Star Trek had a score of great episodes, but there’s an interesting reason why one in particular is William Shatner’s favorite!
While it took a few years after its cancellation for Star Trek to become a beloved cult favorite, it was still popular in its early airings. The first season is often regarded as the best with some great storylines and the characters winning over fans, especially William Shatner’s James T. Kirk.
Naturally, Shatner has been asked numerous times just what his favorite episode of the series is. It’s interesting that Shatner claims he doesn’t watch himself in reruns of Star Trek or most of his other TV shows.
However, when it comes to “The Devil in the Dark,” Shatner has no problem citing this as his favorite episode of the series, and the reason for it is striking.
A recap of “The Devil in the Dark”
The 25th episode of Star Trek’s first season, “The Devil in the Dark,” has the Enterprise arriving at Janus VI, a planet that’s home to a huge mining colony. Some sort of creature has been attacking the colony, destroying equipment and killing fifty miners, leaving behind horribly burned bodies.
After some investigating (and the inevitable death of a redshirt security guard), the crew realizes they’re dealing with a silicon-based creature emitting high heat, enough to instantly create tunnels through solid rock and burrow anywhere.
Kirk eventually comes face-to-face with the creature to realize it’s no mindless beast. Spock joins him and performs a mind meld to discover the creature, named the Horta, is acting out of pain at being wounded. That brings McCoy down to help the rock-based being, and we get the first example of the now iconic line, “I’m a doctor, not a bricklayer!”
A mob of colonists shows up to kill the Horta, but Kirk is able to calm them down. He makes them realize that the strange spheres the mining crew have been treating as toys or smashing up are Horta eggs and this is a mother protecting her young. Kirk points out that the Horta’s tunnel creation can be a boon for the miners, and they agree to make peace with the creature, helped by McCoy managing to heal the wound.
It’s a strong story with Leonard Nimoy and DeForest Kelly also giving good performances and a nice message on acceptance and not judging by appearances. But that’s not the reason why Shatner holds it so close.
Shatner’s personal tragedy changed this episode
On the second day of filming the episode, Shatner received a phone call on set that relayed the devastating news that his father had suddenly died. The pair were quite close so Shatner was rocked by the news. Naturally, the cast and crew prepared to shut down production so Shatner could fly to Miami for the funeral arrangements.
However, the earliest flight Shatner could book wouldn’t be leaving until later that evening. Shatner thus elected to stay on set and film as much as he could so it wouldn’t throw the production off too much. As he related in his book Star Trek Memories, Shatner was able to get a laugh from Nimoy’s performance of Spock’s mind-meld and felt closer to the cast during this.
Shatner did leave with the crew doing as many scenes as they could not involving Kirk or using a stand-in for shots from behind. They did have to shut down production for an extra day for Shanter to attend his father’s funeral, which coincided with the weekend and he was able to return to finish the episode. As it turned out, most of the cast and crew didn't know about Shatner's father until after he'd left.
Shanter has spoken in interviews on how being on set and busy filming was a needed distraction from his loss. He felt closer to the cast and crew helping him in a tough time. Likewise, the actors and crew members gained a huge respect for Shatner insisting on going through after this tragedy.
So the next time you watch “The Devil in the Dark,” just know that William Shatner was carrying an off-screen pain filming this episode which adds pathos to what’s already a great episode of Star Trek.
Star Trek streaming on Paramount.