American television writer and producer who wrote And the Children Shall Lead for the third season of the original Star Trek and later worked extensively on Charlie's Angels.
Edward J. Lakso wrote for American television from the 1960s onwards, with credits on Combat! and many other series, and later became a writer and producer on Charlie's Angels.
His single Star Trek script is And the Children Shall Lead. On the planet Triacus the Enterprise finds a scientific expedition dead by suicide and its children playing happily, untouched by grief. They are in thrall to Gorgan, a glowing being they summon by chanting, who gives them the power to turn the crew's fears against them and seize the ship. Kirk breaks his hold by showing the children recordings of their parents.
The trial lawyer Melvin Belli played Gorgan in a rare piece of guest casting from outside the acting profession.