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#60: Star Trek: The Original Series, season 3, episode 4 "And the Children Shall Lead"

Written by Edward J. Lakso, directed by Marvin Chomsky.

Stardates 5029.5 through 5041.1 (October 2268)

"The universe will be mine to command, yours to play in." - Gorgan

The Enterprise responds to a distress call form Triacus. When they beam down, they find the entire research team dead, except for one who appears to be paranoid and unable to recognize people before also dropping dead. They are survived only by their children, who are found playing together as though nothing has happened. Not only can Doctor McCoy not understand the motivation for what appears to be mass suicide on the researchers' part, but he is also confused and concerned by the childrens' inability to accept the reality of the situation. Even during a funeral for their own parents, the children can't sit still for a moment before running off to play again. Once back onboard the ship, Nurse Chapel arranges for the children to be cared for until they can be transferred to a Starbase. But they don't want to do anything but play. As Captain Kirk prepares the Enterprise to leave the planet, himself and other crewmembers start to exhibit the same symptoms as the researchers down on Triacus did before they killed themselves.

Originally released: 11 October 1968

"And the Children Shall Lead" on Memory Alpha (mirror)

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