Star Trek: The Next Generation‘s LeVar Burton is not happy with what he has heard lately from some working with J.J. Abrams.

The actor feels that the comments are disrespectful of Star Trek that came before Abrams’s two Trek movies.

“Star Trek (2009) was a great movie, and he brought a whole new generation to Trek,” said Burton. “But I’m a little disquieted by things I hear coming out of his camp, things like he would like to be remembered as the only Trek – which would discount everything before he got there.

“There’s ‘breaking the canon,’ which he did (by re-inventing Star Trek‘s timeline). But there’s also honoring the canon. And to pretend to be the only one is really egocentric and immature.”

Burton highlighted achievements in real life that mirror Star Trek technology, and which may have been inspired by Star Trek. “I just came from a conference in San Francisco with Advanced Micro Devices, and they’re working on technology towards building a holodeck,” said Burton. “That was Next Generation. And that’s part of what Star Trek has brought to the culture. So when J.J. Abrams says, ‘there should be no Star Trek except the one I make,’ I call bullshit, J.J.”

For Star Trek: The Next Generation‘s LeVar Burton, 2012 and 2013 are years of anniversaries.

2012 is of course the 25th anniversary of The Next Generation. Due to the anniversary, the cast of The Next Generation have done some joint appearances and plan on doing more of them. “The TNG Reunion Tour,” said Burton, “otherwise known as Geezers Unite.

(more…)

A typical Star Trek: The Next Generation convention cast photo op turned out to be anything but typical when a Trek fan unexpectedly popped the question to his girlfriend.

During the Austin Wizard World Convention, which took place at the end of October, Wil Wheaton was present and described what happened. “I had the flu,” he said, “and almost missed this photo session…I sat there and smiled for everyone as best I could.”

(more…)

Star Trek: The Next Generation‘s LeVar Burton has submitted another photo to the NoH8 campaign.

NoH8 is a campaign to raise awareness and to raise funds for gay rights causes, which includes the campaign to end California’s Proposition 8, a ban against gay marriage.

(more…)

Star Trek: The Next Generation‘s LeVar Burton has joined the AIDS Research Alliance Board of Directors.

Burton will “play a key role in shaping AIDS Research Alliance’s programming and fundraising.”

(more…)

A new Transporter Room 3 podcast features Star Trek: The Next Generation‘s LeVar Burton.

Burton joined Transporter Room 3‘s Scott Collura and Phil Pirrello to talk Star Trek.

(more…)

Star Trek: The Next Generation‘s LeVar Burton visitied the White House Briefing Room yesterday.

The actor was there to interview Press Secretary Jay Carney for a segment to be used on a Reading Rainbow app.

(more…)

Star Trek: The Next Generation‘s LeVar Burton spoke about his time on The Next Generation, revealing that there was one aspect of the character that he wished had been explored more.

Star Trek: The Next Generation is in the process of coming to Blu-ray, and Burton has been able to see the first season episodes. The actor is impressed with the remastering of the series thus far. The picture looks “amazing,” he said. “They have redone all the visual effects, and it’s spectacular.”

(more…)

Star Trek: The Next Generation‘s LeVar Burton‘s car was rear-ended this weekend.

It’s bad enough to get pulled over by a cop, but it’s worse when an accident is caused as a result of that minor traffic stop.

(more…)

Last weekend, fans attending the Calgary Expo in Calgary, Canada were able to see the entire cast of Star Trek: The Next Generation, plus surprise guest John de Lancie.

Over fifty thousand fans attended the weekend event, with the highlight of the convention being the TNG:EXPOsed event which took place Saturday evening.

(more…)

Even though the Star Trek franchise has gone through a bit of franchise fatigue, Star Trek: The Next Generation has left the fans hungry for more, according to LeVar Burton.

Burton credits more than just the storytelling for the reason why The Next Generation and its original series predecessor were so popular and remain so today. “[On the other shows] you didn’t tune in for the people,” he said. “You tuned in for the stories and the storytelling. But on the original series and Next Generation, you tuned in for the storytelling and you tuned in because you really cared about the characters.”

(more…)

Star Trek: The Next Generation‘s LeVar Burton will be a guest judge on Syfy’s Face Off.

On Face Off, special effects make-up artists compete to collect $100,000.

Burton will guest judge the episode airing February 22, when the artists will “design aliens based on the work of series judge Patrick Tatopoulos.”

Face Off has been renewed for a ten-episode third season.

Reading Rainbow may have fallen victim to a lack of money and a change in attitude regarding educational television programming, but former host LeVar Burton had found a way to bring it back for a new generation.

Burton believes that today’s children are in need of encouragement when it comes to reading. “There is a brand new generation of kids who could definitely use the kind of spark and inspiration Reading Rainbow provided where actually becoming a reader is concerned,” he said. “As far as I can tell, reading will never go out of style, and neither will good old fashioned storytelling.”

(more…)

When LeVar Burton couldn’t get a Twitter cybersquatter to release the Reading Rainbow name, he marshaled his Twitter followers to help him get the deed done.

Burton wanted to register the @readingrainbow handle at Twitter, but he found out that the name was already taken.

(more…)

Fans attending the Calgary Comic & Entertainment Expo in Calgary, Canada, this spring will be able to see nine castmembers from Star Trek: The Next Generation in the same place.

The Calgary Comic & Entertainment Expo will be held from April 27-29 in Calgary, Alberta, Canada.

(more…)