Lynch's Spoiler Review: "Schisms"
Timothy W. Lynch
offering, "Schisms". Those not wishing to be torn asunder by opinions
regarding this show are advised to skip this message.
Well, I'd really *like* to like this show better than I did...
...unfortunately, I can't. Some of my disappointment is related to the
preview from the previous week, however; it's not all hooked into the show as
an isolated piece. We shall see, after this synopsis:
As the Enterprise enters a very dense globular cluster to begin a charting
mission, Riker struggles with chronic oversleeping, causing him to arrive late
at a meeting with Geordi and Data in which they decide to start an experiment
with the warp engines to try to increase their charting speed. Later that
day, (after falling asleep at a poetry reading by Data), Riker checks with Dr.
Crusher about his sleep problems, but with no physical signs of problems, all
she can do is suggest some warm milk.
Some time later, Geordi and Data begin their experiment, only to have sensors
read an explosion in the cargo bay containing the junction channeling the
sensor energy. They rush to the bay, only to find no signs of any problems
at all. Perplexed, Geordi tells Riker that evening; they conclude it must
have been a sensor glitch and decide to continue in the morning. However,
Riker is then quite surprised to see Geordi come to wake Riker up only
moments after (as far as Riker's concerned) Riker went to bed!
Shortly thereafter, odd occurrences begin to spread throughout the crew;
Geordi's VISOR momentarily lapses, Data "loses" ninety minutes' worth of
memory, and Riker and Worf both have strong emotional reactions to
commonplace objects (Riker to the helm controls, Worf to a pair of barbers'
scissors). Then, Geordi and Data find traces of subspace particle emission
in the cargo bay _itself_, and trace it to the junction, now glowing and
swirling brightly. The particles are found to be tetryons, subspace
particles that shouldn't be able to exist in normal space. However, since
the effect is small, all remains reasonably calm.
Riker, meanwhile, talks to Troi about his odd reaction to the helm, only to
find that he's the third person to talk to her that day about strange
reactions to specific objects. She finds that a total of four people have had
these responses (Riker, Worf, Geordi, and an unidentified crewmember), and
brings them all together to discuss their experiences. They quickly find
that they are somehow *sharing* a memory, and Troi takes them to the holodeck
to help solidify the traces of memory they have about the event. What they
deduce is a chilling scene: all four remember being restrained on a metal
examining table, with a bright light shining directly in their faces and some
rather sinister-looking tools hanging near them. When the tableau is
completed with the addition of some fast clicking noises coming from the
darkness, Geordi shudders. "I've been in this room before..."
Beverly examines them all, and finds that all four appear to have been given
a neural sedative. In addition, she finds traces of tetryonic emission in all
four bodies, and Data adds that an examination of his records shows him to
have been absent from the Enterprise for the ninety-minute period he lacks a
memory of. When Picard finds that two members of the crew (including Ensign
Rager) are missing as they speak, he orders a security alert and puts Geordi
to work finding the source of the emissions. (Beverly also finds that Riker's
right arm shows signs of having been surgically severed and reattached, a
thought that Riker does not find at all pleasant.)
Geordi and Data find that the tetryonic emission in the cargo bay has
increased dramatically, and is now focusing on a subspace "rupture" slowly
forming in the middle of the bay. It appears to be both controlled and
threatening, and Geordi reasons that his subspace experiments got somebody's
attention. After one of the two missing crewmembers returns near to death, a
conference is hastily called. Geordi says that the rift can be stopped,
but only by stopping the tetryonic emissions *at their source*, and that their
source is currently untraceable. However, Worf suggests that a homing device
be taken to their domain, and Riker offers himself as carrier, reasoning that
since he's been abducted several times already, he likely will be again.
Beverly rigs up a neurostimulant to counter the effects of the sedative, and
he feigns unconsciousness as he's taken into the abductors' domain.
While he spies on his abductors (who, although humanoid in shape, appear
somewhat insectlike in appearance and demeanor), Geordi hurriedly scans all
subspace domains as quickly as possible to locate the homing beacon. With
the rift locating critical size (threatening a hull breach), Geordi finds the
domain just in time, and the Enterprise uses a graviton pulse (several, in
fact, since the first few are countered) to close the tetryonic rift, with
Riker carrying himself and Rager through just in time. However, as the rift
closes, a small glowing object emerges and flees the ship; it's thought to be
a probe, but Riker warns that the intentions of these experimenters are
clearly far from friendly...
There we are. Now for the commentary.
First of all, I have to deal with the part of my disappointment that doesn't
reflect poorly on the show *itself*, but on the preview for it. While most
previews for TNG manage to avoid spelling out the whole plot, this one
didn't; anyone who saw the preview knew much of the sequence of events,
including the "revelation" that crewmembers were being abducted. I can't
help wondering how I would have felt had I avoided the preview this time;
surely, there would have been at least a few more surprises. Bad move.
As for the rest...well, let's start with an explanation. I've gone on record
many, many times as saying that I consider character problems more important
than plot problems, unless the show is completely plot-driven or the plot
problems are so vast as to overshadow everything else. Unfortunately, both
of those disclaimers apply here.
Before I go into that, though, I should mention that the characters for the
most part made sense. While it's certainly nice to say nothing was *wrong*
with them, though, I'd like to be able to say that lots of things were
*right*; and given that for nine-tenths of the show the characters were
merely plot-driven vehicles, I can't really say that, except for the parts
regarding Data's poetry reading. (More about that later.)
Actually, I should make one other change to that; Troi was put to very good
use here; while the purpose of her conversations with Riker and other
abductees was still to advance the plot, they seemed so perfectly in keeping
with Troi's job description that it's well worth mentioning.
While I'm at it, I have to commend all involved for the holodeck sequence.
It was by far the single most effective scene of the show for me, and despite
a couple of silly points (such as the telepathic power of the computer; a
change from a wooden to a metal table results in a *lot* more than a change
of substance :-) ), it had me riveted. Good work on the part of the writers,
directors *and* actors.
As for the plot, however, I saw several problems. The first is a rather
hefty dose of faulty reasoning on both the characters' and writers' part.
Recall that we're told several times that the Abductors [for want of a better
name] took an interest in the Enterprise because of Geordi's experiments.
However, this is patently absurd unless they're time travelers, because
Riker's sleep problems (*including* a bad reaction to Beverly's bright light
in his face) started well before Geordi's experiment. That's flat-out poor
thinking, and somebody should have caught it. (It would have been pretty
easy to change, too; just have the initial meeting let Geordi tell Riker
"here's what I've been doing" rather than "here's what we're going to do" and
you're set.)
The second is a complaint I've made a few times before, and unfortunately
think I'm going to continue making for a while. The technobabble level of
this season has been too high by a couple of orders of magnitude, *especially*
here. Technological points or cute "let's get into the science of this
fictional universe" ideas are fine, but they have to (1) remain as a backdrop
to the stories rather than the cause of them, and similarly, (2) not become a
crutch for those who think "well, I can't think of a real reason for a plot,
so let's just throw in enough large and meaningless words to hope people
don't notice." I hate to say it, but this show felt to me like it failed
both criteria.
I don't want to say that, particularly because some parts here and there
*were* so suitably creepy, from the holodeck sequence to Geordi's wake-up
call on Riker. (I also liked the point that early on, everyone who was
"losing" time had recently seen Geordi; it almost could make one wonder if
he were carrying some strange effect himself.) But fundamentally, when the
points on which the plots hinge start hanging on *that* much technobabble at
once, it makes the show that much more remote to me. I'm not watching to
learn about subspace, I'm watching to see the characters I care about; and
here I felt like I was being told "sorry, subspace manifolds are more
important than the characters." Not a happy feeling.
I have somewhat mixed emotions about the open ending this time. On the one
hand, any sign that events will carry over into other shows is usually a
pleasant one. On the other hand, however, there are already so *many* things
that are waiting to be dealt with that I don't, quite honestly, have much of
a sense of whether this is one that will actually be dealt with; and when
such wonderful ideas as the "Conspiracy" parasites, Geordi's abuse at the
hands of the Romulans in "The Mind's Eye", and Picard's life-changing
experiences in "The Inner Light" [*especially* this one] have all been
apparently left out by the dustbin, I can't work up much enthusiasm for a
plotline where the villains are such ciphers.
Enough negativity; on to another bright spot. Data's poetry reading had to
be one of the funniest things I'd seen in a long time on TNG, and one of the
flat-out weirdest ways to end a teaser ever. (And okay, so Riker's sudden
applause didn't quite have the same verve as Radar O'Reilly's classic "...AH,
Bach!" line in a particularly memorable "MASH", but it did the job. :-) )
I'll have to go back and transcribe the Ode to Spot sometime for some
cat-loving friends. ["A tail is quite essential/ For your acrobatic talents.
You would not be so agile/ If you lacked its counterbalance." :-) ] I have
a great respect for whoever took the time to write those poems; I also have
to wonder how soon they're going to be carted off for treatment. ;-)
(I was interested to see Geordi talk so much to Data about form vs. substance
and being "clever" without any meat, though, since the latter is almost
exactly how I phrased many of my points about "Time's Arrow II" a few weeks
back, and that I thought "Schisms" was very much a case of "all form, no
substance" itself. It seemed almost incongruous.)
There's not really much I have left to say here. A few bits here and there
were as creepy as they were evidently designed to be, but on the whole I was
left pretty cold by the whole thing. There was no center to this show that
could hold it together aside from the technobabble; and that rang very hollow
after a couple of minutes. Ah, well.
So, the numbers:
Plot: 4. The basic idea is a 5, probably, but the holes bring it down.
(The poetry, however, brought it back up a bit.)
Plot Handling: 7. Good creepiness in some places, but distinctly plodding
in others.
Characterization: 4. Good Troi, but the others were but ciphers.
TOTAL: 5. That feels about right.
NEXT WEEK:
A woman "breaks out" into Qness, and Q seems to take an interest. Now *this*
looks decidedly interesting...
Tim Lynch (Harvard-Westlake School, Science Dept.)
BITNET: tlynch@citjulie
INTERNET: tly...@juliet.caltech.edu
UUCP: ...!ucbvax!tlynch%juliet.ca...@hamlet.caltech.edu
"It's been a lovely recession -- er, *reception*."
-- George Bush, campaigning this week in New Jersey
--
Copyright 1992, Timothy W. Lynch. All rights reserved, but feel free to ask...
Rob Knauerhase
>WARNING: This post contains spoiler information regarding this week's TNG
>offering, "Schisms". Those not wishing to be torn asunder by opinions
>regarding this show are advised to skip this message.
>
>It was by far the single most effective scene of the show for me, and despite
>a couple of silly points (such as the telepathic power of the computer; a
>change from a wooden to a metal table results in a *lot* more than a change
>of substance :-) ), it had me riveted. Good work on the part of the writers,
>directors *and* actors.
Huh? I'm glad you enjoyed it, but when I saw it, all I could say was
"*Please* end this scene, for crying out loud!" It was long enough and
predictable enough that I ended up launching into MST3K-style commentary.
It was too long (by many minutes), it was amazingly repetitious ("No, it was
like this... Computer, create a ..."), it was too well choreographed ("My
turn to describe something and ask the computer for it!"), and it involved
_way_ too much smarts on the part of the computer (can it really make
something that detailed when asked for a "clicking noise" or a "metal
restraining arm"?)
>(I also liked the point that early on, everyone who was
>"losing" time had recently seen Geordi; it almost could make one wonder if
>he were carrying some strange effect himself.) But fundamentally, when the
But they never explained why a neuro-sedative-whatever that works on humans
would also work on Data. Or gave any indication of why certain people were
taken and not others (why Riker several times and others only once? Why
fix Riker's arm but send a guy back with "polymer blood"? etc.). Or had
anyone turn up missing until bludgeoned on the head with it (they apparently
didn't take _everyone_ while sleeping, since Data was taken around noon) --
what are the chances of abducting that many people and having _none_ of them
receive a page or be missed during the time they were gone?
>Enough negativity; on to another bright spot. Data's poetry reading had to
>be one of the funniest things I'd seen in a long time on TNG, and one of the
>flat-out weirdest ways to end a teaser ever. (And okay, so Riker's sudden
I agree here, and it was IMHO the only highpoint of the episode.
>I'll have to go back and transcribe the Ode to Spot sometime for some
>cat-loving friends.
Someone already has posted it here (I know; a friend bet me that it would be
posted Monday night or Tuesday morning, and he won :).
>I have
>a great respect for whoever took the time to write those poems; I also have
>to wonder how soon they're going to be carted off for treatment. ;-)
Treatment? Coming up with lines that rhyme and scan like that couldn't have
been too easy. (And maybe it's the engineer-type in me, but I _like_ poetry
that rhymes, scans, and makes sense to boot.)
Rob
--
[by day] [by day, by night, by weekend...]
r...@amber.cecer.army.mil kna...@cs.uiuc.edu
Office of Grass Integration Gigabit Study Group
Construction Engineering Research Labs Department of Computer Science
US Army Corps of Engineers (USA-CERL) U. of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
"Vote Democratic -- it's easier than getting a job!"
Rick Lindsley
despite a couple of silly points (such as the telepathic power of
the computer; a change from a wooden to a metal table results in a
*lot* more than a change of substance :-) )
This struck me as odd too, until I remembered the computer was calling
up replicas which matched the increasingly restrictive descriptions.
Once they got to the point of "table, metal, which is about this high,
and can tilt 15 degrees" .. it's not surprising to me that what the
computer came up with from its records was something resembling an exam
table.
Rick
Hugh Johnson
(Rick Lindsley) wrote:
> This struck me as odd too, until I remembered the computer was calling
> up replicas which matched the increasingly restrictive descriptions.
> Once they got to the point of "table, metal, which is about this high,
> and can tilt 15 degrees" .. it's not surprising to me that what the
> computer came up with from its records was something resembling an exam
> table.
Yah, I agree. If you'll recall the computer at the outset said something
to the effect of, "I have 6,237 types of tables on record." I don't see why
everyone was so shocked that the computer coughed up the examination table;
there aren't many other kinds of tables I can think of that meet, like Rick
said above, such a particular set of parameters.
Hugh W. Johnson (joh...@rpi.edu) ### ## ## ## ###
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute #### ## ## ## ####
Troy, New York ## ## ## ## ## ## ##
## ## ## ## ## ## ##
"Perfect little dream, ## #### ## #### ##
the kind that hurts the most" ..... ## ### ## ### ##
Jose Gonzalez
>WARNING: This post contains spoiler information regarding this week's TNG
>offering, "Schisms". Those not wishing to be torn asunder by opinions
>regarding this show are advised to skip this message.
>As for the plot, however, I saw several problems. The first is a rather
>hefty dose of faulty reasoning on both the characters' and writers' part.
>Recall that we're told several times that the Abductors [for want of a better
>name] took an interest in the Enterprise because of Geordi's experiments.
>However, this is patently absurd unless they're time travelers, because
>Riker's sleep problems (*including* a bad reaction to Beverly's bright light
>in his face) started well before Geordi's experiment. That's flat-out poor
>thinking, and somebody should have caught it. (It would have been pretty
>easy to change, too; just have the initial meeting let Geordi tell Riker
>"here's what I've been doing" rather than "here's what we're going to do" and
>you're set.)
Well, looks like you and several others managed to just flat out miss
this. Here's the line that Geordi says to Riker when he's requesting
the change:
"We'be been *testing* a way to channel warp energy directly to the main
deflector grid." Notice he didn't say *theorizing*, he said testing. There's
no problem here. So it's not "flat-out poor thinking," at least not on the
writer's part. (-:
A lot of people seem to be making this mistake, just thought I'd point
it out.
--
Jose Gonzalez
Eli Boaz
>offering, "Schisms". Those not wishing to be torn asunder by opinions
>regarding this show are advised to skip this message.
>Well, I'd really *like* to like this show better than I did...
>...unfortunately, I can't. Some of my disappointment is related to the
>preview from the previous week, however; it's not all hooked into the show as
>an isolated piece. We shall see, after this synopsis:
[a lot of text deleted]
>There we are. Now for the commentary.
>
>As for the plot, however, I saw several problems. The first is a rather
>hefty dose of faulty reasoning on both the characters' and writers' part.
>Recall that we're told several times that the Abductors [for want of a better
>name] took an interest in the Enterprise because of Geordi's experiments.
>However, this is patently absurd unless they're time travelers, because
>Riker's sleep problems (*including* a bad reaction to Beverly's bright light
>in his face) started well before Geordi's experiment. That's flat-out poor
>thinking, and somebody should have caught it. (It would have been pretty
>easy to change, too; just have the initial meeting let Geordi tell Riker
>"here's what I've been doing" rather than "here's what we're going to do" and
>you're set.)
This didn't make much sense to me either. Sort of like the "chicken or
egg" issue. 8^) Anyways, I would like to make a "maybe" comment:
Geordi's reasoning for the Abductor's presense could have been flawed.
(ie: the experiment to push "deeper" into sub-space just happened to
occur at roughly the "same time".)
Hey, it could happen! (okay, rip off from Wayne's World... )
Actually, I'd like to see more of their reasoning flawed (sometimes).
>The second is a complaint I've made a few times before, and unfortunately
>think I'm going to continue making for a while. The technobabble level of
>this season has been too high by a couple of orders of magnitude, *especially*
>here.
You'd think that LeVar Burton would start complaining about all this
ever-increasing technobabble he's having to mouth off. :)
>Enough negativity; on to another bright spot. Data's poetry reading had to
>be one of the funniest things I'd seen in a long time on TNG, and one of the
Agreed. It was a blast... I wonder how many times they had to re-shoot
that part of the show... ;)
>flat-out weirdest ways to end a teaser ever. (And okay, so Riker's sudden
>applause didn't quite have the same verve as Radar O'Reilly's classic "...AH,
>Bach!" line in a particularly memorable "MASH", but it did the job. :-) )
>I'll have to go back and transcribe the Ode to Spot sometime for some
>cat-loving friends. ["A tail is quite essential/ For your acrobatic talents.
>You would not be so agile/ If you lacked its counterbalance." :-) ] I have
>a great respect for whoever took the time to write those poems; I also have
>to wonder how soon they're going to be carted off for treatment. ;-)
[big grin] If the writer(s) aimed for laughs, then I'd say they succeded.
However, if this wasn't supposed to be funny, I'd say give the writer(s) a
nice padded room somewhere ... :)
>Plot: 4. The basic idea is a 5, probably, but the holes bring it down.
> (The poetry, however, brought it back up a bit.)
>Plot Handling: 7. Good creepiness in some places, but distinctly plodding
> in others.
>Characterization: 4. Good Troi, but the others were but ciphers.
>
>TOTAL: 5. That feels about right.
Agreed. It was an "average" episode from my PoV. Almost worth watching
again.
>NEXT WEEK:
>A woman "breaks out" into Qness, and Q seems to take an interest. Now *this*
>looks decidedly interesting...
Chances are they'll screw it up -- *somehow* ... egads, I'm in a pesimistic
mood today.
>"It's been a lovely recession -- er, *reception*."
> -- George Bush, campaigning this week in New Jersey
>Copyright 1992, Timothy W. Lynch. All rights reserved, but feel free to ask...
Nice quote. [grin]
--
ttyl, | "My friends, no matter how rough the road maybe, we can and we |
Eli Boaz +---------------\ will, never, never surrender to what is right." |
rais...@wixer.cactus.org \ -- VP Dan Quayle to the Christian Coalition |
wixer!rais...@cs.utexas.edu\-----------------------------------------------+
Julie Bixby
>In <1cd4kf...@gap.caltech.edu> tly...@cco.caltech.edu (Timothy W. Lynch) writes:
>
>But they never explained why a neuro-sedative-whatever that works on humans
>would also work on Data. Or gave any indication of why certain people were
>taken and not others (why Riker several times and others only once? Why
>fix Riker's arm but send a guy back with "polymer blood"? etc.). Or had
>anyone turn up missing until bludgeoned on the head with it (they apparently
>didn't take _everyone_ while sleeping, since Data was taken around noon) --
>what are the chances of abducting that many people and having _none_ of them
>receive a page or be missed during the time they were gone?
>
. Why not the families...the *gasp* children?
>>Enough negativity; on to another bright spot. Data's poetry reading had to
>>be one of the funniest things I'd seen in a long time on TNG, and one of the
>>[stuff deleted] I have
>>a great respect for whoever took the time to write those poems; I also have
>>to wonder how soon they're going to be carted off for treatment. ;-)
>
>Treatment? Coming up with lines that rhyme and scan like that couldn't have
>been too easy. (And maybe it's the engineer-type in me, but I _like_ poetry
>that rhymes, scans, and makes sense to boot.)
>
It does make one wonder if the writer used a computer writing program to
"write" a poem that would have to sound as if an android had composed it.
--
Julie Bixby Internet: ma...@spock.dis.cccd.edu
Engage Romulan .sig cloaking device....
Anthos
>What I'd like to know is why all of the people taken seemed to be CREWMEMBERs
>.. Why not the families...the *gasp* children?
>
In the group counselling session, isn't the woman there NOT a crew member?
She isn't wearing a uniform. I assumed that she was someone's wife.
Anthos, the Grey Knight, High Preist of Minikar, God of Chaos, Horrible Puns,
and Extremely Bad Form
================================================================================
Across time and space/ The grey knight cometh/ With dragons to rape/
Madiens to slay/ Castles to sack/ Towns to pillage/ Quarterbacks to plunder
Oh, how I am confused!
===========I wish this was a .sig so I wouldn't have to type all this===========
Jorge Diaz
Spoilers!
>First of all, I have to deal with the part of my disappointment that doesn't
>reflect poorly on the show *itself*, but on the preview for it. While most
>previews for TNG manage to avoid spelling out the whole plot, this one
>didn't; anyone who saw the preview knew much of the sequence of events,
>including the "revelation" that crewmembers were being abducted. I can't
>help wondering how I would have felt had I avoided the preview this time;
>surely, there would have been at least a few more surprises. Bad move.
Agreed. As I watched the show, about 15 minutes into it, I realized that
we weren't going to be showed what they'd already told us in the teaser
until the last 15 minutes of the show. Bad, bad, bad move. This show was
supposed to be eerie and creepy, but it just can't be that what if the viewers
already know what the problem is. :-(
>While I'm at it, I have to commend all involved for the holodeck sequence.
>It was by far the single most effective scene of the show for me, and despite
>a couple of silly points (such as the telepathic power of the computer; a
>change from a wooden to a metal table results in a *lot* more than a change
>of substance :-) ), it had me riveted. Good work on the part of the writers,
>directors *and* actors.
Yeah. Gave me goosebumps. :-)
>Recall that we're told several times that the Abductors [for want of a better
>name] took an interest in the Enterprise because of Geordi's experiments.
>However, this is patently absurd unless they're time travelers, because
>Riker's sleep problems (*including* a bad reaction to Beverly's bright light
>in his face) started well before Geordi's experiment.
Ah! I thought I'd misinterpreted something. I couldn't believe that they'd
leave such an obvious flaw in the story. Looks like I underestimated the
writers. :-)
>The technobabble level of
>this season has been too high by a couple of orders of magnitude, *especially*
>here.
You know, I usually don't have a problem with it, but something about this
episode bothered me. It was something minor, and I couldn't quite put my
finger on it. Now I have:
Geordi and Data are explaining to the Captain about the subspace particles
and all that rot. Fine, then Picard mentions something about how these
particles shouldn't exist in 'normal' space.
Now, I realize that he's the Captain, but does he have to know everything?
I mean, a simple:
Picard: "So what's wrong with that?"
Geordi or Data: "Well, sir, these types of particles should not even be able
to exist in our universe."
would have made so much more sense. They are the science officers. Picard
is the captain. Considering how many different types of particles there
are (they make up a new one every week), how can they expect us to believe
that the Captain knows about all of them? Especially those that aren't
even supposed to *exist* in our universe????
The reason this got to me is because they seem to do this all the time.
Captain Jean-Luc "The Encyclopedia" Picard knows pretty much everything
about everything. Last week, it was the alcoholic beverage. OK, it was
funny that he knows what it is. But now, subspace particles. Why can't the
Captain for once say "What the hell is that?"
>Enough negativity; on to another bright spot. Data's poetry reading had to
>be one of the funniest things I'd seen in a long time on TNG, and one of the
>flat-out weirdest ways to end a teaser ever.
Ugh. It was terrible. Who here kept expecting Geordi to just turn to
Data when they were discussing his poetry and say "Data, it sucked."?
I mean, they can get away with it on other shows, why not TNG? :-)
>TOTAL: 5. That feels about right.
Ah, I liked it a little more than that. Maybe a 6. Of course, if they
hadn't ruined it LAST week, it would have been a lot better. :-(
Oh! OK, everyone hands up. At the begining of the episdode, when Riker
is first shown waking up, who expected there to be a woman in the bed with
him???
Was it just me?
--
Jorge Diaz | "I want you to remember, Clark... in all
Georgia Institute of Technology | the years to come, in your most private
Office of Information Technology | moments...my hand at your throat. I want
cco...@prism.gatech.edu | you to remember the one man who beat you."
Chulaka Ailapperuma
What's with Riker's hair ??
vicki coleman
I heard that too. And what I thought was happening was that as a result
of Geordi's testing the aliens were able to grab crewmembers. But it
wasn't until it was actually implemented that the aliens were able to
attempt to build a bubble of their universe into the Enterprise
universe. And of course, that was what tipped Geordi and Data off
that something was going on.
Matthew Gertz
>offering, "Schisms". Those not wishing to be torn asunder by opinions
>regarding this show are advised to skip this message.
>Well, I'd really *like* to like this show better than I did...
>...unfortunately, I can't.
Hmm, guess we`re gonna disagree on this one... that hasn't happened in a
while.
>First of all, I have to deal with the part of my disappointment that doesn't
>reflect poorly on the show *itself*, but on the preview for it.
Well, this might explain part of the difference... I always manage to avoid
watching the previews (you know my aversion to spoilers...) I didn't go into
this episode with but a whiff of the plot.
>As for the rest...well, let's start with an explanation. I've gone on record
>many, many times as saying that I consider character problems more important
>than plot problems, unless the show is completely plot-driven or the plot
>problems are so vast as to overshadow everything else. Unfortunately, both
>of those disclaimers apply here.
You're right in that there weren't any character errors of any serious type,
but I didn't see a lack of characterization, either. It was also quite
refreshing to see an angst-less episode for a change :-)
>While I'm at it, I have to commend all involved for the holodeck sequence.
>It was by far the single most effective scene of the show for me, and despite
>a couple of silly points (such as the telepathic power of the computer;
That bothered me slightly, but I recalled that the computer had thousands
of patterns in its database (from its first statement), so I figured it
just grabbed a "table" at random. As we could see later on, the final
version of the holodeck table and the tables which Riker and Rager were
laying on really weren't that similar (in fact, the lab tables weren't
even inclined), so it wasn't like the computer was providing exact
matches from their minds (even the scissors were slightly different).
This was an excellent, chilling scene, I'll agree.
The most chilling scene for me, though, was the bit about Riker's arm
being severed. *That* was eerie. I hope that *that* wasn't in the previews
that you saw, because it took me completely by suprise, and was very
effective. Yeek! At that point, I was really wondering what the heck
was going on. I figured that the "bad guys" were experimenting on
human sleep deprivation on Riker until that point.
>As for the plot, however, I saw several problems. The first is a rather
>hefty dose of faulty reasoning on both the characters' and writers' part.
>Recall that we're told several times that the Abductors [for want of a better
>name] took an interest in the Enterprise because of Geordi's experiments.
I caught this, too, and it was the only real flaw in the episode that I
perceived. I also took note of the excessive technobabble, which was
annoying (much of it could've been replaced with "layman's terms" and still
not messed up the plot), but not terribly distracting.
>I have somewhat mixed emotions about the open ending this time. On the one
>hand, any sign that events will carry over into other shows is usually a
>pleasant one. On the other hand, however, there are already so *many* things
>that are waiting to be dealt with that I don't, quite honestly, have much of
>a sense of whether this is one that will actually be dealt with
[...]
>Picard's life-changing
>experiences in "The Inner Light" [*especially* this one] have all been
>apparently left out by the dustbin, I can't work up much enthusiasm for a
>plotline where the villains are such ciphers.
I am always rather confused by this idea that Picard has to be somehow
"changed" by his "Inner Light" experiences. I saw it as a computer-induced
dream that took about 20 minutes (subjective time is always screwy in dreams),
and, like all dreams, faded away into nothingness. This bolluxes the
Katanian's plans, but hey, why should it be expected to work perfectly,
since they had no knowledge of humans, nor even that their probe would
be found by a human? Perhaps, like many of us, Picard spent a few minutes
jotting down notes on his dream and then ultimately forgot it. I liked
the episode a lot, but would really rather not see a followup; it would
seem like "milking" a good stand-alone story to me. Some things are
worse when sequels are made...
>Enough negativity; on to another bright spot. Data's poetry reading had to
>be one of the funniest things I'd seen in a long time on TNG, and one of the
>flat-out weirdest ways to end a teaser ever.
Definitely! I liked Data's poems, even if no one on the show did... :-)
>TOTAL: 5. That feels about right.
Boom! Well, I'd have to go with a high 8. I really liked this episode
a lot, and was well-entertained for an hour. I gather from the title of the
next episode that Q is going to be involved somehow, so it should be
interesting (whether that's good or bad, I don't know...)
--
Matt Gertz, mwge...@cs.cmu.edu
Dept. of ECE, The Robotics Institute at Carnegie Mellon University.
John Pimentel
In article <1cd4o0...@gap.caltech.edu>, tly...@cco.caltech.edu (Timothy W. Lynch) writes...
>WARNING: This post contains spoiler information regarding this week's TNG
>offering, "Schisms".
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>mission, Riker struggles with chronic oversleeping, causing him to arrive late
>at a meeting with Geordi and Data in which they decide to start an experiment
>with the warp engines to try to increase their charting speed. Later that
>day, (after falling asleep at a poetry reading by Data), Riker checks with Dr.
>Crusher about his sleep problems, but with no physical signs of problems, all
>she can do is suggest some warm milk.
Excuse the interruption here... but a couple of parts weren't shown in the
Boston area (ie WCVB-TV).
1) Riker showing up late to a meeting with Data and Geordi
2) Riker going to Dr. Beverly for some answers and she suggesting
that he drink some milk.
Best I can recall is that the scene opens up with Data and Geordi discussing
some poetry reading, then Riker talking to Geordi about coming by in the
morning because of an inability to get up on time. Riker enters his quarters
and "we" see a glass of some white substance materializing and he drinks it.
Riker then goes to bed and the next scene has Geordi coming down the hall
and saying hello to someone and entering ringing the bell.
Why are there two different versions? I have this on tape, I'll check it,
but I have seen it three times already.
>Tim Lynch (Harvard-Westlake School, Science Dept.)
>BITNET: tlynch@citjulie
>INTERNET: tly...@juliet.caltech.edu
>UUCP: ...!ucbvax!tlynch%juliet.ca...@hamlet.caltech.edu
>"It's been a lovely recession -- er, *reception*."
> -- George Bush, campaigning this week in New Jersey
>--
>Copyright 1992, Timothy W. Lynch. All rights reserved, but feel free to ask...
=============================================================================
-- John Pimentel
The opinions expressed are my own. No rights are granted to take them out of
context nor do they represent the views of my employer, whomever it might be
for the moment.
If a Vote for Clinton is a "sin against God", then a vote for Bush is a vote
for Satan... I can always repent of my sin. If I want a king, there's Perot.
=============================================================================
Joe Discar
Wasn't anyone else even remotely perterbed that Riker and that ensign
managed to run through the containment field that was holding the rift
at bay?
Iain Odlin
Is it just me, or...
Am I alone in thinking the writers would do well to show a bit more people
stuff and a bit less technobabble? In "Schisms," for instance, we could have
easily shortened the Holodeck scene, the "Geordi explains Poetry" scene or
the "Elementary Particle of the Month" scene and used those salvaged minutes
for people's reactions to being taken, being afraid of being taken, being
taken: Anything.
It's one of the first things you are required to learn in English Comp
and Scriptwriting classes: "SHOW us, DON'T tell us..."
Why do the 'writers' insist on Telling?
*sigh*
--
--------------------------------- Iain Odlin ---------------------------------
10 Crosby Street, Level 3, Portland ME 04103
od...@reed.edu
---------------------- ...a place without a postcard... ----------------------
bar...@wkuvx1.bitnet
> tly...@cco.caltech.edu (Timothy W. Lynch) writes:
>>WARNING: This post contains spoiler information regarding this week's TNG
>>offering, "Schisms". Those not wishing to be torn asunder by opinions
>>regarding this show are advised to skip this message.
>>hefty dose of faulty reasoning on both the characters' and writers' part.
>>Recall that we're told several times that the Abductors [for want of a better
>>name] took an interest in the Enterprise because of Geordi's experiments.
> I caught this, too, and it was the only real flaw in the episode that I
> perceived.
Not necessarily. I figured Geordi probably ran several tests which
could have easily alerted the alien invaders. He might have done
trial runs with portions of the sensors before hooking up the whole
system. At least, I figure that's what any intelligent engineer would
have done.
Dug Smith
appear to have got it here.
Cheers