Television Review: Schisms (Star Trek: The Next Generation, S6X05, 1992)

Schisms (S06E05)

Airdate: 19 October 1992

Written by: Brannon Braga
Directed by: Robert Wiemer

Running Time: 46 minutes

Star Trek, and The Next Generation within it, has always belonged squarely to the science fiction genre. Yet, audiences could be forgiven for occasionally forgetting that fact when confronted with episodes built around nostalgic fan service, melodramatic intrigue, or heavy-handed commentary on the social, political, and cultural issues of the day. From time to time, however, TNG would decisively return to its “pure” genre roots, delivering a standalone ‘Monster of the Week’ episode constructed from simple, potent ideas and classic genre tropes. Schisms, the fifth episode of the sixth season, is precisely such an instalment. It successfully transplants the very 20th-century concept of alien abduction into the 24th century, delivering an interesting and effective combination of science fiction, psychological horror, and mystery.

The episode is set within the Armagosa Diaspora, a remote sector of space which the USS Enterprise-D is tasked with charting. To facilitate this mission, Chief Engineer Geordi La Forge has developed a new suite of specialised sensors. This setting immediately establishes an atmosphere of isolation and unknown frontiers, the perfect backdrop for the inexplicable events to come. The plot begins with Commander William Riker suffering from acute insomnia, memory lapses, and a strangely visceral aversion to mundane objects. He gradually realises he is not alone; other crew members are experiencing similar symptoms of fatigue and disorientation. After consulting Counsellor Deanna Troi, she organises a holodeck session—a now-famous sequence—where the affected officers slowly, and with palpable dread, reconstruct their shared, deeply suppressed memories. They piece together the horrifying experience of being interrogated and subjected to brutal physical experimentation on cold, metallic operating tables by eerily silent, insectoid aliens.

The reality of these abductions is gruesomely confirmed by Dr. Beverly Crusher, who discovers that Riker’s arm has been surgically severed and reattached, apparently during one of these nocturnal violations. The stakes are raised when it is revealed two crewmen are missing. One of them, Edward Hagler (Tyce Bune), returns to the ship only to die a horrific death as his blood has been transformed into a liquid polymer. The episode thus pivots from a psychological mystery to a race against time. The clue to the aliens’ method lies in a unique particle emission that creates a microscopic subspace rift in one of the cargo bays. Riker volunteers to act as bait, using a sedative to allow himself to be taken. In the tense climax, he awakens on the alien operating table. As La Forge and Data forcibly generate a small rift of their own, Riker makes a desperate leap, pulling himself and the newly abducted Ensign Sariel Rager (Lanei Chapman) back to the Enterprise. The episode concludes with the senior staff discussing the aliens’ inscrutable motives, which remain forever unknown.

Written by Brannon Braga, who would become one of Star Trek’s most significant creative figures, Schisms takes a relatively simple, almost urban-legend premise and plays it as a straightforward sci-fi mystery. Its genius lies in its slow, deliberate pacing. The first half is a masterclass in building unease, taking its time to allow both characters and audience to discover the terrifying truth. Director Robert Wiemer expertly cultivates this atmosphere, rendering the Enterprise’s familiar corridors strangely menacing and imbuing the holodeck reconstruction sequence with a surreal, dissociative quality that is profoundly disturbing. The final act, while action-oriented, maintains this eerie tone, and the episode’s unconventional ending—leaving the aliens’ identity and ultimate purpose a mystery—is a bold and effective choice that lingers in the mind far longer than a conventional showdown would.

However, for all its atmospheric strengths, Schisms is often considered, at best, a run-of-the-mill entry by dedicated Trekkies. The criticism holds some weight. While technically solid, well-acted, and competently directed, the episode suffers from a certain narrative looseness. The subplot featuring Data’s comedic recital of “Ode to Spot”—a poem dedicated to his cat—is a prime example. While the initial sight of the android earnestly engaging in poetic creation is mildly amusing, the scene’s length and placement amidst the growing horror feel like a jarring, unnecessary distraction. It disrupts the carefully built tension and highlights a lack of cohesive focus, as if the writers felt compelled to insert a moment of levity but chose the wrong tone and timing.

Schisms is a compelling, if flawed, example of The Next Generation indulging in pure genre storytelling. It is a successful transplant of terrestrial nightmare into the cosmos, executed with a chilling atmosphere and a commendable willingness to embrace ambiguity. Its failures are largely those of pacing and tonal consistency, not of concept or execution. For viewers seeking a slice of sci-fi horror within the TNG canon, it remains a strikingly effective and memorable episode, proving that sometimes the simplest ideas—the fear of the dark, the vulnerability of sleep, the unknown hand that touches us in the night—are the most powerfully universal, even amongst the stars.

RATING: 6/10 (++)

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