Star Trek (1966) 1.25

Devil in the Dark

The Enterprise visits the Janus VI mining colony, a vital source for Pergium. A number of miners are dead, killed by a creature first encountered after the mining operation expanded down into a new level.

Vanderberg, the chief engineer at the mining colony, wants the creature killed. The creature strikes again while Kirk, Spock, and McCoy are investigating. It knocks out a key component of the mining operation’s life support system. 

Spock speculates that the creature might be a silicon based life form. McCoy laughs at Spock’s idea but Spock and Kirk later see the creature and confirm that it is indeed a silicon based life form.

Spock starts to think that the creature might be the last of its kind. He decides that, seeing as that might be the case that, it would be wrong to kill the creature. Kirk disagrees and tells the security team that beams down to shoot to kill if they see it.

Kirk and Spock have another encounter with the creature. It is wounded. Spock makes telepathic contact with the Horta. He learns that the silicon balls that seem to be everywhere are the creature’s eggs. The miners have been destroying the eggs left and right, which explains why it killed some miners.

McCoy heals the creature, the Horta, using a mixture of cement. Vanderberg and his men make one last effort to kill the creature but Kirk talks them out if it and explains the situation. 

Thoughts

Ken Lynch played the part of Vanderberg. This is the only episode of Star Trek in which he appeared. He was also in one episode of Alfred Hitchcock Presents (1955) and one episode of The Twilight Zone (1959), 1.03 Mr. Denton on Doomsday.

I don’t love this episode. I recall seeing it before. I knew what the twist was going to be in the end but I didn’t remember all the details. I know that it's a favorite of many people but I thought that it dragged a bit. It has a solid message about not being too quick to judge a situation and learning to set aside preconceived notions but that wasn't enough to satisfy me.