And the Children Shall Lead ( episode ) A group of children on the Federation outpost Triacus , under the influence of an evil spirit , commandeer the " Enterprise . " Summary . Teaser . The responds to a distress call from the Starnes Expedition at the Federation outpost on the planet Triacus . But a landing party consisting of Captain Kirk , Spock and McCoy find a scattering of dead bodies . Just then , a group of children emerge from a cave and begin playing , singing " Ring Around the Rosie " near their parent ' s lifeless bodies . Act One . A log replayed from a tricorder supports McCoy ' s opinion that the event is a mass suicide . The log mentions an " enemy from within . " The scientists ' children , however , are unharmed – and oblivious to the death , unmoved even as the landing party buries their parents . They continue to play as though nothing happened . McCoy theorizes that this could be a psychological defense against trauma and warns Kirk against questioning them further . Captain Kirk and Spock believe the colony has been attacked , with the children deliberately excluded from the attack for an unknown reason . A strange tricorder reading leads Kirk and Spock into a nearby cave , where Kirk is struck by sudden anxiety , which subsides when he leaves the cave . Kirk has the children beam ed aboard the " Enterprise " , where Nurse Chapel serves them ice cream from the food synthesizer in the ship ' s arboretum . But McCoy can find no physical anomaly in the children , and Kirk cannot get them to discuss what happened to their parents . When the children are left alone , they chant to summon a " friendly angel " ( later referred to as Gorgan ) and he appears , congratulating them for getting rid of the adults on Triacus and telling them that they must take control of the " Enterprise " and travel to Marcos XII . Act Two . The children , with Gorgan ' s help , can exercise psychological control over adults . Scott sees in the auxiliary control room that his engineers have taken the " Enterprise " out of orbit , but they subdue him . By pumping their fists , the children exert mind control over Sulu , Chekov , Uhura and other crewmen to do their bidding . For example , at first Sulu , Chekov , and Uhura believe that they can see Triacus on the viewscreen even though the " Enterprise " is no longer orbit ing the planet . Kirk and Spock do not realize the starship is en route to Marcos XII until Kirk orders two additional security guards down to Triacus , who are instead beamed out into space . Kirk and Spock enter the bridge as the children summon Gorgan , revealing him to Kirk for the first time . Act Three . Gorgan does not address Kirk but merely warns the children that their " operation " has been discovered . Kirk makes the crew realize that they have left Triacus and the children plant new fears in them : Sulu sees rings of swords that will destroy the " Enterprise " if he even slightly changes course and Uhura sees not her console but herself as a disfigured , diseased , dying old woman . The children briefly take over Spock ' s mind and unleash Kirk ' s greatest fear , losing command of his ship , as every command he issues to Leslie is either disobeyed or heard as gibberish . Spock frees himself of the children ' s mind control and gets Kirk off the bridge to help him overcome his fear in a turbolift . They try to take control of the ship through the Auxiliary Control Center but Scott and the control center crew are now under the children ' s influence ; he and his engineers force them out . Outside auxiliary control in a corridor , Spock tells Kirk that so long as the children are present on the " Enterprise " , there is danger . Kirk doubts this , given that they are only children , but Spock also says that they are followers and without followers , evil cannot exist . He also says that if the evil inside the children is growing and if they cannot find a way to stop it , they will have to kill them , Kirk finishes for him . Just then , Chekov , Freeman , and another security officer corner Kirk and Spock , telling them that Starfleet has ordered their arrest . When Kirk resists , Chekov threatens to shoot him with his phaser . Act Four . Kirk again tries to reason with Chekov but under the influence of Tommy , Chekov tells his captain Starfleet Command supersedes his orders . Kirk and Spock defeat the delusional security team by fighting and with Vulcan nerve pinch es . Kirk has Spock escort Chekov , Freeman , and the security guard to the detention area and goes to the bridge . Upon arriving , Kirk finds Tommy sitting in his chair and forces him out of it to stand next to Mary . Kirk , together with Spock , summon Gorgan to the bridge by replaying a recording of the children ' s chant on a microtape and then challenge him . They show the children footage of themselves on Triacus , playing with their parents , followed by images of the parents lying dead , then by the headstones marking their graves . The children suddenly realize what they have done and begin to cry . McCoy is pleased that the children are finally showing authentic grief . Without the children ' s support , Gorgan morphs into a grotesque being with a face of drooping flesh as he disappears , shouting " " Death to you all ! " " As the ship nears Marcos XII , Kirk orders Sulu make a course change to Starbase 4 . Memorable quotes . " " Humans do have an amazing capacity for believing what they choose and excluding that which is painful . " " " " Parents like stupid things . " " " " It ' ll spoil your dinner . " " " " See what I told you ? They all say it . " " " " Hail , hail , fire and snow . Call the angel , we will go . Far away , for to see , friendly angel come to me . " " " " Captain , so long as the children are present , there is danger . " " " " As you believe , so shall you do , so shall you do . As you believe , so shall you do , so shall you do . " " " " Evil does seek to maintain power by suppressing the truth . " " " " Or by misleading the innocent . " " " " But most legends have their basis in fact , Spock . " " " " Without followers , evil cannot spread . " " " " Death to you all ! " " Background information . Remastered information . " And the Children Shall Lead " was the twenty - sixth remastered episode of the " The Original Series " to air . It premiered in syndication the weekend of and aside from the standard CGI replacement footage of the " Enterprise " , this episode most notably featured new effects shots of the planet Triacus . Links and references . References . angel ; anxiety ; Auxiliary Control ; bacteria ; banana ; bee ; bridge - control monitor ; bridge monitor screen ; bridge navigation system ; chant ; cherry ; child specialist ; chocolate ; chocolate wobble ; coconut ; cyalodin ; Epsilon Indi ; evaluation laboratory ; Federation ; fire ; food card ; freeze tag ; Friendly Angel ; food synthesizer ; general ; God ; grieving ; hail ( meteorology ) ; home video ; ice cream ; Janowski family ; lacunar amnesia ; Linden family ; Marcos XII ; mass suicide ; medical officer ; mental depression ; Milky Way Galaxy ; O ' Connel family ; patrol area ; peach ; pistachio ; population ; professor ; scientist ; snow ; Starbase 4 ; Starfleet Command ; Starnes Exploration Party ; Starnes family ; " Ring Around the Rosie " ; standard orbit ; Starfleet ; Starnes ' relatives ; suicidal anxiety ; swarm ; tape ; tour of duty ; Triacus ; Triacus marauder s ; tricorder ; Tsing Tao family ; United Federation of Planets ( UFP ) ; vanilla ice cream ; Vulcan ; Wilkins