Geek rant- Star Trek episode "The Next Phase"

[Fritzo]

I just watched this episode of ST:TNG, and it involves La Forge and Ensign Ro being in a transporter accident, which effectively turns them into ghosts.

Nobody can see or feel them, they can't be detected, they can't touch anything because they go right through it...they are completely ghost-like.

So, HOW THE HELL DOES THE FLOOR HOLD THEM UP??? They were able to walk around, ride turbolifts, there were even fight scenes where they were rolling around on the floor. It seems like if the ship moved at all, they should just go right through it into space!

It was such a logic fail that I couldn't finish watching it. Sorry

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Next_Phase

 

[Ken g6]

I figured they were walking on the gravity plating.

The better question is how they could breathe!

 

[guyver01]

Because they weren't ghosts. They were out of phase. Think of it as if they were 1 second in the future... the floors were still there... the turbolifts were still there...

 

[Jeff7]

Other issues:
- Light apparently passed through them, since they were invisible. Therefore they'd have been blind.
- Air also would have passed through them, so they'd suffocate.

Because they weren't ghosts. They were out of phase. Think of it as if they were 1 second in the future... the floors were still there... the turbolifts were still there...

Thick walls didn't seem to be a problem though, either internal ones, or the outermost part of the ship.

 

[TheVrolok]

Because they weren't ghosts. They were out of phase. Think of it as if they were 1 second in the future... the floors were still there... the turbolifts were still there...

Not true. They passed through walls/bulkheads with no problems. As for the OP, the same things drive me nuts every time I watch that episode.

 

[guyver01]

Not true. They passed through walls/bulkheads with no problems. As for the OP, the same things drive me nuts every time I watch that episode.

ok... just re-read the info... They were hit with backlash from a molecular phase inverter explosion, coupled with chroniton particles.

A molecular phase inverter is a device capable of altering the normal structure of matter, enabling it to pass through normal matter and energy. Such "phased" matter could no longer physically interact with its environment, but could interact with other, similarly-phased matter.

So yes... they should have passed thru the bulkheads.

I would assume that the floors, bulkheads, etc have artifical gravity plating and force shielding to protect from external radiation, etc.

 

[sandorski]

Read my Words.....

Can you touch them?
Why don't they fall to the bottom of the screen?

It's exactly like that.

 

[silverpig]

Yeah, they can't eat food, but they can breathe. They can't fall through the floor, but they can walk through walls.

I love Star Trek, and this was a cool episode, but that part always annoys me.

 

[silverpig]

ok... just re-read the info... They were hit with backlash from a molecular phase inverter explosion, coupled with chroniton particles.

A molecular phase inverter is a device capable of altering the normal structure of matter, enabling it to pass through normal matter and energy. Such "phased" matter could no longer physically interact with its environment, but could interact with other, similarly-phased matter.

So yes... they should have passed thru the bulkheads.

I would assume that the floors, bulkheads, etc have artifical gravity plating and force shielding to protect from external radiation, etc.

And the air?

 

[GagHalfrunt]

Yeah, that should really stand out because everything else in Star Trek makes such perfect sense.

 

[guyver01]

And the air?

Um... the air around them became trapped in the phase inverter explosion.. so.. air was out of phase as well.

 

[Cogman]

Yeah, they can't eat food, but they can breathe. They can't fall through the floor, but they can walk through walls.

I love Star Trek, and this was a cool episode, but that part always annoys me.

Just about every sci-fi branch touches "being out of phase", and it ALWAYS has this problem. People pass through whatever the story writers feel is necessary for them to pass through.

It is essentially just a cop out that allows the writers to explore the idea of "What if everyone was a ghost?

 

[Cogman]

Um... the air around them became trapped in the phase inverter explosion.. so.. air was out of phase as well.

All the air? So how do their crew mates survive? Part of the air? Then it would be diluted to the point where they can't breath. (gas would expand to fill the volume of the ship.).

Heck, the gas should pass through the ship into space. soo... they wouldn't be able to breath anyways.

 

[guyver01]

All the air? So how do their crew mates survive?

The explosion occurred on the romulan vessel... so it wouldn't affect the enterprise crew.

 

[dud]

It's a TV show.

It was written into the script ...

 

[dud]

Unintentional double post.

 

[Bateluer]

OP, maybe you shouldn't ever watch Sci-Fi. If details like that bother you, you'd have a stroke watching any of the Star Wars movies.

 

[techs]

Didn't Stargate SG-1 make a joke about that when they did a similiar show?

 

[sandorski]

Didn't Stargate SG-1 make a joke about that when they did a similiar show?

I don't recall, but wouldn't be surprised.

 

[thomsbrain]

Admit it, Star Trek wouldn't be nearly as fun if you could never fault the science.

 

[JEDIYoda]

Because they weren't ghosts. They were out of phase. Think of it as if they were 1 second in the future... the floors were still there... the turbolifts were still there...

not much of a geek is Fritzo!!

 

[mizzou]

it was a wierd episode, but it 1/2 fulfilled my fantasy of being alone on the world with ensign ro

ahh, i know what to dream about tonight!

 

[guyver01]

ahh, i know what to dream about tonight!

She has aged quite well

 

[Fritzo]

I'm not usually one to point out little errors here and there, but even my 10 year old brought up the fact that they should be falling through the floor

 

[pmv]

I'm not usually one to point out little errors here and there, but even my 10 year old brought up the fact that they should be falling through the floor

Don't know about that - what would pull them through the floor? Gravity? But the gravity presumably comes _from_ the floor via those dubious 'gravity plates' (the various scams SF films/shows use for getting around the difficulty of filming zero-G never, ever make sense - 2001 was the only time they ever got it right).

I guess, technically what should happen is they'd be pulled half-way through the floor till their centre of gravity (around waist level) was bisecting the supposed 'gravity plates'. Also, if they acquired any angular momentum as they fell they'd start to spin round and round as if on an axis through their midriff.

Also, probably they would suffocate.

They should have filmed it like that - with them stuck, dead, seemingly halfway through the floor while flipping endlessly end-over-end for ever. That would have been cool.