Wow was this a trainwreck.
While some other episodes of TOS pushed the boundaries of goofy to fun(trouble with tribbles) others were absolute disasters such as this one or Spock's brain for comparison. Now I would like to state that this is in my opinion the worst episode of TOS and possibly even the entire franchise.
The basic plot is, Kirk and the gang are sent to a planet to retrieve a group of children whose parents committed mass suicide, the kids however seem entirely unfazed by the recent death of their parents and are almost glad they're dead(or if you want to be more analytical are in denial). We soon learn that the kids are in contact/under control of a mysterious alien spirit angel??I honestly don't know, what I do know is that this mysterious alien is played by a real life famous attorney in his acting debut, which apparently from what I know of the story was a publicity stunt by the producers to increase the amount of viewers. Anyway the evil angel lawyer convinced the kids that they need to go to a federation colony so that he can spread his influence and take over the galaxy(Yes he tells the kids he wants to take over the galaxy, but hey kudos to the evil angel lawyer, real ambitious), he in turn promises to the kids that basically he will tear down the fabric of society and plunge the galaxy into anarchy, so yay no bedtime. Now(and this is when it starts to get really ridiculous) the kids manage to fool the crew into heading to the federation colony by pumping their fists at them which makes them see silly illusions and apparently lowers the crews iq. So it's up to Kirk to stop these damn kids and yet while seeing them nearly kill him several times, Kirk refuses to do any thing to the kids! I mean you don't have to lock them up in the brig or anything but at least confine these demon brats to quarters! So while a bunch of illusion nonsense goes on Kirk eventually shows the kids that they were happy with their parents and gets them to accept their parents death. This in turn destroys the evil angel lawyer.
Now while a lot of reviewers connected to this by watching as kids, and I get that, and while they did attempt to pass the message that evil cannot spread without followers, and that children are more susceptible to become said followers. They did so in such a horrendous and laughable way that I swear to god I thought I was having a stroke halfway through. The acting was all acceptable with the exception of the actual lawyer which is to be expected, but the plot and ridiculously annoying kids and fist pumping had me in pain all the way throughout, I do not recommend it.
While some other episodes of TOS pushed the boundaries of goofy to fun(trouble with tribbles) others were absolute disasters such as this one or Spock's brain for comparison. Now I would like to state that this is in my opinion the worst episode of TOS and possibly even the entire franchise.
The basic plot is, Kirk and the gang are sent to a planet to retrieve a group of children whose parents committed mass suicide, the kids however seem entirely unfazed by the recent death of their parents and are almost glad they're dead(or if you want to be more analytical are in denial). We soon learn that the kids are in contact/under control of a mysterious alien spirit angel??I honestly don't know, what I do know is that this mysterious alien is played by a real life famous attorney in his acting debut, which apparently from what I know of the story was a publicity stunt by the producers to increase the amount of viewers. Anyway the evil angel lawyer convinced the kids that they need to go to a federation colony so that he can spread his influence and take over the galaxy(Yes he tells the kids he wants to take over the galaxy, but hey kudos to the evil angel lawyer, real ambitious), he in turn promises to the kids that basically he will tear down the fabric of society and plunge the galaxy into anarchy, so yay no bedtime. Now(and this is when it starts to get really ridiculous) the kids manage to fool the crew into heading to the federation colony by pumping their fists at them which makes them see silly illusions and apparently lowers the crews iq. So it's up to Kirk to stop these damn kids and yet while seeing them nearly kill him several times, Kirk refuses to do any thing to the kids! I mean you don't have to lock them up in the brig or anything but at least confine these demon brats to quarters! So while a bunch of illusion nonsense goes on Kirk eventually shows the kids that they were happy with their parents and gets them to accept their parents death. This in turn destroys the evil angel lawyer.
Now while a lot of reviewers connected to this by watching as kids, and I get that, and while they did attempt to pass the message that evil cannot spread without followers, and that children are more susceptible to become said followers. They did so in such a horrendous and laughable way that I swear to god I thought I was having a stroke halfway through. The acting was all acceptable with the exception of the actual lawyer which is to be expected, but the plot and ridiculously annoying kids and fist pumping had me in pain all the way throughout, I do not recommend it.