Episode of the Week : And the Children Shall Lead
- Thread starter Botany Bay
- Start date
I didn't think this episode was very good.
How did Melvin get the job anyway if he wasn't an actor?
JB
JB
Well the job called for a character that was slimy, deceitful, untrustworthy, a manipulator, a liar, a cheat, and would suck the life out of you.
Sounds like a lawyer to me.
Sounds like a lawyer to me.
Good question. The word is he was looking to appear on TV, and when Freiberger found out, he thought it would be a way to generate publicity for the show.
In interviews about this show though, nobody behind the scenes will admit to approving of the casting...which is understandable! The regular actors certainly weren't impressed.
Alec Peters' time was still decades in the future.
Did your boss like to say "Death to you all?"I love this episode, mostly because Melvin Belli looks like a crazy boss at a job I once had. Every time I watch this episode, I see my former boss controlling the kids and trying to take over the ship!
Kor
I always thought that the part about the redshirts who got inadvertently beamed into space was an effectively chilling moment.
Especially in a monotone, uncaring way.
There's actually a few scenes that are good, that one, of course, and the teaser really actually seems like it's very good, good set up, spooky and tragic, but the biggest tragedy is it didn't tease a good episode.
I found it quite unpleasant and a bit scary as a kid I remember!
JB
JB
Alternative Factor is far off the bottom of the list and Plato is either the worst along with Whom Gods Destroy or not but And The Children is far above both those two rascals!
JB
JB
Oh, gods, not people trying to claim Plato's is the worst episode again.
When the show starts, it seems like they're going to go for something really deep and meaningful regarding people dealing with childhood trauma, then it suddenly becomes a Stephen King made-for-TV movie. That's the one thing about STAR TREK, it brings up some very novel concepts, always, only to present them as TV tropes of some kind. Nothing ever gets investigated. No meaningful solutions are ever offered. It's like, "hey ... if we just kill this evil villain, then everybody's troubles are finally over."
I think there is an interesting point in ATCSL how the kids use the crew members' personal fears to control them. Uhura's fear of aging, Kirk's of losing control of the ship etc.
Think how politicians or advertisers use fear to manipulate?
How do you think ATCSL compares to The Midwich Cuckoos or The Omen which also use the theme of adults being slow to react to the danger coming from something in the form of a child?
Think how politicians or advertisers use fear to manipulate?
How do you think ATCSL compares to The Midwich Cuckoos or The Omen which also use the theme of adults being slow to react to the danger coming from something in the form of a child?
It might have been more effective (and less annoying) if there was just one child, and of this lot I would have cast Pam Ferdin to play the creepy kid. Instead of being compared to "Miri," it would then be compared to "Charlie X." And with some other changes, it could have been pretty good.
I recall reading that Fred Freiberger supposedly said of AtCSL, "This show is going to be what Miri should have been!" And cast thought highly of "Miri" (as do I; it's a hated episode I like), and they took offense.
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