Alien abduction isn’t exactly an innovative or creative plot device. Long before the X Files became the most popular brand of alien conspiracy in media, we had everything from the memorably dazzling abduction in Close Encounters of the Third Kind to the found footage wonder The McPherson Tape.
For Star Trek, however, it’s an odd concept to include. Humanity is a space faring species and some of our best pals are aliens. If one crept into your bedroom in the middle of the night and took you on board their ship, that’s more of a diplomatic nightmare than a horrific conspiracy. So when it did happen in Next Gen’s Schisms it all felt a bit weird and creepy. Mostly in a good way.
The tell tale signs are all there in the episode. Worf’s having weird moments where sharp objects are giving him flashbacks to events he doesn’t remember. Riker’s going to bed only to be awake moments later feeling like he’s lost the entire night. One crew member disappears into thin air only to appear as a frozen corpse. Eventually there’s too much weirdness to ignore and after Ensign NoLines McWhyshouldwecare is found dead, things start moving before someone with dialogue gets hurt.
There’s a lot of good and bad in this episode. Some of the bad comes down to how Starfleet Officers sometimes let their training and legendary instincts suddenly become secondary to plot logic. Crusher is one of the main victims here. We have the first officer fatigued and grumpier than usual and a bunch of officers acting out of sorts. Geordie has all sorts of weird things happening in the cargo bay after plugging in some new stuff into ther sensors and Worf almost murders a barber. No one seems to connect the dots and the biggest solution is to try some warm milk.
In a world where weird things happen on schedule every week, it’s a bit odd that Troi can gather a bunch of people to talk it out rather than a big investigation right off the bat. There’s been far more insignificant triggers for a plot. And the scene where they figure it all out remains one of the most irritating in all of Trek for me decades on as the group banded together use the holodeck to piece together their surroundings in a shared suppressed memory and yet, when we see that surrounding? Looks absolutely nothing even close to what they’ve collectively visualised.
The explanation for how the aliens managed to pull off their abductions is also bogged down in the classic TNG Technobabble trope. Geordie’s sensor mods allowed the aliens to cross over from subspace thanks to tetryons and…. sigh. Yeah, while Star Trek loves to delve into science to find the core of a mystery it also deflates the overall horror aspect of Riker being kidnapped and experimented on while he sleeps.
Within the story there are some nice moments for the characters. We get a joke about Worf’s hair being short and the mighty warrior being convinced of the values of conditioner. Riker’s fatigue makes him fall asleep half way through Geordie explaining how the aliens are doing the abduction thing, which I think we all felt in the audience. We even get the much recited to the joy of no one Ode to Spot from Data’s attempt at poetry.
Overall though the threat of the aliens feels quashed far too quickly and the idea could have been something more. But there were some really cool elements. The slow (as you can get in the format) burn towards the big reveal at the end of the episode was nice and the fact that we don’t see who the bad guys are until Riker sneaks his way into their realm in a conscious state helps with the build up. Budget limitations kind of kill the threat, especially looking back now in a world spoiled by fancy CGI that could really enhance.
And I’m still quite miffed that the alien lab matches absolutely nothing recreated on the holodeck.
But it’s something you just didn’t get with Star Trek at the time. A weird and creepy episode. Even little moments like realising that the crews limbs were removed and reattached while they slept just makes you shudder at how casually hidden it all was in plain sight. Most of the time you can see and face the enemy, but here everything was tucked away with everyone feeling paranoid rage, a threat no one knew was there.
During the 90’s Star Trek was churning out loads of episodes a year, so it’s easy for one or two to be forgotten. But even now, when looking back at creepy episodes to add to a Halloween season, Schisms is high on the rare Trek horror list.
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