The Star Trek franchise is renowned for its scientific focus, technologically advanced starships, and hyper-evolved human race. The shows focus on exploring the galaxy, allowing them to delve into the mysteries of the human condition. What is right and wrong, and how does humanity maintain the moral high ground? These weighty questions are at the core of the franchise.
Yet Star Trek's rational nature does not preclude the occasional supernatural occurrence. From romantic ghosts to reincarnated serial killers, the Enterprise and its sister ships have encountered several things that go bump in the night.
10 Sub Rosa (The Next Generation)
"Sub Rosa," a Beverly Crusher-focused episode from The Next Generation's final season, rarely ranks highly in franchise best-of lists. It's a narrative and tonal departure from the era's science-based stories, and sees Crusher embark on an erotically charged romance with an alien ghost, Ronin.
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The episode's indulgence in Gothic tropes, forbidden romance, and steamy moments led to rumors that it had been secretly penned by Interview with the Vampire author Anne Rice. "Sub Rosa" remains a divisive episode, but it showed that the series was willing to go where no writers had gone before.
9 The Mark of Gideon (Original Series)
Captain Kirk often encounters seemingly supernatural phenomena, from a cartoon Satan to an entity that claimed to be God. However, one of the character's spookiest moments comes in "The Mark of Gideon," in which the Starfleet legend is stranded aboard a seemingly empty Starship Enterprise.
The vacant sets provide a disconcerting backdrop to the episode: there is something subtly wrong about seeing the starship deserted. The appearance of ghostly faces in portholes and a strange woman only contribute to this underrated episode's uncanny atmosphere.
8 Remember Me (The Next Generation)
Many fans believe that Doctor Crusher was poorly served by the scripts on The Next Generation. She is often relegated to providing exposition, but the few episodes that foreground the character demonstrate her resourcefulness. One of the best is the surreal "Remember Me," in which a warp core experiment strands Crusher in a shrinking bubble of space/time.
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The high-concept nature of the episode does nothing to detract from its fear factor. Crusher's exploration of the Enterprise is genuinely disconcerting, while the horror movie lighting and gusts of wind help manifest a spooky vibe.
7 Impulse (Enterprise)
Coming near the start of Star Trek: Enterprise's third season, "Impulse" sees Archer and his crew encounter a stricken Vulcan ship while exploring a dangerous region of space. An investigation yields troubling results when it emerges that the ship is now infested with zombified Vulcans — and Archer and his allies are trapped aboard.
Although "Impulse" can hardly be described as Star Trek's most cerebral hour, the episode makes good use of horror tropes. The zombie Vulcans are a menacing foe, while the cause of their madness, a mineral called trellium-D, has far-reaching effects throughout the season.
6 The Haunting of Deck 12 (Voyager)
Star Trek: Voyager was no stranger to playing with different narrative conceits. Episodes like "Living Witness" offered alternative views of Voyager's legacy, while "The Voyager Conspiracy" recontextualized mundane plot points into a sprawling web of intrigue. Season 6's "The Haunting of Deck 12" twists the format once more, as the Talaxian Neelix recounts a ghost story to the starship's younger residents.
While Neelix's tale of a ghostly electromagnetic organism is not especially frightening, the tale-around-the-campfire framing device lends the episode a certain charm. "The Haunting of Deck 12" may not revolutionize Star Trek storytelling, but it's a welcome twist on the form.
5 Frame of Mind (The Next Generation)
Star Trek's utopian future can sometimes seem too good to be true. "Frame of Mind" sees Commander William Riker struggle to separate fantasy from reality. Riker shifts between a theatrical production, an alien mental asylum, and the Enterprise-D, and is unable to pin down which is the real world.
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The episode's claustrophobic tone is complemented by a masterful lead performance from Jonathan Frakes. The actor's palpable confusion and paranoia make the episode a tense and disturbing watch, and "Frame of Mind" is perhaps the franchise's best psychological horror story.
4 Wolf In The Fold (Original Series)
Although the Star Trek franchise has a reputation as serious and perhaps a little pretentious, this conception is rooted in The Next Generation rather than The Original Series. Indeed, The Original Series was not afraid of telling deeply silly stories, such as "Wolf in the Fold," in which the spirit of Jack the Ripper appears to stalk the Enterprise crew.
It's safe to say that the episode fails to deal with the serial killer's legacy or victims in an especially sensitive manner, and some critics have accused the episode of sexism. Though it may not have aged gracefully, "Wolf in the Fold" is still an entertaining story. It is unapologetic pulp, and its focus on possession, séances, and grisly murders make it suitable Halloween viewing.
3 Where Silence Has Lease (The Next Generation)
While The Next Generation's early seasons are often criticized, the show's second year delivers the supremely spooky "Where Silence Has Lease." The episode sees the Enterprise caught in a so-called hole in space, where it encounters Nagilum, a bizarre extradimensional entity.
The immortal, psychic Nagilum is an almost Lovecraftian entity. It shares none of the reference points of the Enteprise crew, and does not hesitate to murder a crew member in order to learn about life and death. Nagilum is all the more chilling for the fact that it is not evil — it is just extremely alien.
2 Schisms (The Next Generation)
Franchises like The X-Files have successfully milked the paranoia surrounding alien abductions, and Star Trek doesn't miss the chance to provide a unique twist on the concept. "Schisms" sees the crew of the Enterprise-D beset by strange nightmares and troubling anxieties about blades and surgical instruments. Something sinister is clearly afoot.
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Having the crew of a futuristic starship fall prey to alien abductors is an interesting take on the formula, while the decision to leave the identity of the aliens a mystery further adds to the episode's spooky atmosphere. That the aliens are revealed to look like people wearing Halloween costumes is appropriate, if a little underwhelming, but "Schisms" still offers chills aplenty.
1 Catspaw (Original Series)
The Original Series episode "Catspaw" is the definitive grab-bag of sinister tropes. Written by Robert Bloch (who also scripted "Wolf in the Fold," as well as Hitchcock classic Psycho), the episode sees the crew of the Enterprise visit a haunted house on an alien world. The episode runs the gauntlet of spooky tropes, from dungeons to a witch's cat. It's appropriate, then, that the episode was originally broadcast around Halloween.
Yet for all its focus on horror set pieces, "Catspaw" does incorporate some science fiction elements. The haunted house is an illusion created by powerful aliens who wish to learn about the human race, and the episode's Gothic trappings (for instance, a powerful scepter) are secretly alien tech.