When did Star Trek scare you?

[bdub76]

There was a TNG one about a creepy operating table that they all discuss in the holodeck. That one was probably the most scary/creepy one that I've seen.

Schisms (Star Trek: The Next Generation) - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Schisms (episode)

Enterprise crew members report that they go to sleep but wake up exhausted; a mysterious subspace pocket forms inside a cargo bay. "Captain's log, Stardate 46154.2. The Enterprise has entered the Amargosa Diaspora, an unusually dense globular cluster. We are faced with the daunting task of...

memory-alpha.fandom.com

 

[Tallguy]

If you hate THAT moment, there's a Wil Wheaton incident in STAND BY ME which outdoes the grossness of TWOK.

Not even in the running.

 

[1001001]

Not even in the running.

And not Star Trek, either.

 

[Rahul]

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"Scared" may be the wrong word. But watching Trek as a kid, I remember being "creeped out" a few times.
A big one being the Borg on First Contact & VOY. Especially on VOY the creepy feeling that drones - despite the body horror - want to get BACK into the collective - and feel alone without it. That was a great addition to the franchise via Seven.

In general I think sci-fi and horror go quite well with each other. Normally I don't care much for horror, because it's usually very unbelievable, but for exploring space, the big unknown, it's quite effective to also experience scary stuff every once in a while - from classic alien monsters, to surrealist experiences, to Lovecraftian existential dread, or simply the feeling of space being really, really big.

 

[Rowdy Roddy McDowall]

And not Star Trek, either.

Of course not. Ickiness is not unique to STAR TREK. I never minded Walter Koenig being agonized again, but I did feel for Paul Winfield....and Wheaton to a lesser degree.

 

[CoveTom]

When did Star Trek scare me?



Ha! It's a joke. "Humor! I love it!"

In reality, the only time I can really think of is when I was very young and I happened to walk through as my cousins were watching TWOK and it was at the Ceti eel sequence. Freaked me out and kept me away from Trek for a while.

 

[CoveTom]

In general I think sci-fi and horror go quite well with each other. Normally I don't care much for horror, because it's usually very unbelievable, but for exploring space, the big unknown, it's quite effective to also experience scary stuff every once in a while - from classic alien monsters, to surrealist experiences, to Lovecraftian existential dread, or simply the feeling of space being really, really big.

I am not a horror fan either, but I agree with you about its potential in sci-fi. In fact, one of the only horror films I actually like is Alien. Even then, though, I must admit that it follows your basic horror trope that if the characters just didn't do incredibly stupid things, all the trouble would be avoided. "Huh? A derelict spacecraft with an exploded captain? Weird. Oh, look, strange alien egg sacs that for some reason are opening up. Let me stick my face in one."

 

[Rowdy Roddy McDowall]

I am not a horror fan either, but I agree with you about its potential in sci-fi. In fact, one of the only horror films I actually like is Alien. Even then, though, I must admit that it follows your basic horror trope that if the characters just didn't do incredibly stupid things, all the trouble would be avoided. "Huh? A derelict spacecraft with an exploded captain? Weird. Oh, look, strange alien egg sacs that for some reason are opening up. Let me stick my face in one."

To be fair, John Hurt was three inches above the egg. His character was curious to a fault. He'd volunteer for anything.....like Life cereal's Mikey, which ain't STAR TREK either.

 

[Rahul]

I am not a horror fan either, but I agree with you about its potential in sci-fi. In fact, one of the only horror films I actually like is Alien. Even then, though, I must admit that it follows your basic horror trope that if the characters just didn't do incredibly stupid things, all the trouble would be avoided. "Huh? A derelict spacecraft with an exploded captain? Weird. Oh, look, strange alien egg sacs that for some reason are opening up. Let me stick my face in one."

I think what helps in 'Alien' is the absolute oppressive corporate setting - like these are not dumb teenagers or friends. These are oil rig workers whose bosses order them to do stupid stuff to save money, with assholes & snitches asking then. Yeah it's stupid - but what else are you gonna' do in such a situation? You have no chance.

Apart from that - I'm very much the same. In fact, I realized, I'm not a fan of horror movies, because they're usually pretty dumb, but I am a fan of horror elements in other movies. E.g. I always liked James Cameron's Alien$ more than Ridley Scott's first Alien. It's mostly an action movie, it got an absolute badass exo-skeleton fight scene at the end, the kid is great - and the horror elements are a superb way of adding to the tension & villainy of the monsters. And while the first one might be "objectively" the better movie - it builds tension, and more tension, and even more - whereas Alien$ builds tension - and then regularly releases it in big set pieces. I can watch that movie a thousand times, whereas the first one IMO becomes somewhat stale after the (absolutely fantastic) first watch.

 

[CoveTom]

I think what helps in 'Alien' is the absolute oppressive corporate setting - like these are not dumb teenagers or friends. These are oil rig workers whose bosses order them to do stupid stuff to save money, with assholes & snitches asking then. Yeah it's stupid - but what else are you gonna' do in such a situation? You have no chance.

Apart from that - I'm very much the same. In fact, I realized, I'm not a fan of horror movies, because they're usually pretty dumb, but I am a fan of horror elements in other movies. E.g. I always liked James Cameron's Alien$ more than Ridley Scott's first Alien. It's mostly an action movie, it got an absolute badass exo-skeleton fight scene at the end, the kid is great - and the horror elements are a superb way of adding to the tension & villainy of the monsters. And while the first one might be "objectively" the better movie - it builds tension, and more tension, and even more - whereas Alien$ builds tension - and then regularly releases it in big set pieces. I can watch that movie a thousand times, whereas the first one IMO becomes somewhat stale after the (absolutely fantastic) first watch.

I don't want to derail this thread too much into a discussion of the Alien movies, but let me make the faintest tie-in to Trek to hide that.

I, too, am a huge fan of Aliens and the reason I like it so much is the same reason I like *both* TMP and TWOK -- they're different from one another. Aliens doesn't attempt to copy Alien. Cameron knew he couldn't top Ridley Scott if he made the same kind of movie. So he made a different one. And it worked marvelously. In the same vein, I love TMP even though many don't, but I wouldn't have wanted to see six TMP's. I like the fact that mixed among the TOS movies we have action/adventure, hard sci-fi, comedy, character drama, etc. It's not all just carbon copies of one another as so many modern movie franchises are.

One other thing I like about Aliens, though, is that it isn't just a pure action movie. Heck, we get, what, over an hour into the film before any action happens? There is a steady building of tension, developing of characters, etc. for a good while before the action begins. I like that approach.

 

[ananta]

Nothing will ever outdo the transporter accident in TMP for me. The scream…!!

 

[Oddish]

Nothing will ever outdo the transporter accident in TMP for me. The scream…!!

Don't blame McCoy and Pulaski for disliking the things.

 

[CoveTom]

Don't blame McCoy and Pulaski for disliking the things.

What's worse, in the Director's Edition and Special Longer Version, they make fun of McCoy's hesitation to transport less than 10 minutes after we saw the transporter liquefy two crewmen.

 

[Set Harth]

What's worse, in the Director's Edition and Special Longer Version, they make fun of McCoy's hesitation to transport less than 10 minutes after we saw the transporter liquefy two crewmen.

Reminds me of something in real life, knowhutimean vern

 

[Denise]

I watched a couple of episodes as reruns in the first season when I was a kid. Saw the Salt Vampire and that was it until I was a teen in the 70s. Same thing happened with Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea.

 

[Candleicious Ghost]

The TNG episode Schisms. That one just made me feel cautious of dark places for a while..

The gray blob holo reconstruction of the unknown shadow that watched them all those years ago in ID crisis

You'll have to explain that episode to me which series of Trek?

 

[Oddish]

^ "Identity Crisis", Star Trek TNG. And yeah, that was a pretty freaky scene.

 

[Candleicious Ghost]

^ "Identity Crisis", Star Trek TNG. And yeah, that was a pretty freaky scene.

Now I'm going to have to watch it sounds cool.


A few of the really good episodes happened at the final season of TNG where we knew they'd never be mentioned ever again in any future trek. I wish a future series had had encounters with the guys from schisms