Shatner wrote in his memoirs that "The Devil in the Dark" was his favorite original Star Trek episode. He thought it was "exciting, thought-provoking and intelligent, it contained all of the ingredients that made up our very best Star Treks". In the documentary 50 Years of Star Trek, Leonard Nimoy also named "The Devil in the Dark" as an "interesting episode", stating "I thought [it] was a wonderful episode about the fear of the unknown, how we fear and even hate something that we don't know anything about, learn who your enemy is, and it's not, maybe then it's no longer your enemy." Critical In 2009, Zack Handlen of The A.V. Club gave the episode an 'A' rating, describing it as a classic and noting the well-written roles of Kirk, Spock and McCoy. In 2012, The A.V. Club ranked this episode as one of the top ten "must see" episodes of the original series. In 2017, Business Insider ranked "The Devil in the Dark" the 4th best episode of the original series. In 2012, Christian Science Monitor ranked this the eighth best episode of the original Star Trek. In 2013, W.I.R.E.D. magazine ranked this episode one of the top ten most underrated episodes of the original television series. In 2015, New York Public Library rated this episode as having Spock's fourth best scene in the show. In 2015, Tor.com called it "one of the greatest episodes" of Star Trek. In 2016, Vox rated this one of the top 25 essential episodes of all Star Trek. In 2016, Empire ranked "Devil in the Dark" 2nd in the top 50 episodes of all Star Trek. In 2017, Business Insider ranked "Devil in the Dark" the 4th best episode of the original series. In 2018, Collider ranked this episode the 10th best original series episode. In 2018, PopMatters ranked this the number one best episode of the original series. See also "Home Soil", the eighteenth episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation, where a naturally occurring crystalline lifeform is encountered HORTA—a backronym used in the mining industry, based on the Horta in this Star Trek episode References External links "The Devil in the Dark" Review of the remastered version at TrekMovie.com "The Devil in the Dark" Final draft with revisions dated January 6–18, 1967; report & analysis by Dave Eversole "The Devil in the Dark" Screenshots before and after remastering "The Devil in