Charlie X

Charlie is an irritating youth, easily angered, who then likes to glower, his teenage tantrums and infantile temper, often lead to a display of his power. These powers are super-hero like, so he uses them to intimidate and threaten, but with or without these skills, his power to kill, he's still the most irritating cretin.

A notable episode, if for no other reason than Kirk's inability to explain why smacking the derriere of a lady you've just met is completely unacceptable, no matter when, where or by whom.

I really hated this episode as a teenager, and it's not hard to figure out why. The teenage "hero" is stereotyped as a big, spoiled baby. Charlie X acts like a weak, whiny brat, (as if all teenagers are like that) and he keeps sulking about how "being a grown up isn't everything" and how he could run the Enterprise if he had the chance. But he never shows any character, intelligence, or leadership. Even when he gets "magic powers" it only serves to underline the fact that he's still a child and not a man.

Now I'm fifty three, and in a way I feel almost nostalgic for this episode. I mean, Charlie X is exactly who I was at that age -- he's totally self-pitying, and he expects things to be handed to him. He has a wonderful role model in Kirk, (a lot better than my old man) but instead of trying to learn and taking his knocks he goes over the top and starts blasting people for no reason! Even Yeoman Rand tries to fix him up with a cute junior girl volunteer (who really was gorgeous, by the way) but Charlie doesn't want to know. Now that I'm in my fifties I no longer feel that Charlie is getting a raw deal. In fact in a lot of ways I think he gets off very lightly! The hard lesson of the show is that growing up means you have to stop thinking of yourself as a victim and start listening to what other people have to teach you.

Now all that is just one man's story, and probably not very interesting to most people. But I have to share something really funny about the way STAR TREK has changed. When I went out and bought the complete original series on Blu Ray, it was one of the happiest days of my life. It's been such a thrill watching all the old episodes in perfect condition! But some discs have these really annoying commercials to start them off. The disc with Charlie X on it has a trailer for one of the new, horrendously bad Star Trek movies -- the kind where a very spoiled, pouting James Dean lookalike (young Jim Kirk, if you please) is zooming around on his motorcycle, blowing off all the grown ups and their stupid rules (like the speed limit), and then suddenly he's in command of the Enterprise because "they" are blown away by his "potential."

I guess you could say Charlie X has got his revenge at last!

Every time Charlie scrunches his face up to use his "powers", I laughed inside a bit, it's some very canny acting, for sure, and a reminder of how different, tonally, sci-fi was in the 60s compared to today. This is great stuff, either way: the character of Charlie was well-written for what was needed and plays out well (if predictable...I've definitely seen this sort of character before, and he certainly didn't scare me). After a pilot and first episode with female-led guests (both as potential girlfriends for various members of the crew), I enjoyed seeing a male guest star whose romantic interactions are less successful than in previous episodes :-P

1st season, 2nd episode. The Antares spaceship rescues a 17-year old survivor named Charlie. Charlie was left alone on planet Thasus at the age of 3 years old and when the Antares finds him they quickly pass him off onto the crew of the Enterprise. Charlie is a psychic boy with a gift - to transmute objects. What happens next are some very strange occurrences when Charlie X gets angry or upset. What are Kirk, Spock and McCoy to do with a boy of such destructive power? What Charlie really needs is a father image but can Captain Kirk handle it?

A really interesting episode with Yeoman Janis Rand given a lot of screen time with Charlie very interested in her as a girlfriend. Kirk gets a chance to reluctantly play the role of Charlie's "adoptive father".

8/10

A strange young man is dropped off on the Enterprise. At first, he is just rude and childish. As time goes along, he begins to alienate the crew. The ship that left him off is destroyed. Signs are pointing to this kid having something to do with these things. As things play out, he becomes more and more impatient and reactionary. When laughed at during judo training, he makes his teacher disappear. He terrorizes the crew and needs to be controlled. Robert Walker, Jr. is startlingly spooky as Charlie. If one wants to find a bit of a comparison, think of the Twilight Zone episode where the little boy can send people off to a cornfield. People begin to speak to him differently because they are frightened. The use of creatures who know no bounds creates issues. The petulance of this person makes him ten times more terrifying. While it's an interesting episode, it depends on forces beyond the scope of the crew and the ship.