25 – The Devil in the Dark

Grade: C

Summary

A mining colony has lost 50 men to some strange monster living in the caves. The Enterprise is on its way to the mining colony, but it does not arrive before yet another man is killed.

Commentary

This is a pretty average episode, really. Strange things happen, and there is a bit of mystery until the last few minutes of the episode when they finally meet the creature. Then it all resolves too quickly. This would have been much better as an Animated Series episode.

One thing that I did like about this episode, however, is the character change seen in both Spock and Kirk. I liked seeing Spock follow his captain’s orders even though he had a valid argument about the need to protect all intelligent life.

In a lot of ways, this episode was pretty much re-done as the Next Generation episode called “Home Soil.” Almost the exact same thing happens there that happens here. Neither episode is all that great. The trailer makes it look interesting though.

Of Note

This isn’t the first time that we’ve seen the Vulcan Mind Meld, but it’s certainly one of the strangest incidents of it. After watching this episode, it seems the Mind Meld was the Deus ex Machina of the Original Series. I would have liked to have seen a more creative approach somehow.