Star Trek: The Dark Side

[JiNX-01]

For all the optimism Gene Roddenberry purports to present in Star Trek, the brighter future, an end to hunger, war, etc., Star Trek also treads occasionally on the dark side.

What episodes do you consider to be on the darker side of the future? Not just tragedies, but episodes that have a tone that evokes discomfort or that counter a hopeful vision. They can be episodes in which characters behave contrary to the rules of common decency, Starfleet regulations, or an episode that depicts innocence lost.

A Private Little War
Family
Equinox
In the Pale Moonlight: No explanation needed here.
Damage

 

[startrekwatcher]

I thought "The Best of Both Worlds" was quite dark and fatalistic. I thought What YOu Leave Behind with the murder of Mila and the death of 800 million people, Garak's scene with Bashir where he seems broken. Chain of Command II with its torture.

 

[Michael]

"Space Seed" — Because it introduced the idea of another world war.
"The Maquis" — Showed that there's still terrorism in the future.
"Past Tense" — It showed how we should NOT solve our current social problems.
"Homefront"/"Paradise Lost" — What happens when the civil rights are impaired.
"Inter Arma Enim Silent Leges" and "Tacking Into The Wind" — Demonstrates how far humanity would go to win a war (i.e. genocide).
"Demons"/"Terra Prime" — Demonstrates the hatred of humanity towards everything that is different.

 

[erastus25]

Far Beyond the Stars for showing racism.
Dagger of the Mind and Whom Gods Destroy for showing that mental illness will still be around in the 23rd Century.
The Mark of Gideon confronts overpopulation.
Encounter at Farpoint gives us more evidence that the 21st Century isn't perfect - much like Space Seed.

 

[Michael]

Far Beyond the Stars for showing racism.

But it shows the racism of our past (and present) — not our future.

 

[Kegek]

Speaking of racism, there's always the racial annihilation in "Let That Be Your Last Battlefield." Two races of an alien species slaughter each other until only two are left on a burning planet pursuing each other with no purpose other than their own hate. That's kinda a downer, when you think about it.

And I've always felt "A Taste of Armageddon" is a good example of the collision between Star Trek ideals and a more pessimistic view of mankind. It's pretty much summed up in the conversations between Anan 7 and Captain Kirk, and that's perhaps why it's one of my favourite episodes.

 

[HoundDog]

Well, most of the Dominion War stuff from DS9 would qualify as "Darkside- Trek". The Xindi-Arc from Ent would, too (someone's already mentioned "Damage").

 

[The Borg Queen]

Insurrection.

 

[erastus25]

Far Beyond the Stars for showing racism.

But it shows the racism of our past (and present) — not our future.

Yeah, you're right. My point was that it draws attention to racial injustice in any era, and it definitely doesn't have the happy ending, humans are perfect feel.

 

[scottydog]

It's true, there is darkness in all of trek. But there is almost always a ray of hopeful light shining through the darkness somewhere. Even the darkest of the dark DS9 episodes left me feeling hopeful for the future.

 

[erastus25]

It's true, there is darkness in all of trek. But there is almost always a ray of hopeful light shining through the darkness somewhere. Even the darkest of the dark DS9 episodes left me feeling hopeful for the future.

I don't know, the darkest of dark DS9 was pretty depressing. I remember walking away from some episodes feeling pretty crappy. Are you sure you weren't inferring rays of hope at times because you were aware of the greater nature of Star Trek?

 

[scottydog]

It's true, there is darkness in all of trek. But there is almost always a ray of hopeful light shining through the darkness somewhere. Even the darkest of the dark DS9 episodes left me feeling hopeful for the future.

I don't know, the darkest of dark DS9 was pretty depressing. I remember walking away from some episodes feeling pretty crappy. Are you sure you weren't inferring rays of hope at times because you were aware of the greater nature of Star Trek?

You could be right. DS9 didn't wrap up it's episodes in nice neat little packages like TOS did, mostly because by the 1990s TV had grown up some and audiences demanded greater sophistication. But even with DS9, I sensed optimism in the face of doom, even if it was barely discernible or implied. That could just be me or, as you put it, my greater awareness of Trek's nature.

 

[HoundDog]

It's true, there is darkness in all of trek. But there is almost always a ray of hopeful light shining through the darkness somewhere. Even the darkest of the dark DS9 episodes left me feeling hopeful for the future.

I don't know, the darkest of dark DS9 was pretty depressing. I remember walking away from some episodes feeling pretty crappy. Are you sure you weren't inferring rays of hope at times because you were aware of the greater nature of Star Trek?

You could be right. DS9 didn't wrap up it's episodes in nice neat little packages like TOS did, mostly because by the 1990s TV had grown up some and audiences demanded greater sophistication. But even with DS9, I sensed optimism in the face of doom, even if it was barely discernible or implied. That could just be me or, as you put it, my greater awareness of Trek's nature.

Still, even in DS9 the good guys win the war.

 

[erastus25]

I don't know, the darkest of dark DS9 was pretty depressing. I remember walking away from some episodes feeling pretty crappy. Are you sure you weren't inferring rays of hope at times because you were aware of the greater nature of Star Trek?

You could be right. DS9 didn't wrap up it's episodes in nice neat little packages like TOS did, mostly because by the 1990s TV had grown up some and audiences demanded greater sophistication. But even with DS9, I sensed optimism in the face of doom, even if it was barely discernible or implied. That could just be me or, as you put it, my greater awareness of Trek's nature.

Still, even in DS9 the good guys win the war.

Yeah, but we also have episodes like Children of Time. I don't see a lot of upside there. Odo's love for Kira comes off as a bad thing rather than giving any kind of hope.

 

[SFRabid]

Nothing in the Star Trek franchise compares to the depression brought on by the new Battlestar G. I stopped watching it a few seasons ago becase I grew tired of the dark, depressing episodes that never lightened up.

I think the an overall idea from Star Trek sticks out more for me than any individual episode. When you explore you make yourself noticed, and thus make yourself a target of those that would exploit you. If we ever reach that point it will be interesting and scary to see what we encounter first, Vulcan types or Klingons.

 

[HoundDog]

You could be right. DS9 didn't wrap up it's episodes in nice neat little packages like TOS did, mostly because by the 1990s TV had grown up some and audiences demanded greater sophistication. But even with DS9, I sensed optimism in the face of doom, even if it was barely discernible or implied. That could just be me or, as you put it, my greater awareness of Trek's nature.

Still, even in DS9 the good guys win the war.

Yeah, but we also have episodes like Children of Time. I don't see a lot of upside there. Odo's love for Kira comes off as a bad thing rather than giving any kind of hope.

You're absolutely right. I just wanted to say that the good guys winning the war is in a certain way an optimistic way to end the story - good wins against evil, even if the costs are high.

 

[Deks]

Actually, the 'victory' of the good guys in DS9 could hardly be called that.
Main Dominion forces in the GQ were intact (save for the fleet that was sent to the AQ which was disposed of by the wormhole aliens ... and the Dominon could have easily rebuilt that fleet in the meantime) ... the allies were fighting with a separate branch if anything and were able to win against them, but ultimately ... it was a stalemate (with the allies suffering most losses).

 

[HoundDog]

Actually, the 'victory' of the good guys in DS9 could hardly be called that.
Main Dominion forces in the GQ were intact (save for the fleet that was sent to the AQ which was disposed of by the wormhole aliens ... and the Dominon could have easily rebuilt that fleet in the meantime) ... the allies were fighting with a separate branch if anything and were able to win against them, but ultimately ... it was a stalemate (with the allies suffering most losses).

Well, in the end the Dominion was forced to sign a peace treaty and had to retreat back to the GQ. I would call that a victory of the good guys, although more in a technical sense, because the costs were high.

 

[CaptJimboJones]

DS9 probably had the most of these, although even that show tended to break up their "dark" episodes with sitcomish Ferengi comedies and wacky Klingon wedding hijinks. That's what always bugged me about DS9 - it couldn't quite commit to being the gritty show it wanted to be, so they kept pulling back from the serious drama and interjecting comedy episodes in the middle of the war arc. I'm sure Berman was at fault in some way.

Much of Enterprise Season 3 was fairly consistently dark, particularly in the final third or so of the episodes. And TNG's BOBW Pt. 1 was a wonderfully epic "dark" episode (although IMO they ruined it with the unforgivably lame BOBW Pt 2.)