Summary

Star Trek: Voyager uses horror to create unsettling episodes that cover psychological, body, dark fantasy, and paranormal themes.
Episodes like "The Thaw" and "The Haunting of Deck 12" showcase psychological and supernatural horror elements that terrify the crew.
The show features horror stories like "Revulsion" and "One" that explore the darker side of AI, isolation, and psychological struggles.

Thirty years ago, the USS Voyager and the ship it was pursuing, the Val Jean, were transported into the Delta Quadrant. By the time the two-part pilot episode "Caretaker" had come to a close, both ships were trapped light years away from Federation space, so the whole premise of the show is already based on some level of horror.

Star Trek: Voyager. Captain Janeway faces Admiral Janeway from the future.

Star Trek: Voyager - How Did The Ship Get Home?

In Star Trek: Voyager, a 70,000 light-year journey home is a trial that just might require bending space-time itself.

Posts 3

By Odin Halvorson

There would be several episodes of Star Trek: Voyager that would follow the tone the pilot had set for the rest of the show. The variety of episodes that used horror on Voyager covered the spectrum, too, including psychological, body, dark fantasy, and the paranormal.

7 The Thaw

A Clown Of Fear

Number: Season 2, Episode 23
Air Date: April 29, 1996
Starring: Kate Mulgrew, Robert Picardo, Michael McKean

"The Thaw" is often cited as one of the best examples of psychological horror in the Voyager series and is also regarded as one of the most unsettling episodes in the franchise. The title references the ecological disaster that inspired the aliens to create a virtual reality based on their dreams and desires, and by the time Voyager finds them, they are trapped in a VR nightmare that feeds off their fears and has the power to kill them.

There is one character that isn't affected, however: the holographic doctor. This is only part of the key to stopping the machine, with the face of a killer clown, from trapping the crew of the Voyager forever.

6 The Haunting Of Deck 12

Even Space Has Blackouts

Number: Season 6, Episode 25
Air Date: May 17, 2000
Starring: Ethan Phillips, Kate Mulgrew, Manu Intiraymi

The image of a scary story told around a campfire is revived for a future time in "The Haunting of Deck 12." This time, it's a planned power outage due to Voyager traveling through a nebula, and it wakes the Borg kids mid-regeneration cycle, and Neelix entertains them with a story until the power comes back on.

It's unclear whether the harrowing story Neelix tells, of a malevolent entity that uses its disembodied form to try and take over the ship, is happening as he says it or if it's exaggerated to entertain the frightened youngsters. It seems that it was the real thing; however, as he tells the relieved Captain that he hopes that "it," whatever it was, "lives happily ever after."

5 Revulsion

The Purity Of The Machine

Number: Season 4, Episode 5
Air Date: October 1, 1997
Starring: Roxann Dawson, Robert Duncan McNeill, Robert Picardo

Not every hologram is benevolent or friendly, and this horror story is about one that goes horribly wrong. It all starts with a distress call from a ship with one surviving crew member, a hologram named Dejaren, but when the Doctor and Torres arrive to help, they find things are not always as they seem.

The title refers to the feelings that Dejaren, a hologram, develops for his organic crewmates, something he eventually confesses to the Doctor at about the same time Torres discovers his crewmates didn't die of a virus, but were murdered. They barely manage to escape, partly because Torres' half-Klingon heart has an extra ventricle, and she knows electrical surges can destabilize holograms.

4 Waking Moments

A Tale Of Nightmares

Number: Season 4, Episode 13
Air Date: January 14, 1998
Starring: Mark Colson, Garrett Wang, Kate Mulgrew

Anyone who remembers A Nightmare on Elm Street will find this plot familiar, because the real horror was always waiting in your dreams, and sooner or later, everyone has to go to sleep. When the episode starts, the officers are on the bridge discussing some of the harrowing details of their recent nightmares, and the plot thickens when Harry Kim is trapped in a REM sleep cycle and can't wake up at all.

Star Trek: Voyager's Coaxial Drive, Explained

Here's a deep dive into the physics behind the Coaxial Drive and Voyager's encounter with this groundbreaking technology.

Posts

By Arianne Gift

What is a sleep state to a human is a waking life to the alien race trying to contact the Voyager's crew, and only Chakotay can stop them with a lucid dreaming technique. It's a high-stakes adventure with only the holographic doctor to help him.

3 Barge Of The Dead

The Klingon Afterlife

Number: Season 6, Episode 3
Air Date: October 6, 1999
Starring: Roxann Dawson, Eric Pierpoint, Karen Austin, Sherman Augustus

The occult is always an interesting subject for horror, with images of the human heaven and hell as prime examples. This episode delves into the Klingon's version of the afterlife. Torres has a near-death experience that includes a vision of her mother on the legendary Barge of the Dead, who claims she's damned to the Klingon version of hell because her daughter won't accept her Klingon heritage.

After Torres is resuscitated, she insists on returning to the Barge using an induced coma, and what follows is a grotesque but fascinating trip through various stages of the Klingon afterlife. This episode is more about Torres coming to terms with her Klingon side and less about horror, but the twisted vision of the crew is still pretty unsettling.

2 One

The Solitude Of Seven

Number: Season 4, Episode 25
Air Date: May 13, 1998
Starring: Jeri Ryan, Ron Ostrow, Wade Williams

Seven of Nine is usually a stoic and emotionless character with a visage that would impress even a Vulcan, which makes her vulnerability in "One" that much more terrifying. The crew can only pass safely through a cloud of radiation by going into a long-term hypersleep, and only the Doctor and Seven of Nine can continue to work and maintain the ship.

10 Coolest Starships in Star Trek: Voyager

When it comes to the most interesting starship designs, the following ones stand out as the coolest from Star Trek: Voyager.

Posts 7

By James Maddox

All is well for a while, but Seven starts to feel the effects of her isolation, despite the efforts of the doctor to distract her. Then his emitter starts to fail because of the radiation, leaving Seven alone with her personal demons, which include hallucinations of the Borg, alien races, and devastating computer malfunctions.

1 Meld

Tuvak Sees A Distubed Mind

Number: Season 2, Episode 16
Air Date: February 5, 1996
Starring: Tim Russ, Brad Dourif, Angela Dohrmann

The potential dangers of a Vulcan Mind Meld have already been established in the Star Trek universe, so imagine what happens when the "Meld" is with the mind of a psychotic killer. Tuvak tries to use his talents to calm the angry psyche of former Maquis crewman Lon Suder, and although he succeeds, he trades some of that psychotic anger for Suder's peace of mind.

Tuvok's struggle is too real for anyone who has experienced a mental illness, and the lack of control that takes over one of the show's most emotionally stable characters is all the more terrifying. Ironically, it's Suder himself who saves Tuvok, which is the beginning of a character arc that redeems the troubled Betzoid.

Rating block community and brand ratings Image