Star Trek: 10 Weirdest Holodeck Episodes
Set safety protocols to 'whaaaaaaat?'
The holodeck, and holography more widely, is one of the most extraordinary pieces of technology in all of Star Trek. As a storytelling device, it has fired the imaginations of writers and fans alike. Who amongst us hasn't uttered a "Computer, end program" when real life suddenly felt a bit simulated? In now the oddest twist of events, the contemporary live-action Star Trek productions have used technology that is, for all intents and purposes, a 21st-century version of the holodeck, i.e. the AR Wall.
Looking back at the many (many) episodes that have featured the holodeck in one way or another, few arguably qualify as 'not weird.' By the very fantastical nature of the concept — a room in which you can re-create, through photons, forcefields, and replicated matter, just about any environment, object, and person with exacting precision — it's always going to be a little odd. Here, however, we're looking for episodes where the holodeck (or antecedent) was a key element/device of the plot to the maximum bizarre effect.
Definitionally, there is also an argument to say that a holosuite is not a holodeck, but in the end, the strange is the same, so we will be including Quark's holographic properties. What's the worst that could happen?
Ready to enter? Okay… Computer! Run program, 'Weirdest Holodeck Episodes,' authorisation 'TREKCULTURE ALPHA-KAPPA-TEN.'
10. Emergence
No, it's not another one of Kenneth Branagh's Agatha Christie adaptations; it's just a holographic mash-up on the Orient Express. Have your tickets at the ready for Keystone and (New) Vertiform City!
As detailed in The Star Trek: The Next Generation Companion, Brannon Braga had wanted one last trip to the holodeck before the end of TNG. His idea to revisit Dixon Hill was rejected in favour of the "ultimate holodeck show," and that's certainly what we got. When Data, Worf, and Riker re-enter the holodeck in Emergence, Data estimates that one scene alone "consists of portions of seven distinct holodeck programs"!!
As if the final product weren't odd enough, the first draft of the script was apparently "even weirder," as producer/showrunner Jeri Taylor is cited as saying in The Next Gen Companion. Cliff Bole, the episode's director, further commented: "I thought [Joe] Menosky [who wrote the teleplay for Emergence] mighta had a couple of mushrooms when he wrote the first script." For the sake of the filming schedule, things had to be pared down from extremely mad to just mad.
The nub of the episode is that the Enterprise-D itself is becoming sentient and is, in essence, having a 'baby.' The holodeck then becomes a manifestation of the ship's rudimentary, but developing, psyche. Ultimately, the weirdest thing about Emergence is that we've never seen, nor heard of, the Enterprise-D's 'offspring' since it flew the nest.