Product Details

• Actors: William Shatner, Leonard Nimoy
• Writers: Gene Roddenberry
• Producers: Douglas S. Cramer
• Format: Closed-captioned, Color, HiFi Sound, NTSC
• Number of tapes: 1
• Studio: CBS Paramount International Television
• VHS Release Date: April 15, 1994
• Run Time: 46 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 2.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• ASIN: 6300213633
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #255,607 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

The Enterprise arrives at a distant research outpost to find all the adults dead and their children eerily cheerful. No sooner are they aboard the ship than the children begin taking over, using strange powers bestowed on them by a malevolent "friendly angel." The kids make for an engagingly creepy episode as they alter the crew's perceptions to play on their worst fears, all with angelic smiles on their faces. Kirk's stiff-necked nature is well played against the manic playfulness of the kids, and legendary attorney Melvin Belli (who enjoyed a moderately busy acting career in the late '60s) does an interesting turn as the smooth-talking angel. --Jeff Shannon

From the Back Cover

The Enterprise arrives at Triacus to find the adults dead, their children less than interest in the fact, and a monstrously evil life-form that is using the children to invade the galaxy.

TREK TRIVIA
Famed attorney Melvin Belli (whose clients included Errol Flynn, Jack Ruby and Lenny Bruce) appears as Friendly Angel/Gorgan, while the role of little Steve O'Connel is played by Belli's real-life son, Caesar (now a partner in his father's firm).
Notice that there is a new rec room in this episode. It had been used in "Elaan Of Troyius" but was edited out of the show.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars One of the Best Episodes Ever, May 14, 2002

By 

Inshalla Kensington - See all my reviews

This review is from: Star Trek - The Original Series, Episode 60: And The Children Shall Lead [VHS] (VHS Tape)

Possibly the most intelligent and daring episode (no babes, no explosions) of all three seasons. It is quintessential Star Trek; searing social commentary disguised as `entertainment', which still "goes over the head" of most viewers, even today. Written by Edward Lakso (whose credits include Mission Impossible, Wild Wild West, Rockford Files, Barnaby Jones, Air Wolf), the plot describes the rise and fall of the Nazi Youth movement, where impressionable teens were encouraged to denounce their parents, swear allegiance to a charismatic govt official and propel his rise to power. Apparently Lakso had been observing China... because when this episode aired in 1968, Mao Tse-tung's Cultural Revolution was two years old, unleashing the identical, devastating, social anarchy. It was if an "angel of evil" (named `Chaos' in this episode) had hibernated after WWII, only to re-appear and initiate the same cycle of destruction, in a different country. In true Biblical, Greek, or Star Wars mythological style, Kirk is forced to confront and subdue his own "beast within" before tackling the external enemy, and exposing the `beautiful' angel for what he is; ugly naked Greed, exploiting innocent minds with the complicity of the "silent majority". If this episode makes you uncomfortable, don't blame it on the primitive production values; look inside yourself and think.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Not one of the better episodes, January 24, 2001

By 

jasenao (Dothan, Alabama, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Star Trek - The Original Series, Episode 60: And The Children Shall Lead [VHS] (VHS Tape)

Captain Kirk and the crew beam to a planet and find many adults dead, but all the children are lively and running around and playing like nothing ever happened. Kirk decides to take them onboard the Enterprise, but he might regret it because soon the children will be taking orders from their 'friendly angel' and then they will make some of the Enterprise crew see things such as knives and swords flying at the ship, by pumping their fists.

Plotwise, "And The Children Shall Lead" is one of the worst episodes of Star Trek - The Original Series. It doesn't have much of anything else working for it either, it's not exciting and it's not even all that interesting. I give the episode two stars instead of just one because it had a good ending even if it was a not so good episode. I don't recommend getting "And The Children Shall Lead" unless you're a major Star Trek fanatic and you absolutely have to have all the episodes in your collection because it's far from being one of the best episodes.

5.0 out of 5 stars Highly Underrated, May 14, 2009

By 

Lokai (Ohio, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Star Trek - The Original Series, Episode 60: And The Children Shall Lead [VHS] (VHS Tape)

If you are going to watch an episode dealing with children, make it this one. By exposing the "beautiful" angel, Kirk shows how easy it is for sinister people to exploit innocent minds. This episode successfully demonstrated how weak evil leaders are without followers. Like Spock said, "Without followers, evil cannot spread". Not bad for an episode dealing with children. Season Three is kicking butt! Shame on you who bash the Third Season!