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.”

A mobile app is Burton’s first step in reaching out to those children. “The center-point of the App is books,” said Burton “Wonderful, lightly enhanced digital books for children. However we’re also very interested in delivering an enriching experience to kids, much like classic Reading Rainbow did on TV.”

Burton has already retrieved the @readingrainbow Twitter handle from a cybersquatter, and future plans would include DVDs and classic Reading Rainbow episodes, which would be streamed.

“Every day of my life someone comes up to me and tells me about the impact the show had on them growing up,” said Burton. It’s no secret that our educational system is no longer the platinum standard on the world stage that it once was. This is simply my way of continuing to do what I’ve always done, just in a different medium.”

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.

To add insult to injury, the person owning the name hadn’t posted in the last three years, and he (or she) didn’t answer Burton when Burton tried to make contact.

Burton, who has 1.74 million followers, posted the following tweet: “Dear @twitter I’m trying to contact the individual who’s sitting on @ReadingRainbow but he hasn’t Tweeted in #3YEARS Can you help? Thanks!”

Seven hundred of Burton’s fans retweeted the post, which finally caught the attention of Twitter, who sorted the manner. Twitter does not allow “name squatting” and in addition, reserves the right to remove inactive accounts.

“Thank you everyone for your help!!!,” tweeted Burton.

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.

In attendance will be: Sir Patrick Stewart, Jonathan Frakes, Brent Spiner, LeVar Burton, Wil Wheaton, Marina Sirtis, Gates McFadden, Michael Dorn and Denise Crosby.

The TNG actors will be seen at various events at Calgary Comic & Entertainment Expo, including panels and discussions, autograph sessions and various photo opportunities.

On April 28, TNG EXPOsed will feature the entire TNG cast together on stage at the Stampede Corral.

Other guests at the Calgary Comic & Entertainment Expo include: Adam West, Amanda Tapping, David Prowse, Robert Englund, Tom Feldon, John Noble, Hayden Panettiere, George Perez, Yanick Paquette and Dale Eaglesham.

Star Trek: The Next Generation‘s LeVar Burton is to be honored by Tufts University with an award on February 3.

The award to be bestowed upon Burton is the Eliot-Pearson Award for Excellence in Children’s Media.

“LeVar Burton is a natural choice as he is a true children’s literary expert,” said Julie Dobrow, director of the communications and media studies at Tufts University. “Through his exceptional career he has helped to promote reading comprehension in elementary- school-age children through the medium of television.”

Burton was the host of Reading Rainbow for twenty-six years.

Burton will receive his award on February 3 at 10 A.M. in the Distler Performance Hall. The public may attend the free ceremony.

Burton was the producer and the host of PBS’s award-winning Reading Rainbow, which ran from 1983 until 2006.

According to a press release from RRKidz, “RRKidz will be available as a free app on iPad and select Android devices, offering hundreds of books via a subscription service and will be curated by Burton, providing the high level of trust parents seek.

“For twenty-five years Reading Rainbow gave me the opportunity to excite children about books and reading through the medium of television,” said Burton. “With RRKidz, I will be able to bring that same spirit of discovery, imagination and adventure to today’s digitally connected kids through enhanced e-books. RRKidz’ innovative platform allows us to deliver an incredibly exciting interactive storytelling experience through partnerships with leading publishers.”

“Teachers and parents grew up with LeVar Burton and Reading Rainbow, and the thought of the brand coming back in a big new way is thrilling,” said John Raymonds, Raymonds Capital, LLC. “RRKidz empowers every parent to say yes to reading by making content more accessible and affordable for families.”

The first RRKidz product to be released will be a “multimedia-enhanced reading ecosystem on the iPad. Hand-selected stories are given a digital upgrade with voice-overs, light animation, and games.”

Burton will be able to “enhance a PDF book with voice-over, light animation, and games ‘in a matter of hours.’”

Trek fans are in for a double treat, as the original series’ Walter Koenig and Star Trek: The Next Generation‘s LeVar Burton will be the guests appearing on Shatner’s Raw Nerve tonight.

According to the official website, “Emmy Award-winning actor and producer, LeVar Burton has a raw conversation with host William Shatner about race. Burton talks about his first and most powerful role in Roots, his infatuation with sci-fi and how his passion for teaching children has been achieved through Reading Rainbow.”

Burton’s episode airs at 10 PM this evening on the Bio Channel. A preview can be seen here.

Immediately after, at 10:30 PM, Koenig will be the guest on Shatner’s Raw Nerve. “Host William Shatner reunites with original Star Trek actor Walter Koenig for a heated conversation. The two actors reminisce about incidents that happened on the set and Koenig confronts Shatner on the reasons why the secondary actors of Star Trek have disliked him for the past thirty years.”

The preview for this episode can be seen here.

For those who don’t have the Bio Channel, past episodes are on the website. Readers who missed the recent Scott Bakula appearance can view that episode by heading here.

Burton will be appearing on The Toast Derivation episode of The Big Bang Theory, where it appears that he will be playing himself on the episode.

According to the description of the show, Sheldon (Jim Parsons) decides that it’s time to get a new group of friends.

“It must be killing you wondering who [is coming],” said Shelton, discussing a forthcoming party to which he has invited potential new friends. “OK, fine, I’ll tell you. Stewart from the comic book store … and TV’s LeVar Burton.”

“LeVar Burton’s coming here?” asked Leonard (Johnny Galecki).

“Possibly, I tweeted him,” answered Sheldon.

Burton is the third Trek actor to have a cameo on The Big Bang Theory. Wil Wheaton has appeared on the show several times and George Takei appeared in an episode last fall.

Recovering from a serious accident, Vereen welcomed the chance to appear on Star Trek: The Next Generation. “It was LeVar’s idea. I was out of rehab after my accident in 1992,” said Vereen. “I got this letter from Paramount saying that they wanted me to do The Next Generation. And I flipped out. What they didn’t know was that all through my recovery I was watching, every day, episodes of The Next Generation that a friend had given me. When I was working my way back, I’d been putting on Star Trek, and now I was being asked to do an episode. It was overwhelming. Then I went to Paramount and they gave me a uniform and bars, and I was Dr. La Forge, Geordi’s father. I was honored and, to this day, I thank LeVar Burton for that. It was a great, great gift.”

Seeing himself in Dr. La Forge’s blue command uniform was an emotional moment for Vereen. “I cried,” said Vereen. “Tears. Tears. Real tears. I looked in the mirror and I wept. I walked out onto the set, LeVar saw me, and he said, ‘Welcome to the 21st century. Welcome to Star Trek: The Next Generation.’ It was beautiful. It was a beautiful moment.”

Years after his Star Trek appearance, Vereen still hears from Star Trek fans, both at conventions and via the US Post Office. “You know what’s wild? I’ve gone to a few conventions and people have my (trading) card,” he said. “I get cards mailed to me from Germany, from Switzerland, from Africa, from China, and they’re from people who want me to sign my character card and send it back to them. I’m actually on a Star Trek trading card. That is too cool.”

Vereen has a new album out, Ben Vereen: Stepping Out Live. He also has a recurring role on How I Met Your Mother. Vereen’s website is located here.

Season Three of Shatner’s Raw Nerve will include familiar television and movie personalities, including three of particular interest to Star Trek fans.

On January 31st, Shatner will be interviewing actress, comedienne, singer and dancer Carol Burnett in the first episode, which airs at 10 PM EST. Topics of discussion will include “Burnett’s rough upbringing in Hollywood, dealing with alcoholism in her family and how those life experiences shaped her career. Burnett speaks about her work as a playwright, how she was discovered and the passing of her daughter.”

Following that episode, Marilu Henner will be the guest who will share details about the “death of her parents, motherhood and healthy lifestyles. Henner also talks about a rare condition she has called hyperthymesia, which gives her a superior autobiographical memory.”

Three guest of interest who will appear in Season Three of Shatner’s Raw Nerve include Scott Bakula, LeVar Burton and Walter Koenig.

Other guests scheduled to appear in Season Three include: Rick Springfield, Florence Henderson, Penny Marshall, Carl Reiner, Jessalyn Gilsig, Kevin Pollak, Kevin Nealon and Ed Asner.