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Episode
025
The Devil in the Dark
The Enterprise comes to the aid of a group of miners being hounded by a monster deep under ground. But – in true Star Trek fashion – we are left to wonder whether there is a monster at all when we put The Devil in the Dark in the Mission Log.
This was William Shatner’s favorite episode !
Trivia:
The Horta was a reuse of a prop from an episode of another sci-fi show that was filmed a couple of years earlier. The episode was titled, “The
Probe” and the show was none other than
“The Outer Limit’s.” !!!!
Another entertainment diversion on my morning commute, gentlemen, for which you have my thanks! As for the arrangement between the Horta and the miners, I always thought they tunnelled to get to interesting minerals to eat, and the humans came along and gathered up the remains. Making us something akin to scavengers 🙂
Not much to say on this one except that I LOVED the Beat poetry!
I couldn’t help but think of this episode as a proto-version of Alien. Blue-collar workers in space taken out one by one by an alien entity that we don’t see for a good portion of the story. Loved the threatening tone, especially early on, and the nice twist of the creature being sentient and fearful. Good episode, great beat poetry.
Speaking of the Horta future, they are expanded on in the novels and comics. There’s even one who joins Starfleet! TOS novel: “My Enemy, My Ally.”
This was my ten year old son’s first Star Trek: TOS episode to watch. Surprisingly, he was able to see beyond the older set treatment and alien wardrobe and really connect with the themes and underlying morals.