10 Most Horrifying Star Trek Moments
2. Thanks, Dad
The idea of an afterlife in Star Trek has varied connotations. Religion was somewhat antithetical to Gene Roddenberry's view of the future. However, with religion as ingrained in the public psyche as it is, playing on the idea of a hell is an easy way to seriously disturb an audience.
In Star Trek: Voyager's third season episode Coda, Captain Janeway is seriously injured on an away mission. She hallucinates several different versions of events, before she is greeted by the 'ghost' of her 'father'.
'Vice Admiral Janeway' tells her that he is there to help her accept what is happening, and guide her to the next realm. Though it takes a while, Janeway finally realises that this being is not her Dad. She resists him, figuring out that he can't take her with him against her will.
Whether it is a lie or not, the alien leaves her with a chilling warning: eventually, her time will come for real. When that time comes, he will be there waiting to take her - and when he does, she will nourish him for a long, long time.
If that isn't hell, then what is?