And the Children Shall Lead
The children of a Federation colony are led astray by the "Friendly Angel," who has actually killed their parents. Given power to exact revenge, the kids forget their tragedy.
Those annoying tots from Miri are back. Not the same ones, but clearly present thanks to the same casting requirements. Annoying kids taking over the ship isn't quite enough to warrant a Bottom Five stamp, but the "beasts" push this over the edge. What was once a clever character-development device in The Naked Time now lacks any creativity, and what is presented is humiliating. The only "beast" that makes sense is Uhura, who has in the past feared losing her youth, but we would hope she has other concerns. Sulu's swords are bad, and Kirk's "losing command" is the worst. Given his stance, we can guess he not only fears losing command of the Enterprise but also his bladder. (Kind of a crass observation, yes, but too obvious not not write.) Eventually it just becomes mind control: what do Scotty and Chekov fear? We don't know. The solution is too simplistic to work against such a powerful being as the Angel, but hey, I guess if you stop believing in evil - er, nah. The producers are quite evil in inflicting this dreck on poor viewers.
Spock Saves the Day: Spock is the only one able to overcome the kids' mind control, and gets some sense back into Kirk. He also plays the tapes.
Oops: What's his "beast"? Can't touch the controls? Lazy writers . . .
Developments: One realistic bit in this otherwise bogus ep is that Spock can fight the children for control over his mind. He perceives something is not right and corrects it, demonstrating a high degree of mental discipline. Even Kirk, sometimes mysterious immune to such things, is hit hard. Spock restores his confidence with one word, "Jim."