The Devil in the Dark

Leonard Nimoy's Vulcan mind meld proves of invaluable assistance in this Star Trek episode. Life may not look anything like it does on earth and it may not even function bodily as we do on earth. But life can be found in the strangest of places.

Consider this planet which looks to be made of solid rock, yet something is killing off the miners in Ken Lynch's crew. Which is why he sent a distress call and the Enterprise responds.

Lynch's men are not being killed, in fact they're being burned to a crisp. It's being done by a creature we learn calls itself a Horta and to our eyes it's not aesthetically pleasing.

This Star Trek story reduces life to a problem of communication. The Horta has a very good reason for doing what it does.

It's a good moral this story has, all we need in the Universe is better communication.

Kirk and the crew are visiting a federation mining colony on a remote planet rich in mineral resources. The Devil in the Dark is the Horta, a very unusual silicon based life-form which tunnels through solid rock. The Horta has been killing miners and, it is decided, must be destroyed. But how?

It is hard to continue this review without writing a spoiler, so instead I simply concentrate on the technical aspects of the episode and touch on its themes. The special effects are OK, but many of the scenes with the Horta look a little absurd. The acting is fairly average for TOS. Some of the miners are a little awkward. Nimoy has the most difficult role of all in Devil in the Dark, and he pulls it off well.

Why is this still a favorite of mine?

Devil in the Dark is really an anthropological and ecological morality play disguised as an adventure. More than many episodes of this great TV series, it brings home the importance of maintaining an open mind and at least some degree of empathy toward others. Plus, it involves one of the most interesting, if not probable, plot twists in the original series.

Enjoy!

Everybody likes to say how cheesy the monster looks. But I'll be honest. It still gave me nightmares at age 10.

I also didn't like this episode much as a kid because we hardly see the Enterprise, and how can that be Star Trek? Eventually I learned that good science fiction, like all drama, is about characters and ideas, not sets and costumes and special effects. And so "Devil in the Dark" is now one of my favorite Star Trek episodes.

I sometimes wonder if it was done as penance for "The Man Trap". That episode also featured an intelligent creature, native to the planet and the last of its species, who began murdering humans for no apparent reason. But that episode doesn't fit the Star Trek philosophy at all, while this one is among the very best examples of that philosophy in action.

Season 1, episode 25. The Enterprise is called to Janus 6, a mining colony there are being attacked and killed by a mysterious creature. Kirk, Spock and McCoy beam down to the planet's surface with a small away crew to investigate. Upon arrival they met with Chief Engineer Vanderberg who tells them what has been going on in more detail. The search begins for this creature that can kill a person with a strong corrosive substance. The crew learn that the miners have found seemly useless silicon nodules and the creature is a silicone based lifeform. Kirk and Spock search for the creature while McCoy beams back up to the ship. Kirk and Spock find the creature hurt and Spock conducts a Vulcan mind-meld with it to learn more about it - it is called a Horta. McCoy is called back down later to help this unusual patient while the miners are ready to destroy it.

An episode that is hard to forget. I used to describe the Horta as a bubbly burnt pizza-like creature but watching it again all these years later I would say it looks more like a meatball with sauce on it. That's OK though because the Horta thinks that humans are hideous looking but the Vulcan is pleasant looking to it. lol.

7/10

In 1975 a friend of the family took me to a local JC in Sacramento for one of the first "Star Trek" conventions. I remember someone had taken some electrical tape and spelled out on the floor in the foyer at the convention entrance "NO KILL I".

The homage paid by this act reflects the importance of the social trend and awareness happening at the time. The country (the western world in fact) had just come off of one social upheaval in the midst of the Cold War, and was entering another. Trek was ahead of the curve by telling another great parable regarding not just a conservationist message, not just an environmental message, but one that levels a finger at mankind in his treatment of other living creatures.

This episode hits empathetic folks on a gut level. My mother included (or especially I should say), for while watching this episode with me (one of the few times she and I watched Trek together) she sternly agreed with Captain Kirk when Shatner's character berates Jarvis for the wanton and irresponsible acts of destruction.

It's not just a warning for today's companies and their forefathers, however still relevant and timely. It's more than that. It's a future warning to mankind, and any sentient who would mindlessly exploit that of which they knew nothing.

Another review comments on the thesping by Shatner and Nimoy. I agree that it's high caliber. The matte painting of the mining facility is what it is, as is the Horta itself. It is, after all, 1960's sci-fi TV. Even so, I'm hard pressed to find better props used in today's TV offerings (part of the reason I don't watch too much contemporary television anymore). Good shots, good dialog, good story, and a profound theme.

Enjoy.