10 Episodes to Put You Into the Halloween Spirit

Ah, All Hallows Eve. Goblins and ghosts, witches and spirits, monsters and aliens. A time for scares and frights. Halloween is likely a day where we have some of the most fun with playing with our fears, be it haunted houses or scary movies. Star Trek has given us more than a few frights over the last five decades, so I thought I would revisit a few of them. Yes, this is not an exhaustive list (I’m thinking of doing another one in a year or so), but here are ten that will give you some scares for those dark, scary nights leading up to October 31.

1. Catspaw (TOS) – let’s start with the original Halloween-inspired episode. When a member of an overdue away team returns to the ship dead with an ominous warning of a curse, Kirk, Spock, and McCoy beam down to the planet and find the perfect recipe for an intergalactic Halloween party. Spooky castle, skeletons hung up in the dungeon, spectral witches, and the token black cat. Add to that a pair of aliens with immense power a penchant for playing games with zombie-like Scotty and Sulu, and you get a light-hearted romp on the weird side. The cheese factor is high, but sometimes that is what Halloween is all about.
   
2. Genesis (TNG) – Data and Picard leave the Enterprise to recover a lost torpedo. When they get back to the ship, they find it adrift and low on power. As they search the ship, they initially have trouble finding the crew. When they do find them, they have all de-evolved into primitive evolutionary ancestors. While the science behind it might seem a bit weak, the make-up effects are great. Riker is a Neanderthal, Troi some weird amphibian, Barclay a cool-looking spider, and Worf some armored poison-spitting prehistoric Klingon. With a great intense chase-scene of proto-Worf pursuing Picard, we see some campy monster fun. The story might have as many holes as Charlie Brown’s ghost costume, but it’s still a fright bit of fun.
   
3. The Haunting of Deck 12 (VOY) -What’s Halloween without a good old-fashioned ghost story? Well, Voyager gives us that in its sixth season. The ship is powering down as it is about to enter a nebula. Neelix is assigned to watch over the recently rescued Borg children. They pester him with questions about Deck 12, which they have heard is haunted. Neelix gives them a story of a mysterious entity that came aboard the ship a few months earlier. As the story progresses, we cannot help but wonder how much of the tale is real and how much of it is made up. The viewer is left guessing until the end, and we get some great action.
   
4. Frame of Mind (TNG) – A psychological thriller that has Commander Riker wondering what is real. While Wil is jumping back and forth between his life on the Enterprise (focusing on a disturbing play he is in) and his life as a mentally unstable criminal (that mirrors the play he is in), we the audience are trying to ascertain which reality is real. I mean, we know who he is…or do we? This episode keeps the mind games going until the end, and it is a thrilling ride for all.
   
5. Doctor’s Orders (ENT) – Doctor Phlox is left alone on the ship to guide it through a region of space that is dangerous to the rest of the crew. With T’Pol and Porthos as his only companions, the good doctor starts to feel the eeriness of the solitude. He begins to hallucinate and is soon struggling to maintain a hold on his sanity. Of course, the twist at the end of the episode gives us all a “what the…” moment that is nest left unspoiled for those who haven’t seen it yet.
   
6. The Thaw (VOY) – What better way to celebrate the Season of Fear than with Janeway and her crew confronting the personification of Fear itself. The crew of Voyager discover a planet that had suffered a devastating disaster and find some of the inhabitants in stasis. When Harry and B’Elanna hook themselves up to the neural network, they meet the Clown, deliciously played by Michael McKean. The two officers soon find themselves in a struggle for their lives, and Janeway must confront Fear in order to save everyone. Clowns have often been seen as scary, and this one does not disappoint.
   
7. Empok Nor (DS9) –Chief O’Brien is sent with a team of engineers and security officers to salvage some essential parts from an abandoned Cardassian space station called Empok Nor. They soon find themselves in fight for their lives against a pair of super soldiers and, surprisingly, one of their own. Garak, who was brought along to help disarm Cardassian booby traps, is exposed to a psychotic chemical that turns him into a sadistic killer. As members of the team are hunted down one by one, Miles is pushed to his limits by the devilishly clever and sinister Garak/ Andrew Robinson has always played Garak with relish and finesse, but here is taps into a darker side of our favorite Cardassian that makes us wonder if this is the end of the road for the resident tailor.
   
8. Wolf in the Fold (TOS) – The specter of an ancient horror finds the Enterprise and its crew an irresistible target. Framing Scotty for several murders of women, this alien entity feeds on the fear of women as he murders them. It is revealed that the entity, known in this iteration as “Redjac”, has been roaming the galaxy for centuries, moving from world to world, killing women as he went. He is giving different names, the most chilling being the one he was given when he was on Earth, Jack the Ripper. This is one of the few times that the crew goes up against what can only be described as pure evil, and it undoubtedly leaves its mark as it jumps from person to person, and even into the computer of the Enterprise.
   
9. Conspiracy (TNG) – An alien parasite has taken control of key authority figures in Starfleet Command. The only Star Trek episode prior to Star Trek: Discovery to be given a viewer’s discretion warning, we get a lot of gore and violence here. Aside from the mystery of who to trust, we see some pretty gruesome special effects, including an exploding head and a deteriorating corpse. Definitely worth a watch leading up to Halloween.
   
10. The Darkness and the Light (DS9) – Kira Nerys, just days away from giving birth, is witnessing the deaths of her friends and former resistance comrades. As she and the crew of DS9 try to figure out who is responsible, she herself is kidnapped by the perpetrator. The killer, a disfigured Cardassian named Silaran Prin, piles on the creep factor as he discusses with Kira his plans to save the unborn child before killing her. It has all the elements of a psychological thriller and we are left wondering if the baby is going to be saved in the end.
    

 
So grab your bowl of candy, curl up with someone you can scream with, and enjoy these extra spooky episodes. Oh, and yes, I know there are some left out. Gotta save something for next Halloween. Let me know if your favorite scary episode has been left out and I will make sure to include it next year. Stay safe my friends.

Episode Review - Catspaw (Original Series, Season 2)

For those who are new to my episode reviews, you can find the post where I establish my point criteria here.

Overview – Awaiting the check-in of a landing party on Pyris VII, crewman Jackson urgently contacts the Enterprise. When he is beamed aboard, he falls to the floor dead, but a voice from within him says the ship is cursed. With Scott and Sulu still on the planet, Kirk beams down with Spock and McCoy to see what has happened. They discover an ominous looking castle and spectral witches warning them to leave. As they continue to explore, they are captured and find themselves face-to-face with Scotty and Sulu, though the two men are in some sort of trance. Before long, Kirk and his men find themselves in the midst of a game of sorts with two powerful entities: Sylvia and Korob. As they play their games first with and then against each other, Kirk must find a way to save his crew from their clutches.

Score: 6/10 – Happy Halloween Trekkies! Yes, this is the episode that was aired on the week of Halloween and was done to bring a little bit of spookiness to the show. It is fun for that, but much of this episode has not aged well. I get that the effects with the giant black cat were the best they could do at the time, and that effect still works well, but the floating witches and the end reveal of the aliens left a lot to be desired. The Ornithoid getup looked like drier lint with pipe cleaners attached to it. The strings on the puppets were visible, and the sound effects were just hokey. They are one of my least favorite alien designs. Still, the story is fun and there is a bit of a special feel to it. The sets are excellent in their detail. The writers found clever ways to tap into the things that were spooky then, though some of it comes across as hokey now. Still, I have to admit that I found this episode to be fun. Yeah, cheesy and off the wall at times, but still fun.

Relevance – 2 points. This is the first episode to feature our beloved Pavel Chekov. That scores a point. Interestingly enough, it is also the first episode to feature all seven of the feature-film cast in the same episode. Speaking of Chekov, the wig Walter Koenig wore in his early episodes was quite the sight. This is also the third and final appearance of DeSalle. This time he is the assistant chief engineer. That gives us a second point in this section.

Continuity – 2 points. Character continuity is good. Kirk and Spock show their typical characters trying to rescue their crewmates. Universe continuity also works here. Where I found a place to deduct a point is in story continuity. Kirk is missing his chief engineer and helmsman. A crewmember beams up to the ship dead. So, Kirk takes McCoy and Spock down to the planet. No security detail, and the assistant engineer is left in charge with a green ensign to back him up. It makes no sense that a captain would take himself, the first officer, and the chief medical officer into an unknown situation that has already killed one of his crew without any security backup. Even for Kirk, that was an illogical call.

Character Development – 1 point. It seems as if Kirk is the only one to get some noteworthy attention. He is tries to seduce Sylvia as a way to drive a wedge between her and Korob. It shows off his charm and cleverness. Of course, some of it is so typical Captain Kirk that we can’t help but roll our eyes. Still, we get some decent Kirk moments.

Social Commentary – 0 points. OK, I have tried to identify something of substance that can be offered as a bit of commentary on our world. One could argue for the idea that power corrupts, but it is so superficial that I can’t seriously give it any points. Perhaps this episode is like Halloween itself. Full of sugary, candy-like fluff that is momentarily enjoyable but offers little in actual nourishment. It is fun, but not enough to give us anything for this category.

Cool Stuff – 1 point. As I said before, the set design is quite good, so I will give a point for that. It added to the overall feel of the episode and made things interesting on a visual level. That’s good enough for credit in this section.

Rank – Lieutenant (12 points). Like the holiday that this episode honors, this episode is simply fluff with nothing of real meaning behind it. I must confess that this is one of my guilty pleasures. Fun to watch each October, but it is not truly one that should be on a must-watch list.

If you would like to read other reviews from the Original Series, click on the link here.

If you would like to read an episode review from any of the Trek series, click the following link to get to the series catalog. If the episode you want reviewed has not been done yet, then feel free to request it in the comments and I will see what I can do.

Episode Review – The Haunting of Deck Twelve (Voyager, Season 6)

For those who are new to my episode reviews, you can find the post where I establish my point criteria here.

Overview – The crew prepares the ship for a total powering down as it is about to enter a J-class nebula. Neelix, after securing the mess hall, is asked by Seven to supervise the Borg children during the power outage. As the power goes out, the children awaken in their alcoves to be greeted by Neelix. As they press Neelix with questions about what is transpiring, Mezoti asks if Deck 12 is related to any of it. Neelix proceeds to tell them about an incident that occurred several months earlier, before the Borg children came aboard Voyager. While collecting deuterium from another J-class nebula, a mysterious, alien entity comes aboard. When Voyager leaves the nebula, the ship begins to experience malfunctions, as if the ship was haunted. Neelix continues the story, recalling the events of how the lifeform tried to take over the ship before Janeway agreed to take it back to its home nebula. When they reach the nebula’s coordinates, they discover the nebula has dissipated. After more threats to Janeway, which results in the rest of the crew abandoning ship, Janeway works out an arrangement to get the lifeform to another nebula.

Score: 7/10 – This is an entertaining tale that gives us a “ghost story” experience and showcases Neelix’s child care skills. The fun part of this story is to try to decipher how much of it is real, and how much is Neelix’s story-telling exaggerations. There is enough suspense and mystery to give us some intrigue, although this is somewhat negated by our knowing that all turns out OK due to the facts that the ship is still in one piece and Neelix is telling the tale. While this episode may not be striking any strong chords with the audience, it is pleasant enough with some cool makeup effects for various injuries, some interesting visual effects, and a few nice Neelix moments. The Borg kids do a great job of mixing child-like wonder at a scary story with Borg-like attitudes. Overall, worth the watch.

Relevance – 1 point. I suppose I could score a point for seeing Tal Celes for the last time. We saw her in “The Good Shepherd” and this is the only one of Janeway’s special projects from that episode to make a second appearance. Interestingly enough, the events of the story occurred before “The Good Shepherd”, so we are seeing Celes for the “first” time, before Janeway took special interest in her, and yet this is the “last” time we see her. That, sadly, is the only thing that is relevant to anything else in the franchise or the series. It would have been interesting if the writers, knowing that this story was coming down pipe, could have written in little tidbits about the mystery around Deck 12 for several episodes leading up to this one. A missed opportunity for Voyager, especially considering that they had done similar things in the past, such as the Crewman Jonas storyline from Season 2.

Continuity - 3 points. Character continuity works. I like how Neelix is the one sent to tend to the children, although it might have been nice to have included Naomi Wildman in the mix. If the characters had displayed anything that might have been slightly off from the usual, it could be explained through the reasoning that the inconsistencies are a result of Neelix’s storytelling. Story continuity is also good, and again, anything that might be amiss could be explained away with the fact that this is a retelling of a story. Universe continuity also remains intact, so we score full marks in this category.

Character Development – 1 point. Telling the story does not really develop Neelix’s character. It gives him some good moments, but we really don’t see anything that moves his character along. Likewise, there are some good moments for other members of the crew, especially Janeway when she is fighting with the lifeform over control of the ship. While seeing the good Captain put her own life on the line in the ultimate game of chicken, we must also remember that this was a story being told, so it is difficult to know how much of it was the truth and how much was Neelix’s embellishment.

Social Commentary – 0 points. As fun as this episode may be, it teaches us nothing. That is often the nature of ghost stories. They frighten us, startle us, and yet have little of a message. That is what such stories are supposed to do, so while this does not weaken the episode, it does not score the bonus points for this episode.

Cool Stuff – 2 points. The injury makeup of Tom Paris and Tuvok, as well as other injured crewmembers, is very impressive and noteworthy. I quite enjoyed it, so it gets a point here. I will also score a point for the hallucinations of the nebula that Neelix had seeing the nebular gases.

Rank – Lieutenant (14 points). A spooky campfire story (ok, power cell story) that gives us another episode with the Borg kids and serves as a nice distraction. While it is not a stellar episode and for many it could be considered filler, it is enjoyable and amusing enough to be worth a viewing as you go through the series.

If you would like to read other reviews from Star Trek: Voyager, click on the link here.

If you would like to read an episode review from any of the Trek series, click the following link to get to the series catalog. If the episode you want reviewed has not been done yet, then feel free to request it in the comments and I will see what I can do.

Episode Review - Frame of Mind (Next Generation, Season 6)

For those who are new to my episode reviews, you can find the post where I establish my point criteria here

Overview – William Riker is in a play called “Frame of Mind”, which is about a man going insane. He is also preparing for a covert mission on Tilonus IV to locate a Federation research team. Riker soon finds odd occurrences happening, including a mysterious alien on the ship. He suddenly finds himself in the Tilonus Institute for Mental Disorders, apparently as an inmate/patient who has been accused of murder. Soon, Riker finds himself jumping between the two lives, that of a Starfleet officer and that of a mental patient, trying to discover which was the true reality.

Score: 8/10 – “Frame of Mind” is a dark thriller that leads the audience to wonder if Riker is truly going crazy. While it is obvious that Riker is not a convicted killer in a mental institution, the story is so delicately and expertly woven that it leaves you wondering what the heck is going on with the first officer. To see Riker take a turn at acting is an good dimension added to the character. Johnathan Frakes does an excellent job in his role, giving a great performance that runs the gauntlet of emotions. The mood is dark and at times creepy. The story is intriguing and well-paced. It is a fun installment that gives Riker some much needed attention.

Relevance – 0 points. As fun as this episode is, it truly stands alone. It does not connect into any other piece of Star Trek. While that will prevent it from scoring points in this category, it is important to note that this is not necessarily a bad thing. It is episodes like this that a new viewer can watch and get hooked into without feeling like they are missing important information.

Continuity - 3 points. Story continuity is hard to keep track of as we are jumping between two perceived realities that are essentially both fictitious in the mind of Riker. Still, it is a cool device to convince the audience that both of Riker’s realities are in fact in his mind, and therefor the story works. Universe continuity is also good here. Character wise, Riker is the main focus, and how he responds is how we expect him to. This is not the first time that Riker discovers himself in a situation where he is questioning what is real. Two seasons ago he was in a similar situation in the episode “Future Imperfect”. This episode takes things to a more intense level, which has Riker feeling a bit more frazzled.

Character Development – 2 points. Again, this is all focuses on William T Riker, and we see some significant attention given to him. He goes on a mental roller coaster ride that leaves him quite shaken in the end. At several points it seems he truly is doubting about his Starfleet life. When the episode ends, Riker decides that to help him process what he went through he needs to personally take down the set of the play that became such a focal point in his story. Since something like this is undoubtedly going to leave a mark it is understandable that he would do this to help him heal his mental health.

Social Commentary – 1 point. What is real, and what is imaginary? Well, that could be an extreme extrapolation from this episode. It does give us a glimpse into the mind of someone suffering with mental health issues, and we can see how extreme situations can lead to high stress levels. While many of us do not have to deal with these issues, and even fewer to these extremes, it does give us some insight into those who have. That does say something.

Cool Stuff – 1 point. The ending where everything is being revealed as part of Riker’s fantasy is quite cool. It all culminates with Riker throwing himself against a wall and his image shatters into countless pieces as his fake reality is similarly shattered. It was a very cool punctuation to the scene and deserves a point here.

Rank – Lieutenant (15 points). Normally I say that Lieutenant-ranked episodes are hit or miss. Well, this one is a hit. Its ranking has more to do with what it doesn’t have (no relevant connections to other episodes, not a lot of social commentary or cool parts) than with any flaws in the episode. It is a great story and it is one that I would recommend to people who are just getting into the show. It showcases Riker as a character and Frakes as an actor. It provides some thrills, laughs, and keeps you guessing right up until the end. So, even though it is a Lieutenant episode, it is one I would not skip over when going through the seasons.

If you would like to read other reviews from the Next Generation, click this link.

If you would like to read an episode review from any of the Trek series, click the following link to get to the series catalog. If the episode you want reviewed has not been done yet, then feel free to request it in the comments and I will see what I can do.