61) And the Children Shall Lead

Enterprise Incidents with Scott and Steve

The Enterprise responds to a distress call from a Federation outpost on the planet Triacus, only to arrive and find that the entire research team is dead from apparent suicide. What could have caused this? Only the surviving children know for sure, but they're too wrapped up in playing "Ring Around the Rosie" to care about their dead parents. After beaming back to the Enterprise, Captain Kirk discovers that the children are acting as a conduit to spread an evil force across the galaxy, and that force has incapacitated the entire crew from doing anything stop it. And so it goes with "And the Children Shall Lead," which has been widely panned for decades as one of the worst episodes of the entire series. But after producing four strong episodes in a row, how could the third season have taken such a big nosedive, and so quickly? Turns out it was a perfect storm of having a first-time "Star Trek" writer and a first-time "Trek" director being overseen by a new producer who didn't really get what "Star Trek" was all about. And then there was the ill-advised casting of attorney Melvin Belli in the key role of the "friendly angel." Though other fine episodes would soon follow, "And the Children Shall Lead" deserve its notorious reputation as the nadir of "Star Trek," and it sadly marks the beginning of the end of a once-great series.

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