The Devil in the Dark had many differences in original outline

The Devil in the Dark is one of the more popular episodes of Star Trek: The Original Series.

The twenty-fifth episode of the first season of Star Trek: The Original Series, Devil in the Dark has been a favorite among fans and often appears in the top ten episodes of The Original Series. It has several firsts as it is the only one of the episodes in the entire series that did not include any of the Star Trek characters in the opening scene.

Originally, though, according to Startrek.com and based upon the outline written by Gene Coon, it was supposed to open on the Enterprise with Scotty telling Kirk that the ship was in serious trouble as there was a faulty “varanium plug in the antimatter accelerator” that would explode, leaving the ship without a replacement. But there are more changes that were enacted before this episode made it to the screen.

In the episode that aired, the miners are collecting and destroying the Horta’s eggs, which angers her and leads to retailation. But in Gene Coon’s original outline, the eggs were being destroyed by falling rocks caused by the mining. So there wasn’t a deliberate action on the part of the miners, and because there was no scene with Spock and the silicon nodule that he picks up, he doesn’t begin to formulate ideas about what could be going on.

In addition, along with the opening scene, another scene was set to take place aboard the Enterprise with Kirk, Spock, and McCoy meeting with Colton. But one thing did remain the same and that was the introduction of Bones’ “I’m a doctor…” series of lines with this one being “I’m a doctor not a bricklayer.”

The Devil in the Dark had one major change that involved Spocks’ communicatoin with the Horta.

While in the episode that aired, Spock used a mind-meld with the Horta, that wasn’t originally written. Instead Kirk and Spock used a deviced called a “transicator” which helped Spock use his telepathic abilities better. And instead of Spock crying out “Pain, Pain,” the words would have come through the transicator directly from the Horta.

Perhaps this piece of equipment was like the universal translator now popular in Star Trek, but it was never introduced on any series in the franchise to my knowledge. And thorough research doesn’t show that it even exists in the Star Trek world.

Both Maria Jose and John Tenuto, who dug into the evolution of The Devil in the Dark, are sociology professors at the College of Lake County in Grayslake, Illinois, and they investigated this episode thoroughly. While I’ve included much of their research here, their complete take on it is worth a read at Startrek.com.