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In The Next Phase, they were invisible. Why couldn't Counselor Troi sense them?

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    Maybe her telepathic / empathic abilities only work on people in phase instead of out of phase?
    – RichS
    Commented Jan 17, 2017 at 6:24
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    Or maybe she's secretly jealous of them and is playing dumb.
    – ThePopMachine
    Commented Jan 17, 2017 at 7:29
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    "they were invisible" — There were out of phase. Invisibility was only a side effect of that.
    – Quentin
    Commented Jan 17, 2017 at 8:05
  • the guys on MissionLog jokingly speculate it's because she can feel the grief of the entire crew over their loss and it has debilitated her - she has a massive headache and is passed out :D - missionlogpodcast.com/the-next-phase
    – NKCampbell
    Commented Jan 17, 2017 at 15:03
  • I thought it was pretty obvious. If Ro and Geordi can't interact with matter, so that they are essentially no longer part of the normal space-time continuum, how in the world could Troi sense them?
    – Ham Sandwich
    Commented Jan 17, 2017 at 18:59

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We do not know, as Troi hasn't spoken anything during the episode

Well, as the heading says, according to Chakoteya, the only scripted response from Counsellor Troi is shaking her head, acknowledging that she cannot sense their presence.

PICARD: Mister Data, begin a level one diagnostic. All transporter systems offline until further notice. Could they have materialised somewhere else?
DATA: Negative, Captain. Sensors are unable to locate them anywhere within transporter range. PICARD: Counsellor?
(Troi shakes her head)

Additionally, from the screenplay (thanks to Valorum for the resource):

PICARD

(to Troi)

Counselor?

Troi waits a beat and silently "listens"... but her expression is grim. She shakes her head. That seems to seal the fate of their friends. But there is no time to mourn.

She has never mentioned that her abilities will not work with beings that are out of phase.

Nevertheless, being out of phase and being unreachable for both ship's sensors and telepathic/empathic abilities, may suggest the reason. It is still a guess, though.

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    You might want to add in a quote from the screenplay; st-minutiae.com/resources/scripts/224.txt regarding Troi "listening" for them but hearing nothing
    – Valorum
    Commented Jan 17, 2017 at 9:22
  • @Valorum - thank you! I will add this and keep the resource for future answers :)
    – Edmund Dantes
    Commented Jan 17, 2017 at 9:24

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