“Scary” isn’t a genre that’s often associated with Star Trek shows, and Voyager most often leaned into the funny side of science fiction adventure with comic relief characters like Neelix, or the more profound and human side of space travel. However, like many Star Trek shows, Voyager kept things fresh by offering an impressive range of science fiction storytelling. Its intrinsically unsettling location on the other side of the galaxy, where fans learned to expect the unexpected, also gave the show a chance to go darker than perhaps any other Trek series before it. Unlike other Star Trek shows, Voyager’s isolation in the Delta Quadrant made the unknown feel dangerous, and the writers leaned into that fear.
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The result was a series that could balance hope and horror in equal measure. Across its seven seasons, Voyager experimented with suspense and psychological drama in ways that still unsettle fans decades later. From parasitic viruses to murderous holograms and creepy clowns, some stories pushed the franchise into pure nightmare territory! Some of these episodes are chilling because of their unnerving villains, others because they tap into deeper fears like isolation, death, or loss of control. As well as the usual Trek charm and sense of adventure, these episodes still resonate because they don’t just shock, they explore what fear does to us, and how we choose to face it, and proved that Voyager could rival the scariest of horror movies at times.
10. “Persistence of Vision” (Season 2, Episode 8)
In this certifiably creepy episode from Voyager’s second season, what is real and what is hallucination begins to blur. When Voyager seeks to pass through the space of a psychic, territorial alien race, the Bothans, one of them starts to manipulate the crew’s perceptions of reality. Despite some truly strange ideas from the writers slipping in there (including Chakotay and B’Elanna’s imagined romance), some of the more disturbing visions are as unsettling for the audience as they are for the crew, as Janeway begins to hallucinate
However, the real terror of this episode comes from the fact we never discover why exactly the Bothan attacked the ship, when asked why he would traumatize the crew in this way, he simply replies “Because I can” the lack of a clear resolution as to the nature of the beast in “Persistence of Vision” makes this one of Voyager’s most unsettling hours.
9. “Macrocosm” (Season 3, Episode 12)
Part horror, part viral outbreak thriller, “Macrocosm” was Voyager’s answer to the Alien franchise, unleashing giant ‘virus creatures’ aboard the ship. Granted, the CGI used to create the Macrovirus CGI may look dated now, but the concept of a virus we can literally see hunting us down like a predator is genuinely terrifying.
Watching the talented Kate Mulgrew as Captain Janeway stalk the corridors with a phaser rifle against swarming, slimy monsters is equal parts action-packed and grotesque. The body-horror concept behind it all remains terrifying.
8. “Faces” (Season 1, Episode 14)
Although “Phage” was the episode that introduced the terrifying Vidiians (more on that later) “Faces” was a terrifying new outing for perhaps the series’ scariest alien species. In the episode, B’Elanna Torres is kidnapped by the Vidiians, who are attempting to extract her Klingon DNA to fight their deadly epidemic, (the phage), a kind of skin-rotting disease. B’Elanna Torres is split into her Klingon and Human halves, giving Roxann Dawson a chance to stretch her acting chops.
But the real horror of the episode is the Vidiian doctor Sulan (Brian Markinson), who murders a crewman, removes his face, and literally wears it, all while believing what he is doing is for the greater good. This gruesome act cements the Vidiians as one of Trek’s most disturbing alien species, and “Faces” remains a standout example of body horror in the franchise.
7. “Revulsion” (Season 4, Episode 5)
When the Voyager crew answers a distress call that leads them to a desolate ship, they encounter a lone survivor, a hologram named Dejaren, who claims his crew all died of a virus. It soon transpires that all is not what it seems and that Dejaren has come to despise organic beings — and has slaughtered his own crew.
Dejaren’s unhinged hatred of everything organic leads to scenes straight out of a slasher film, including an attempt to crush B’Elanna’s heart with his bare hands. Leland Orser does a fantastic job of portraying the unhinged killer and it raises some interesting questions about Artificial Intelligence and sentience, especially contrasting Dejaren with the crew’s benevolent holographic Doctor. But above all, it’s one of Voyager’s most violent and genuinely frightening stories.
6. “The Phage”
Voyager didn’t waste any time diving into horror. Just five episodes into its first season, “Phage” introduced fans to the Vidiians — one of the most disturbing species in Star Trek, who many fans argued should have become the main villains of the series rather than the underwhelming Kazon. Ravaged by a disease that slowly consumes their organs, the Vidiians turned to harvesting replacement body parts from other beings to survive. The result is grotesque, with the disfigured aliens portrayed as both tragic and terrifying.
The episode’s most shocking moment comes when they steal Neelix’s lungs during an away mission, forcing the Doctor to improvise a life-saving holographic solution. While “Phage” tries to lend the Vidiians some sympathy, the unsettling imagery and moral ambiguity make it one of the most disturbing early entries in the series. By setting such a grim tone so early, Voyager paved the way for many of its creepiest episodes that would follow.
5. “Night” (Season 5, Episode 1)
A stretch of space with no stars and no signs of life might sound peaceful as Starfleet missions go, but in “Night,” it soon becomes claustrophobic and isolating. In what’s nicknamed “the Void,” the crew soon begins to face that primal existential dread that comes from the vastness of a stretch of ocean or literal empty space around you.
As Janeway struggles with seemingly low-level depression, it’s somehow unnerving for the audience to see the usually calm and collected crew start to crack under the weight of the vastness of space. When it turns out the crew is not alone and the Void’s resident alien creatures inevitably finally appear, the suspense ratchets up, with plenty of good old-fashioned jump scares.
4. “Meld” (Season 2, Episode 16)
When Tuvok mind-melds with a psychotic murderer and former Maquis crewman, Lon Suder, in an attempt to understand and calm his violent impulses, the Vulcan instead absorbs Suder’s rage and begins losing control of his own mind. The dangers of a Vulcan mind-meld have been reiterated by Spock and others over the years, so it’s interesting to finally see what happens when one goes wrong.
The episode is a fascinating, if at times insensitive, commentary on mental illness. Seeing the normally stoic Vulcan begin to lose control of himself and become someone unrecognisable makes “Meld” as disturbing psychologically as it is narratively, bolstered by Brad Dourif’s chilling performance as Suder, who eventually redeems himself by saving Tuvok.
3. “One” (Season 4, Episode 25)
With the ship passing through a radiation cloud while the crew is put into hyper-sleep, Seven of Nine is left alone to pilot Voyager. The isolation slowly drives her to hallucinations and paranoia, leaving her unsure what’s real. “One” is perhaps one of Jeri Ryan’s finest performances on the show, tapping into her character’s history with the Borg and her worst fear of being completely alone.
At first, she at least has the company of the Holographic Doctor, but when his emitter starts to fail, even he leaves her. With the Doctor fading from her side, “One” is a masterclass in psychological horror — a lonely, terrifying character study anchored by Jeri Ryan’s performance as Seven is left alone with her thoughts and fears.
2. “The Thaw” (Season 2, Episode 23)
The Thaw” is widely regarded as Voyager’s most chilling dive into psychological horror. The episode features guest star Michael McKean as one of Trek’s most terrifying villains: a nightmarish clown who embodies fear itself, who traps victims in a virtual reality nightmare that will feed on their terror. The episode’s premise is rooted in scientific tragedy: an ecological disaster forced an alien species to create a virtual refuge, but over time, the program twisted into a sadistic prison that could even kill its captives. When the Voyager crew stumbles into this nightmare, the only one immune is the holographic Doctor.
What follows is a battle of wits, culminating in Captain Janeway outsmarting the Clown at his own game, standing tall as the embodiment of courage in the face of fear. Janeway’s final confrontation with him is both satisfying and haunting, cementing “The Thaw” as a classic slice of sci-fi horror. Creepy clowns are a long-standing staple of the horror genre, and McKean’s unsettling performance easily stands alongside the most iconic examples in pop culture.
1. “Equinox, Parts I & II” (Season 5, Episode 26 / Season 6, Episode 1)
When Voyager discovers another stranded Starfleet ship, the USS Equinox, it seems like a welcome addition to their company, and there’s a sense of optimism that the additional crew could be their salvation. Instead, the crew learns their Starfleet colleagues have been breaking every rule in the book, murdering alien lifeforms to fuel their engines.
Between the Equinox crew’s shocking crimes and the (understandable) retaliation from the alien species being targeted by Equinox, this two-parter blends moral dilemma with monster terror. We can’t help but feel sorry for the aliens, seeing how little regard the Equinox crew seems to have for their lives. The action-packed plot and stellar acting mean it’s not just Voyager’s scariest story — it’s one of Voyager’s most compelling tales, period.
Star Trek: Voyager is streaming now on Paramount+. Which Voyager episode scared you the most? Let us know in the comments. And keep the conversation going in the ComicBook Forum.
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