What happened to Geordi's neural implants when he was transformed in “Identity Crisis”?

 The Visual Evidence

When Geordi is transformed into one of the creatures from Tarchannen III he discards his VISOR in favor of his new, alien eyes. But what happened to the neural implants embedded in his temples?

We don't see the characteristic red LED lights in any shot of him after his transformation.

Geordi transformed on the transporter pad

Geordi transformed and scared on the planet's surface

Transformed Geordi hugs Leitjen

But as recovers in sickbay the neural implants are present again...

Geordi recovers in sickbay

Were the neural implants just enveloped by his alien physiology and then re-emerged as he human DNA reasserted itself? Did Doctor Crusher need to repair the neural implants to interface with his VISOR once again? The episode doesn't make that clear.

What if Geordi had kept his alien eyes?

It would have been a a bold move on the writer's part if the alien DNA had left Geordi with a gift: functioning eyes. Imagine if Geordi kept the glowing yellow snake eyes for the rest of the series. Given the cloaking ability of the aliens, these new eyes could perhaps see a wider spectrum than human eyes, but biologically rather than technologically.

Georgi LaForge shown with yellow, alien eyes"Geordi, your new eyes have quite a...Mystique about them."

But what changes would that introduce to the TNG timeline?
  • It's uncertain if alien eyes would have shielded Geordi from the alien probe in "The Nth Degree" the way his VISOR did. But to keep Barcaly the center of attention lets suppose they would have.
  • The Romulans couldn't have used Geordi's neural implants in the "The Mind's Eye" as the lead up to "Redemption I/II." At least not without changing production order or a significant rewrite to the Romulan brainwashing plot. We would certainly lose the chilling moment where the computer tells Data the E-band signals could be processed by "a system designed to modify the electromagnetic spectrum and carry those messages directly to the human brain."
  • Rasmussen would have one less gadget to steal in "A Matter of Time."
  • Geordi couldn't make the comment about being a "blind ghost" in "The Next Phase."
  • The VISOR couldn't be used to disable the guards in "Starship Mine." But Riker would surely have found another way.
  • "Parallels" would need a rewrite to find some other mechanism for pushing Worf from one timeline to another.
  • Perhaps most importantly, Lursa and B'Etor wouldn't be able to get the shield frequency of the Enterprise-D and the ship would not have been destroyed in Star Trek: Generations...
So, how do you see it? What happened to his neural implants during his transformation? Should Geordi have kept the Tarchannen eyes? How would that have changed the series? Leave your thoughts in the comments section.

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