When the probe boards the ship LaForge reports the ship, and hall, is filled with methane and ammonia gas. Then to get to the room that is sealed off he fires to probe's phaser.
Wait a minute. Didn't he just say the hall is filled with methane gas? Does firing an energy weapon in a hall filled with methane sound like a bad idea to anyone else?

Are Data's actions here now stopping him from getting a promotion? He disobeyed a direct order, just like Geordi.

Spot the 47: the blank screen poetry Data is immersed in lasts for 47 minutes.

How come when we see everything from Geordi's POV, it doesn't look all distorted as it did in "Heart of Glory" and other episodes?

Because the sensory information isn't from his VISOR. It's from the probe.

Phil, from his NextGen Guide, vol. II; Trivia Question #2: Name the three other episodes that featured LeVar Burton without his VISOR or white contacts?
Answer: "Hide and Q" and "Future Imperfect."
You only listed two, Phil. The third is All Good Things..., in which he wore the blue contacts in the future, after having received cybernetic implants. And of course, after this writing, he also appeared in ST First Contact with the blue contacts, having received the contacts in the "real" timeline, and appeared without any contacts/implants at all in ST Insurrection after the cells around his optic nerve regenerated.

Well, if he can’t remember, then he obviously doesn’t visit often enough!
I’m really confused by this one: During Geordi’s counseling session, Troi asks him when was the last time he saw his mother. He says about 7 months ago, when she first took command of the Hera, at a party she threw for her crew. He then says she wanted him to come over and see her, but he was really busy at the time. Hold on--he was too busy, which means he didn’t go, and he latter apologizes to his faux "mother" in Act 5 (because he didn’t go). But Troi asked Geordi when was the last time he saw her. Geordi answered about 7 months ago, during the party, indicating that that was the last time he saw her. So did he go or not? How could he answer that he saw her then if he didn’t go? Or was he referring to a transmission by her when she invited him to the party? Would that really be considered "seeing" her? True, he technically would’ve actually seen her on the viewscreen, but the usage of the phrase usually refers to an in-person encounter, rather than a transmission, which would be more accurately described as the last time he "spoke" to her. Perhaps as videophones and 24th century-type viewers become more common, the phrase might evolve in its usage? But that’s not all--whereas Geordi says to Troi in Act 4 that he saw her 7 months ago, but couldn’t see her because he was too busy, he apologizes to his faux mother in Act 5 by saying he was sorry he didn’t get by to see her "a couple of weeks ago." Huh? We know they’re speaking of the same incident, because his "mother," who is reading his thoughts, replies that he was too busy with work, repeating the reason he gave Troi. So was it 7 months, or a couple of weeks? Wait! I know! Geordi’s mom contacted him 7 months ago via viewscreen to invite him long in advance to the party that was held just a couple of weeks before this episode. Except that, I thought the party was for her taking command of the Hera. It wouldn’t make sense to throw a party to celebrate the taking command of a ship six and a half months after the fact. Like I said, I’m really confused by this one.
Uh, yeah, Mom, I’m busy helping Data with visions of his father…
Oh, and by the way, I know the REAL reason Geordi feels so guilty about not going to the party. It’s because he was LYING when he said he was too busy to go! He said the party was held 7 months ago. (Since this was his first statement given about how long it was, I’m assuming it as more canonical.) 7 months x 30 days = 210 days. Since 1 day is 2.739 stardate units, then 210 days is 575.19 stardate units, or 7 months in stardate units. The stardate for this episode is 47215.5 (March 20, 2370 ). So seven months before this episode, or stardate 47215.5 - 575.19 stardate units, is stardate 46640.31 (Aug. 22, 2369). That places it in between Birthright parts I and II. This was when Geordi was hanging around DS9 with Dr. Bashir, shooting up Data with plasma shocks and inspecting his paintings. Geordi sure has an odd definition of "too busy with work." (Now you may be thinking that maybe Geordi was rounding off, and that by doing so, the exact date of the party could be placed before Birthright part I, or after part II, owing to the fact that episodes generally last only hours or days, but as I pointed out under nits for part II, The span of those two episodes was considerably longer than most. In order for it to have been before Birthright part I, it would have had to have been prior to stardate 46578.4, or July 31, 2369, because that’s the stardate of that episode, but that would have made the party eight months ago, not seven. In order for it to have been after the episode Birthright part II, it would have had to have been after stardate 46759.2, or Oct. 5, 2369, since that’s the stardate for that episode, but that would have placed the party five and a half months ago, not seven.
When to have a party is tricky business
I should also point out that The Star Trek Chronology vol. II places the party on page 187, in between the events following the DS9 episode Q Less, and prior to Picard’s attack just before the NextGen episode Tapestry. Tapestry has no stardate, but Q-Less is dated stardate 46531.2. I disagree with this placement because I question its reliability for 2 reasons: First, while we don’t know how close to the end of Q-Less the party occurred, Q-Less was 8 and one third months prior to Interface, not 7, according to the stardates. Second, it states that the party took place when Geordi’s mom took command of the Hera, and that Geordi attended the party, which as mentioned two nits above, is unclear.
Geordi! Well, uh…you’ve lost a bit of weight, haven’t you?
Obviously, Geordi’s grief over his mother’s disappearance has seriously clouded his ability to think straight. When he meets the alien masquerading as his mother, she immediately treats Geordi as if he is in fact her son, but she’s talking with the probe! As far as Geordi’s concerned, his "mother" should be saying, " Geordi? Is that you? I hear your voice coming out of this thing!"
Well, you know how close Geordi is to his machines…
In addition, the alien both communicates with him and at one point, attacks Geordi, even though he’s not really there. It is explained that the alien is using telepathy, but how can it do this, since the only thing standing in front of it is a probe? How can her telepathic communication, or her attack on the probe cause Geordi, who’s back on the Enterprise, pain?
Especially after having Taco Bell for lunch
When Geordi first encounters his ersatz "mother," she tells him they need to go down to the surface. This should have been another clue that this was not his mom. They’re in a gas giant. Gas giants have no solid surface!

I thought that some of them had a diamond core?

A core, or a surface?

How come the phaser shows in Geordi's mind, but the tractor beams don't?

GREAT MOMENT: The "LaForge-Probe" looking in the reflection. You can see what the probe looks like. I'll bet the SFX dept. work OT to get that shot right!

RHETORICAL QUESTION: Was the alternate title for this episode called "Virtual Reality"? It seems just as appropiate.

Luigi : "Obviously, Geordi’s grief over his mother’s disappearance has seriously clouded his ability to think straight. When he meets the alien masquerading as his mother, she immediately treats Geordi as if he is in fact her son, but she’s talking with the probe! "

You need to watch the episode again. When Geordi asks his "mother" if that's really her, she repeats his statement "Is that really you". Geordi then says, "Oh I forgot. You can only see the probe".

Was the mystery of what happened to the Hera ever answered?

I just watched the episode the other day. And they never did resolve the status of the Hera's whereabouts or what happened to it.

I think the producers of Voyager bandied about a plot involving survivors from the Hera being found in the Delta Quadrant. obviously that fell through.

Probably because Madge Sinclair (Geordi's mom) passed away sometime after this episode aired.

I always figured Equinox(VOY) might've worked better if (in addition to other changes) the ship Voyager encountered was the Hera.

Continuity with NextGen?! In a Berman & Braga series?! Are you mad, man?!

Seriously, they would then have had to pay credit to the writers of this episode who came up with the character of Geordi's mother.

Madge Sinclair and Ben Vereen played Kunta Kinte's parents on "Roots." Of course, LeVar Burton was the young Kinte. Sinclair was also the captain of the Saratoga in Star Trek IV.

Perhaps with Geordi's disobedience, this episode SHOULD have been called:

"In Your Face"

MikeC - Madge Sinclair and Ben Vereen played Kunta Kinte's parents on "Roots."
I thought Ben Vereen played Chicken George, Kunta Kinte's grandson?

Wouldn't it have been better - i.e. more accurate - for the probes sensor to be aimed with a finger than with the palm of the hand?

Geordi walks into the cargo hold, checks the pulse of a single crewman the declares the entire crew as being dead. If he could tell the crew was dead just by looking then why was he checking for a pulse? And if he could tell if the crew were dead or living by looking at them how come he doesn't know that his 'mother' isn't his mother at all?

"Hey, how were we to know that on a mission to look for survivors we'd need life form sensors...."

Boy, the Hera must have been one hell of a fast ship. According to the dialogue the Hera passed by this planet ten days ago, but was lost three hundred light years away.
This means that the Hera must have been managing to travel at a sustained speed of 30 light years a day, which works out as warp 9.99. The Enterprise can only manage warp 9.9 for ten minutes, even Voyager can only manage warp 9.975 and she was considered a fast ship.

Okay, at the end of this episode, everyone acts like the crew of the Hera is dead? Uh, hey, they could still be alive folks.

When a person goes missing, I believe they cannot be legally declared dead for seven years, unless there is positive proof that they are indeed dead. Jimmy Hoffa vanished in 1975, but was not declared dead until 1982, seven years later, since his body was never, and has never, been found.

Well, the Hera is a BIG ship, and since no debries or bodies were found, to declared them dead so soon is crazy! It was over TWO YEARS after Voyager vanished that the ship was declared offically lost.

Speaking of which, when I heard about the episode in which Voyager runs into another Fed ship in the Delta Quadrant, I was sure it would be the Hera. It would have made much more sense. Granted, Madge Sinclair, had passed away, but that could have been taken care of.

Hera First Officer: Captain La Forge was killed by a race called the Hirogen.

Janeway: We've met them.

This was an opportunity to tie up a major loose end, and they let it pass. Typical Berman and Braga!

I wonder if Geordi ever thought of asking Q to help him. Surely, Q could find out what happened to the Hera.

Nobody said that they were officially declared dead. But since everyone thought they had found them and now realized that they are still missing without a trace (even after a time much too short to make it official) would still emotionally feel pretty hopeless to someone in LaForge's position.

Geordi's father said that Starfleet had declared the ship lost. In effect, they were saying that everyone on the Hera was dead, when in fact there was no evidence to support that fact. If they had found debries and radiation, they could say that it's over, they're dead. However, they didn't. The Hera had to be SOMEWHERE, just not where it was before.

As I said, they waited about two years before they declared Voyager officially lost. Why did they declare the Hera lost after only six days?

I wonder why this was never followed up on. Was there a sequel to this episode that just never got made for some reason (that would have revealed what happened to the Hera)?

As I said, they had a chance to resolve this on Voyager, by saying the Caretaker grabbed them. It should have been the Hera, not the Equinox that the Voyager encountered. However, Berman and Braga couldn't give a •••• about continuity, so they just threw in this other ship that no one had ever heard of before. Typical, those two hacks should have been fired off Trek ages before it ended.

Tim McCree: As I said, they had a chance to resolve this on Voyager, by saying the Caretaker grabbed them. It should have been the Hera, not the Equinox that the Voyager encountered.
Luigi Novi: Funny, I thought it was me that said that. (Wink, wink! )

Well, we're on the same page. Too bad the Killer B's were not.

With LaForge's disobedience in mind, perhaps this episode should have been called:

"In-yer-face"

OOPS! I said that already. Please delete previous post

There is a new Next Generation novel that just came out, Indistinguishable From Magic. In it, Geordi finally discovers what happened to the Hera and his mother.

I know, I know, the novels aren't canon, but this is probably the only answer we're gonna get.

I watched this episode the other night and saw a production error so blatant I was shocked to see it didn't make the second NextGen Guide.

When "La Forge" enters the room with several bodies of the Raman crew, watch the bottom of the screen. As the camera pans, you can see a barrel move into position and one of the extras lay her head on it right before Geordi bends down to check her pulse. I'm guessing the extra had to wait to get in position until the camera passed and they simply didn't get the timing right.

Why did Geordi give up on his mom? There is no concrete evidence that she's dead.

And why was the mystery of her fate never followed up on (at least on the show)? Was there a script written about it that was never filmed?