Schisms (Star Trek: The Next Generation)

Plot summary

The Enterprise crew begins experiencing sleeplessness, lost time, and unusual emotional reactions to ordinary objects. Realizing they share these episodes, they work with Counselor Troi on the holodeck to piece together their fragmented memories. This effort produces a model of an operating table in a dark room filled with strange sounds, leading them to believe they have all been in such a place. Doctor Crusher examines them and finds they were sedated, with subtle physical alterations—Commander Riker’s arm bones show a microscopic misalignment suggesting his limb was cut off and reattached.

The crew concludes they are being abducted from the ship for experiments. When they check for other missing personnel, two are unaccounted for. One returns to his quarters but dies soon after; his blood has become a liquid polymer. Meanwhile, Geordi La Forge and Data detect particle emissions in a cargo bay, causing an expanding subspace rift that could breach the hull.

They develop a method to stop the emissions and seal the rift, but need to trace them to their origin. Riker, who has been taken repeatedly, volunteers. Crusher gives him a stimulant to resist the captors’ sedative and a tracking device detectable by the Enterprise. That night, Riker is abducted and awakens on an operating table in a strange setting, near the other missing crew member, surrounded by busy aliens.

Did You Know?

• The episode was released on LaserDisc in the United States on May 5, 1998, paired with True Q.
• Tor.com highlighted the Ode to Spot poem in the opening of the episode.
• ScreenRant ranked Schisms the number one scariest episode of all Star Trek franchise television episodes in 2021.