Saw it on the Sci-Fi channel last week. Caught a nit that Phil missed in his book, but Leonard Nimoy mentions in his memoir... It's very noticable...

When Kirk is in the (you go right, I'll go left) tunnel, and is confronting the Horta, the shots of Kirk from behind are his double... Shatner had to go away for a family emergency. In any case, when they cut Shatner in for the front shots, Kirk has his phaser up. From behind (the stunt double), Kirk's phaser is down at his side.

Now for another nit... Those security guards Kirk had at the end of the tunnel weren't very good, were they?

The more I think about it, the Horta must be some sort of evolutionary wrong-turn. Think about it. It consumes rock. Rock is a non-renewable resource. The hortas (hortae?) have no choice but to eat themselves out of house and home, and so their species is doomed short of space travel.

Hey. If the Horta don't have space travel. Isn't the Federation being there violate the Prime Directive?

Even when I first saw this episode as a kid I thought the same thing Murray Leeder suggested above...but then again, it was made 30 years ago...things were a little more corny back then especially for a sci-fi series. The feasibility of a "monster" didn't really have much to do with any show, as long as the creature was scary or interesting enough to make people watch the show.

Think of the Gorn from Arena....They had warp capable spacecraft, advanced technology (advanced enough to take on the federation) and the Gorn captain wears a "Fred Flintstone" lionskin suit? Hmmmm...maybe...he is an alien...personally, I think it was to make him look even more brutal.

I disagree with the statement that rock is a nonrenewable resource. When magma is pushed upwards it solidifies and becomes rock and tectonic plates can be pushed down to become molten. Also if the Horta eat, they must also secrete waste matter, tunnels collapse, and the whole population except one dies, so eventally all this becomes one with the rock and the long pause between Horta population explosions could be enough time for the planet to create new rock.

Schmitter says that nobody ever sees the thing, then he says, you know what happened when Ed took a shot at it. If nobody ever sees it and lives then how can anyone know what happened when Ed Appel shot it?

Kirk walks over to the mining charts, the camera pulls back, and it looks like the camera shakes.

The hole in the Reactor Room door doesn't reach the floor. Did the Horta just decide to step over it?

After discovering the missing part Scotty says he can cobble together a replacement that will last for 48 hours. Well, I certainly hope that Scotty was not exaggerating by 4 times like we learn in Star Trek III.

The colonists are armed with Phaser 1, while the ship has Phaser 2. What kind of Phasers did Captain Pike have? Phaser 0? Phaser point 5?

McCoy says that a silicon lifeform would be impossible in an oxygen environment. However, since no silicon lifeforms had yet been discovered, how could McCoy be sure of that statement?

Spock is supposedly using his tricorder to take readings, however, the screen is facing away from him and there is nothing visible on the screen.

The piece of skin blasted off the Horta continues to pulsate, as if it is still alive.

50 colonists have been killed by the creature so far, but one red shirt gets killed and Kirk says he will not lose another man.

Spock says that 100 people are searching for the creature, but all we see are guys in red shirts (besides Kirk & Spock). Later, when the miners join they are told to match up with the Security personnel. Does the Enterprise really have 100 Security personnel? That's around 1/4 of the crew. Does the Enterprise really have that much trouble with discipline on the ship?

When the Horta appears the wall glows red and fades away like it was hit with an energy weapon, not an acid.

The Horta's ability to write words in rock would seem to indicate that it is really a male, not a female. (If you can't figure that statement out, think snow.)

Spock says that the Horta are the most inoffensive of creatures and bear ill will to no one, but outside of the colonists who would the Horta have known?

Kirk's solution to this matter is a little insulting. The miners come to this planet to take whatever they find of value, come across the curiosity of the silicon spheres and take some as souvenirs and smash others, then when the Horta attacks they react as if they are the injured party and, apparently, never examine their own actions and just decide to kill the creature, or rather call in a "hired gun" to kill it for them, then when the reason for the creature's attacks is discovered, Kirk states that the miners can tell the Horta what kind of minerals they are looking for and all the little Horta will gladly dig it out for them.
Also how is the Horta supposed to benefit from this arrangement? Dig for us and we won't kill your children? (Can you say slavery? I think you can? If Picard had encountered this situation I think he would have ordered all the miners off the planet, like he did to the Terraformers in Home Soil.) Presumably the Horta must digest elements from the rock that it burrows through, so isn't it likely that some of the rare elements that the miners are looking for will be part of the Horta's diet?

How long do you think that thermal concrete bandage will survive when the Horta starts secreting acid to burn through rock?

This episode has both grill ends and spherical ends on the nacelles.

Pike used lasers on his ship. Phasers were invented c.2200 but didn't come into use until Kirk's era.

Talking about the ineffectiveness of phasers on the Horta, Schmitter says at the beginning of the episode "You saw what happened to Ed Appel when he took a shot at the thing." Well, as far as I can tell, nothing happened to him since he appears in fit condition later in the episode.

Lieutenant-Commander Giotto wears commander's braids.

In the tunnel, Spock stops walking while talking to Kirk on the communicator, while he's supposed to be in a hurry.

When Spock enters the chamber, the shot switches and the phaser disappears from Kirk's right hand.

The creature doesn't speak yet somehow calls itself a "Horta". Does it think in English, or some other spoken language?

There are more continuity errors with Kirk's right arm in the cavern.

Those continuity errors wit Kirk's right arm were caused by the use of Shatner's stand in for many of the shots. Shatner had to leave the set that day - his father had just died. His reaction shots were filmed the next day.

KAM: People have limbs you know. That`s what people generally write things in snow or snow-like substances with.

When the Horta appears the wall glows red and fades away like it was hit with an energy weapon, not an acid.

It could be a highly exothermic chemical reaction, causing the wall to glow red.

Once again the end credits are messed up with "Scpipt Supervisor"

Ken Lynch (Vanderberg) also appeared in a classic "Honeymooners" episode, as a police detective who warns Ralph Kramden to come forward as a witness.

The Horta costume was a modification of Janos Prohaska's costume of a mutant germ, made for the last episode of the original "Outer Limits". I think the ep was called "The Probe."

Found a bunch of nits;
- Kirk asks Vandenburg if he's posted 'centuries', by the sound of it, rather than 'sentries'.
-Why is Vandenburg's door button underneath his desk? That seems terribly impractical, if someone is locked inside and can't find the 'door handle'.
- Ed Appel says he only caught a glimpse of the creature, but he also says he got a 'good, clean shot' at it. A glimpse would be barely a second, so how could that been such a clean shot?
-- I think Appel is simply angry because he has to wear pink, instead of the more masculine yellow and orange the others are wearing.
- Janus VI is a mining facility serving half a dozen planets, and yet they only have puny phaser number ones? Just what are they using to dig up all those tunnels? Really, really big spoons?
-- If Kirk has sent down so many of his men, he must have gone through the same briefing speech over and over again, because the poor young red shirt of his that was killed was definitely not in the line-up with Cmdr. Giotto.
-- And speaking of Giotto, why is Commodore Wesley pretending to be someone else?
-- Anybody else find it interesting how it was Spock, and not Kirk, who raised his phaser when the miners barged in near the end?

Spock wore commander's braids the entire series, although he was a Lt. Commander for the first season (puny rank for the second in command, if you ask me.)

At one point, Kirk tells one of the guards that the creature is wounded and to tell the other guards that info...however, after the break, Kirk tells the guards himself...in fact, I counted THREE TIMES in which Kirk states that the creature is wounded. Does Kirk's think his crew dense or deaf?

The scenes where Shatner's stand-in doubles for him are pretty obvious. The back of the guy doesn't look like Shatner.

It’s ribbed for the Horta’s pleasure
Phil wondered in his TOS Guide why the tunnel was circular, when the cross section of the Horta is not. My question is, why is the tunnel smooth, and have ring-like lines along its interior? The creature bores through the tunnels with acid; the interior surface should be rough and bumpy.
Now you too can be a graduate of the APEX Technical Schools! Even if you’re a non-humanoid silicon-based creature with no opposable thumbs!
How did the creature know enough of the mechanics of the station to sabotage a specific, vital part of it?
Fortunately, Shatner had plenty of hot air to go around for everyone
McCoy says in Act 1 that silicon-based life can’t survive in an oxygen environment, and Spock says its lair must have a different environment, and that it only spends a short time in theirs. But when Kirk, Spock, and McCoy go to its level toward the end of the episode, the atmosphere seems to give them no ill effects.
And these rocks make the most symmetrical omelets, too!
Shouldn’t the miners have known that the Horta eggs weren’t "rocks," as Van Der Burg calls them? They’re perfect spheres!
No, Spock! Never introduce Kirk to an alien with the word "hor" in its name!
After Spock mind melds with the creature, he tells Kirk it calls itself a "Horta." This thing has no mouth or vocal cords. How can it "call" itself something that is expressed as a verbal word?


KAM: The colonists are armed with Phaser 1, while the ship has Phaser 2. What kind of Phasers did Captain Pike have? Phaser 0? Phaser point 5?

Luigi Novi: Pike's crew still used both laser pistols and laser cannons.

KAM: McCoy says that a silicon lifeform would be impossible in an oxygen environment. However, since no silicon lifeforms had yet been discovered, how could McCoy be sure of that statement?

Luigi Novi: Prediction based on known scientific principles. There's never been an invisible person, but we know an invisible person would be blind, because the light needs to be absorbed by the eye. Being invisible, the eye would be transparent, and light would pass through it (Unless the person had the ability to control which part of his eyes he made invisible, and kept his eyes visible, though this might defeat any practical purpose of it.) A lot of nitpicking uses such theoretical projection and theorizing.

Adam Bomb: Spock was a Lt. Commander for the first season (puny rank for the second in command, if you ask me.)

Luigi Novi: Lt. Commander Cavitt was Voyager's first officer in Caretaker(VOY).

Shouldn’t the miners have known that the Horta eggs weren’t "rocks," as Van Der Burg calls them?

IIRC, he called them "Silicon Nodules".

Okay, but he called them "rocks" somewhere else in the episode, and regardless of which geological technobabble term used, shouldn't he know that geology would not produce such perfect spheres?

It may be unusual that the spheres were perfect, but nature does produce geological spheres. Ignoring planets ;-) if a gas bubble were trapped in rock, then a small crack opens allowing a liquified solution of silicon to enter you could get a sphere. Not perfect, but then what in nature is.
Actually if the spheres were called perfect, then that would be a nit since most if not all eggs are imperfect spheres. I believe Ostrich eggs are spherical, but I seriously doubt they are perfect. Frog & fish eggs are also spherical, but are they perfect spheres?

DUMB LINE: One of the miners actually says to Kirk, "You can't bring your ship down here"
(I'm paraphrasing, of course)

My reply? No duh, Sherlock!

Shatner's father died during the filming of this ep. The stand-ins were probably used to shoot around Shatner in his absence.

Nits:

Once again, Uhura is missing from this episode.

At one point, Spock says, "Mr. Scott has far more knowledge about nuclear reactors than I do."
Seeing Spock is a Vulcan...a superior race to humans...does this statement make any sense at all?

Mr. Leslie is in the security team but he is not listed in the end credits.

Here's a LULU........

When Kirk is squatting down and talking to the Horta, Spock strolls in...the rear shots of Kirk show him with a COMMUNICATOR in his hand, the front shots show him with a PHASER in his hand.
(God, I love this stuff!)

Nimoy comments on those in his book. See Adam Bomb 8/16 and ScottN 5/26. Also ScottN 10/12/98 and mf 4/12/2000

At one point, Spock says, "Mr. Scott has far more knowledge about nuclear reactors than I do."
Seeing Spock is a Vulcan...a superior race to humans...does this statement make any sense at all?

If Spock had said, "Mr. Dillon has far more knowledge of six-shooters than I do." or "Mr. Bearclaw has far more knowledge of atlatls than I do." would those statements make sense?

Spock may be more intelligent, but he doesn't necesarily know everything & it is possible that 'primitive' Earth technology like nuclear reactors may not have been a field that Spock specialized in. Certainly not to the degree that Scotty presumably did.

Just a thought.

Additional interesting note: this episode was shot entirely on the "underground set". We never see any scenes aboard the Enterprise! I think the teaser is the only one that does not feature any cast members or an external shot of the Enterprise (like in "Tomorrow Is Yesterday").

We do see some brief scenes on the Enterprise . . . when Scotty is talking to the captain on the bridge during the episode, also the tag is set on the bridge. "All Our Yesterdays" is the only episode where we never see any scenes on board the ship.

Oops, you are right. I was driving and the ending came back to me where Kirk and McCoy were ribbing Spock about his ears, and what the Horta thought of his appearance.

What is a tag? If it's the scene before the opening credits, it took place not on the bridge and without any cast members. Schmitter was being reassured by Vandenburg and the other miners, and was then left alone to meet his demise.

You are right about "All Our Yesterdays".

A tag is the scene right before the end credits, where loose ends are usually tied up.

The scene(s) before the opening credits are collectively called the teaser - i.e. they 'tease' viewers with a hint of the (theoretically) good stuff to come and so draw them in for the whole ep.

I must say, Horta's avery good Jumper, maybe we send it/her to the next olympic games. You see a tunnel build by it/her maybe half a meter above the ground!

Not to mention the Horta has a great "boarding house reach"....The hole in the reactor was at least 3 ft. from the floor!

The colonists are armed with Phaser 1, while the ship has Phaser 2. What kind of Phasers did Captain Pike have? Phaser 0? Phaser point 5?

Pike had lasers, not phasers.


The piece of skin blasted off the Horta continues to pulsate, as if it is still alive.

why could it not be alive for a time? If you accept a silicon-based lifeform, can you not accept this?

50 colonists have been killed by the creature so far, but one red shirt gets killed and Kirk says he will not lose another man.

Colonists are a dime-a-dozen, even in a supposedly money-free society. Most are criminals and malcontents being exiled.

Kirk just knows his priorities.

Spock says that 100 people are searching for the creature, but all we see are guys in red shirts (besides Kirk & Spock). Later, when the miners join they are told to match up with the Security personnel. Does the Enterprise really have 100 Security personnel? That's around 1/4 of the crew. Does the Enterprise really have that much trouble with discipline on the ship?

He meant "match up until you run out of redshirts"

When the Horta appears the wall glows red and fades away like it was hit with an energy weapon, not an acid.

The CO2 fire extinguisher used to show 'acid smoke' were all empty that day, being discharged at a cast party at G-Rod's house.

The Horta's ability to write words in rock would seem to indicate that it is really a male, not a female. (If you can't figure that statement out, think snow.)

There are other appendages besides that one. Also, would a silicon-based lifeform neccesarily also conform to human genitalia norms?


Kirk's solution to this matter is a little insulting. The miners come to this planet to take whatever they find of value, come across the curiosity of the silicon spheres and take some as souvenirs and smash others, then when the Horta attacks they react as if they are the injured party and, apparently, never examine their own actions and just decide to kill the creature, or rather call in a "hired gun" to kill it for them, then when the reason for the creature's attacks is discovered, Kirk states that the miners can tell the Horta what kind of minerals they are looking for and all the little Horta will gladly dig it out for them.
Also how is the Horta supposed to benefit from this arrangement? Dig for us and we won't kill your children? (Can you say slavery? I think you can? If Picard had encountered this situation I think he would have ordered all the miners off the planet, like he did to the Terraformers in Home Soil.) Presumably the Horta must digest elements from the rock that it burrows through, so isn't it likely that some of the rare elements that the miners are looking for will be part of the Horta's diet?

not at all, this is how the universe operates. In exchange for the tunnels, the Horta are permitted to exist. Problem?

Besides, would Kirk have the authority to summarily order off a colony that produces metals 'for a thousand planets"?

How long do you think that thermal concrete bandage will survive when the Horta starts secreting acid to burn through rock?

Long enough for the Enterprise to leave orbit and tackle their next crisis, and that's all that matters.

The painting representing Janus 6 had a cylindrical object in it that looked a lot like the water heater in my basement.
Schmitter talks with a bit of a New Yawk accent.
The window in Vanderberg's office (maybe even the whole set) looks like the same one used in the Starbase set for "Courtmartial" and the "Menagerie" framing story.
The actor who plays Ed Appel looks like he's wearing a wig. If not, he sure could use a trim.

**Leslie Alert** Just maintaining continuity here. Mr. Leslie is now a security guard.

Dr. McCoy has a hard time pronouncing "silicon". There are times he says, "sili-CONE"

***LESLIE ALERT II*** I believe I have identified Shatner's double...it's none other than Eddie Paskey...AKA Mr. Leslie

CG enhancing: Following up on an idea in the Space: 1999 threads, if Star Trek the Classic Series could be enhanced with CG, these are ideas I have for this episode.


The floor of the mines is too smooth, ridiculously smooth. The reason is obvious — actor safety and convenient set-building. I can see the miners pouring concrete or such in more frequented mine shafts, but the newest ones should be rough or much more textured.

It is not clear what Kirk is looking at when he looks up inside the Chamber of the Ages. I have long thought that he saw little tunnels cut by the hatchling hortas, but since Vanderberg tells Kirk, a few hours later, that the hortas have begun to hatch, I guess that isn't what Kirk saw. I would suggest that he looked up and saw a huge cut hole from the 22nd level, one of several cut by the miners, and the one that blasted right into the hatchery. Any chance of animating the hole Kirk saw?

No, no chance of animating a hole at all.

And its VERY clear to me what Kirk is looking at inside the Chamber of the Ages, he's looking at millions of those round silicone eggs!!

Wern't you watching the episode? I would hope so if you are going to go around "fixing" "mistakes".

For future reference Van Der Burg, next time tell Kirk there are hot babes in there.
Near the end of Act 1, shortly after Kirk, Spock and Bones beam down, another person is killed. Van Der Burg leads the trio to a series of wall panels in which large holes have been dissolved. Van Der Burg goes through one of them, and Kirk and Spock stay behind. We then hear Van Der Burg call out, “Kirk! Quickly!” Kirk casually looks down at the hole, and leisurely goes through it. Luckily, Van Der Burg is fine, and just tells him that a reactor is gone. Good think Van Der Burg wasn’t being attacked!

Whenever I see the Horta, I don't think about PAIN PAIN PAIN I think about Pizza Pizza Pizza with a lot of molten Mozarella cheese.

Why did the miners bother to make clean concrete floors in the tunnels, why aren't these as rough just as the walls are? Do they rollerskate for excercise?

How did the Horta know what piece to take and how did it take that piece without destroying it?

So no back-up pieces, what happens if the pump goes down and there is no space ship in a 48 hours range from the mine. Does everyone just die then?

Even with the Godmother-Horta dead, the eggs would have hatched with thousands of potential Killer-Hortas on the loose. They start digging tunnels immediately as is stated in the ep.

And about you go left, I'll go right (and doing the opposite), this must be a perfect example of Vulcan humour. Kirk must know this as Spock is one of his dearest friends. Even Vulcans must have humorous or silly stories, as they have no emotions, these stories must be logically illogical... and the left vs. right thing is a perfect example of that. So Kirk wasn't making a mistake, he was being funny...

From KAM, way back in 1999....

After discovering the missing part Scotty says he can cobble together a replacement that will last for 48 hours. Well, I certainly hope that Scotty was not exaggerating by 4 times like we learn in Star Trek III.

Maybe he was exaggerating by 4, and it would actually last for 192 hours (8 days).

Actor Dick Dial, primarily a stunt man on the original series, is credited with the role of the miner named Sam in this episode. However, Sam in this episode bears little physical resemblence to Dial's two other credited acting roles in the series (as a security guard in "The Apple" and "And The Children Shall Lead".) Sam in this episode is a short, stocky man with a full face and a full dark head of hair. The other two parts credited to Dial in the other episodes are a tall thin man with a narrow face and light thinning hair.

wow!

According to Star Trek.com and the TV guide, this is to be our installment for the second week of new Trek... it will be interesting to see what's done in the episode- it should at least answer the nagging question, "Will they re-do the hand phasers?"

We'll also get to see if they fixed the "scpipt" typo in the closing credits. This is one of the episodes with it.

Dr. McCoy has a hard time pronouncing "silicon".
He also couldn't pronounce the name of the ape-like beast in "A Private Little War," which was originaly named "Gumato." TPTB changed the beast's name to "Mugato," which Mr. Kelley could pronounce.

Dang it. Forgot to set the VCR on this one!!! Missed it!

BTW Zarm: Why would they redo the hand phasers? I didn't know there was an issue with them.

Gc- you better set up your Vcr/tivo/dvd recorder for Tos enhanced!

you got your wish.

I missed it too, darn it! #@%^#%$ timer recordings...

And no, I'm not aware of any issues with the hand phasers. But, to quote Dr. McCoy, "You know engineers. They love to change things..."

Major new effects in this episode:

The 3D pergium processing plant, replacing the matte painting from the original. (This painting also doubled as the Providers' power plant in "Gamesters of Triskellion".) There's a nice bit that incorporates the first nervous guard.

New "burning wall" effect when the Horta confronts Kirk. There was an odd bit of motion of the Horta when it first appears where they're moving a static picture of the Horta which then merges into the original footage.

By Observant on Thursday, January 30, 2003 - 11:47 am:

+ The piece of skin blasted off the Horta continues to pulsate, as if it is still alive. +

I actually thought that was kind of cool, similar to the way a severed earthworm continues to move about (not that that's my idea of a good time, mind you!).

What struck me about that scene was how Spock and Kirk immediately held the thing, after Spock commented how the creature emitted highly corrosive acid. That's a bit like placing one's hand on a stove burner to see if it's hot!

By Adam Bomb on Wednesday, March 26, 2003 - 11:13 am:

+ Schmitter talks with a bit of a New Yawk accent. +

The Schmitter character seemed right out of some old sci-fi-movie of the '50's, i.e. Earl Holliman in 'Forbidden Planet' ("No beer, no women, no pool parlors, nothin'!"). Some old 'rocket to mars' type of movie that I saw once had a Schmitter-type type fellow in it. They usually fit in great in war movies of the past, but in old sci-fi, they stand out now like Popeye with a sore thumb.

What were those things the miners were wearing on their collars?

What was that big white spikey thing on Vanderberg's table? It almost looked like an unfinished, unpainted version of that Klingon emblem on Kor's wall in 'Errand of Mercy'.

Those chairs at that table look extremely uncomfortable!

That wall alarm in Vanderberg's office didn't seem to have any other function than to indicate a reactor problem. I guess they were worried about that old PXK all along! And if I remember my youth, wasn't the reactor alarm sound the same sound used in the ST animated series' red alert?

The Vanderberg actor (whose name I forget, my memory isn't what it used to be) did a good job of making that office HIS office. You could tell by his stride and stance that he was no visitor.

Ed Appell had a chip on his shoulder from the get-go. One almost had to wonder if Appell was unknowingly exposed to some Zienite (sp.) down in the mines!

I wonder how long it was between the time of the first miner death and the fiftieth; you'd have thought that after even just the sixth or eighth inexplicable death Van Den Burg would have asked for help, but surely by the TWENTIETH or THIRTIETH deaths he'd have been freaking out! It might explain why he and Appel are so hostile, if the 10th to 50th death occurred in a matter of a week or so.

Does the Horta have a religion? In the mind meld Spock calls the humans 'devils'. Why would a creature of the deep rocks have a concept of a devil? In fact, how could it even accept the existence of other life forms other than its own kind? It's the only creature that can exist in rocks, so it shouldn't even be able to conceive of the humans as another life form, let alone 'devils', since humans bear absolutely no resemblance to the Horta form.

When the miners join the hunt Ed Appel arms himself with a steel club, instead of a phaser 1; does this make sense? He'd have to be less than a yard away from it to attack it, and somehow I think the Horta, rock hide notwithstanding, could be injured moreso from a heat ray than a metal bar impact. Violent guy, that Ed Appel.

I've seen the new mining colony matte painting on YouTube and I like it very much, as well as the melting rock/first Horta appearance.

The Vanderberg actor (whose name I forget, my memory isn't what it used to be)...
Ken Lynch. He played a New York police detective in a classic Honeymooners episode a decade earlier. It's the episode titled "Trapped," where Ralph witnesses a bank robbery. Check out his IMDB page; he had quite a career until he passed away in 1990.

Thank you, Adam Bomb. Once I got to the 'Ken' in the name it came back to me. Very distinctive voice, his. Sort of like Edgar (Green Acres, Petticoat Junction) Buchanan, in the sense that after hearing one word, you know who it is!

Wow, I can't believe I'm getting as old as I am..!

This episode had perhaps the biggest lineup of redshirts in Star Trek history, when Kirk is barking out orders to them in the hunt for the Horta.

And, Hal Lynch (don't know if they were related) played the Air Force guard that was accidentally beamed aboard in "Tomorrow Is Yesterday."

GREAT ENHANCED MOMENTS

New footage of the underground facility - complete with people walking about

New animation of the Horta burning a hole in the rocks when it enters the room where Kirk is standing

I wish I could have seen the new animation of the Horta burning a hole in the rocks, although what was done in 1967 wasn't bad!

Will S.: Janus VI is a mining facility serving half a dozen planets, and yet they only have puny phaser number ones? Just what are they using to dig up all those tunnels?
Was it established that the miners are using phasers to dig tunnels? It seems to be a tremendously inefficient way of mining. I know that TOS special effects depict things that have been "phasered" as simply vanishing, but we know that they're really being vaporized (in "That Which Survives," Kirk phasers a piece of diburnium-osmius alloy, and when it isn't affected, he speaks of it as surviving the "8,000 degree" temperature produced by his phaser). The rock "vapor" would need to be removed, just as the solid rock would. And rock can be broken down with cutting tools, using far less energy (esp. assuming that the 23rd century has more efficient cutting tools and motors to power them).

JAL: At one point, Spock says, "Mr. Scott has far more knowledge about nuclear reactors than I do." Seeing Spock is a Vulcan...a superior race to humans...does this statement make any sense at all?
Spock is not omniscient. It is possible that a human specialist (which Scott is) would know more in his area of specialty than Spock would.

Adam, I think Journey to Babel had the redshirts greeting Sarek!

No, Kirk, Spock, and McCoy were standing outside the hangar deck. We don't see who greets Sarek on the hangar deck.

Check your tape!, or they cut it out.

I don't have a tape, I was working from memory. If I'm wrong, cool... I have no problem with that.

[followup on JtB]

Next week's remastered episode is "The Devil in the Dark", with "The Trouble with Tribbles" the following weekend.

The pull-out charts of the Janus 6 plant seem mighty primitive for the 21st, let alone the 23rd, century. HD video displays would seem more appropo.

It's an old station. They probably haven't got the resources or time to upgrade

I was a little disapointed when Kirk entered the hatchery in the remastered version. I expected to see a wide shot of the place showing what it looks like, instead of the familiar shot of Kirk looking around at what his expression indicated was an impressive vista.

The title of this episode is deliciously ambiguous. The Devil it refers to could of course be the Horta prowling the mine and killing the miners, but it could just as well refer to the humans themselves, monsters destroying the eggs with their machines and killing thousands of the Horta's children.

LUIGI NOVI on Sunday, May 27, 2001 - 1:30 am: There's never been an invisible person, but we know an invisible person would be blind, because the light needs to be absorbed by the eye. Being invisible, the eye would be transparent, and light would pass through it (Unless the person had the ability to control which part of his eyes he made invisible, and kept his eyes visible, though this might defeat any practical purpose of it.) A lot of nitpicking uses such theoretical projection and theorizing.

In Episode 5 of Series 1 of his series Sci Fi Science,(http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1591389/combined) Dr. Michio Kaku investigated ways of making a person invisible, and came up with the concept of a close fitting suit, made from a light deflecting material, with beam splitters behind pin-holes in the eye patches of the mask. These would divert some of the light to the person's eyes, allowing them to see WITHOUT making the eyes visible.

One thing about the Horta eggs. Obviously, the miners had examined them in some detail. They know their chemical composition for instance. And many of them had been broken by the mining equipment. Yet, no one had noticed the Horta embryos developing inside them?

Vandenberg kept one on his desk btw. It would have been fun to see his expression had the thing hatched before he was made aware of its true nature

And why did the Horta let him keep it? Shouldn't it have gone to recover it?

As they begin their search, Spock adjusts his tricorder to detect silicon based life. He does locate such a creature and quite accurately pinpoints its location. Why didn't he call the other people in the search party to alert them of that position? Might have prevented the needless death of a red shirt.

And why was he the ONLY one using a tricorder to look for the creature? It's not like those things are in short supply.

Scott says that he could improvise a circulating pump that would last about 48 hours, with a bit of luck. However, watching the progress of the search, the device fails MUCH earlier than 48 hours. I don't believe Scott COULD be that wrong about one of his estimates.

Spock says that killing the Horta, the last of its race, is a crime against science.

How come he was so eager to killed the Salt Vampire then. It was the last of its race.

(Fomerly Nit Breaker)
Tim McCree (Tim_m) on Wednesday, October 03, 2018 - 5:52 am:

Spock says that killing the Horta, the last of its race, is a crime against science.

How come he was so eager to killed the Salt Vampire then. It was the last of its race.

The Horta isn't actually the last of it's race. Besides, Spock's human half may be expressing regret over killing the Salt Vampire - even though it was killing crew members!

Yes, but, at that point, Spock didn't know that the Horta wasn't the last of its race.

Interesting that both the Horta and the Salt Vampire weren't killing just for the heck of it. Both were doing it out of desperation (the Horta to protect her young, the Salt Vampire for survival).

However, as you said, the Horta was not the last one, but, they didn't find that out until later in the episode.