Star Trek: 10 Character Fates Worse Than Death
Resistance may be futile, but that doesn't mean a starship won't do everything possible to avoid it.
If you've ever sat down to watch an episode of Star Trek, one thing becomes horribly clear almost immediately: there are fates far worse than death. The series may have a reputation for flinging extras wearing red shirts into danger, only to die, but a lot of times, characters end up surviving (If they're part of the main cast, of course).
For those unlucky few, the sweet release of death isn't an option unless their contract is up for negotiations, so every week, they must face whichever disturbing spaceborne horror the writers have come up with to make their character's lives a living hell.
Imagine being trapped, but not for a few weeks, or a few years — Imagine being trapped for all eternity, only you're conscious and incapable of doing anything about your situation. That's the kind of fate worse than death the writers of Star Trek's many series and films have come up with over the years.
These ten fates worse than death cover a wide array of horrific accidents, punishments, and run-ins with space plague, and because each one is horrible enough to make anyone dream of death, they are presented in no particular order.
10. Being Forever Trapped, Unable To End Your Existence
Star Trek: Picard is one of the most interesting new Star Trek series to date, as it is the first, which would be considered a direct sequel of one that came before. The series is set two decades after the events of Star Trek: Nemesis, which ended with the destruction of Data.
Losing Data has haunted Jean-Luc Picard for 20 years, and when the series begins, Data appears in Picard's dreams. The events of the first season are centered around Data, as the newly-created androids made from the little that remained of him.
The final episode of the first season revealed that while Data's body was destroyed in the final moments of Nemesis, his consciousness continued to exist in a simulation, where he is alone and unable to terminate his own being. He is trapped forever, and with no means of escape, and all he wants is to finally be destroyed.
Picard meets him in this simulation after he perishes, and the two reminisce about their time together onboard the Enterprise. It's during this meeting that Data asks his Captain to end the simulation, finally allowing Data to "die" by having his existence lost forever, and Jena-Luc honors his request soon after he awakens in his own android body.