THE PLOT
The Enterprise comes to a mining colony whose operations are being threatened by a creature that is killing miners with acid. Kirk and Spock begin to investigate... but very soon, a bad situation is made into a dire emergency when the creature steals a vital piece of life-support equipment. Scotty jury-riggs a temporary solution. Now Kirk and Spock must find the creature, neutralize it, and bring back the machinery before they all have to abandon the colony forever!
CHARACTERS
Capt. Kirk: Utterly in command, from the moment of his arrival. Believing he is facing a brutal monster, Kirk is very determined to track it and kill it. He is not close-minded, however. Presented with new information about the creature, he changes his approach, to good effect.
That Vulcan Voodoo You Do: Realizing that they are dealing with a new kind of life-form, Spock is overcome with scientific curiosity, almost to the point where his curiosity becomes a potential stumbling block. Spock does provide the key to solving the episode, however, when he uses his Vulcan Powers of Plot Convenience to mind-meld with the creature, giving it a name - the Horta - and a motive for its actions. The interplay between Shatner and Nimoy is particularly strong in this episode, by the way, adding a surprising level of humor to an inherently tense situation.
Dr. McCoy: His miraculous powers of healing anyone not declared Doomed by Plot continue, and he even declares that he's beginning to think he can "cure a rainy day." Beyond acting as something very akin to a deux-ex-machina for this episode, he really doesn't get much characterization, though he does get to participate in some of the banter.
Monster of the Week: The Horta. As with most 1960's monsters, it is most effective as a threat when unseen. Once it is revealed, it is all too clear that the Horta is basically a shag carpet. The efforts of the designers to make it rock-like in appearance have the unfortunate effect of making it look like a shag carpet designed to look like a pepperoni-and-sausage pizza, as visualized by Pablo Picasso. When it gyrates back and forth to give a message to Kirk and Spock at one point, the effect is comical, in an entirely unintended fashion. I was reminded of the classic MST3K film, The Creeping Terror, in which the victims have to helpfully hurl themselves into the "mouth" of the shag carpet creature in order for the rug to successfully kill anyone. On the plus side, the Horta is ultimately given a clear motive for its deeds, one which would make sense to viewers of the time (and is all-too-easily spotted by a modern viewing).
LET'S PLAY... ZAP THE REDSHIRT!
Redshirt count: one. A team of redshirts are beamed down to hunt the creature. One hapless young fellow is wandering down a corridor, phaser at the ready, and becomes Horta-chow.
The best death, however, goes to a substitute redshirt: a miner. In the teaser, the miner is left all alone in a shaft by his friends. To no one's surprise, the miner gets zapped. You'd think they'd have one guard in plain sight and one or two hidden, ready with phasers. Anything but leaving a guy alone in a mine shaft with a sign that says, "Monster Bait," around his neck. Other mine guards are also zapped throughout the episode, making them effectively substitute redshirts for this installment.
THOUGHTS
A mixed case, this one. William Shatner has apparently listed this as his favorite episode, at least on some occasions, and credit where its due: Not only does the episode showcase Kirk and Spock very effectively, it also does a surprisingly good job of building tension out of a scenario in which the leads are menaced by a shag carpet pizza.
As I mentioned earlier, the Kirk/Spock banter in this episode is particularly strong. It's refreshing to have an episode recall that Spock is - or at least should be - a scientist first and foremost. His curiosity about the creature making him potentially unreliable, without in any way compromising his basic logical characterization, is a terrific character beat, one that I'd have liked to have seen other episodes exploit.
Unfortunately, this is probably the cheapest-looking first season episode. The cave sets are moderately effective, for 1960's television. But this is an episode that is directed in a particularly flat manner, and it's just a little too obvious that the characters are walking up and down one set repeatedly. Some of the worst shots, such as the creature burning its way through an obvious hole in the cave set, have been helped by CGI fixes in the Remastered Versions, and some of the original mattes have been enhanced to good effect.
The Horta itself remains the episode's biggest challenge to viewer suspension of disbelief. The scene in which Kirk and Spock discuss the creature while holding what looks for all the world like a giant slice of pepperoni pizza (that's supposed to be a bit of the creature's hide) is simply hilarious, for all the wrong reasons. This is likely a case of modern viewing expectations seriously harming my reaction to what is, after all, a piece of vintage television - but there's really no denying that in a 45-year-old show that often holds up startlingly well, the Horta just doesn't hold up.
I also have some big issues with the ending. We're repeatedly told about how many miners have been lost to the Horta, and that they've all lost good friends. The miners are all but unreasoning at the climax, and understandably - emotions would run high in such a situation. Which is why I can't quite buy into the miners instantly renouncing their urge for vengeance once Kirk explains the situation. At the end the head miner is actually chuckling about the Horta! This does not ring true. Even if all of the miners were willing to understand the reasons for the Horta killing so many of their friends and colleagues - which I have serious doubts about in itself - I simply do not believe that they would all be willing to merrily work alongside the Horta the very next day. I certainly don't believe that any of them would be chuckling fondly about the Horta. As Spock has noted in the show on many occasions, humans just aren't that rational. As a result, the last 5 minutes felt false, and ripped me right out of the episode.
I know The Devil in the Dark is a fan favorite. But despite some strengths, particularly in the early going, this is one that, to my tastes at least, just doesn't hold up.
Rating: 5/10
Previous Episode: This Side of Paradise
Next Episode: Errand of Mercy
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