10 Scariest Star Trek Episodes Ever

"Space is disease and danger wrapped in darkness and silence".

Scariest Star Trek
CBS

Star Trek is supposed to be many things, but "OH MY GOD THAT'S SO SCARY!! TURN IT OFF!!!" isn't one of them. Challenging, exciting, curious, progressive, educational, bold, entertaining, all of the above are thrown around happily by fans and producers alike, but scary? Nobody's really here for that.

And yet, Star Trek is scary. To quote Karl Urban's Dr. McCoy "space is disease and danger wrapped in darkness and silence" and while that's a great line to use in the final few shots of a JJ Abrams trailer, it's also just a fact. After all, it's called the final frontier because we have absolutely no idea what's waiting for us out there and there are few things humanity fears more than the unknown.

Still though, despite TV networks doing their utmost to make this something for the whole family, occasionally Star Trek will just dip off course and career headfirst into the realms of traditional, creepy, horror. Slasher horrors, psychological horrors, body horrors, even just classic ghost stories have all made an appearance of the show's 54-year history, so let's look at the scariest amongst them, yeah? You're all big and brave.

10. Genesis

Scariest Star Trek
CBS Media Ventures

Star Trek: The Next Generation - Season 7, Episode 19

Comfortably one of the highlights of the Next Generation's often-dismissed Season 7, Genesis is a slice of terrifying monster-horror that wouldn't have been out of place on shows with far darker reputations. Giant beasts, disfigured crewmates, something that's half-Reg Barclay, half aracho-nightmare, the episode saw TNG scoop 10 Emmy nominations for its makeup work that year.

After a torpedo veers wildly off course during a training drill, Picard and Data set off on a short Lads Day Out to retrieve it. When they return to the ship, they find it adrift in space with no sign of the crew and one of the bridge officers physically eviscerated in his seat.

They discover that a reactivated T-Cell in Lt. Barclay has triggered a mutation in the rest of the crew, causing them to de-evolve into more savage lifeforms. Worf, in particular, becomes a nightmarish, armoured hell-demon who rampages through the ship attempting to mate with Troi. A cure is found in Data's cat Spot, but not after some ghoulish scenes had the audience leaping out of their seats and scurrying behind the sofa in equal measure.

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WhatCulture's Managing Editor and Chief Reporter | Previously seen in Vice, Esquire, FourFourTwo, Sabotage Times, Loaded, The Set Pieces, and Mundial Magazine