of skin, so Black people are hunted and skinned, with their skin being grafted onto rich white people to help keep them from getting cancer. Like a skin transplant. I guess that's easier than figuring out how to just add melanin to the skin somehow? Like reproducing it in a lab? Sounds like something Geordi and Data would attempt. But Burton didn't write Geordi and there's no indication he's an engineer IRL, he just played one on TV. What he is, is a writer. And I guess he wanted to address racism. Don't get me wrong, it's a good book, but a bit heavy handed at times.
The book never gets mentioned and I think it should.
Give Octavia Butler's "Xenogenesis" a read. It's an allegory on slavery, race mixing, and the power dynamics of consent, but involving humans and aliens who are more powerful
This is the first I've heard of this book, I'm assuming it was written years ago prior to 'Melanotan 2' being a thing. It's a peptide which at high enough doses it can effectively transform the fairest skinned caucasian to a skin complexion to that of someone who is from Sub-Saharan Africa. The entire premise seems a little far fetched when there is a relatively simple solution available.
At high enough doses it also gives you day-long priapism. There's a reason it's not popular lol
Levar Burton wrote a story to entertain and to make people think. Nothing wrong with that, even if the subject matter is aversive or you can think of a plot hole
Oh don't get me wrong I LOVE Levar, and I'm interested in checking out the book. It just seems like an odd choice looking back, then again a lot of sci-fi tends to age that way.
LeVar Burton is an inspiration. If you missed Roots, whatever. He's relevant in so many more ways. Is currently in the film One Night Only (2026).
My personal hero, and he never let me down. His enthusiasm as Geordi helped me embrace my passion for engineering early in school.
But you don’t have to take my word for it
levar burton, mister rogers, and alison martin. <3
a likely story was what made me want to drop everything and have a bookmobile when i grew up.
Don't forget Mr. Wizard!
Damn I somehow memory hulled Mr Wizard, that dude was the shit
Alison Martin has a new career apparently.
(Ok, I don't know who she is, so I had to look it up)
this alison martin :3 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alison_Martin
(scroll down to the a likely story section; https://oldfilm.org/more-than-the-news-programming-from-wcvb/)
YOU CAN'T DISAPPOINT A PICTURE!
This whole bit is so funny.
Next Generation is the closest my family got to a family TV show that wasn't the news but somehow, this moment is usually my first LeVar Burton thought.
Butterfly in the sky
I can go twice as high
Take a look
It's in a book
readiiing rainbow
I have no memories of levar becaise every time reading rainbow came on my babysitter turned the tv off.
In many cultures this is: a dick move
Mr RoDgers? Someone needs a little more reading rainbow.
Mr. Rogers would be very disappointed at the pedantry.
Even for posting on the internet...
YOU CAN'T DISAPPOINT A PICTURE!
I TOLD PIERCE A THOUSAND TIMES
Mr. Rogers was never disappointed in you, he thought you were great just the way you are
Since OP is probably not going to address the typo, I'll say it's probably because they're from a country where "Rodgers" is more common than "Rogers". They're still wrong — names do not translate between English-speaking countries, even if they spell a word differently that is also a name. Sadly, the only person I can think of named Gray or Grey is Christian Grey, of Fifty Shades of Grey. Calling him "Christian Gray" or the book "Fifty Shades of Gray" just because you're an American is wrong. See also, Culture Club's Colour by Numbers album, which is not called "Color by Numbers" in the US.
We do localise and translate from other languages, though. Many anime, for example, are called something else in Japan. One of my favourite examples is Boku Dake ga Inai Machi, which literally translates to "The Town in Which Only I Am Missing," but is more commonly called "The Town Without Me". Outside Japan, it's called Erased. A simpler one is Shingeki no Kyojin, or "Giants Advance" or "Advance of the Titans", which, as you can guess, is called Attack on Titan in English. Then you have Boku no Hero Academia, which uses its literal translation, "My (young male speaker) Hero Academia". "Watashi no Hero Academia" would also translate to the same, but would imply they're college age/professional. "Ore no Hero Academia" would work if they were punks or delinquents — Boku, Watashi, and Ore are just pronouns that refer to social status, they all translate roughly to "Me" or "My" in English.
But again, names don't translate.
And a healthy dose of Writing Rainbow
I wish I was LeVar Burton.
He wishes he was Lance Reddick.
Why pit two bad bitches against each other, they're both icons
Well, he said so himself. Personally, I like both of them.
I wouldn't mind a second one, love that for you
The Wikipedia page is a bit dry, what's a good read about why he matters to you guys? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LeVar_Burton
He hosted the PBS kids' educational show Reading Rainbow starting in 1983, so anyone roughly 45 and younger likely grew up watching him talk about books and reading. He also had a big role in Star Trek: The Next Generation from 1987-1994, which might have been the most watched Star Trek series, and which was basically a series of lessons in ethical decision-making.
Also Roots.
I don’t know, feel like I hear love for him about as much as the other two
As somebody outside the us I never heard of him not before I saw community :(
Same for me. I just finished yet another rewatch to confirm it still my favorote show.
His Harmontown appearance was hysterical. I still show my kid Reading Rainbow, got the whole series on my media server.
