The Scariest TNG Episode

[DarthTimon]

In honour of today being Halloween, what do we all think is the spookiest, most spine-chilling episode of TNG? Will you go with Identity Crisis (which seriously creeped me out as a kid)? How about Schisms, with the sinister clicking aliens? Then there was Night Terrors. Maybe all three freaked you out, maybe none of them, or maybe a different episode holds the honour for you. For me, I think Schisms wins this one.

 

[NCC-73515]

The Royale had the first tv corpse I ever saw, Booby Trap had more corpses, then a bunch of corpses sitting up in Night Terrors, a corpse rising out of the grave in Sub Rosa, Spiderman Barclay in Genesis, the surgery table with more and more clicking in Subspace Schisms...
The skeleton and real bone fragments from behind the nacelle wall panel in the psionic illusion Troi experienced
The gray blob holo reconstruction of the unknown shadow that watched them all those years ago in ID crisis

 

[Oddish]

"Where Silence Has Lease" freaked me out big time. Especially that scene on the Yamato, where space was all screwy. But for sheer scariest scene, that one goes to the morgue scene in "Night Terrors"

 

[at Quark's]

I could mention a number of 'scary' episodes here. Where Silence Has Lease, Phantasms, Schisms, Night Terrors, Genesis, Frame of Mind, and probably several others that don't come to mind right now.

For a somewhat less conventional example, there's one line that Picard spoke near the end of Ship in a bottle that creeped me out when I first heard it:

PICARD: ...Our reality may be very much like theirs. All this might be just be an elaborate simulation running inside a little device sitting on someone's table.

 

[Qonundrum]

The Borg provided the worst sort of "trick or treat" since they're out to give everyone the treat of becoming walking radiator coolers. So "The Best of Both Worlds" and "Q Who" I'd also include as possible contenders (great episodes already listed!)

 

[Admiral Jean-Luc Picard]

In honour of today being Halloween, what do we all think is the spookiest, most spine-chilling episode of TNG? Will you go with Identity Crisis (which seriously creeped me out as a kid)? How about Schisms, with the sinister clicking aliens? Then there was Night Terrors. Maybe all three freaked you out, maybe none of them, or maybe a different episode holds the honour for you. For me, I think Schisms wins this one.

I don't celebrate Halloween, and I know it's come and gone, but I'll chime in. I'd like to cite the scariest episode per season.

S1: "Conspiracy" and "Skin of Evil" (tie)
S2: "Q Who" (the way the Borg were introduced, terrifying!)
S3: "The Best of Both Worlds, Part I" (this was easy )
S4: I'm halfway through, watching episodes I haven't seen in years. Hmm... I would say a tie between "The Best of Both Worlds, Part II," "Night Terrors," and "Identity Crisis."
S5: "Imaginary Friend" always creeped me out as a kid.
S6: "Frame of Mind," I wonder if this is the origin of my fear of mental hospitals?
S7: "Genesis"

 

[Farscape One]

TNG did horror and creepy better than any other series in the franchise. They had a lot of good ones.

"Lonely Among Us"
"Conspiracy"
"Where Silence Has Lease"
"The Royale"
"Time Squared"
"Remember Me"
"Night Terrors"
"Identity Crisis"
"Violations"
"Imaginary Friend"
"Realm Of Fear"
"Schisms"
"Frame of Mind"
"Phantasms"
"Dark Page"
"Sub Rosa"
"Eye of the Beholder"
"Genesis"


(While "Sub Rosa" is a bad episode, it IS shot like a horror and all the elements of horror and creepiness are there. Visually and directorially, it's good. Even the idea is decent. The script and dialogue is what fails this completely.)

 

[Admiral Jean-Luc Picard]

TNG did horror and creepy better than any other series in the franchise. They had a lot of good ones.

"Lonely Among Us"
"Conspiracy"
"Where Silence Has Lease"
"The Royale"
"Time Squared"
"Remember Me"
"Night Terrors"
"Identity Crisis"
"Violations"
"Imaginary Friend"
"Realm Of Fear"
"Schisms"
"Frame of Mind"
"Phantasms"
"Dark Page"
"Sub Rosa"
"Eye of the Beholder"
"Genesis"


(While "Sub Rosa" is a bad episode, it IS shot like a horror and all the elements of horror and creepiness are there. Visually and directorially, it's good. Even the idea is decent. The script and dialogue is what fails this completely.)

I dunno, I thought Voyager did some great horror-themed episodes, and Enterprise had the Vulcan zombies. That said, great list of "scary" TNG episodes. When TNG wanted to do a WTF episode, they succeeded!

 

[Farscape One]

I dunno, I thought Voyager did some great horror-themed episodes, and Enterprise had the Vulcan zombies. That said, great list of "scary" TNG episodes. When TNG wanted to do a WTF episode, they succeeded!

VOY did do some good ones, but TNG did more and more consistently. "IMPULSE" was a good one for ENT, too.

My wife made a good point on possibly why TNG was so effective with horror/creepy. That genre was much more active and popular during TNG's run than VOY's. Never thought of that before she said it, but it makes sense if an audience is already there for it.

I think one of the big reasons why TNG did it so well is because it is such a stark contrast to what we normally see on the Enterprise... a welcoming, brightly lit ship with a friendly crew. The clear difference in tone and style to what we usually see makes it pop that much more.

A small example of what I mean: "Night Terrors". Normally, Picard is very calm, level headed, and exudes an aura of things being under control. But then we see him on the floor screaming in terror in the turbolift, and the bridge crew see that... when even Picard loses it like that, you know you are truly screwed.

 

[Admiral Jean-Luc Picard]

VOY did do some good ones, but TNG did more and more consistently. "IMPULSE" was a good one for ENT, too.

My wife made a good point on possibly why TNG was so effective with horror/creepy. That genre was much more active and popular during TNG's run than VOY's. Never thought of that before she said it, but it makes sense if an audience is already there for it.

I think one of the big reasons why TNG did it so well is because it is such a stark contrast to what we normally see on the Enterprise... a welcoming, brightly lit ship with a friendly crew. The clear difference in tone and style to what we usually see makes it pop that much more.

A small example of what I mean: "Night Terrors". Normally, Picard is very calm, level headed, and exudes an aura of things being under control. But then we see him on the floor screaming in terror in the turbolift, and the bridge crew see that... when even Picard loses it like that, you know you are truly screwed.

TNG premiered in '87, horror was big in the 80's, so that probably had a lot to do with it. Maybe it's more accurate to say, VOY did less scary, more disturbing. The show's 3rd "regular" episode featured organ snatchers who stole Neelix's lungs. There was that episode where Chakotay was braindead and a supernatural thing was possessing the crew, moving from person to person. The ship got duplicated, and a main character was fake-out killed off, but you don't know that if you're new to the show. The list goes on. Voyager was that bright, fun sci-fi show with the odd super-dark episode.

I have to admit, I'm watching TNG S4-7 probably for the first time since I was a kid, so I don't remember the back half of the series. I'm familiar with S1-3 and the 4 movies, but S4-7, not so much. Lots of good TNG to look forward to.

 

[Orphalesion]

"Is it true that you only have a limited existence? You exist, then you don't exist. Your mind calls it death."

That line in Silence has Lease has always been more frightening to me than the entire rest of the series.

I'm pretty sure Silence has Lease is also the only "super powerful entity" episode I like.

 

[Farscape One]

TNG premiered in '87, horror was big in the 80's, so that probably had a lot to do with it. Maybe it's more accurate to say, VOY did less scary, more disturbing. The show's 3rd "regular" episode featured organ snatchers who stole Neelix's lungs. There was that episode where Chakotay was braindead and a supernatural thing was possessing the crew, moving from person to person. The ship got duplicated, and a main character was fake-out killed off, but you don't know that if you're new to the show. The list goes on. Voyager was that bright, fun sci-fi show with the odd super-dark episode.

I have to admit, I'm watching TNG S4-7 probably for the first time since I was a kid, so I don't remember the back half of the series. I'm familiar with S1-3 and the 4 movies, but S4-7, not so much. Lots of good TNG to look forward to.

Funny you mention the Vidiians... I think they were THE best race VOY created. Not only as a horror fan because they look fantastic and have a great story, but their very existence is a moral dilemma.

Definitely among my very favorites in the franchise.

 

[Admiral Jean-Luc Picard]

Funny you mention the Vidiians... I think they were THE best race VOY created. Not only as a horror fan because they look fantastic and have a great story, but their very existence is a moral dilemma.

Definitely among my very favorites in the franchise.

It was fun seeing them again in "Fury," no?

 

[Farscape One]

It was fun seeing them again in "Fury," no?

Yes. It was one of the only two good things about that terrible episode. (The other being we get an actual explanation for why Samantha Wildman, a human, was pregnant for a year and a half.)

 

[carcinoGeneticist]

I've always found Frame of Mind to be kind of scary. I have yet to rewatch it but the first time I watched it it kind of freaked me out haha

 

[Admiral Jean-Luc Picard]

Yes. It was one of the only two good things about that terrible episode. (The other being we get an actual explanation for why Samantha Wildman, a human, was pregnant for a year and a half.)

I feel like her pregnancy would have made more sense if someone asked who the father was, and the answer is that it was one of the background extras who died in this or that episode. Then we don't have the year-and-a-half pregnancy.

 

[Farscape One]

I feel like her pregnancy would have made more sense if someone asked who the father was, and the answer is that it was one of the background extras who died in this or that episode. Then we don't have the year-and-a-half pregnancy.

In "TATTOO", Wildman mentions her husband's name (hard to pronounce, even harder to spell) and that he's Ktarian. So we know her baby is going to be a human/Ktarian hybrid. It was just never established why her pregnancy took so damn long.

 

[Jedi Marso]

Sub Rosa, of course.

(Just kidding)

I found Night Terrors and Schisms to be two fairly creepy eps.

 

[Maj. Dick]

Night Terrors without question. The morgue scene is on par with the unsettling visuals in Nightmare on Elm Street and Exorcist 3.

 

[JesterFace]

After reading the thread title the first thing that popped up:
Beverly in the morgue in 'Night Terrors' and all the bodies sitting up.