10 Scariest Star Trek Episodes Ever
7. The Thaw
Star Trek: Voyager - Season 2, Episode 23
The entire premise behind Voyager was that, by hurtling the crew to the other side of the galaxy, the possibilities of adventure, discovery, and danger were infinite. Crazy, then, that the scariest thing in the entire universe still just so happens to be a maniacal evil clown.
Discovering the stasis pods of a civilisation that has protected itself from an ecological disaster, the crew are unable to release the survivors because they are cerebrally linked to a computer simulation. Attempting to enter the dream world they live in and inform them that it's time to return to the real world, Harry Kim and B'Elanna Torres enter two vacant pods to contact them.
Oopside, bad idea! The dream world is actually a nightmare being run by the manifestations of the sleeper's own fears that just so happens to have taken the form of a maniacal clown. He has been slowly torturing his victims for decades, accidentally caused two to die from literal fright, and is over the moon to have two brand new playthings.
While there's nothing out-and-out horrifying in this episode the relentlessly unhinged vibes of The Clown are more than enough to drege up any well-surpressed childhood fears.