We wrap up the Top 15 episodes you should watch on Halloween.
It’s finally Halloween and that means watching the final five episodes of our Top 15 countdown. We’ve been counting down all month our favorite episodes that fans could watch during Halloween.
Our criteria for what constituted a Halloween episode came down to the spooky factor. Was it something that could leave someone unsettled? It didn’t have to be seen as a horror episode specifically, just an episode that if viewed in a proper light, could in fact be an episode that left many people feeling unnerved.
The original five, live-action series all represent to some degree on this list. While series like The Animated Series and Discovery may have one or two episodes that some would like to see qualify, frankly I didn’t think the other series really had any true candidates.
That’s part of the problem when you’re trying to tell one continual story, there’s no leeway for specialty episodes that the original series’ allowed for. So those shows, (and Lower Decks and Picard) not appearing on this list shouldn’t be surprising.
What’s surprising is how bountiful Voyager and Enterprise were. They each had quite a few selections. I’ve long thought Voyager to be the horror series of the franchise but we may have to revisit that notion at a later date.
So with all that said, be sure to check out parts one and two of this three-part countdown of the 15 episodes best suited for your Halloween marathons.
5. “The Haunting of Deck 12” – Star Trek Voyager
“The Haunting of Deck 12” is a Star Trek: Voyager classic. Told in the style of an “old” campfire horror story, we see Neelix sitting in the center of the cargo bay that was retrofitted for the Borg children and Seven of Nine to use to regenerate. The power across Voyager is out, the children are scared and Neelix has decided to tell them adventures. Yet, the mysterious issues with deck 12 keep coming up.
No one knows what’s going on there, so the children begin gossiping about it until Neelix cuts in and begin to tell a tale of life and death with some underlying spookiness. While Neelix’s story is scary, it’s also shockingly honest. Turns out that while it’s no ghost or specter on deck 12, it is in fact an alien lifeform that Voyager accidentally made mad.
They mistakenly destroyed its ecosystem but as a sign of goodwill, promised to help it find a new one, which they did. Sure, the alien tried to kill everyone on board first, but hey, negotiations can be a bit stressful. It’s Star Trek’s answer to Are You Afraid of the Dark? and it worked.
A child-based horror show, where the kids tell spooky stories from the Star Trek universe would be something worth exploring I think.
4. “Schisms” – Star Trek: The Next Generation
“Schisms” is an episode most Star Trek fans would put at the top of their list. It’s also the only one that I don’t personally get. This episode made it as high as it did for two reasons. The first is that it’s a very good episode. I enjoyed it. I just don’t find it spooky. The second reason it makes it this high is because of how many other websites, videos, and fans have claimed it to be one of the spookiest episodes of Star Trek.
Fair, horror is subjective and if you’re looking for a Halloween marathon of Star Trek episodes to watch, “Schisms” may not be a bad option.
The basic gist of the episode is easy to surmise, Enterprise crew members are being space-napped by an alien to be experimented on. The episode mostly focuses on William Riker’s experience but the rest do contribute to the overall narrative.
Why I think this episode isn’t scary, is because it’s Star Trek. Alien abductions are three-fifths of the plots mentioned. Trying to make an everyday occurrence like this scary is just not possible in my opinion.
It’d be a better concept in a show like the X-Files where the ambiguity (for Scully) of the existence of aliens helps give it more weight.
3. “The Crossing” – Star Trek: Enterprise
“Dead Stop” was originally going to be on this list but after reviewing that episode and “The Crossing”, it became pretty obvious to me that “The Crossing” is far scarier. “Dead Stop” saw the crew deal with a sentient space station that seemingly repairs ships. It’s a great episode, just not overly scary. “The Crossing” on the other hand features an alien race that does exactly what crazy alien races do.
Now, “Schisms” and “The Crossing” share a common theme of alien abduction. There is a slight difference, however. In “Schisms” the aliens abduct the crew of the Enterprise to experiment on and study. The horror is in the idea that “I could be next”. It’s basically Fire in the Sky meets Nightmare on Elm Street (they only strike when people sleep).
“The Crossing” focuses more on the idea of body snatching. Not only that, but they snatch the bodies of aliens and leave the (let’s call it) “essence” behind, and that so-called essence will eventually die. It’s all done in the old school, 1950’s “we come in peace” nonsense, with the aliens appearing to be kind and decent at first.
The reason this makes the list is because you start to wonder who’s next and if you can even gt out of alive. It does a great job setting up the idea that these aliens can nab you at any time and leave you behind to die.
2. “Impulse” – Star Trek: Enterprise
We joke a lot about cyborg zombies in space on this site. Star Trek’s creation of the Borg has given them a great villain that really incites fear into people. So if we go with the idea that the Borg are the George Romero-Esque zombies of the Star Trek universe, then the Vulcans are the characters from The Crazies. Also a George Romero film.
Like with the difference between Romero’s “…Of the Dead” series and The Crazies is the general idea of how the zombie archetype behaves. The Borg are like the “…Of the Dead” franchise; slow, lumbering relentless. Yet, the Crazies weren’t so much about the creeping idea of death but more about the fragility of humanity. It featured people succumbing to their baser urgers, resulting in heeps of violence.
That’s the basic idea of “Impulse”, a group of Vulcans ends up getting stuck in space and due to an illness, lose their ability to quell their emotions and become anger-fueled monsters that tear everything and anything apart in front of them.
The episode is made even more stressful with the fact that several members of the Enterprise go in to try and investigate, leaving T’Pol exposed to the same illness that corrupted the other Vulcans.
1. “Conspiracy” – Star Trek: The Next Generation
An alien parasite is taking over members of Starfleet, with the intent of taking over through a covert invasion. The general premise isn’t exactly the scariest thing ever, as Romulans have long tried to sneak into other alien governments in disguise in an attempt to take over from within (or destabilize). Yet, this episode featured a far more spooky version of that concept.
Instead of Romulans undergoing surgery to present differently, these aliens work their way into the human body and take over control. Fans of the Animorph series will be very familiar with this premise. Again, the idea isn’t too out there, in fact, we saw Khan Noonien Singh do similar things during the events of Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan.
No, what makes this episode so perfect for Halloween is the absurd and gruesome body horror that the produces allowed to be put into the show. Not only does the climax feature a giant parasite alien emerging from the abdomen of a Starfleet officer, but you also get to see the human head get melted down to the bone, like in Raiders of the Lost Ark.
The alien debuting its real form in the busted open stomach of a former officer of Starfleet remains one of the grossest and out-there moments in all of Star Trek.