And the Children Shall Lead

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Star Trek: TOS episode
"And the Children Shall Lead"
Image:STChildLead.jpg
The children of the Starnes expedition
Episode no. 59
Prod. code 060
Remastered no. 26
Airdate October 11, 1968
Writer(s) Edward J. Lakso
Director Marvin Chomsky
Guest star(s) Melvin Belli
Caesar Belli
Craig Hundley
James Wellman
Pamelyn Ferdin
Mark Robert Brown
Brian Tochi
Lou Elias
Jay D. Jones
Paul Baxley
Dick Dial
Eddie Paskey
Frank da Vinci
William Blackburn (actor)
Roger Holloway
Year 2268
Stardate 5029.5
Episode chronology
Previous "The Paradise Syndrome"
Next "Is There in Truth No Beauty?"

"And the Children Shall Lead" is a third season episode of Star Trek: The Original Series, and was broadcast October 11, 1968. It is episode #59, production #60, written by Edward J. Lakso and directed by Marvin Chomsky.

Overview: The crew of the Enterprise rescues a group of children stranded on a planet, along with their evil "imaginary" friend.

[edit] Plot

On stardate 5029.5, the starship USS Enterprise intercepts a distress call from the planet Triacus, where a scientific expedition is located. Arriving at the planet, Captain Kirk, Dr. McCoy, and Mr. Spock beam down to investigate. They find the expedition leader, Professor Starnes, has gone insane; he almost immediately dies. The other adult members of the team apparently committed suicide. However, the expedition's five children (led by Starnes' preteen son Tommy) remain alive and well, continuing to play as if nothing happened.

Recordings made by Prof. Starnes explain that the survey team were driven to suicide to escape what Starnes called "the enemy from within." The landing team buries the dead adults. The children continue to appear emotionless toward the loss of their families. After the funeral, the children and Dr. McCoy beam to the Enterprise while Kirk and Spock investigate a nearby cave where Spock has been getting anomalous readings on his tricorder. Once inside, Kirk finds himself in the throes of an anxiety attack which abates the instant he leaves the cave. He speculates the anxiety may be caused by the same phenomenon that is causing the unusual tricorder readings.

McCoy speculates that the children witnessed the shocking deaths of their parents and are now suffering temporary lacunar amnesia. They are temporarily unaware of what has happened and incapable of grieving. He warns that confronting them with the truth too soon could damage them psychologically, and that it would be best to wait until they begin to remember in the natural way. Over bowls of ice cream, Kirk tries to talk to them and they reveal that they did not like living on Triacus and were resentful their parents wanted to stay. Kirk tries to ask more questions but the children begin to chant "busy busy busy" and rudely ignore him.

The children are assigned quarters, and once they are left alone, they form a circle and begin to perform a summoning ritual, chanting: Hail, hail, fire and snow, call the angel, we will go, far away, for to see, friendly angel come to me. Answering the call, a humanoid apparition forms appearing as a richly dressed man who is surrounded by a green glow. He tells the children they have completed their "first step"; he encourages them to take over the Enterprise and change its course to the planet Marcus XII. There he promises the children will be happy, living without responsibilities or rules, once they are with the others of his kind.

On the bridge, Tommy asks Kirk to take him and his friends to Marcus XII, explaining that he has relatives there. Kirk denies the request and tells him the plan is to take the children to Starbase 4 where their relatives will be contacted. Kirk and Spock watch a recording from Prof. Starnes who documents the onset of paranoia and anxiety among his staff just after the recent excavation of a new archaeological site. Just then, Tommy concentrates deeply and uses a series of gestures made with his clenched fist to telekinetically disrupt the playback.

Kirk and Spock leave the bridge to watch the tape elsewhere. Tommy stays behind and observes Mr. Sulu and Mr. Chekov at the helm. He telepathically forces Sulu and Chekov to change course -- they believe they're still orbiting the planet. Lt. Uhura notices they've left orbit, but before she can say anything, Tommy gives her the same illusion.

In a briefing room, Kirk, Spock and McCoy watch the rest of Professor Starnes's recordings. Starnes speaks of doing things against his will and how he requested a transport with no apparent need of it. When he realized what was happening, he decided to send out a dispatch to Starfleet to warn them. Starnes closes the entry shouting, "Alien upon us, the enemy from within!"

Mr. Spock reports his findings on the history of Triacus that may be linked to the disturbances felt by the research expedition. Triacus was the ancient home of planetary marauders who fought wars throughout the sector thousands of years ago. The marauders were eventually defeated, but according to legend, the embodiment of their evil remained, and only needs some sort of catalyst to bring it alive again.

Kirk assembles two security members to beam down to the planet to relieve personnel looking over the excavation site. While attempting to beam up the first team, Kirk realizes the Enterprise has left orbit and that he has just had two men beamed into space.

Kirk rushes to the bridge to discover the children in the midst of their circling, chanting routine and the crew merely watching and smiling indulgently at the 'game'. The 'friendly angel' appears, encouraging them to maintain their control of the ship.

Kirk realizes the children have taken over. He attempts to regain control by issuing orders, but the bridge crew's minds have been affected in a variety of ways so that they can no longer hear or obey. Kirk fears that he has lost his ability to command, and his fear is amplified by Tommy's telepathic control. Spock manages to resist Tommy's influence and quickly leads Kirk into the elevator, reassuring him that he is indeed in command.

Once back on his feet, Kirk goes to auxiliary control to convince Chief Engineer Scott to put the Enterprise back on course, but Scott and his technicians are under the children's control as well and refuse to obey Kirk's commands. In the ensuing brief struggle, Kirk notices one of the children standing behind a screen making the same peculiar gestures. Spock says that the children are not evil, but are being used by an evil, alien power. In the corridor, they encounter Chekov, who believes he's received an order to arrest them. As they disable him, they notice one of the children nearby making the same gestures.

Back on the bridge, Kirk confronts the children and demands that their alien friend show himself. When the children refuse to call him, Kirk replays the audio chant. Gorgan appears and sneeringly describes his plan, saying that people who are full of goodness and gentleness are unworthy of being his followers and will always be vanquished by stronger forces.

Kirk plays back video recordings of the children playing with their families on the planet's surface, followed by a few shots of the dead bodies and the graves. The children realize what has happened, and Kirk implores them to see Gorgan as he truly is. The children begin to sob as their faith in Gorgan fails and the entity's face begins to decay. He fades away, chanting "Death to you all!"

With the evil gone, the illusions subside and control of the ship is restored. The Enterprise resumes course to the Starbase.

[edit] 40th anniversary remastering

This episode was digitally re-mastered in 2006 and first aired on April 14, 2007 as part of the remastered 40th Anniversary original series. It was preceded a week earlier by the re-mastered version of "The Immunity Syndrome" and followed a week later by the re-mastered version of "All Our Yesterdays". Video and audio have been digitally restored, and the episode features the all-CGI USS Enterprise that is standard among the revisions. Other changes to this episode include:

  • The planet Triacus was given a face lift to appear more realistic looking.
  • The coloration and sharpness of Gorgan's green glow has been enhanced. His hideous transformation in the end has been slightly modified as the scars on his face now partially fade in rather than progressing over a series of separate camera shots.

[edit] Production

In an interview with Sondra Marshak, published in Star Trek Lives (written by Jacqueline Lichtenberg, Sondra Marshak and Joan Winston), Leonard Nimoy explained that when he complained about the script to producer Fred Freiberger, Freiberger said, "This script is going to be what 'Miri' should have been." Nimoy objected, calling "Miri" a beautiful, well-acted story, and felt that Freiberger's comments were as much as saying, "'Miri' was a piece of trash."

In a portion of the recording which was left on the cutting-room floor, Starnes says the power started to influence the children, and the tape reveals a recording of the summoning chant the children sing to call their alien friend.[citation needed]

[edit] External links

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Last produced:
" The Enterprise Incident "		 Star Trek: TOS episodes
Season 3		 Next produced:
" Spock's Brain "
Last transmitted:
" The Paradise Syndrome "		 Next transmitted:
" Is There in Truth No Beauty? "