In most episodes of Star Trek and its numerous spin-offs, members of Starfleet strategy the unknown not with a way of concern however with hope and optimism, assured that any menace will be overcome with empathy and logic. However that doesn’t forestall writers from testing these daring explorers of the longer term with some scary episodes. Over greater than 60 years of existence, Star Trek has dabbled in horror, creating these twenty-five creepy episodes.
1. “Empok Nor” (Deep House 9 Season 5, Episode 24)
Deep House 9, probably the most advanced of the Star Trek sequence, featured characters who embraced ethical shades of grey. That was most true of Garak, the Cardassian whose espionage previous belied his claims to be nothing greater than a plain, easy tailor. That hidden historical past involves the fore in “Empok Nor,” by which Garak accompanies Chief O’Brien and a Federation crew to analyze an deserted house station. As insanity overcomes the characters, “Empok Nor” pushes them to their paranoid limits, forcing them to rethink their core values.
2. “Keep in mind Me” (The Subsequent Technology Season 4, Episode 5)
In “Keep in mind Me,” Physician Beverly Crusher finds fellow members of the Enterprise-D crew disappearing from reminiscence. Even trusted leaders akin to Captain Picard deal with Crusher like she’s loopy when she talks about her beloved son Wesley. In fact, the episode connects the thriller to an area anomaly, which will get solved by means of ingenuity and fast considering by the top of the episode. However for many of its working time, “Keep in mind Me” captures the horror of isolation, due to Gates McFadden’s excellent efficiency.
3. “Catspaw” (The Authentic Sequence, Season 2, Episode 7)
Because of the necessity to reuse units across the studio lot, the unique sequence of Star Trek despatched the Enterprise to some fairly mundane areas, together with planets that seemed identical to Thirties Chicago or historic Greece. That versatility served the present properly once they made “Catspaw,” written by Robert Bloch, writer of the novel Psycho. With its haunted fortress and cackling witches, “Catspaw” feels extra like a gothic horror film than an area exploration present. However the solid throws them into the story, making “Catspaw” among the best spooky Trek episodes.
4. “Calypso” (Quick Treks Season 1, Episode 2)
As their title suggests, Quick Treks are 10 – 15 minute lengthy episodes that enable filmmakers to inform several types of tales inside the Star Trek universe. With “Calypso,” author Michael Chabon and director Olatunde Osunsanmi inform a creepy story a few man referred to as Craft (Aldis Hodge) who will get pulled aboard the USS Discovery solely to search out it abandoned. As Craft makes his means by means of the ship, he learns simply how huge the vacancy of house will be.
5. “Impulse” (Enterprise Season 3, Episode 5)
Vulcans like to appropriate individuals, particularly individuals who counsel that green-blooded individuals haven’t any feelings. Vulcans expertise feelings with larger depth than even people, however they suppress them. At the very least, they cease them till one thing overrides their constraints, as occurs within the Enterprise episode “Impulse.” When the NX-01 rescues a Vulcan ship in misery, they encounter a crew so overcome with anger that they act like rage zombies. Captain Archer and his crew battle to discover a treatment earlier than the identical sickness overtakes his Commanding Officer, T’Pol.
6. “Q Who” (The Subsequent Technology Season 2, Episode 16)
Some could argue that overexposure has stripped the Borg of their menace. Nonetheless, even probably the most cynical viewer feels a chill run down their backbone when the assimilating aliens first seem in The Subsequent Technology’s second season. When the godlike being Q grows bored with Picard’s refusal to just accept his assist, he whisks the Enterprise to deep house to allow them to see a menace they’ve by no means skilled earlier than.
7. “Darkling” (Voyager Season 3, Episode 18)
Though moody at instances, the Physician carried out his duties with a smile and a tune in his coronary heart. At the very least till his programming went haywire, as in “Darkling.” When the Physician begins importing personalities of historic figures into his matrix, an surprising side-effect happens. A darker, evil identification emerges, one which threatens Voyager and its crew. Trek has performed with comparable ideas, together with the unique sequence episode “The Enemy Inside.” However “Darkling” indulges within the horror of the Physician’s different persona, incomes its place on this checklist.
8. “Body of Thoughts” (The Subsequent Technology Season 6, Episode 21)
Like “Keep in mind Me,” the season six episode “Body of Thoughts” delves into psychological horror, this time specializing in Commander Riker. After being captured, Riker begins having unusual hallucinations, undermining his grasp on actuality. Viewers aware of the Christopher Nolan film Inception may discover the story acquainted. Nonetheless, there’s no denying the uncooked desperation William Frakes brings to Riker as he tries to know his predicament.
9. “Context Is for Kings” (Discovery Season 1, Episode 3)
As among the best sci-fi motion pictures of all time, the James Cameron movie Aliens casts a protracted shadow over the style. So it’s no shock that Star Trek would borrow the film’s tone, first within the Voyager episode “Macrocosm” after which in “Context is for Kings” on Discovery. Upon studying a few horrible accident on the USS Glenn, the Discovery’s Captain Lorca sends Michael Burnham and a rescue crew to analyze. Episode director Akiva Goldsman recasts Aliens in Federation guise as Burnham and her fellow explorers battle their means by means of a darkened ship in opposition to a monster they can not see.
10. “Phantasms” (The Subsequent Technology Season 7, Episode 6)
In the identical means that scary motion pictures generally take pleasure in foolish plots, so additionally do creepy Trek episodes get a bit goofy. Take the Subsequent Technology episode “Phantasms,” by which the android Knowledge begins experiencing surreal goals. In certainly one of these goals, he finds Troi remodeled right into a birthday cake. In one other, Knowledge will get dismembered. Though few would discover these nightmares conventionally scary, the absurd conditions create a way of unease.
11. “Wolf within the Fold” (The Authentic Sequence Season 2, Episode 14)
Not one of the authentic sequence crew members might match engineer Montgomery Scott for pure affability. So, viewers’ hearts sink when the digicam finds Scotty standing over a useless younger girl with a knife in his hand. One other Robert Bloch-penned episode, “Wolf within the Fold,” connects an alien entity to Jack the Ripper, an entity that takes maintain of beloved Mr. Scotty.
12. “The Adversary” (Deep House 9 Season 3, Episode 26)
All through the primary three seasons of Deep House 9, Commander Sisko and his crew find out about a strong enemy referred to as the Dominion. Within the season three finale, “The Adversary,” Sisko discovers that the Dominion includes shape-changers like his safety officer Odo, certainly one of whom has infiltrated the crew. In a plot that recollects the John Carpenter basic The Factor, Sisko and Odo should carry out blood checks to search out the shapeshifter earlier than paranoia overtakes them.
13. “Hegemony” (Unusual New Worlds Season 2, Episode 10)
In its first season, Unusual New Worlds made the Gorn way more menacing than the rubber-suit creature that first appeared within the authentic sequence episode “Area.” The season two finale, “Hegemony,” builds upon the Gorn menace implied in that earlier episode by unleashing a complete military of creatures on a planet modeled after Twentieth-century Earth. The sight of reptilian monsters destroying playgrounds and main avenue retailers offers “Hegemony” a surprisingly darkish tone, one thing that an look by younger Montgomery Scott can’t even dispel.
14. “The Satan within the Darkish” (The Authentic Sequence Season 1, Episode 25)
Most of the first Star Trek tales featured the Enterprise encountering an unknown lifeform, initially inspiring concern and hatred. That’s the case in “The Satan within the Darkish,” by which Kirk and Spock examine a creature killing miners on a distant planet. The solid does admirable work promoting the menace of the cheap-looking monster they encounter. This units up a satisfying conclusion, among the best examples of the franchise’s dedication to empathy and understanding.
15. “The Haunting of Deck Twelve” (Voyager Season 6, Episode 25)
Few characters have skilled a redemption arc like Neelix, the cook dinner and information aboard the starship Voyager. Initially launched as an annoying creep, Neelix turns into a sort and empathetic determine, as proven by the care he offers to a bunch of youngsters rescued by the Borg. When a nebula knocks out Voyager’s energy, Neelix comforts the youngsters by telling a spooky ghost story. “The Haunting of Deck Twelve” received’t give any nightmares to viewers, but it surely does function loads of old-school chills.
16. “The Man Entice” (The Authentic Sequence, Season 1, Episode 1)
The primary episode of Star Trek to hit TV screens, “The Man Entice,” launched viewers to Kirk and McCoy with a enjoyable monster story. Kirk accompanies McCoy to go to his one-time betrothed, now married to a different man. The go to turns lethal when males hold dying across the settlement, forsaking our bodies sucked dry of their sodium. Because the Enterprise crew investigates the supply, McCoy realizes the girl he as soon as beloved isn’t all he remembers.
17. “The Quickening” (Deep House 9 Season 4, Episode 24)
Star Trek presents Starfleet members as the very best of the very best, the brightest, and most succesful minds from Federation planets. Even by these requirements, Deep House 9’s Physician Bashir stands out, due to his genetically engineered enhancements. That stage of excellence will increase the phobia of the plague that Bashir encounters within the Deep House 9 episode “The Quickening.” As Bashir, together with Kira and Dax, battle to discover a treatment for the illness, tearing aside a close-by planet, they uncover the bounds of their skills, forcing them to just accept that no quantity of coaching or brilliance can save them from some illnesses.
18. “The Thaw” (Voyager Season 2, Episode 23)
When “The Thaw” aired in 1996, Stephen King’s It and Killer Klowns from Outer House launched creepy clowns into the favored consciousness. So when Harry Kim and B’Elanna Torres get their consciousnesses caught in a computerized nightmare, they encounter a number of unsettling figures, together with an evil clown. Performed by Spinal Faucet and Higher Name Saul legend Michael McKean, the Clown could come off as extra foolish than scary, however there’s no denying the menace he and others pose to Kim and Torres.
19. “I, Excretus” (LWD Season 2, Episode 1)
As a lot because the holodeck opened Trek to totally different storytelling genres, the franchise didn’t typically use holograms for scary tales. And, to be truthful, “I, Excretus” isn’t explicitly a scary story both, regardless of the involvement of the Borg. In any case, it comes through Decrease Decks, the animated sequence that pokes loving enjoyable at Trek’s absurdities. Nonetheless, as Ensign Beckett Mariner goes by means of numerous holodeck simulations, she witnesses sights that neither she nor the viewers will quickly overlook.
20. “Conspiracy” (The Subsequent Technology Season 1, Episode 25)
Even probably the most devoted Trekkie is aware of that the primary season of The Subsequent Technology had extra misses than hits. A part of the present’s studying curve concerned eliminating a extra intensive plot line involving a conspiracy amongst high-ranking Federation officers. Picard and Riker get to the supply of the issue within the aptly-titled season finale, “Conspiracy.”
In a surprising and gory second for the present, the duo blasts the pinnacle off of a nasty Starfleet officer to disclose a mind-controlling worm inside. The storyline will get dropped after that episode, by no means to be talked about once more, however nobody who noticed “Conspiracy” can overlook that disgusting little bug.
21. “The Project” (Deep House 9 Season 5, Episode 5)
Along with its ethical ambiguity, Deep House 9 explored spirituality greater than every other Trek sequence. Commander Sisko turns into the Emissary of the Prophets, alien beings dwelling inside a close-by wormhole and worshiped by Bajorans. In addition they meet the Pah-Wraiths, evil counterparts to the Prophets who can possess their victims, together with Chief O’Brien’s spouse Keiko. “The Project” turns Keiko into an evil, red-eyed monster who torments poor O’Brien (an everyday prevalence on the present, to be sincere) and demonstrates the big energy he and Sisko should face.
22. “Vanishing Level” (Enterprise Season 2, Episode 10)
Set greater than a century earlier than the unique sequence, Star Trek: Enterprise obtained loads of mileage out of characters’ early encounters with expertise requirements in different sequence. Such is the case for the season two episode “Vanishing Level,” by which the transporter goes unsuitable for communications officer Hoshi Sato. After her accident, Hoshi begins phasing out of actuality, primarily turning into a ghost. Episode director David Straiton forgoes the simple route of constructing Hoshi hang-out the NX-01 and as a substitute offers with the horror of her fading existence, making “Vanishing Level” a terrifying counterpoint to “Keep in mind Me.”
23. “Schisms” (The Subsequent Technology Season 6, Episode 5)
Regardless of all of the implausible expertise obtainable on the starship Enterprise, its crew nonetheless suffered lots of the similar illnesses as modern-day residents, together with nightmares. In fact, when people have nightmares in deep house, they change into extra unnerving and unusual. That exponential issue drives “Schisms,” by which shared nightmares lead Riker, LaForge, and others to study that an alien power has been abducting and experimenting on them of their sleep.
24. “Night time Terrors” (The Subsequent Technology Season 4, Episode 17)
If goals are difficult for people on Enterprise-D, think about how worse they’re for the ship’s resident Betazoid, Counsellor Deanna Troi. As an empath, Troi can really feel the feelings of others, which makes her weak to each experiencing and transmitting these sentiments. So when a traumatized Betazoid comes aboard the Enterprise in “Night time Terrors,” he and Troi broadcast horrors to the complete ship, forcing the never-sleeping Knowledge to save lots of the day.
25. “Stardust Metropolis Rag” (Picard Season 1, Episode 5)
On the one hand, “Stardust Metropolis Rag” is probably the most light-hearted episode of Star Trek: Picard, the sequel sequence that indulged in grimness for 2 seasons earlier than turning into a pleasant reunion present in its third season. Conversely, “Stardust Metropolis Rag” additionally opens with a ghastly sequence by which Icheb, the younger ex-Borg adopted by Seven of 9 in Voyager, will get dissected alive. The scene clashes with the caper that takes up the remainder of the episode but in addition leaves the viewer unsettled.