Star Trek: The Next Generation (TV Series) Schisms (1992) User Reviews

Awfully good.

[planktonrules · 8/10 · 27 November 2014]

Riker is having a lot of trouble sleeping and goes to see Dr. Crusher about it. A bit later, others are complaining about their sleep and the Doctor finds that there is something wrong with their REM sleep. Counselor Troi, however, comes up with an answer when she sits these crewmembers down and has them talk about their dreams. Using the holodeck, they all have similar stories and it soon becomes apparent that they were all aboard some other ship being poked and prodded! Using the ship's computer, they are able to determine that two of the crew have disappeared! One re-appears later and he's been eviscerated! Obviously whoever is doing this 'research' isn't too concerned about the damage they do to the subjects. But, they cannot locate these beings as they are in some other phase or dimension. So how can they stop these weird folks from poking, prodding and killing them?

This is an awfully frightful episode--far more so that normal for the show. In addition, the suspense is high and it makes for a very good installment of the series.

A distinctly creepy episode

[Tweekums · 9/10 · 28 July 2015]

While carrying out a survey that will last several days Riker starts having sleep problems; he appears to be getting a full night's sleep but feels as though he hasn't slept at all. It later becomes apparent that he isn't the only person suffering; Geordi is having problems with his visor, Data loses an hour and a half and Worf has a strange reaction to getting his hair cut. A subspace rift is discovered in one of the cargo bays which is inevitably linked to the crew's problems. It turns out that aliens are sedating crew members and taking them to a different universe to experiment on.

This was a distinctly creepy episode, especially in the scene where the effected crew members go to the holodeck and create the table they vaguely remember from their time away… this doesn't sound disturbing but as the each make corrections it changes from an innocent looking dining table to a strange device on which people are restrained and experimented on. Things are no less creepy when we see what happens to Riker the final time he is taken when stimulants keep him awake. It isn't all creepy though; there are some laughs to be had; mostly when Riker struggles to stay awake during Data's poetry recital. The acting is good throughout but it is Jonathan Frakes who stands out thanks to his totally believable portrayal of the exhausted Riker. Overall a fine episode which is at times surprisingly disturbing.

Alien Abduction

[david-2483 · 7/10 · 20 April 2010]

This episode had a different feel than most Star Trek:The Next Generation episodes. It was more like a traditional alien abduction story than most ST encounters. I'm not a fan of the alien abduction genre, but this episode creeped me out... in an entertaining way, the feeling I guess you are supposed to get from abduction stories. The moment where Riker realizes he and other crew members have been being taken by "clicky" aliens is chilling. As is later in the episode when he has to pretend to be asleep on the alien examination table.

I would not be surprised if this were a favorite ST:TNG episode for fans of abduction stories.

What happened to us?

[russem31 · 29 April 2006]

ST:TNG:131 - "Schisms" (Stardate: 46154.2) - this is the 5th episode of the 6th season of Star Trek: The Next Generation.

This episode continues the smart and rich writing that the 6th season is known for. Riker is having problems falling asleep, which Dr. Crusher thinks is caused by a lack of REM sleep (harkening back to the 4th season episode "Night Terrors").

However, what Dr. Crusher prescribed doesn't seem to be working. And other crew members (such as Worf and Geordi) also start feeling fatigued and remembering vague but threatening images based on objects aboard the Enterprise. Even Data has a lapse in time in his internal chronometer.

When the affected crew come together to try to piece together what was happening based on the objects they seem to remember, they use the holodeck to recreate it. And what they see is more horrifying than they can imagine.

Trivia note: watch out for Data's poetry reading, especially his "Ode to Spot" his cat! Also, Ken Thorley returns as Mr. Mott.

A Creepy Mystery for the Enterprise Crew

[brian_m_hass · 8/10 · 29 March 2015]

"Schisms" was an entertaining and rather creepy episode for "Star Trek: the Next Generation." The mystery of what was happening to Riker was intriguing; and, the gathering of the puzzle pieces by the members of the crew led to some chilling revelations. It has often been said that the most frightening enemies are the ones you cannot see; and, the ones in this story were certainly more than enough to make a viewer's skin crawl.

Members of the Enterprise crew were able to solve the mystery of what was going on without figuring out why it was happening. For some viewers, this may be perceived as a shortcoming of the story. For others, it might be perceived as meaning that some mysteries will always remain beyond the boundaries of the knowledge of man, even in the 24th century.

The classic episode, "Relics," was broadcast only a week earlier; so, "Schisms" had to live up to unusually high expectations from viewers. However, the episode still managed to stand on its own, providing viewers with a very disturbing story. Furthermore, the scene in which Data performed his poetry reading is probably one of the more memorable moments in the entire series. Overall, the episode is well worth viewing.

A TNG twist on an old sc-fi cliché

[Mr-Fusion · 8/10 · 7 July 2017]

Now here's something peculiar: a TNG episode with a healthy dose of "The X-Files" mixed in. Various crew-members are suffering lapses in their own body clocks (lack of sleep, missing hours, etc.) that are all tied to the shared experiences of lying on an exam table. This starts out with a terrific sense of dread that really builds from there - a problem among the crew that worsens and suddenly deepens into an abduction scenario. The mystery here is well-handled, even if the captors are little more than crab people. But it also leaves the story on an unsettling ellipsis. Who were these beings/ and what did they want with the crew?

This seems off-kilter for The Next Generation, but it sticks with you. It's well done in that regard.

8/10

An Old School Sci-Fi Concept... With a Twist

[Samuel-Shovel · 7/10 · 6 June 2020]

In "Schisms" an insomnia-riddled Riker shows major signs of fatigue while other crew members start exhibiting weird behavior as well. That, plus a strange subspace rift in one of the cargo bays, reveals that select members of the crew have been being abducted in their sleep by unidentified aliens and been experimented on.

This is a fun little high concept episode. Alien abduction is a classic of the sci-fi genre; having it be on TNG gives it a nice little twist though since we're so used to the presence of aliens all around us.

This is a Riker-centric episode which is something I feel we haven't gotten in a while. I love disheveled Riker in this one.

The main thing holding this one back from being a great episode is the cold open. Data's poem and the weird cut to the theme song is one of the worst and most bizarre opening scenes the show has ever had. I was also distracted by the direction of the ep. It's super showy, with a lot of fancy tracking shots that didn't really accomplish anything. Very flashy, but to what end? Still, I could see myself rewatching this one again. It's a fun one!

Creepy!

[Colin-630-935811 · 10/10 · 4 June 2017]

One of my favorite episodes,in tone it stands alone from the rest as it is creepy,weird and unsettling. Members of the crew are having difficulty in sleeping,and after a terrific scene in the holodeck,manage to recreate an alien abduction table,and then find that Riker has had his arm surgically amputated and then reattached! *shudder* very effective,great writing and conclusion. It's pretty wonderful and is one of the many I love to watch over and over.

Half a great episode but my interest wavered as it went on

[snoozejonc · 6/10 · 9 November 2021]

Enterprise crew members experiences some unusual instances of time loss.

This is a reasonably good episode that starts strongly, developing some decent intrigue, but for me when all is revealed it runs out of steam. It also is very heavy on technobabble dialogue which is clever, but not particularly cinematic.

The plot works whilst the mystery is being developed in the first half of the story. I like how everything is pieced together from bits of information revealed by different characters.

For me the holodeck sequence is the high point of the episode and there is great use of both the setting and characters.

Personally I found the final act to be a bit of an anticlimax and not nearly as tense as it tries to be. I won't mention details not to spoil, but at that point I was willing it to end.

Visually it is fairly atmospheric, with some great props and interesting set designs, but I would not describe it as having most memorable alien effects of TNG.

All actors give solid performance, particularly Jonathan Frakes who's character Riker has a large part of the episode's focus.

A Creepy Mystery

[shandy8 · 8/10 · 13 March 2021]

'Schisms' starts off with a poetry reading from Data where he shares a charming verse about his cat that evokes eye-rolls and yawns from the erudite Enterprise crew, but then enters the realm of mystery when Riker and other crew members are having problems with sleep (reminiscent of 'Night Terrors'), questions begin to arise.

Some problems with Jordy's visor, Data's internal chronometer, a weird glowing plasma conduit in cargo bay 4 plus a lot of jargon about tetryon particles, and, most importantly, some similar complaints to Troi of odd reactions to ordinary objects, lead to a possibly sinister mystery.

An effective scene occurs in the holodeck (using a perspective of the room I had never seen) where some of the affected crew (Riker, Worf, Jordy and Kaminer) transform an ordinary conference table into a spooky-looking torture device. While it is odd how vague general commands to the computer result in some very specific additions to the table (aforementioned Kaminer asks for a double-jointed swing-arm a meter long, and a detailed electronic device appears). As a result, they conclude that they have all been there before.

Eventually, they gather enough clues (Will Riker's arm had been severed and reattached, for one) to realize that crew members are being kidnapped having horrible things done to their bodies!

This is a very good episode. My only real gripe is the conclusion. When the episode reached resolution, I was disappointed by the whole experience. I understand budgetary limitations, but I believe some clever editing and lighting and a maybe a completely different approach to the scene would have been more satisfying. Nevertheless, this is a solid episode that would definitely fall into the 'creepy' category.

Fun premise, boring execution

[Hughmanity · 6/10 · 24 June 2020]

Alien abduction is an age old premise in sci fi but that's because it has a lot of potential in the storyline. Unfortunately this episode doesn't deliver on that potential with too long of a buildup to discovering crew members are being abducted, and too little found out about the aliens and their reasons for abduction. The way the episode ends it's like they are setting this up to be a new longer term enemy, "they had a reason for what they were doing" says Riker, but then it ends and we never revisit these aliens again. Too little payoff for too much viewer suffering in the first half of the episode, especially Data's uncomfortably long poetry reading.

Star Trek The Next Generation--Schisms

[Scarecrow-88 · 8/10 · 22 April 2013]

A vast region in space (a "globular cluster") is to be charted by the Enterprise. To speed up charting this region, Geordi has come up with a way using warp energy to enhance censors to reach longer distances more quickly. What happens is that a strange "existence" from deep subspace (emitting tetryon particles, particles that shouldn't exist in normal space) is starting to form in Cargo Bay 4, a rift begins to open and threatens to cause a hull breach if not closed. Meanwhile—and this is where it really gets disturbing—members of the crew (Riker, Worf, Geordi, and a few other selected members) are "losing time", and it could have something to do with the rupture in Cargo Bay 4. The scene I consider particularly unsettling is when the crew members converge in the Holodeck with Counselor Troi to construct the table and the feeling of entrapment (and the sounds that exist around it) that haunt them. Riker's loss of sleep is the catalyst that slowly leads to the mystery's unraveling, with Geordi's visors "cutting out" and an infection setting up around his neural inputs, Worf's unnerving reaction to a barber's scissors, and Data's inability to count for 90 minutes (a signature that detects his presence on the ship was missing during that time) all confirming that whatever is happening to them it started when Cargo Bay 4 began to feature the subspace rupture. The existence of "curious alien lifeforms" unable to exist in the universe of the Enterprise crew recalls the accounts of humans being experimented on by aliens (Fire in the Sky), and the photography inside the "testing facility" (and the robed aliens with their clicking "voices" communicating to each other during experimentation, study, and research) purposely evokes a sense of dread and terror. Schisms is totally an absorbing, fascinating experience because of how the plot unfolds like a mystery giving the viewer more and more details until we get the whole puzzle solved. The episode ends with the idea that these curious aliens sent off a probe to further study the universe they are unable to currently occupy…with a member of the crew dead, another having an arm severed and re-attached, it's creepy to think that sooner or later they might find a way to exist in the universe of the Enterprise.

Why Do They Know So Little and Yet So Much

[Hitchcoc · 7/10 · 24 September 2014]

This isn't such a bad episode. As is so often the case, as the characters become more and more confused as to why these things are happening to them, they seem to come up with solutions, right out of the blue. This high tech solution-making is a critical part of many episodes. It always amazes me to find our guys Geordi and Data coming up with an endless stream of options to a problem they've never encountered. None of these make any sense to me. Do they to anyone? Is this real science or is it made to sound good. I know on doctor shows they do some of the same stuff, but their are medical experts who could, conceivably, tear things apart. Do people in the space sciences do the same thing. Members of the crew are becoming sleep deprived and don't know what is happening to them, just that they are a mess. Also, crew members have been leaving the ship without outside access or permission. Riker is a mess. They have to do something, and this is where all the talk comes in. Some kind of light source is in the dock area and is starting to compromise the ship. They must find a way to stop it. How do they do it? They just do.

Story does not stand up to scrutiny

[Qanqor · 5/10 · 2 July 2013]

So explain this one to me: allegedly, all the brouhaha with the subspace aliens started when Geordi tried out his funky sensor enhancement. So how come Riker was missing sleep, clearly being abducted for 2-3 days *prior* to Geordi first turning on the magic sensor thingy?

And while we're at it: How do these aliens know so much about humans that they understand that humans sleep for some 8 hours at a stretch, and that that would be the perfect time to abduct them with nobody noticing they're missing?

And how do they know what time people sleep on the Enterprise? Or even what "time" it is on the Enterprise?

And just as a small by-the-way, what on *earth* is accomplished by cutting off someone's arm and then re-attaching it?

No, it's an interesting initial premise, but it's not thought out all that well. Oh well.

REVIEW 2022

[iamirwar · 9/10 · 24 September 2022]

We're charting the unusually dense, Amargosa Diaspora globular cluster. The good news is Data has a poetry reading this afternoon. I look forward to it. It seems that young Will Riker is a touch irritable. Perhaps 'Ode To Spot' will help silence the barking hell-hounds.

REM sleep deprivation, didn't we do this before? Season 4:17- Night Terrors?

Imagine that you were a sleep walker, but didn't know it. Imagine if whilst you were sleep walking you went to work and completed an 8 hour shift, but all the while you think you're dreaming. You would expect a few surreal things to pass you by as you know you're only dreaming... then you go home and go to bed, and as soon as your dream-like-head hits the pillow, your alarm goes off and you open your eyes with the feeling that you haven't been to bed yet. That would give you an idea to the flavour of this episode.

The hidden mystery does add a level of intrigue, so we're doing well. It's even a bit creepy in places. Amazing that two members of the crew can leave the ship without anyone else knowing about it.

But who is this mysterious women? We first caught sight of her smiling during Data's poetry performance.

How often does Worf get his hair cut? Since season one, I don't remember his hair ever being different.

I don't know that the aliens on this ever visited our universe again, which is a pity as there was so much more that could have been done with them. Instead, they remain a complete and utter mystery, but gave us a memorable and remarkably good episode.

This Episodes Clue: The dispersion or spread of any people from their original homeland.

(Answer's to all episode clues will appear in the reviews of season seven, episode 25: All Good Things, Part One.)

A real rollercoaster of an episode

[bernlin2000 · 8/10 · 9 May 2021]

I have to say, I've never seen an episode of TNG throw so many curveballs and peculiarities before! Poor computer really had her work cut out for her (no spoilers). A strange and very mysterious episode. Reminds me of the game "Myst", trying to piece together an ancient, curious puzzle. Very solid story.

Sleep with one eye open ---- gripping your pillow tight.

[thevacinstaller · 7/10 · 16 April 2021]

I agree with a few of the other reviewers in the statement that this feels like a good xfiles episode that leaves you on edge throughout the episode.

I enjoyed the set design for the alien operation room.

The episode could have used a motive or some type of discovery made about this alien species but I suppose the goal was to leave them a mystery for future development.

I enjoyed the slow boil build up and discovery parts of this episode but the ending felt like the ending of a two part episode.

Fun episode

[a-gordon-2374 · 9/10 · 11 May 2022]

This episode progresses nicely and has a satisfying conclusion.

At first, we think that maybe there is some sort of temporal phenomenon causing people to suddenly lose hours of time, but we soon realize that instead the crew are being "abducted by aliens" and experimented on. The final 10 minutes of the episode is satisfying as we get to see the aliens and their experiments, then we're left wondering if they were simply curious or trying to find a way to study their future enemies and prepare for invasion.

Overall this is an entertaining episode.

Personal issues dressed up as plot.

[Blueghost · 11 May 2023]

Sleep paralysis is a neurological phenomenon wherein the subject is partially awake an in a dreamlike state as their motor functions are still asleep. Hence one is in a state of waking up but paralyzed bye the fact that their body is not responding to concious input. Moving your eyes left and right helps activate your motor functions, though your body typically comes out of it within thirty seconds or so.

I know this because my other, a well known Middle Eastern figure, suffers from this, and regrettably assigns it a religious cause; supernatural forces.

This episode of Star Trek tries to bring that to the Star Trek the Next Generation audience, and gives an alien explanation for the phenomenon. It's another episode that brings personal issues to the fore as plot fodder, but it's pretty ham-fisted, and offers a non-solution by trying to make the audience feel better by giving an alien or outside source for the condition.

That, as opposed to aliens abusing the condition for their own means, which this episode sort of does, but not really, or not sufficiently.

Again, Star Trek the Next Generation was designed for a broader and younger audience, and so the episodes are not as well written nor dynamic as they might otherwise have been.

The lighting is very bright and full of fill light as opposed to key light and fill light for the background. It gives the show a hospital like look and feel. Again, perhaps implying that one the viewer is no longer watching the show and no longer a die hard fan that their issues may be over.

Sleep paralysis is a very scary thing. Just stream a session off of YouTube or some other online media venue, and watch people struggle with it. But, in the end its harmless. I'm just sorry that this episode of Trek didn't do a better job of addressing the condition.

"Whoever sent that thing was more than simply curious."

[classicsoncall · 7/10 · 15 March 2024]

When it comes to technical jargon and scientific psychobabble, this might be the most esoteric episode of Next Generation ever. I had all I could do to keep up with talk of time distortions, sensor array aberrations, subspace particles and tetryon emissions. And then, above all else, this turns out to be a story of alien abductions aboard the Enterprise!! Who would have thought? Commander Riker (Jonathan Frakes) is actually whisked away to an alien ship to be probed and prodded by what looked like full sized Jawa-like creatures with reptilian faces. Earlier Dr. Crusher (Gates McFadden) discovered that Riker's arm had been previously amputated and reattached by the inquisitive aliens, who apparently had little regard for their human subjects, having turned Lieutenant Hagler's (Tyce Bune) blood into a liquid polymer. And after all was said and done, the episode concluded with no substantial resolution, except to escape from the solangen based alien life forms. The only thing that could have livened this story up was a Data (Brent Spiner) poetry reading. Oh, wait!

New Alien's Number One

[makiefer-87128 · 7/10 · 24 February 2024]

You have to wake up one morning and suddenly be part of Picard's crew. That is the only way to get there. Season 7's episode Lower Decks will reveal to us that there is no other way of getting promoted into Picard's circle. In this episode, First Officer Riker endures alien abduction in his sleep. Which shouldn't come as a surprise to him. After all, he did wake up one morning and find himself in a role as Picard's Number One. Alien abductions are the only real stress you have to endure to eventually lead Starfleet's flagship. (Or an alien empire's flagship. The episode didn't get that far.) Either way, there is really no point in working hard for Starfleet (or the alien abductors). No job promotions.

Great idea, poorly executed

[meerm · 6/10 · 31 March 2024]

There are some big ideas and questions in this episode that make excellent science-fiction subjects, but I found this episode dull and unengaging. Mysterious occurrences are a great way to start a trek episode, and keeping us in suspense is often a strength of TNG, but this one just takes too long to get to what's really going on. What should've been the centre of the story only comes up in the final moments of the episode. Data's poetry recital was a nice bonus, but unfortunately felt like filler here. I felt the cast had lost interest with a dry, slow script and direction that could've been a lot tighter.

has to hold the record...

[toolkien · 5/10 · 14 June 2006]

...for the most techno-jargon of any episode. The last 15 minutes is one long stream of pulses and containment fields etc. It is mildly entertaining, though an ode to its underlying collectivist premises, but man, they sure bust out the babble toward the end. When they are all around the conference table discussing how to address the MacGuffin of the episode it is almost nonsensical. If someone didn't have some level of buy in to the show, and this was the first episode they saw, I doubt they would have come back for more.

I almost sensed a parody was taking place, and perhaps it was. Of course many episodes have jargon in them, but this one took the cake. You knew they are hatching some sort plot, but it didn't make much sense. The only part about putting a homing device on Riker made much sense at all.

Alien experiments

[bkoganbing · 5/10 · 5 June 2020]

This TNG story has some aliens in another dimension coming over to the Enterprise and conducting experiments on the crew. It's like that urban legend where aliens in flying saucers find some likely earthlings for experimentation.

They manage to pick the senior staff too.

Not one of the better TNGs.

A Senior Trekker writes.....................

[celineduchain · 5/10 · 20 February 2022]

The Golden Age of Star Trek: we had the 6th Season of The Next Generation and the 1st Season of Deep Space Nice on our televisions, Generations on view in our cinemas and First Contact due out soon. This season of TNG contains some excellent stand-alone episodes and several spectacular two-parters, with only the occasional make-weight. Despite the length of time it had already been on the air, it still represents some of the highest standard of television Science Fiction ever broadcast.

Thankfully, we all have different tastes and don't always agree on which are the best episodes or the ones that stick in our memory. This was always one of my favourites and, re-viewing it for this retrospective, I was interested to see that it was not universally popular. I liked the mystery element to the story and especially the way the tension mounted in the holodeck reconstruction scene. And of course, the too-perfect Commander Riker sleeping in and losing his temper was not to be missed. To say nothing of Data's poetry recital.

The coldly malevolent aliens performing terrible experiments on the abductees reminded me of the episode The Empath from the Original Series. I think that such potentially horrific aspects of space exploration are probably too seldom explored in Star Trek, which can occasionally get just a little too cosy. I especially respect storytelling that can make the hairs rise up on the back of your neck without any blood and guts or tricksy camera work. Too many Star Trek aliens have comparable values to us or represent one or other aspect of humanity. These aliens were totally unrelatable, and all the better for it.

In one of the few episodes to show a non-regular crew member working alongside the main cast as an equal, we got to see a mature woman for once in the part of a Star Fleet professional, Lt Kaminer. Although theatrical actress Angelina Fiordellisi was (whisper it) considerably younger than Gates McFadden at the time. Lovely Lanei Chapman, who had been occupying the helm as Ensign Sariel Rager, for several weeks up until this point got little more to do than be dramatically rescued by Riker at the last moment. Fortunately she went on to enjoy a successful career, including a memorable part in Space Above and Beyond. .

Senior Trekker scores every episode with a 5.