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Star Trek Review: THE DEVIL IN THE DARK
Director Joseph Pevney's, "THE DEVIL IN THE DARK," is a fascinating tale of human/alien contact. Pevney directed numerous other classic "Trek" episodes, including: "Amok Time" and "Wolf in the Fold".
This episode contains one of the early uses of the now famous Vulcan mind meld, (not to be confused with the Vulcan patty melt). Under Pevney's sensitive direction, Nimoy convincingly experiences and communicates what the alien, Horta, is feeling.
This episode is well loved by many Trekkers. The horrible monster, that turns out to be a mother defending her children, makes for a great, involving Sci-Fi yarn.
The Horta is one of the more convincing, non-humanoid, Classic "Trek" aliens. It moved via an actor (Janos Projaska) inside the Horta, but it's shuffling movements are believable.
The exciting and moving Teleplay was written by Gene L. Coon. Coon produced the first season of "Star Trek," and wrote numerous episodes, including: "Space Seed," "A Piece of the Action," and "A Taste of Armaggedon," among many others.
The matte painting we see, outside the window of the underground mining camp, is not very good. It may have been okay for the time, but one only has to watch an episode of "Star Trek:TNG," to see how far things have come in this department.
"THE DEVIL IN THE DARK" should be highly watchable for most Sci-Fi viewers. Fans of credible, non-humanoid aliens should dig this episode. "THE DEVIL IN THE DARK" is a devilish good time!
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