Star Trek's Most Daring Escapes

Dal R'El and his fellow Starfleet Academy hopefuls launched a daring, two-pronged rescue of Wesley Crusher and Ilthuran in Star Trek: Prodigy's "Brink," successfully leading the Traveler and Gwyndala's father out of captivity.

Given Captain James T. Kirk's apt observation that "risk is our business," it's no surprise that many other Federation officers and their allies have also had to initiate breathtaking escapes to evade their enemies and live to fight another day.

With this fact in mind, follow along as we plot our own scheme and reflect on some of Star Trek's best jailbreaks!

The Hasperat Heist

With Major Kira Nerys, Jake Sisko, Leeta, and Rom detained by the Dominion during the occupation of Deep Space 9 in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine's "Sacrifice of Angels," Quark quite literally cooked up an escape plan.

The Ferengi barkeep entered the security office alongside Tora Ziyal, employing a hasperat soufflé to distract the Cardassian guard before incapacitating him with a hypospray. They proceeded to the holding area, where Quark used two Cardassian disruptors to dispatch a pair of Jem'Hadar. Stunned by his own heroism, Quark looked on as Ziyal snatched one of his disruptors and completed their mission by destroying the force fields which secured the cells. All of this was made possible by a culinary treat that proved to be delicious and mischievous.

The Medical Miracle

On a time-traveling quest to find humpback whales and save 23rd Century Earth in Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home, Commander Pavel Chekov was severely injured in an effort to evade the 20th Century authorities. Admiral James T. Kirk, Dr. Leonard McCoy, and Dr. Gillian Taylor set out to retrieve Chekov from the hospital, posing as medical personnel to fool the police officers standing by the operating room door.

Once inside, McCoy prevented the surgeons from performing a medieval procedure on Chekov, instead harnessing his advanced medical expertise to repair his friend's artery and revive him. Although the police caught onto the deception as the impostors made their exit, the Starfleet officers were whisked to safety by Montgomery Scott's transporter beam. You might even say they got away 'Scott' free.

The Potent Protocol

Captured by the Broken Circle, a faction determined to reignite hostilities between the Federation and the Klingons, Dr. M'Benga and Nurse Chapel powered their escape attempt with the Protocol 12 serum in Star Trek: Strange New Worlds' "The Broken Circle."

A blend of adrenaline and pain inhibitors capable of boosting one's strength and reflexes, Protocol 12 gave M'Benga and Chapel the edge they needed to fight through their Klingon jailers and endure brutal hand-to-hand combat long enough to reach an airlock. The Starfleet medical practitioners still had to survive the chill of being exposed to deep space before the U.S.S. Enterprise beamed them aboard, but the covert compound fueled them as they fled to freedom.

The Crystal Contrivance

Locked up by Ekosian fascists in Star Trek's "Patterns of Force," Captain Kirk and Spock improvised a way to spring themselves.

They removed the rubindium crystals from the subcutaneous transponders in their arms and inserted them into a piece of metal retrieved from the bedframe in their cell. Kirk boosted Spock up so the Vulcan could place the contraption by the room's light fixture, generating a laser beam that sliced through the door lock. The captain purposely alerted a nearby guard, drawing him in to enable Spock to subdue him with an iconic Vulcan nerve pinch. The duo borrowed the Ekosian's weapon and uniform, bluffing their way through the building and becoming a key element in taking down the planet's oppressive regime.

The Angosian Assault

Having already eluded the local authorities once, the artificially-augmented Angosian soldier Roga Danar called upon the enhanced capabilities bestowed upon him by his military programming to lead the U.S.S. Enterprise-D crew on a thrilling chase through the ship in Star Trek: The Next Generation's "The Hunted."

Determined to avoid returning to prison at all costs, Danar used his altered cellular structure to burst through the transporter beam that would've carried him from the Enterprise-D's brig. From setting a phaser to overload and taking down the vessel’s external sensors to utilizing misdirection and besting Worf in combat, Danar displayed his tactical aptitude and succeeded in fleeing the ship. However, the fugitive was not concerned solely on his own liberation, as he went on to release his comrades from their penal colony and pressured his government to help the soldiers they had created.

The Shenzhou Situation

Remanded to the U.S.S. Shenzhou's brig on the charge of mutiny in Star Trek: Discovery's “Battle at the Binary Stars,” Commander Michael Burnham was powerless to help her crew as the Federation and Klingon fleets fired the opening salvos of a devastating war.

The Shenzhou sustained a significant hull breach, and only a containment field separated Burnham from open space. The first officer relied on logical thinking to convince the ship's computer to fashion a hole in the barrier so that she could propel herself across the chasm to a pressurized corridor. The perilous gambit paid off, and Burnham joined Captain Philippa Georgiou on an expedition to board the Klingon flagship. Sadly, Burnham's respite from incarceration was fleeting, as she was sentenced to life in prison shortly after the battle concluded.

The Friendship Factor

In Star Trek: Voyager's "The Chute," Tom Paris and Harry Kim landed themselves in an isolated Akritirian prison. With Paris recovering from a stab wound, Kim took it upon himself to infiltrate the chute where new detainees were delivered, only to discover that their "underground" facility was actually a space station devoid of any accessible escape routes.

Fortunately, Captain Janeway's own investigation yielded more substantive results. Janeway and Tuvok assembled a security team and traveled to the stockade, sliding down the chute and retrieving her crew members. They gathered aboard Neelix's ship, narrowly outrunning the Akritarian vessels that patrolled the area. Despite the presence of implants which had stoked Paris and Kim's aggressive tendencies, the two pals became even closer in the wake of the harrowing incident.

The Claustrophobic Conundrum

Trapped in a Dominion internment camp alongside other Alpha Quadrant captives, Elim Garak confronted his fear of confined spaces in Deep Space Nine's "By Inferno's Light."

While Worf dueled a series of Jem'Hadar soldiers in the common area, Dr. Bashir and General Martok supported Garak as he crawled into a narrow space within their cell's wall to access a modified transmitter. Braving the tight quarters and overcoming a wave of panic, Garak finished his work and signaled his colleagues' runabout to beam them off the desolate rock. The ensemble delivered a message to Deep Space 9, warning Captain Sisko that a Founder had taken Bashir's place and thwarting the Changeling's scheme to ignite a supernova which would have annihilated the station.

The Emerald Extraction

Forced into servitude at an Emerald Chain salvage yard in Discovery's "Scavengers," Cleveland 'Book' Booker felt relieved when he spotted Michael Burnham and the Terran Philippa Georgiou posing as buyers searching for merchandise. Since Book had been implanted with a device set to detonate if he crossed the security perimeter, Burnham and Georgiou procured the system's controller from the Orion overseeing the yard and turned off the fence.

As Book led the prisoners in a mass exodus, his two colleagues flew his ship in to provide a stellar barrage of covering fire. Georgiou capped off their exit by targeting several shipwrecks hovering above the surface, sending their beaten hulls plummeting into the factory below. Aside from Book’s rescue, the operation produced a starship’s blackbox which aided in extinguishing the mystery surrounding the Burn.

The Merciless Mine

Blamed for the death of Chancellor Gorkon, James T. Kirk and Leonard McCoy were convicted by a Klingon court and condemned to the dilithium mines on the Rura Penthe penal asteroid in Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country.

They met a shapeshifting Chameloid named Martia, forming an alliance to subvert the area's magnetic shield and emerge on the planetoid's frigid surface. The affair turned out to be an elaborate setup, as Martia had collaborated with the Klingons on a ruse that would see the Starfleet prisoners killed in their escape attempt. The Chameloid even took on Kirk's own form in a brief scuffle, confusing the lurking Klingon guards enough that they executed her instead of the real captain! Before the Klingons could correct their mistake, the heavenly glow of the U.S.S. Enterprise-A's transporter beam snatched up Kirk and McCoy with seconds to spare and brought them to the starship's warm and cozy interior.