There are times when Star Trek sets aside its status as a bastion of optimism and hope for the future, and delivers episodes that prove heartbreak will remain a universal constant, even in the utopia that is the United Federation of Planets. Trauma, wrongful imprisonment, senseless character deaths, lost loves, and even tragic transporter malfunctions are all to blame for the pain inflicted by Star Trek episodes with downer endings.
Star Trek episodes with sad endings hit hard, and they do so by drawing parallels between our world today, and the world that we dream of for tomorrow. Death will always follow life, even one well-lived, and sometimes the cause of death is senseless. Justice does not always prevail. The Star Trek timeline shows humans will overcome their baser instincts on a larger scale, but that doesn’t mean individual people are blameless, or incapable of cruelty. These are depressing concepts for a generally optimistic show, but the emotions that sad Star Trek episodes elicit are worthy of being felt, and, perhaps more importantly, processed.
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Star Trek: Enterprise Season 4, Episode 22 – “These Are The Voyages…”
“Computer, end program.”
The final episode of Star Trek: Enterprise is disappointing on multiple levels. Star Trek: Enterprise season 4, episode 22, “These Are the Voyages…” isn’t even completely a Star Trek: Enterprise episode, but an awkward mashup with Star Trek: The Next Generation, where Commander William Riker (Jonathan Frakes) and Counselor Deanna Troi (Marina Sirtis) seek answers in history with a holodeck program crafted from Captain Jonathan Archer (Scott Bakula)’s logs.
That would be frustrating enough on its own, but even excluding the TNG tie-ins, the Star Trek: Enterprise finale is disappointing. “These Are The Voyages…” skips ahead in time with little to fill in the blanks between the previous episode and this one, kills off Commander Trip Tucker (Connor Trinneer) pointlessly, then tees up Archer’s speech at the founding of the United Federation of Planets without any payoff. Star Trek: Enterprise is left hanging on an expectant note that never quite resolves, and it’s unfortunate because Enterprise really deserved more and better.
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Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Season 4, Episode 19 – “Hard Time”
“The O’Brien that was your friend died in that cell!”
After transferring to Deep Space Nine, Chief Miles O’Brien (Colm Meaney) keeps drawing the metaphorical short straw, and Star Trek: Deep Space Nine season 4, episode 19, “Hard Time” may be the most depressing short straw there is. Falsely convicted of espionage, O’Brien is sentenced to experience the memories of 20 years of life in prison on an alien world. Miles’ sole companion in his false memories is his cellmate, Ee’char (Craig Wasson), whom O’Brien murders when confinement pushes Miles to the edge of reason.
Chief O’Brien is expected to return to life on DS9 as though everything is normal, but it’s not normal. “Hard Time” points out the realities of PTSD, when O’Brien has flashbacks of Ee’char, withdraws from best friend Dr. Julian Bashir (Alexander Siddig), lashes out at his wife Keiko (Rosalind Chao), and Miles nearly takes his own life. While there is hope at the end, it’s not happy; Miles still has a long road of healing ahead of him, and it promises to be difficult.
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Star Trek: Voyager Season 3, Episode 22 – “Real Life”
“It’s all right … Go to sleep. We’re all here…”
The Doctor (Robert Picardo) learns firsthand just how painful family bonds can be in Star Trek: Voyager season 3, episode 22, “Real Life”. The EMH’s new holographic family starts off sickeningly sweet and begins to decay when Lt. B’Elanna Torres (Roxann Dawson) injects a healthy dose of realism into the Doctor’s sitcom-perfect fantasy. Strained relationships, rebellious children, and compromise are all part of the game now, and the Doctor isn’t prepared to handle the very human imperfections that come with Torres’ adjustments.
Star Trek: Voyager’s “Real Life” crosses into truly depressing territory when the Doctor’s daughter, Belle (Lindsey Haun), suffers a fatal accident, and the Doctor realizes that he can’t save Belle, no matter what he tries to do as either her father or her physician. There’s not enough time for the audience to get to know Belle and the rest of the Doctor’s family, so the pain in this Star Trek: Voyager episode comes almost entirely from Picardo’s performance, as Voyager’s EMH desperately works through grief.
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Star Trek: The Next Generation Season 1, Episode 23 – “Skin of Evil”
“Never forget I died doing exactly what I chose to do.”
Star Trek: The Next Generation season 1, episode 23, “Skin of Evil”, is frustrating because of the cheap way that Security Officer Lt. Tasha Yar (Denise Crosby) is killed by the greasy oil-slick entity known as Armus (Mart McChesney). Tasha’s death is senseless, quick, and comes far too early in the run of Star Trek: The Next Generation, before we even have a chance to know her. “Skin of Evil” takes the time to mourn Yar with a proper funeral and a pre-recorded goodbye, so although Yar’s death feels like a big oily slap in the face, Star Trek still pays respect to the character herself.
After “Skin of Evil”, the impact of Tasha Yar resonates throughout later Star Trek. Denise Crosby returns as Yar in the alternate universe of Star Trek: The Next Generation season 3, episode 15, and receives a far more honorable death instead of being knocked off like cannon fodder. Lt. Commander Data (Brent Spiner) keeps Tasha’s memory close with a personal memorial seen throughout the series, and Yar becomes important to rebuilding Data’s memories in Star Trek: Picard.
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Star Trek: Discovery Season 1, Episodes 1 & 2 – “Battle at the Binary Stars”
“Now we are at war… and I am the enemy.”
Star Trek: Discovery season 1, episodes 1 & 2, “Battle at the Binary Stars”, outlines the exact circumstances that led to Commander Michael Burnham (Sonequa Martin-Green) commandeering the USS Shenzhou from Captain Philippa Georgiou (Michelle Yeoh), and explains how Burnham earned the reputation of Starfleet’s first mutineer that haunts Star Trek: Discovery season 1.
In Star Trek: Discovery‘s premiere, Commander Burnham is motivated by good intentions and firm convictions that she knows the best course of action for dealing with the Klingons. Star Trek often drives home the lesson of doing what you believe to be the right thing, even if it goes against orders, but Michael Burnham’s rebellion goes horribly, fatally wrong. Good intentions aren’t enough to absolve Burnham from being saddled with blame for starting the Federation-Klingon War. It’s tough to see a new era of Star Trek being kicked off with despair.
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Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Season 1, Episode 6 – “Lift Us Where Suffering Cannot Reach”
“Do you freely offer this gift of self to the people of Majalis?”
In Star Trek: Strange New Worlds season 1, episode 6, “Lift Us Where Suffering Cannot Reach”, there may be a way to change Captain Christopher Pike (Anson Mount)’s future fate, but it comes at a high cost. The planet Majalis promises a world without suffering, where sickness and disease are unheard of, all thanks to the First Servant (Ian Ho), a brilliant child who’s narratively framed as the world’s future leader. The beautiful promises are merely a veneer, however, because the suffering on Majalis is hidden in the horrific ritual that the First Servant is trained to accept without question. And the Prime Directive means there’s nothing Pike can do about it.
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Star Trek: Voyager Season 2, Episode 4 – “Tuvix”
“I don’t want to die.”
From the moment that Lt. Tuvok (Tim Russ) and Neelix (Ethan Phillips) are merged into the single entity Tuvix (Tom Wright), there’s no chance that Star Trek: Voyager season 2, episode 4, “Tuvix”, will have a happy ending. Separating Tuvix isn’t immediately possible, so while the Doctor works on developing the procedure, the USS Voyager crew gets to know Tuvix, and even rather likes him. When separating Tuvix becomes an option, Tuvix has to beg for his life with palpable desperation.
As one of Star Trek‘s most hotly contested dilemmas, “Tuvix” doesn’t really have a right answer. Even though we know that Tuvix can’t continue to exist because Tuvok and Neelix are part of the main cast of Star Trek: Voyager, Captain Kathryn Janeway (Kate Mulgrew) still has to make the impossible choice, leaving “Tuvix” on a grim ending.
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Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Season 6, Episode 26 – “Tears of the Prophets”
“II have to make things right again, Jadzia.”
Despite taking place in the thick of the Dominion War, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine season 6, episode 26, “Tears of the Prophets”, starts on a relative high, which makes the episode’s tragic loss all the more heartbreaking. The subplot of Lt. Commander Worf (Michael Dorn) and Lt. Commander Jadzia Dax (Terry Farrell) trying for a baby zeroes in on finding joy in the midst of political upheaval. Uncertainty is painted in broad strokes, so it never occurs to Captain Benjamin Sisko (Avery Brooks) that disregarding the suggestion not to go to Cardassia can end in a very personal tragedy.
In the big picture, Jadzia Dax’s death is a drop in the ocean of loss during the war. Countless others have fallen, and will continue to fall. To Sisko, Worf, and the DS9 crew, however, Jadzia’s death weighs far more than any other loss. That Dax’s symbiont is saved is a small glimmer of hope, but without Jadzia, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine isn’t the same.
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Star Trek: The Next Generation Season 3, Episode 16 – “The Offspring”
“I will feel it for both of us … thank you for my life.”
Lt. Commander Data (Brent Spiner) builds another Soong-type positronic android like himself, Lal (Hallie Todd), in Star Trek: The Next Generation season 3, episode 16, “The Offspring”. As Data imparts to Lal the lessons that Data has thus far learned about being human, Data and Lal build a beautiful rapport exploring humanity from the outside. Lal quickly exceeds Data’s programming, spontaneously exhibiting emotions. In the middle of discussions over whether Lal ought to be turned over to Starfleet to be studied, Lal starts to break down.
What makes Star Trek: The Next Generation’s “The Offspring” so heart-wrenching is the juxtaposition of Lal’s confused, emotional reaction against Data’s seemingly passive one. After the total cascade failure that ends Lal’s life, Data transfers the information from Lal’s memory into his own, to carry her with him forever. That’s love, even if Data doesn’t recognize it.
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Star Trek: The Original Series Season 1, Episode 28 – “The City on the Edge of Forever”
“He knows, Doctor… He knows.”
Hailed as a classic and often the very best of what Star Trek has to offer, Star Trek: The Original Series season 1, episode 28, “The City on the Edge of Forever” is a tragic love story that sees Captain James T. Kirk (William Shatner) give up the love of his life to save the future that he knows. 1930s Social Worker Edith Keeler (Joan Collins) and Kirk have amazing chemistry together, despite the centuries that separate them. Preventing Edith’s death leads to victory for the Nazis in World War II, however, and a future without the Federation, so Kirk makes the solemn choice to let Edith die.
It’s a necessary decision, and one of the most heartbreaking choices that must be made in all of Star Trek, amplified by Dr. Leonard McCoy’s (DeForrest Kelley) bewildered reaction. Love and duty are both key to Jim Kirk as a character, but in the end, Kirk’s personal desires — and the life of Edith Keeler — must take a backseat to the importance of a bright future.
These Star Trek episodes that don’t end happily serve a purpose in the larger world of the franchise, reminding us that shared sadness is one way that we can relate to one another, even when it seems we have little else in common. Fear, uncertainty, and pain are universal. At the core of Star Trek is the message that we can connect with others who are unlike ourselves, so through these shared wounds, we can find the company that loves and even embraces our misery with us, and feel our feelings wholly and completely.
Star Trek: The Original Series
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Star Trek: The Next Generation
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Star Trek: Voyager
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Star Trek: Enterprise
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Star Trek: Discovery
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Star Trek: Strange New Worlds
