Star Trek
And the Children Shall Lead
TV Flash files “And the Children Shall Lead” as hour 59 of 79 in the TV Flash guide — Star Trek (1966–1969) on NBC, season 3, episode 4, aired 1968-10-11, 60 min.
From the desk
How this hour is filed
This leaf is S03E04: listed hour 59 of 79 in the Star Trek guide, hour 4 of 24 in season 3. It aired 1968-10-11 (60 min). The listed hour before it is “The Paradise Syndrome” (S03E03). Next is “Is There in Truth No Beauty?” (S03E05).
Catalog log
Broadcast listing — not a TV Flash recap.
A group of orphaned children under an alien's control take over the minds of the Enterprise crew.
Viewer FAQ
Where does And the Children Shall Lead sit in the Star Trek guide?
S03E04 is listed hour 59 of 79 — hour 4 of 24 in season 3, season 3 episode 4.
When did Star Trek S03E04 air?
And the Children Shall Lead aired 1968-10-11 and is listed at 60 minutes.
Where should I start if I have never seen original Star Trek?
The aired opener is “The Man Trap,” but many first-timers prefer “Where No Man Has Gone Before,” the second pilot and a cleaner crew contract. Either is fair. Do not start at season three.
In the series
Why this series still plays
Watch it for the fandom operating system still running: letter campaigns that saved a starship, ship wars before we had the word, and hours the timeline still litigates. Cancelled is not dead if the group chat refuses to log off.
So about last night's group chat: someone said "The Man Trap" is a fake start, someone else dropped a Kirk/Spock still captioned canon, your honor, and a third person announced that season three is optional like that is a personality. This is not new discourse. This is 1966 with better lighting and worse sleep. NBC tried to bury a space opera on a Friday, then a Tuesday, then wherever the schedule could hide a show it did not understand. The audience refused to log off. (I said spoiler-free. I lied a little: the…
Filed against
- William Shatner as Capt. James T. Kirk
William Shatner’s Capt. James T. Kirk commanded Star Trek into cancelled immortality — fandom’s founding text, letter campaigns, conventions, ship wars before we had the word, and the doctrine that dead shows can live forever. Staccato…
- Leonard Nimoy as Spock
Leonard Nimoy’s Spock is Star Trek’s coworker who will not do small talk — a cancelled space opera that invented the fandom operating system. Letter campaigns, conventions, ship wars, the doctrine that cancelled can still mean immortal.…
- DeForest Kelley as Dr. Leonard McCoy
DeForest Kelley’s Dr. Leonard McCoy was Star Trek’s group chat that said the quiet part — ship’s doctor as workplace heat on a cancelled space opera that refused to die. Letter campaigns, conventions, ship wars before we had the word. TV…
- Nichelle Nichols as Uhura
Nichelle Nichols’s Uhura is Star Trek’s communications officer as a fandom operating system — bridge presence that letter campaigns and convention culture refused to let NBC bury. Original Trek invented ship wars before we had the word;…
- James Doohan as Scotty
James Doohan’s Scotty is Star Trek as the miracle in the engine room — a cancelled space opera’s practical magic, beamed up from a three-season NBC run that fandom refused to let die. Conventions, letter campaigns, and the idea that…