Welcome to another installment of 31 Days of Halloween! This is our chance to set the mood for the spookiest and scariest month of the year as we focus our attention on horror and Halloween fun. For the month of October we’ll be sharing various pieces of underappreciated scary books, comics, movies, and television to help keep you terrified and entertained all the way up to Halloween.
Star Trek is a show that outsiders seem to think is nerdy and boring, but they couldn’t be further from the truth. A quick look at the uniforms the main cast wear, the lack of starship battles, and a deep focus on philosophical problems certainly sound stuffy, but watch any five episodes and you’re bound to run into a horror spectacular. The truth is, Star Trek is one of the most genre-bending TV shows in existence, especially Star Trek: The Next Generation. In many respects, the show is similar to The Twilight Zone, with unnerving plots, mysterious monsters, and confusing problems that seem to have no solution.
In fact, many of the episodes are as scary as any horror television program you’ve ever watched.
There are many scary episodes and this show does not hold back. It brings it all, from creepy music to monsters, and plenty of disturbing themes. That’s why we’ve thrown together the ultimate list of horror episodes in the Star Trek universe. Much of this list was provided by Reddit user Tom_Dynamite who graciously let us use his list. Scroll down below to find some of the spookiest, scariest, and most spine-tingling episodes of TV ever made.
Below you’ll find a short spoiler-free description of each episode and why it’s a good horror episode prime for Halloween viewing.
Star Trek: The Original Series
1×08 Miri: Kirk and a landing party discover a replica Earth trapped in the year 1960 and inhabited only by children. After learning that a plague has wiped out all the adults, the crew fear that they will become the next victims of the disease.
1×10 The Corbomite Maneuver: When the Enterprise encounters a mysterious spacecraft, Captain Kirk is forced to bluff his way out of a dangerous situation.
1×25 The Devil in the Dark: Captain Kirk and Spock beam down to the planet Janus IV following a distress call and discover that more than 50 workers there have been hideously slain by an unknown monster. When an important piece of machinery goes missing, Spock becomes convinced they are not dealing with a mindless beast.
2×07 Catspaw: Captain Kirk faces double trouble when the USS Enterprise becomes trapped in a cosmic cauldron and a landing party sent to Pirus VII become the “guests” of Korob and Sylvia, weavers of magic spells.
2×14 The Wolf in the Fold: Victorian England meets futuristic space travel when three women on the planet Argelius are apparently murdered by Jack the Ripper – in the form of the Enterprise’s chief engineer. With Scotty in the dock, the crew of the Enterprise finds their own lives are at risk from an evil being feeding on the epidemic of fear and panic.
Star Trek: The Next Generation
1×25 Conspiracy: Picard receives a warning from a colleague about a potential conspiracy within Starfleet. Upon investigating the crew notices that something strange is going on. A very atmospheric episode that reminds me of the movie They Live. Probably has the goriest scene in all of Star Trek.
2×12 The Royale: Investigating the discovery of a piece of metal bearing the United States Air Force Insignia, the Away Team finds itself trapped in the world of The Hotel Royale, a novel come to life.
2×16 Q Who: Q claims that mankind is not ready for the dangers that lurk in the unexplored space and sends the crew far away from where they meet a new foe. Some of you might be surprised by this entry but the build-up, the suspense, and the eerie atmosphere are really well done. Mild recommendation for episode 1×26 because it sets up this episode.
4×05 Remember Me: Crewmembers on the Enterprise start disappearing but no one seems to notice with the exception of Dr. Crusher. Classic Twilight Zone-esque set up.
4×17 Night Terrors: The Enterprise is trapped in an unknown part of space where they find a federation ship with most of the crew dead. Soon the crew of the enterprise starts to be affected by whatever killed the crew of the federation ship. They start to act differently and hallucinate. My personal favorite scary episode that I highly recommend.
4×18 Identity Crisis: Something urges a former away team that La Forge was a part of a planet they investigated years prior. Their new investigation finds that they weren’t alone on the planet. Very intriguing set up and has some chilling scenes!
6×05 Schisms: Some crew members suffer from exhaustion and suddenly react oddly to various objects that seem to trigger post-traumatic responses. Meanwhile, a mysterious subspace pocket appears on the enterprise. Also one of my favorite episodes that has a great build-up.
6×21 Frame of Mind: Riker loses his mind when he keeps switching between being on the Enterprise and in an alien hospital. He starts to question what’s real and what’s fake. Classic horror set up about what happens when our reality might be a delusion.
7×06 Phantasms: Data developed a dream program but suddenly he starts having bizarre nightmares. Some freaky imagery makes this a really good Halloween episode.
7×14 Sub Rosa: Beverly attends a funeral and encounters a ghostly figure. This episode is often ridiculed for being one of the sillier episodes but I had to include it for being a classic ghost story.
7×19: Genesis: After Data and Picard come back to the Enterprise all the crew changed into different creatures. A bit on the silly and trashy side, but it’s a fun monster horror episode.
Star Trek: First Contact (the movie): The evil Borg travel back in time to prevent the Earth from making contact with alien life. Captain Picard and his crew try to stop them from carrying out this plan. Cyber zombies trying to turn humanity into one of them, what’s not to love?
Star Trek: Deep Space 9
2×14 Whispers: After returning from a mission Miles notices that the crew and his family don’t act the same. He starts to think he’s in the center of a conspiracy. Very good suspenseful episode.
3×04 Equilibrium: Jadzia starts having frightening hallucinations that make her question her past lives. Some of the hallucinations make for a scary episode.
5×05 The Assignment: After coming back from Bajor, Keiko is possessed by a Pah Wraith that forces Miles to do as it says, or else Keiko will die. Very creepy episode and Keiko’s actress does a good job portraying the evil Pah Wraith.
5×11 The Darkness and the Light: Members of Kira’s former resistance group are assassinated and Kira looks like she’s going to be the final victim. Good psychological thriller episode!
5×24 Empok Nor: O’Brien, Nog, Garak, and some of the DS9 engineers are forced to scavenge the abandoned Cardassian space station Empok Nor for replacement parts. They soon find out that they aren’t alone and Garak starts to act strangely. Very good survival episode and my personal favorite Halloween episode of DS9.
7×13 Field of Fire: A serial killer is murdering people on DS9 and Ezri is investigating the case with the help of a past life. Good suspenseful episode.
Star Trek: Voyager
1×14 Faces: An alien species abducts B’Elanna and others to use their bodies in experiments. A good body horror episode.
2×10 Cold Fire: The crew encounters new hope of returning home when Ocampa colonists lead them to a mysterious female entity who may have the ability to help them.
2×15 Threshold: Paris manages the first warp 10 jumps but once he’s back his body slowly starts to change. Silly episode but some really gross and effective makeup that makes it almost a must-see!
2×23 The Thaw: The crew tries to help a group of comatose aliens whose minds are trapped in a computer program that operates on fear. Some creepy imagery and scary concept.
3×12 Macrocosm: A virus grows to a frightening size and starts attacking the crew. Janeway and the Doctor try to find a way to take back the ship. If you want an episode where Janeway goes all Ellen Ripley, this is it!
4×05 Revulsion: When investigating a distress signal, The Doctor meets another sentient hologram on an abandoned alien ship. Soon he learns that there’s more to the hologram than he first thought. An amazingly creepy episode and a great performance by the hologram.
4×07 Scientific Method: An invisible alien species of scientists perform cruel experiments on the crew. Very scary concept and an overall good episode.
4×13 Waking Moments: The crew starts having nightmares. However, they soon discover that the same alien appears in all their dreams. If you like dream horror, this is for you.
4×25 One: After the entire crew has to be put into a coma to fly through a part in space, Seven is the only crew member awake to keep the ship flying. However, she soon struggles with the loneliness and strange things start to happen. Very scary concept of being alone on a spaceship in an unknown part of space.
6×25 The Haunting of Deck 12: During a power outage Neelix is telling the children a ghost story. Self-explanatory, it’s a classic ghost story episode.
Star Trek: Enterprise
1×04 Strange New World: Some of the crew decide to camp on a newly discovered and uninhabited planet only to get trapped and suspect they might not be alone and that T’Pol is connected to the mysterious inhabitants. Very good mystery episode about paranoia.
2×10 Vanishing Point: After the scared Hoshi has to use the transporter she slowly starts to think she’s becoming invisible to others.
3×05 Impulse: The Enterprise finds an abandoned Vulcan ship only to discover the crew has become bloodthirsty and violent. The closest you will ever get to Star Trek doing a zombie episode!
3×16 Doctor’s Orders: The crew has to be put into a coma with Phlox being the only crewmember who can stay awake. Soon he starts to suspect there’s intruders on the ship. Similar to VOY episode One though I personally like it better.
Star Trek: Discovery
1×03 Context is for Kings: Burnham finds herself aboard the U.S.S. Discovery where she quickly realizes things are not as they seem, including the mysterious Captain Gabriel Lorca.
With such a long list of horror episodes of Star Trek, it’s highly likely anyone who sees this list will watch a few episodes during the spooky season! You can find most of these on Netflix currently, but for posterity, it might make sense to purchase the box sets, which aren’t too expensive when you consider how many hours of entertainment you’re getting.
You can grab the box sets on Amazon at these links:
Star Trek: The Original Series
Star Trek: The Next Generation
Star Trek: Deep Space 9
Star Trek: Voyager
Star Trek: Enterprise
Star Trek: Discovery
What do you think, did we capture every Star Trek horror episode? Let us know in the comments!
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