Star Trek The Next Generation: The Next Phase, Explained

Key Takeaways

• Transporter accidents are a common theme in
  Star Trek
  , with new malfunctions appearing regularly.
• “The Next Phase” displays a unique plot where Geordi and Ro are out of phase rather than dead, which
  Lower Decks
  referenced in the latest episode.
• A clever solution involving anyon fields and chroniton emissions saves Geordi and Ro.

Transporter accidents are so common in the Star Trek universe that they’ve become a trope. Each series in the franchise has at least a few — sometimes several — episodes about all the things that can go wrong when the ship’s transporters don’t function as they should. It’s actually kind of impressive that Star Trek writers keep coming up with new and interesting ways that this essential technology can fail.

One of the best transporter fail episodes in the franchise is the Star Trek: The Next Generation episode “The Next Phase.” In this episode, Ensign Ro Laren and Lieutenant Commander Geordi LaForge disappear during transport. When they can’t be located, the crew of the Enterprise-D believes they are dead. But the real situation is much more complicated than that, as it always is when the transporters malfunction in new and innovative ways.

A Deadly Transporter Malfunction…Or Is It?

“The Next Phase” begins with the Enterprise-D responding to a distress signal from a Romulan ship — a sure sign of trouble ahead. When they arrive at the ship’s location, the Romulan ship is dead in space, and they admit that they need help with repairs. Commander William Riker, Ro, Geordi, and Worf transport over to the Romulan ship to assist.

Geordi determines that the Romulan ship needs a new graviton generator, and says that he’ll need to beam it aboard the Enterprise to work on it. He calls the Enterprise, requesting the transporter operator beam him, Ro, and the damaged parts back to the ship. Everything seems to be going fine, but mid-transport, something happens. The transporter operator loses the pattern lock on Ro and Geordi. She informs Riker they should rematerialize on the Romulan ship, but they never do. They never arrive on the Enterprise either. Or at least, that’s what the crew thinks.

As the crew investigates what could have happened to Ro and Geordi, Ro wakes up on the Enterprise. She tries to use her communicator to reach the bridge crew, but it isn’t working. She tracks down some of her colleagues, but realizes that they can’t see or hear her. Then she discovers that she’s insubstantial — people can walk right through her, and she can walk through solid objects.

Once the crew has confirmed that they didn’t rematerialize somewhere else or that their patterns weren’t trapped in the transport buffer, Captain Jean-Luc Picard tells Dr. Beverly Crusher to prepare death certificates for Geordi and Ro. As she does, Ro stands over her shoulder, looking at her own death certificate, and begins to accept that she might, in fact, be dead.

Soon she finds Geordi, who is also trying to communicate with the crew to no avail. Ro tries to convince him that they’re both dead, but he refuses to accept this. He says there must be a scientific explanation for what’s happening. When the two overhear Data explaining that chroniton emissions are randomly popping up around the ship, Geordi concludes this must have something to do with what happened.

Those Sneaky Romulans

While investigating the chroniton emissions, Data heads over to the Romulan ship in a shuttlecraft, and Ro and Geordi hop on the shuttle. On the bridge of the Romulan ship, Geordi discovers that though some of the issues aboard the Romulan ship were caused by damage to their cloaking technology, another kind of advanced technology exists on the Roumlan ship.

This technology is capable of transforming matter at a molecular level, like a transporter. However, its purpose is to transform matter so it can pass through solid objects, not transport lifeforms or objects from one place to another. This technology, called a molecular phase inverter, is only theoretical to the Federation, but it seems that the Romulans have figured it out. Geordi concludes that the phase inverter must have interfered with the transport, which means he and Ro are definitely not dead. They’re just out of phase with the rest of the world they know.

While aboard the Romulan ship, where they’re invisible to the Romulans as well, Ro and Geordi overhear the Romulan senior officers talking about what they’ll do to prevent the crew of the Enterprise from discovering the phase inverter. In typical Romulan fashion, they conclude that the best plan is to kill them all. So, they hatch a plan to blow up Enterprise’s warp core. Geordi and Ro realize that to warn Captain Picard and save the Enterprise, they need to find a way back into phase with the world.

The Clever Solution

Back on the Enterprise, Geordi concludes that he and Ro are creating the chroniton emissions when they phase through things. In an attempt to get Data to notice his presence, Geordi starts phasing through objects all around Data. As Data chases the moving chroniton emissions, Geordi begs him to figure it out. Instead, though, Data just uses anyons to clear out the chronitons.

When an anyon field hits Geordi’s hand, he realizes that it’s harder for him to phase through things. He hypothesizes that a strong enough anyon field would return him and Ro to the proper phase. For this to work, they have to get Data and his team to use an extremely strong anyon field. They decide to generate as many chronitons as possible to encourage Data to use a more powerful anyon field to get rid of the chronitons.

Using a disruptor they took from a Romulan who was also stuck in the wrong phase, they create a massive chroniton surge, prompting Data to increase the strength of anyon field. When he does, Data and Captain Picard both see a vague flash of Geordi and Ro. At that moment, everything clicks for Data. He orders his team to flood Ten Forward, where the crew is attending Geordi and Ro’s memorial service, with the strongest anyon field they can possibly create. When they do, Geordi and Ro reappear, and crash their own funeral service.

The Lower Decks Easter Egg

In the latest episode of Star Trek: Lower Decks, the writers dropped in a clever reference to this classic TNG episode. The episode includes Captain Carol Freeman attending multiple performances by the crew, which is, in itself, a TNG Easter egg. During a young crew member’s one-person performance, he describes how his character (or maybe him, it’s unclear) “hit rock bottom” and was shunned by his friends. He laments:

I felt stuck out of phase, like Geordi and Ro, wandering alone.

Like so many of the Star Trek Easter eggs in Lower Decks, it’s such a quick moment, it’s easily missed. But die-hard fans will certainly get the reference. There are only two more episodes left in the final season of Lower Decks, so fans need to appreciate these clever deep cuts as much as they can before they’re gone. The final two episodes of Star Trek: Lower Decks will release on Thursday, December 12th and Thursday, December 9th on Paramount+.

Sources: Star Trek: The Next Generation, “Out of Phase” and Star Trek: Lower Decks, “Upper Decks”