Title: Charlie X
Airdate: 9/15/1966
Plot Summary
The cargo vessel Antares drops off a 17 year old kid named Charlie that they found as the only survivor of a crashed ship, apparently there since age 3. The Enterprise will take him to a colony where he can be with his nearest relatives.
Charlie has never been around humans so he doesn’t know any social norms, and as such is pretty obnoxious. He immediately crushes hard on Janice Rand making her quite uncomfortable. Kirk in the meantime has been put in charge of setting an example to Charlie, a job he really doesn’t want.
Charlie in the meantime begins doing odd things, giving Rand gifts he could not have possibly gotten from the ship’s stores and doing card tricks that are really impossible. At one point he spanks Janice Rand right on the butt to her immediate displeasure. More and more he appears to have little control over his temper but even less control over his crush. He confesses his love to Janice which makes her really uncomfortable and asks Kirk to deal with it.
Kirk decides to take Charlie to the gym and throw him around on the mat which turns out to be a really bad idea as one of the crewman laughs lightly at Charlie and gets whisked out of existence. At this point Charlie pretty much takes over the ship and forces them to take him to the colony. They realize he can’t go and need to stop him.
Charlie can only exert so much power over things and needs the crew to keep running the ship. They start turning on every piece of equipment they can until he’s rattled enough that the Thassians, the aliens that gave him the powers so he might live on their planet, arrive to pick him up. Charlie begs to stay, and Kirk tries to see if there’s a way but it’s hopeless. Charlie is taken from the Enterprise and the Thasians restore the damage that has been done by Charlie.
Risk Is Our Business
Kirk has to take on a father figure role for Charlie and makes a pretty fine mess of it, before realizing that Charlie is basically Q.
Logical
Spock gets his legs broke by Charlie and provides typical unemotional analysis.
He’s Dead Jim
McCoy and Spock have one of their trademark arguments, the first of its kind.
Canon Maker
This is the first appearance of Kirk’s green alternate uniform tunic, with the rank insignia on the shoulders rather than the wrists. McCoy wears his short sleeve medical tunic for the first time. The upside-down stair stepper/treadmill thing is introduced here.
The Jeffries tube is first seen in this episode, though not named yet.
Spock lyre is first seen and Uhura begins singing with him. Spock actually smiles while playing.
Canon Breaker
The crew of the cargo ship wear the same uniforms as seen in the pilot, a repurposing of what they had to be sure. Charlie also wears one throughout most of the episode.
After watching the interaction between Spock and Uhura singing plus Uhura clearly flirting with Spock in the Man Trap, I’m beginning to see where the idea of a Spock/Uhura relationship came from in JJ Abrams films. There was a reason it never went anywhere in the original series, it was a huge mistake to introduce it there.
Man It Feels Bad To Be A Red Shirt
While Janice Rand might’ve been the first female red shirt (skirt?) to be killed, all the disappeared crewmembers are restored. The Antares however is lost, so… Red Ship?
Technobabble
Apparently there’s a race that can give you their powers. Being 17 and basically a god is not a good combination. Charlie is able to transmute matter on a molecular level. He uses it to throw epic tantrums.
I Know That Guy:
Robert Walker plays the 17 year old Charlie Evans, even though he was 16 at the time. But because it’s the sixties and I assume everyone smoked and had leaded gasoline in their cars, he looks to be about 34.
What It Means To Be Human – Charlie X Review
Charlie X is not one I’ve watched a whole lot, it doesn’t quite hang together. But it does have some really superb moments. Charlie’s menace is very much like the Twilight Zone kid who could make anyone do anything he wants. At one point he tells a group of people seen only by their shadows on the wall to stop laughing and then one of the crew staggers out with no face. It’s pretty disturbing.
The God-child trope is well worn and done better but I still have to remind myself that this is 1966. It wasn’t a trope yet. So I can imagine it having a much better reception back then. The final moment of Charlie’s plaintive begging to stay, saying that the aliens have no bodies, no feelings, it’s like sending him back to hell. He can do anything but can’t be with his own kind, never to love or to live a normal life.
I know Picard was famous for being not great with children, but Kirk’s experiences with kids on this show is pretty damn woeful. Picard at least got better with Disaster. Kirk is legit terrible, yelling at him, thrashing him on the wrestling mat, and clearly not seeing that the kid has more problems than just being a naughty little boy. Of course once he realizes Charlie’s power, he shifts into full captain mode and handles things much better.
Once we get to that point and the Thasian’s come to take him, Kirk really makes a pretty half-hearted attempt to help the kid who is clearly desperate. Though it’s understandable given that there’s no way Charlie could live among humans with his power level. I will give Robert Walker props at the end for conveying Charlie’s desperate need to stay and making you feel for him. It’s a shame he plays Charlie far too unlikeable for the rest of the episode as a few little more sympathetic moments might’ve gone a long way.
Charlie X takes its time to get us there. It’s not the worst but it’s not one that lasts in your brain and certainly not the most rewatchable. Janice Rand takes a lot of time away from the main three and this is probably not the best thing at this stage of the series, especially when she eventually becomes a footnote in Trek canon.
Overall Charlie X has some good moments and could’ve been more, but it just seems a little half-hearted when it’s all said and done.
