Rewatching Star Trek (The Original Series, 1966-1969)

Episode o' the Day
"The Devil in the Dark" (season one, episode twenty-five; production code: 026; 9 March 1967): Wikipedia-link.

Commentary: "The Devil in the Dark" has it all: caves, a truly alien lifeform, misunderstanding & violence yielding to understanding & peace, & great character moments for Kirk, Spock, & McCoy.

The Horta is a silicon-based lifeform that lives deep underground on the mineral-rich world Janus VI. The Federation has been mining "pergium" & other valuable commodities on Janus VI for fifty years. A few weeks before the episode, the miners opened a new area for exploitation, disturbing the Horta's reproductive cycle & leading to conflict. Fifty men had died by the time the Enterprise arrived (we see the last one killed in the cold open) & two more—including a redshirt—die before Kirk & Spock solve the mystery. Spock is able to communicate with the Horta using Vulcans' natural telephathic abilities; he mind melds with the silicon-based creature. It turns out that when the miners opened the new area, they broke into the Horta's egg chamber & inadvertantly destroyed thousands of Horta eggs. The Horta's attacks were its attempt to protect the remaining eggs by driving away the miners. Truth & reconcilation: the Horta pardons the miners for destroying an untold number of Horta eggs & the miners pardon the Horta for killing fifty-two men. The newly-hatched Horta start burning tunnels that help the miners extract Janus VI's fabulous mineral wealth. Star Trek at its best.

"The Devil in the Dark" is the first time Doctor McCoy says, "I'm a doctor, not a (blank)," in this episode "I'm a doctor, not a bricklayer!" in objection to being asked how to heal the Horta, which is essentially a living rock & unlike any carbon-based lifeform McCoy has ever treated. To his credit as a healer, McCoy figures out how to heal the Horta of a phaser wound, by applying the silicon-based cement Starfleet uses to erect emergency shelters. However,as early as "The Corbomote Maneuver" (season one, epsiode ten), McCoy had asked, "What am I, a doctor or a moon shuttle conductor?"

These were the salad days of The Original Series.