50th Anniversary TOS Episode Discussion Marathon

[Nate the Great]

March 9th, 1967, "The Devil in the Dark"

Fiver (by Wowbagger)
Transcript
Memory Alpha

The episode:

* If the Horta has killed fifty people, and it's known that a person left alone with one phaser isn't enough, why are they still leaving single people alone with one phaser?
* Sure, the mineral deposits here are important to planets all over the Federation, but that doesnt' justify sending men to die on a daily basis when "let's evacuate the planet" is an option.
* Let's talk about the implausibility of Horta physiology here. Let's accept that a Horta excretes acid, dissolves the rock around it, then "licks up" the acid and dissolved metal for nourishment. Fair enough. Too bad the episode features precision burning that is blatantly impossible given this hypothesis. Are we to believe that Hortas have tentacles that they can extend for this kind of thing?
* Even if the Horta has a tentacle that doesn't excrete acid, how could it take the pump without crushing it? In its natural habitat it would only encounter and know how to handle rock, sand/gravel, and magma, none of which are anything like a pump.
* I never did like the scene where Spock says that it's extremely unlikely that both he and Kirk will be killed if they go together? How did he arrive at that conclusion? Even if you posit a tentacle for precision killing, the Horta has no reason yet to treat any opponent different from another.
* McCoy is great in this episode. He's not a bricklayer, but he can cure a rainy day!

The fiver:

Kirk: Sneaking, sneaking, la la la la la...
Spock: Sir?
Kirk: An ancient song of Enterprise crewmen, Spock. It's at least 114 years old.

Is this a reference to an Enterprise fiver?

There are Shakespeare references all over the fiver, I won't repeat all of them. Wowwy, what's the connection?

Memory Alpha:

* Only TOS teaser without any main characters.
* Gene Coon had to alter the Horta to be silicon-based instead of the prior version. Silicon Avatar and androids aside, I remember Isaac Asimov writing about the possibilities of silicon-based life because silicon is the element below carbon.
* First appearance of "I'm a doctor, not a X." This far in?
* First appearance of the standard planetary jumpsuits. I can't help but think that this is incorrect, they must've shown up earlier.

YouTube:

* Spock's mind-meld with the Horta. I'm not fond of episode after episode establishing Vulcans as touch-telepaths, only to have cases where Spock can link without physical contact.
* The ending, including the fact that Hortas like Vulcan ears.
* An ornament of Spock's mind-meld, along with "No Kill I."