Post "UNCUT - Schisms (TNG S6E5) | Star Trek Journey 239" by "Target Audience" from patreon

Who North America

I watched this and had a laugh! Thanks for your suggestion!

Steven Cressler

Btw the aliens in Conspiracy were related to the Borg

ShazD

This is part of Brannon Braga's strong point in my opinion, he's excellent at giving slice of life scenes.

ShazD

Computer taking the absolute piss when turning the table from wood to metal.

Daragh Graham

This guy uses Chat GPT, trying to make the table from the holodeck scene. You can imagine how it goes 😂 https://youtu.be/fxc_KZHFBwA?si=nOeWwvrUnCKYWcEf

prot180

So I started watching Star Trek with my parents as a kid and as much as I remember enjoying it at the time there are only a handful of episodes that really stuck with me when I rewatched it as an adult. This and the episode in which Tasha Yar dies are the only ones I remember making me feel genuinely afraid. There's something about being able to put yourself in the characters position and understand their complete and total helplessness to prevent what is happening to them... definitely a favourite! Loved the reaction and I'm so glad you guys liked this episode as much as I imagined you would.

BN13

As an avid viewer of X-Files, I'm not sure how I'd classify it actually? Yes there's a lot of stuff about alien abduction in it. But the creators themselves have said that when they made it, they wanted first and foremost to make a scary show. They only used alien abduction because alien abduction is terrifying. I never thought of it as a horror show, but it's definitely meant to scare you or present uncomfortable ideas. Things like abductions, monsters, and huge conspiracies stem from that.

BN13

A lot of Brannon Braga episodes are like this. Very interesting on a first watch, but less and less enjoyable the more you re watch it when you already know what's going on.

Patrick R.

While "Ode To Spot" seems mostly there as a setting to play against Riker's unusual sleepiness, I love how it adds the title "poet" for the first time to Data's already long list of creative genres he's explored in search of a better understanding of humanity. I'd also disagree that it lacks emotion, as I found it heartwarming throughout. Besides, the artist does not need to feel the emotions their music or visual art provokes in others for it to be effective.

Daragh Graham

Also, love the way Dat and LaForge report a massive explosion in the cargo bay, calling for medical team etc... then we cut to Worf and Beverly causally strolling along the corridoor to the cargo bay!

Daragh Graham

That holodeck scene is standout quality. The creepy levels of it are just great.

tyranusfan

I realized here that Picard’s final log says that the crew is safe…but moments later Riker says that one guy is dead. Picard kinda left that out of his recap!

tyranusfan

I loved that series

ScotchBeard78

No, this episode aired a year before the X-Files pilot premiered.

Ron Hubbard Jr

Season six in general gives us more of a feel of everyday life on the Enterprise. We see more of what we all do in our every day routine, going to the barber, looking at ourself in the mirror in the morning, going to a concert, etc.

paultardspambot .

I guess they must have have been conscious for a moment inside the alien laboratory because if they weren't how would they have remembered the scenery. You guys mentioned it but going from the wooden table to the metal table, the program took a lot of liberties in making it more like a chair. Still, an effective scene that creeped me out as a kid.

paultardspambot .

This episode was made when X-files was super popular so I think they wanted to do an "alien abduction" story in Star Trek

paultardspambot .

I don't think this counts as spoilers since Star Trek Online isn't canon and later treks contradict its plot, but it does have great sweeping plots that follow up on the aftermath of individual episodes and make them feel like part of an interconnected world. I kind of wish it was cannon

paultardspambot .

In Star Trek Online, the follow up on a lot of stuff in the shows. According to their plot, a few Iconians managed to escape the destruction of their homeworld and used their gate to flee to another galaxy. For centuries they have been trying to return, and they were masters of dimensional travel. These Aliens were working for them to study the Federation, and they were also responsible for the Gillworm invasion of "conspiracy".

Derek Orr

This one was meh ok. A bit too much of the horror feels and influenced by all the silly alien probe stories by whack job people back in the 50s to 80s

Thicketdweller

Literally, one of the best episodes of the series

Paul

I love the letter grades, but I think this is a decent middle ground, with the proper tier list at the end of the season.

Jovet

This episode really works because expectations were flipped around!

Jovet

It's close, but that holodeck scene surpasses the bodies sitting up for Dr. Crusher.

Jovet

Mmmm Nutmeg!

Jovet

Because it is! Whomever wrote that deserves an award for perfectly encapsulating *Data*

Jovet

I'm not a big horror person but I appreciate it in the right doses. "Event Horizon" is one of the few films that's ever really given me the creeps.

Jovet

Mmmmm Nutmeg!

Jovet

@penoyer79 And he looked so terrible. The first shot of him at the poetry reading makes me laugh so hard! We've all been there...

Jovet

Even something like Data's poetry is an example of a blank canvas you can create all sorts of things through.

Jovet

Don't forget just "beaming" yourself to have huge honkers or schlongs....

Jovet

#AlwaysPlexing

Jovet

It was seeing the woman freaked out and covering her ears in fear/horror without even thinking about it that does it.

Jovet

I always think of this episode as being titled "Night Terrors" in my head!

Paul

Even on a rewatch (number infinity) that Holodeck scene of them rebuilding their torture bed (unbeknownst to themselves at the time of course) gives me chills, especially at the end when the damned clickers come into play. Doesn't help that I have a paranoia of being abducted by aliens in real life. Not sure I even fully believe that any have visited Earth, but still. Do not beam me up. Also, Oh God, bringing up "The Fourth Kind", indeed not the best overall movie but damn did that one petrify my very soul.

Ricky

Science fiction to me is to what the mythic tales found through ancient history were then. It portrays stories that explores humanity. That exploration may involve any number of things and in many combinations, such as: fear, meaning of life, social issues, political thought, philosophical ideas, what hopes and dreams look like through different lenses. These of course are topics that are not limited to science fiction, but science fiction provides an engine of discussion that makes the topics more acceptable and palatable. If present day political/social issues are discussed in a genre other than science fiction/fantasy it is likely to cause polar reactions and possibly invoke censorship. However, when told through the lens of science fiction, the topic becomes not only acceptable to present, but allows it to be discussed and debated in a more healthy fashion. Science fiction creates a world that is identical to ours, but provides a setting that makes it different enough to allow for difficult topics to be heard and hopefully understood. It allows us to reflect on our humanity and our existence in a more effective and possibly a more creative and abstract way. Even in an episode like "Schisms", the idea of what does it mean to be explorers is presented. How do we know if we are exploring in a way that is not scary and hurtful to other beings or the environment? And it opens up a creative idea of how many ways one can choose to explore. The "aliens" in this episode used some kind of subspace alternate dimensional probe that is for the most part unseen, but the way they utilized this technology wound up hurting and instilling fear in others. So in a way, this was a sci-fi horror episode presenting the consequences of misused technology and inhumane modes of discovery.

T’Pynyn of Vulcan

This was an excellent episode to watch with you gentlemen! That CLICKING is soooo creepy. GREAT reaction. 🖖

Steve777

Greatly enjoyed your review. BTW, I think it was a great idea to drop the letter grades after seeing the episode. I noticed the letter grades were more about how much you enjoyed it rather than how well the episode was done. More subjective than objective.

Matt Everkoul

When you post Schisms to YouTube, I hope you include Horror Gallery branding on it, like you did with the Night Terrors episode 😱

Collin Freeman

Yes, you're right. She shifted to an American accent. Good catch.

Shortskirtsandexplosions

I'm so very glad y'all liked this episode. This is what I consider to be a very fine episode for a F I R S T viewing. It's nice to know that you're gonna watch it again on your own, but I find the pacing to be rather painful on re-watches. The unknown mystery is really what made this episode work, and upon revisiting I've personally found it tedious. Although that Holodeck scene is baller as fuq. Easily one of the best Holodeck scenes in all of Star Trek, hands down. Goosebumps every time~

Spritzy

I like the whiteboards. I retain better with a visuals.

Spritzy

The holodeck scene at the end with the clicks. Always eerie, always unsettling. 😖

Mark Chrisco

Director Robert Weimer was another close friend of Executive Producer Rick Berman. In fact, Weimer wrote and directed several excellent young adult films in the early 80s that were produced by Berman. One featured the first starring role for Sarah Jessica Parker. So you might want to add "Somewhere, Tomorrow" and "Anna to the Infinite Power" to your list of films you might want to screen someday. Rick Berman wrote the songs for the former and both were filmed very close to my location. Both are available on youtube and worth a look.

Joe Concepts

I've never had much trouble sleeping, but that "It's 7am and I thought I just went to sleep" thing would just suck!

Joe Concepts

But what's also funny is this is basically her doing an American accent now on the show. Her real accent's English. Or I suppose for her, it's not an accent at all.

LoTeq

You don't need cafes, restaurants, and bars when everyone has replicators in their quarters. Star Trek is the fantasy future where tech and automation don't leave the population purposeless, depressed, and medicated. Its also a fantasy because the crew has productive 5 minute meetings. Personally, I try to enjoy the fantasy.

Joe Concepts

Just knew you guys would be all in on a creepy episode with horror elements!

KingPin124

You guys are entirely correct regarding the genres. Sci-fi has dozens of sub-genres that vary greatly. I could list a couple dozen myself, but people can just Google this.

Strife

This holodeck scene and the bodies sitting up in Night Terrors have lived rent free in my head for three decades

Collin Freeman

Yes, but she hated her costume even more. I always thought it funny that Marina used an accent for being raised on Betazed but Majel Barrett never even attempted it.

GreenCauldron08

So glad I'm not the only one who has thought of these things

Keith S

That accent was always a sore spot for Marina.

Worf and Riker Ride Again

This episode scared the crap out of me as a kid, the bit in the holodeck is so well done with the slow pacing. When they added the clicks at the end I remember thinking "nope!" and went and sat next to my dad. True sci-fi thriller for me

Michael Metrick

I think you're right. Justifying grades isn't productive. This is much more substantive

Michael Metrick

Totally.

Jonathan

The discussion of what’s science fiction is like arguing about what bands are rock and roll. Everybody has their own favorite types under the umbrella and just because this isn’t my favorite type doesn’t make this episode bad or not science fiction. My favorite types are the world building, action oriented or technology heavy episodes so this isn’t one I’ve rewatched in 30 years but it’s well written and mysterious so a good episode for people like you guys who like this type. That’s the good thing about having over 800 episodes of Trek it can be something for everyone. I don’t know any show that had 20+ episode seasons where every episode was my thing.

Badger

I like your idea of Troi Twitters: Deanna Troi (@BetazoidCounselor) "I'm sensing... a lot of stress. Maybe try some chocolate? Or deep breathing. Or both. Definitely both." #CounselorWisdom #StarTrek

Badger

And beam the poop, cholesterol and any cancers out while you are there.

rear adm. crackbiscuit

When they walked into the Holodeck, both my arms sprouted goosebumps in anticipation. Even after several viewings, chilling!

Timothy Nikiforovs

Yeah, like I said earlier, this kind of story shouldn't work in Trek because WE are the aliens who occasionally abduct the locals, like in Who Watches the Watchers(which Robert Wiemer also directed, along with Data's Day and Violations). Sure, there are episodes where a crew member was abducted, like Picard in BOBW or Allegiance, Geordi in Mind's Eye, Kirk and the boys in The Empath or Catspaw, and many more examples. The difference is most of those cases see the crew being captured by known alien factions and it's more of a POW situation. Even when the crew is unaware because the abducted person is replaced by a duplicate, we the audience tend to be ahead of the crew and see exactly what's happening. There isn't a lot of room for this kind of classic alien abduction story where we AND the characters have little to no idea of how or even IF the characters were taken. Props to the writers for finding a way. The holodeck scene in Identity Crisis was pretty creepy and unsettling, but this one completely surpasses it. I love how everyone there dives deeper and deeper into their respective pieces of the puzzle, until the whole scene transforms into a collective nightmare. Following that up with the reveal that Riker's arm was cut off and reattached just fucked with my head as a kid. Also funny enough most of the people who were abducted WERE at Data's poetry reading. Riker was the only one showing obvious fatigue, but Worf and Geordi were there, Data was of course, and so was the woman who helped piece together the holodeck recreation. Hagler and Rager weren't AFAIK, and we also don't know if anyone other than Riker had been taken at that point. But yeah, this is an A+ for me, possibly an S tier depending on the day. I just love the atmosphere they created in this episode. It may not be horror per se, but it's damn creepy. Everyone commented on Data's poetry, so I won't bother, but I wonder if the aliens abducted Spot, spent 10 minutes chasing him around their lab and picking up all the tools he knocked off the tables, and finally tossed him back through the rift after deciding he wasn't worth the headache😆?

Evan Guthrie

AI image generation?

PIG

Holodeck: That's the table I want! ChatGPT: No... no. That's a circus clown lying on the floor looking at me. Start again.

Timothy Nikiforovs

This Side of Paradise could reasonably be argued to be a romance episode

Alan Thompson

omg can't they just draw a table for the holodeck interface instead of 50 verbal corrections?

Timothy Nikiforovs

YES!!! Fire in the Sky cost me months of sleep as a kid. This ep was creepy by Trek standards, but FITS is 50x worse.

Alan Thompson

Like you wouldn't have 100 different hair lengths and clothing styles stored in your transporter trace collection, you would just beam back to your shorter hair not go to see blue guy with scissors.

Lovok

What's interesting is that until very recently I DID find their audio to be too loud. I always turned them down so I could hear the episode. Their big belly laughs, great as they are, would spike the audio and rocket through my house scaring my wife in another room. This episode in particular though, they were so quiet I had to make major sound adjustments just to hear them.

Timothy Nikiforovs

I agree. The discussions are more organic now. You can do the tier rating at the end of the season.

Josh (Target Audience)

I also think the discussions this season are vastly benefiting from not being tier grade focused

Collin Freeman

Good callback. I agree.

Collin Freeman

Science fiction is a blank canvas genre on which you can use any palette you want to tell a story: romance, horror, action, you name it. When westerns or other period pieces are done well, they do the same thing.

Prof Moff

I do miss the tier reveals for the dudes and the TA. I get why it is off but I always enjoyed it. But I was not the target of Jack-hole comments so I didn't have to deal with the negatives about it.

penoyer79

another movie that traumatized by childhood.

Philbot

These Aliens remind me of the “unseen” Martians from War of the Worlds the series.

penoyer79

lol and riker waking up clapping was just the cherry on top.

penoyer79

this episode dropped on my 13th birthday and scared the hell out of me. i never thought a star trek episode would keep me up at night. this one got me. funny enough, the producers were actually quite unsatisfied with the look of the Aliens. i forget the reason they weren't able to achieve what they wanted which was supposed to be much scarier. they felt they failed the episode. glad to see you guys dug the costumes.

Timothy Nikiforovs

Well, it's true that it's impossible to please everyone, but at least if the reaction audio is too loud you can always turn it down. I've got it maxed and the episode audio is at about 15% and I can still barely hear.

Forbidden Donut

So it isn't just me. I almost said something and got side tracked. It was harder to hear them than usual.

Collin Freeman

FYI - notice how Marina Sirtis has pretty much dropped Troi’s accent at this point.

Forbidden Donut

Personally, I'd be fine with dropping them entirely, though it doesn't bother me. I do like how the discussions are now completely focused on details of the episode instead of explaining grades.

A G

I like the umbrella of sci-fi containing other story genres and agree with you fellas. Growing up watching this at 5pm Monday to Friday, I loved seeing Troi in a picture of dorian grey monday, scotty on tuesday, the what the hell they took off his arm wednesday, then the next two and just having a completely different tone each day. That's what makes Sci-Fi such a fun experience for me.

Josh (Target Audience)

Literally just had someone put in their exit survey when they cancelled that our audio is too loud. Can’t win.

Josh (Target Audience)

We aren’t returning to strictly letter grades. If this version of the white boards isn’t well received we will probably move on from it entirely

PIG

I’ve been waiting for them to see this one for a long while. I’m betting that it’s up their alley before even watching it. … I miss the graded white board 😒

KatWithAttitude

"Ode to Spot" is pure gold.

John

The scientific explanation for why a hot milk toddy works is complete bullshit, and pisses my Dad off. I don't care as much.

Jonathon Tsagris

yes, but a milk toddy is an old term for eggnog.

Mosquito_Wenzi

I’ve always known a hot toddy to be tea, honey, and whiskey. I imagined this to be substituting milk for the tea

Mosquito_Wenzi

Like Alex said, sci-fi is a big umbrella and it has a good bit of overlap with the horror umbrella. Scifi horror is my favorite horror

Josh (Target Audience)

Good explanation

Josef Nitervol

Love this one those clicks are creepy good

Shane Coombs

I don't like horror at all as a genre and I do like this episode, but I very much understand the idea of someone who may not like this because it is horror. Think about it like this: within any genre there are going to be sub-genres. You can have a science fiction story which is a romance. You can have a science fiction story which is a comedy. You can have a science fiction story which is a courtroom drama. "Court Martial" and "Data's Day" are both science fiction, but they are not the same sub-genre of science fiction. I can't think of any ST episodes you have seen so far which I would say qualify as romance (maybe "In Theory," but I think that is maybe a bit of a stretch, and "City on the Edge of Forever" is also one I'd call a stretch to call romance), but there are at least a few romance episodes that exist in the franchise. "Schisms" is science fiction and "The Trouble With Tribbles" is science fiction, but moving beyond that "Schisms" is horror in a way that "The Trouble With Tribbles" is not.

THE LORE!!!

Since you guys were mentioning what films this reminds you of, the 1993 film Fire in the Sky has some scenes I feel like are reminiscent of the abduction/experiment scenes in this episode and came out not long after. Really loved this reaction, was hoping you guys would love it.

Forbidden Donut

I've been doxxed by Alex!! lol Funny timing on that. I just got tired of the silly play on words of my previous nickname (John Luck / Jean Luc). Is my new one any less silly? Probably not lol. But I love early-era Simpsons and I like how it also works as a play on the classic SciFi movie title Forbidden Planet. And also, defining science fiction is a little tricky, as I think about it. I suppose one could describe scifi as a fictional story that in some way or another explores hypothetical ideas concerning the unknown, whether it's theoretical technology, some unexplored or not-well-understood part of reality/space, or perhaps alien lifeforms. But as has been said, it's very broad and easily blends into other genres, which is something I love about it and Star Trek in particular.

Lt Dan I scream

Michael Dorn played the Sandman in the Santa Claus movies. just saying ..

D Jammers

Yeah more than usual for this one. I had to turn down the ep volume quite a bit to hear the boys.

Jeffrey

To expand on my comment you read: Of course I consider this a science fiction episode. But it also has a plot of the characters being abducted and medically experimented on. That isn't just sci-fi - that is a strong horror theme that goes way beyond what I am comfortable with and turns me off the whole episode.

D Jammers

When Alex killed the owner of the channel, that was a true horror intro.

THE Fans

This episode does go back to the mystery-horror of THE MAN TRAP. Love it.

Keith S

I knew you guys would like it. It's good. Enough said.

Darin Starr

I forgot how fucking weird the cold open was for this one, love it

General Trelane

Love this episode

Christopher Boscarino

I majored in English Lit, and I still consider "Ode to Spot" one of the best cat poems ever written.

Jg

Love playing this before bed, counterintuitive- but the asmr of it all is real.

brian

This episode scared the f**k out of me when I was a kid! And I loved it.

Collin Freeman

Agreed

Collin Freeman

Now THiS episode gave me the creeps when I first watched it, and some of those lingering effects showed up on this repeat viewing.

Timothy Nikiforovs

I don't know if it's just me, but the reaction audio seems really low the last few videos. Can barely make out what you guys are saying even when the episode isn't loud. If there's any way to boost that by 30-35% or so it would help a lot.

Jonathon Tsagris

the milk beverage is a hot milk toddy; not straight milk. He's drinking hot eggnog basically

Darren Seal

Ooh this is one that I always enjoy, that holodeck scene for me is the creepiest scene trek has ever done. And the cold open seems so random and out of place yet is still linked to the main plot. Its a great mystery

Jesse

I just knew you guys would love this one. Great sci-fi.

jon bolton

I love this episode!

Chris Nunnally

It's been a long time since I've seen it, but I remember this episode giving me chills.

Timothy Nikiforovs

You'd think an alien abduction story wouldn't work in Trek given our protagonists are the ones in flying saucers trying not to be seen by the primitive locals, but the TNG writers made it work. Also "how about Troi's new look?". Yes, the 1 good thing to come out of Man of the People😂