Voyager Flashback: The Haunting of Deck Twelve

Star Trek may be a science fiction franchise at its heart, but it sometimes "tries on" other genres for an episode, to bring more tonal variety to the viewing experience. With "The Haunting of Deck Twelve," Voyager took a run at horror.

During a power drain aboard Voyager, Neelix watches over the ex-Borg children, passing the time with a scary story. But is his tale invented, or an account of something that happened months ago... and may still be happening?

No episode of network television is ever likely to scare you like a well-made horror movie can. It's not only a matter of limitations on extreme violence or suspense; the format of allowing for a commercial break every 8 or 9 minutes is going to release the tension too. All the same, "The Haunting of Deck Twelve" is a pretty solid attempt at a scary ghost story.

It's arguably weakest in the concept itself. Star Trek is encountering strange new life on a regular basis, sometimes even creatures that objectively should be terrifying. This life is so often greeted instead with wonderment that it feels a bit arbitrary that the life form in this episode should be regarded as scary. Also, the "was this real, or just a story?" ending does nothing for me -- it doesn't seem especially ambiguous, and I don't really think it would add anything to the atmosphere even if it was.

But if all that's the "tree," there are some very pretty "ornaments" adorning it. The dialogue is notably strong throughout this episode. Not only does Neelix (and actor Ethan Phillips) really lean into telling the "ghost story," the reactions of the children seem perfectly authentic for their age while being laced with fun Borg behavior. ("Snacks are irrelevant! Continue the story!") Plus, the scenes of Janeway trying to communicate with the alien life form (who responds with snippets of standard computer dialogue) really do approach both the creepiness and sense of danger that the whole episode is striving for.

Then there's the truly remarkable technical work here. The lighting throughout this episode is incredible; shadows reign as whole scenes are lit by lantern or flashlight, and flashing red alerts cast a sinister overtone on it all. Burn makeup applied in different moments to Paris and Tuvok looks really nasty. Even the musical score is allowed to be far creepier than "Star Trek standard."

Other observations:

• This episode begins immediately with creepy horror music as we see Neelix cooking. Yeah, Neelix's cooking is a horror show. (Later in the episode, he just leaves an open flame running for hours. Sure, it's a source of light in the darkness -- but it's completely destroying the pan he leaves on top.)

• There's a great early sight gag with a great visual effect: Janeway orders coffee, only to get a cylinder of liquid that immediately collapses, followed a moment later by an appearing mug.

• Tal Celes returns from an earlier episode, and continues to be "a bit of a screw-up" just as she was before.

• When Tuvok guides Neelix in meditation, he says to "imagine your lungs filled with light." Tuvok ought to be precise enough to recall that Neelix has only one lung.

I wish "The Haunting of Deck Twelve" could truly have been more scary. But I like what they tried for here, and I really appreciate the obvious efforts of the production team. I give it a B.