60. And the Children Shall Lead FORMULA: Miri + Charlie X + Wolf in the Fold
WHY WE LIKE IT: Some of the "inner beasts" are interesting, and there's a chilling moment or two.
WHY WE DON'T: Torpid storytelling, bad writing, some annoying kids, and a boring villain.
REVIEW: And the Children Shall Lead commits the worst possible crime for an episode of Star Trek - it's woefully boring. The story starts off badly with the planet set looking cheaper and more artificial than usual, and from there, it doesn't get much better. There's just so much fist-shaking I can take before turning the television off, after all. The kids here sometimes give off an effective "Village of the Damned" vibe, but not always, and their leader, the Gorgan, is Boring with a capital B. Because of the special effects, the actor couldn't move around, I understand that, but his dialogue delivery becomes nothing more than a drone to me, a repetitive drone.
I do think that some of the moments work well. For example, when they beam personnel into space thinking they're still in orbit around Triacus. That's pretty chilling. When the children force the adults to confront their greatest fears, there are also some interesting character moments. Uhura's fear of ageing is particularly notable after last season's immortality scare in I, Mudd. Scotty's love of his instruments is well played, and though Chekov's reliance on orders is a bit obvious, it is effective as well. Sulu's funky space knives are fun, but on the ridiculous side. No more so, however, than Kirk's over-performance of his fear of losing command. Not a stellar scene for Shatner.
Unfortunately, once the episode has made a point, it makes that point again... and again... and again. We return over and over again to the space knives illusion, to Uhura's aged reflection, to Tommy pounding his fist... The episode could probably have lasted 30 minutes without all that padding. Same for the repetition of the nursery rhyme and much of the Gorgan's dialogue (when he wasn't just blathering on as I fought to keep my eyes open). And though it doesn't end on too light a note (by the series' standards), McCoy's final scene where's he's happy to see children cry just smacks of rushed writing.
LESSON: Children should be seen and not heard... and sometimes not even seen.
REWATCHABILITY - Low: Dull, dull, dull! It's really sad that what little development the secondary characters will get this season comes from this story.
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