"Phaser One is far less powerful than Phaser Two"
--Spock
"Silicon based life is physiologically impossible"
--McCoy
"I'm a doctor, not a brick layer"
--McCoy
"Shoot to kill"
--Kirk.
"I'm beginning to think I can cure a rainy day."
--McCoy ?
PLOT
A mining operation on a planet with the richest abundance of minerals
anywhere is plagued by a series of mysterious and grisly deaths. Add to
that the mysterious disappearance of their life-support pump (there's no
oxygen down there).
The Enterprise is called upon to investigate and/or evacuate the remaining
miners. Kirk, Spock, and McCoy find a bunch of silicon globes (the miners
have been keeping them as souvenirs and/or destroying them) and a series of
tunnels that have been carved recently.
Upon further investigation, they find that the deaths were caused by a
silicon-based horta that moves through rock as easily as humans move
through air. It is the last of its species and the globes that were found
were her eggs. It was killing the miners with her acid in self-defense to
keep her species alive (and stole the life-support system to try to make
the miners go away). It is described as a "hairy beast", but is later
found to be a highly intelligent breathing rock.
Kirk and Spock discuss the possibility of silicon-based beings (or beings
not carbon-based) apparently forgetting that Nancy the salt-sucker was
silicon-based. McCoy later comes down and says that silicon-based life is
impossible.
Kirk wants to kill it, despite the fact that it is the last of its species,
and refuses to weigh his options. Their phasers don't do too much to slow
it down. Kirk orders the remaining miners up to the ship (most have
already beamed up), but they (lead by this week's dork, Vandenburg) want to
fight it with clubs (maybe clubs are more powerful than phasers, eh?) Kirk
(in an attempt to win back the "dork of the week" prize) says "good"
(non-sarcastically).
Spock mind melds with it in an attempt to communicate, and senses how much
pain she's in. She finds humans rather ugly, but likes Spock's ears. It
then writes "no kill i" by burning away rock with its acid. Kirk is unsure
if she means that she doesn't want to kill or that she doesn't want to be
killed. They beam McCoy down to help repair the damaged horta.
Eventually, they strike up a bargain. The miners don't destroy any more
eggs and don't harm the horta. The horta will make their tunnels in the
direction the miners want.
FACTS
Kirk is this week's dork: not trying to preserve life, etc.
This is the last episode to be watched by me. It took until 6/7/88 for
me to see it.
Every 50,000 years the race of horta all die save the one mother horta.
Spock mind melds with the horta.
OPINIONS
Bogometer was in the "high" range through most of the show.
The opening looked like a bad 1920 movie. This is why I probably never saw
the episode until 1988; I didn't realize I was watching "Star Trek".
