7 times Star Trek changed colors and played the "Horror Aura"

Star Trek is better known as a sci-fi franchise about exploration and intellect, but the series has always playfully dabbled in horror tropes.

From spooky castles and demonic possessions in the original series to psychological disintegration and ghostly locales in subsequent series, Star Trek has lifted themes from classic horror literature and film to frighten audiences while also examining the darker aspects of humanity through a futuristic lens.

If you are a horror fan, you must also be able to identify the tropes Star Trek has used by showing horror mansions, evil spirits, and multiple personalities. Writers like Robert Bloch, who was best known for Psycho, did bring their horror sensibilities to the original show with scripts that recalled classic movies and gothic literature. Future series took the baton and ran with it, at times using classic literature like Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde as the basis for disturbing, psychologically focused stories shaping up within the Trek Universe.

Here are the 7 times Star Trek changed colors and played the "Horror Aura"

Wolf in the Fold - TOS, Season 2, Episode 14

In The Original Series, a string of grisly murders, starting after a belly-dancing show, unfolds, and eventually Scotty is found with a bloody knife, signalling that more deaths are coming. It is revealed that the villain is Red Jack, an alien linked to the real-life Jack the Ripper, who feeds on fear and violence. Here, Star Trek has merged a murder mystery with some supernatural dread resembling a typical horror trope, like that of what we see in the David Lynch drama Twin Peaks, where the murderer is a spirit.

Catspaw - TOS, Season 2, Episode 7

Robert Bloch, the author of the original Psycho, scripted the quintessential Halloween-style Trek tale “Catspaw” with Kirk, Spock, and McCoy investigating missing crewmen and running into witches and skeletons amid fog on a creepy mansion. Even though the horror motifs are ultimately revealed to be alien illusions, the gothic setting and eerie imagery make this one of the franchise’s best-loved horror tributes.

Darkling - Voyager Season 3, Episode 18

In this Voyager episode in Star Trek, the Doctor tries a “personality upgrade project” by mixing and matching traits from historical holo-characters. Things go wrong when his darker side emerges, taking the form of a violent maniac determined to hurt people. Reports claim that this trope mirrors the themes of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde’s concept of duality, and makes the evil pose against the good.

Impulse - Enterprise, Season 3, Episode 5

The crew searches for a terror on board in Star Trek: Enterprise as T’Pol behaves increasingly oddly. With dark corridors, eerie screams, and a haunted ship kinda vibe, this episode goes all out for space horror and is hailed as one of the franchise’s scariest.

Empok Nor - DS9 Season 5, Episode 24

O’Brien and a salvage team in Deep Space Nine investigate a deserted Cardassian station. They eventually figure out that they are trapped and a killer is hunting them in the dark. Driven by psychotic violence and claustrophobic cinematography, this episode is essentially a slasher film set in space, where a man is stalking and killing a group of people.

Night Terrors - TNG, Season 4, Episode 17

In The Next Generation, the crew of the Star Trek Enterprise is suffering from a deficit of REM sleep and muttering hallucinations of fearful images. From corpses that seem to be awakening to creeping landscapes, this episode employs paranoia and dream logic to construct terror in a manner that can be exactly from horror cinema.

The Thaw - Voyager Season 2, Episode 23

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Also from Voyager, this one traps characters in a virtual world run by a sociopathic clown who literally represents fear as the lead villain. The dreamlike atmosphere of the circus setting could remind you of present-day clown killer stories, while the imposing character has made this a classic, creepy moment in the series.

Therefore, we can say that Star Trek has indeed kept incorporating varied genres, including horror, to keep its fans entertained. They took inspiration from suspense thrillers like Psycho and also some horror literature stories to build a world that is liked and enjoyed by its fans.

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