Review

The Devil in the Dark is a terrific story with excellent pacing, especially at the beginning. I'm not typically a fan of the horror movie aesthetic, but this episode rises well above that by delivering a narrative with a compelling moral dilemma enhanced by well crafted sci-fi texture. Stories about how human resource extraction often comes at the expense of indigenous life are nothing new, but the alien characteristics of the lasagna monster--er, I mean silicon-based life form are what make this story particularly compelling. Scientists have long suspected that because silicon and carbon share many chemical properties that it may be possible for a hypothetical type of biochemistry to exist based on silicon instead of carbon. While I have my doubts that the lasagna monster depicted in this episode is a very realistic extrapolation of what silicon-based life might look like, the episode grapples with the idea in a reasonably intelligent way for the most part, even if it may leave you slightly hungry for lasagna after you're done watching it.

One of the best details of the episode is the plot's constant struggle to reconcile the desire to protect the miners with the concurrent desire to preserve the life of the creature. At first Spock questions the need to kill the creature only to be lectured by Kirk that a murderous rampaging monster cannot be permitted to live. But later on in the story their positions interestingly reverse. When Kirk personally confronted the creature, he realized that in its wounded state it had been rendered far less aggressive and Kirk started to ponder a means of rendering it harmless without killing it. Spock by this point was quite taken with Kirk's prior pragmatic attitude and advised killing it on sight. The way both men wrestle with their duty to save the miners and their scientific curiosity about the lasagna monster was nicely done and the use of a Vulcan mind meld as a means to fully understand the creature was a nice bit of continuity. I just wish those mind meld scenes weren't so frequently poorly acted and painfully slow.

After the mind meld Spock learns a whole slew of fascinating things about the creature which is apparently an intelligent animal, possesses language, and calls itself a horta. While it was fairly obvious from some of the first scenes that the silicon nodules were in fact eggs, thankfully the plot did not hinge its entire dramatic appeal solely on this revelation. Instead the focus on forging a peace treaty predicated on trade and mutual cooperation between the miners and the lasagna monsters was an excellent idea, true to the spirit of Star Trek. Much like in The Corbomite Maneuver or The Menagerie, the alien of the week has turned out not to be an evil monster after all but instead a sensitive intelligent creature which likewise desires peace and cooperation. The idea that all life shares at some level a desire to avoid conflict is perhaps Star Trek's most inspiring theme and this episode is the best one so far to directly tackle it.