8. Everyone Gets Possessed While Youre Out
Paramount StudiosIf youre the hero of a sci-fi show, its probably not worth ever going on holiday. Quite apart from the zany antics thatll ensue on your supposedly-relaxing vacation, the odds are good youll arrive back home to find everyone acting strangely. The clues will be subtle to begin with your spouse acts oddly distant when you try and snuggle up for your welcome-home present and the family dog growls at your approach. Gradually, youll become aware of whispered conversations that stop as you enter the room, or meetings taking place without you. And just why is that one room suddenly off-limits, anyway? Your paranoia growing, you try to access records of what happened while you were away, only to find them destroyed or locked behind top-level security. At this point, youll probably be reunited with the one person whos noticed something weird is going on. Bonus points if theyve been hiding in the ventilation ducts. Eventually youll figure out a way to release everyone from their possession, but not before theyve started hunting you down and while you cant hurt your friends, theyre certainly happy to slaughter you. At the last second, you force your way into the forbidden room and discover, to your shock, the repentant writer of this uninspired and unwelcome conspiracy episode. As an allegory for the Cold War and the fear that those you loved could be brainwashed or subverted by an invisible menace, this type of possession plot was once very powerful. These days, its a story thats easy to spot from a mile away. With the rise of arc-based sci-fi providing us with genuine conspiracies and betrayals, this is one plot that can be safely put to bed.