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Charlie X Screenshots and Video

| July 16, 2007 | By: Matt Wright 61 comments so far

Charlie X (episode)

• View history

A powerful teenage boy wreaks havoc aboard the Enterprise .

• 1.2 Act One
• 1.3 Act Two
• 1.4 Act Three
• 1.5 Act Four
• 2 Log entries
• 3 Memorable quotes
• 4.1 Production timeline
• 4.2 Story and production
• 4.3 Performers
• 4.5 Props and special effects
• 4.6 Costumes
• 4.7 Continuity
• 4.8 Script vs. screen
• 4.9 Preview
• 4.10 Reception
• 4.11 Syndication cuts
• 4.12 Apocrypha
• 4.13 Remastered information
• 4.14 Video and DVD releases
• 5.1 Starring
• 5.2 Also starring
• 5.3 Guest star
• 5.4 Featuring
• 5.5 Uncredited co-stars
• 5.6 Stunt double
• 5.7 Stand-ins
• 5.8 References
• 5.9 Unreferenced material
• 6 External links

Summary [ ]

The USS Enterprise makes a rendezvous with the Antares , a small cargo ship . While investigating the planet Thasus , the Antares discovered an adolescent boy named Charles Evans , the sole survivor of a ship crash who has lived on his own since age three. Evans transfers to the Enterprise , which is on its way to Colony Alpha 5 , where Evans' only relatives live.

Captain Ramart and his navigator and first officer , Tom Nellis , are eager to be on their way after beaming aboard the Enterprise , even refusing Captain Kirk 's offer of Saurian brandy , as well as entertainment tapes . But they are also effusive in their praise of Charlie. Charlie interrupts Ramart and Nellis a couple of times, which prompts Kirk to say to him, " You keep interrupting, Mr. Evans. That's considered wrong. " Yeoman Janice Rand enters the transporter room and Kirk asks her to show Charlie to his quarters and to drop off his medical records at sickbay . Innocently, Charlie asks Captain Kirk if Yeoman Rand is a girl. " That's a girl, " the captain replies. Rand escorts Charlie out, much to Kirk's amusement.

Act One [ ]

Charlie's first crush – Yeoman Janice Rand

After a routine check-up by Dr. McCoy , Charlie attempts to learn and integrate, demonstrating the effect of his years away from all Human contact. At the same time, strange incidents occur in his vicinity. Charlie is also struggling mightily with adolescence and with his first crush – the Captain's beautiful yeoman – Janice Rand. After observing Crewman Wilson and a sciences division crewman slapping each other casually, Charlie does the same to Yeoman Rand's behind in a corridor , shocking her. Afterward, Rand advises Charlie to tell Captain Kirk or Dr. McCoy what he had just done and ask them for advice. Afterwards, in the Enterprise 's recreation room on deck three, Uhura is singing " Oh, On the Starship Enterprise " to a rapt Rand and other crew members. When Rand ignores Charlie's card tricks; he secretly uses his power to silence Uhura's voice, as well as the sounds coming from Spock 's Vulcan lute , so that he can have Rand's undivided attention. Charlie then proceeds with a few card tricks – such as turning cards face down, and then turning them over again to reveal color photographs of Rand on the playing side. This amuses Rand and others in the crew lounge, who applaud Charlie appreciatively.

Later, in a corridor, Kirk is advising a galley chef that on Earth today it is Thanksgiving , and if the crew of the Enterprise has to eat synthetic meat loaf , he wants it to look like turkey . Just then, Charlie arrives and tells Kirk of the trouble he had interacting with Rand earlier. Kirk awkwardly attempts to explain that men and women do things differently, but before he can elaborate further to Charlie, Kirk is asked to come up to the bridge by Uhura.

At extreme range, Captain Ramart attempts to contact the Enterprise and speak to Captain Kirk, but before he can say more than " I've got to warn… ", his ship is destroyed. Charlie advises Kirk that " It wasn't very well constructed, " a strange comment, since it comes before Spock actually confirms the Antares 's destruction.

Kirk is then hailed by the Enterprise 's chef , who tells the captain that he had put meatloaf in the ovens , but there are turkeys in them now – real turkeys. Charlie laughs at hearing this, then leaves the bridge abruptly, leaving Kirk feeling that Charlie is hiding something.

Act Two [ ]

" She's not the girl, Charlie "

Kirk and Spock are pondering the destruction of the Antares during a game of three-dimensional chess when Charlie walks in and asks to play. After defeating Spock in an "illogical approach" to the game, Kirk turns it over to Charlie, during which Spock easily beats him in two moves. When Charlie gets angry, Spock leaves and then Charlie uses his powers to melt the white chess pieces. Afterwards, Rand introduces Charlie to Yeoman Tina Lawton , who is near Charlie's age. Charlie ignores Lawton, hurting her feelings, after which Rand tells Charlie that he was rude to her. Charlie then makes his feelings known to Rand that he wants her and only her, which makes the yeoman feel very uneasy. Rand goes to the bridge and wants Kirk to have a talk with Charlie before she asks the young man to leave her alone, which will hurt his feelings. Calling Charlie to his quarters , Kirk takes pity on the young man and attempts to befriend him, taking him to the physical training room for some light sparring. Initially refusing to participate, Charlie falls awkwardly and prompts laughter from Sam , Kirk's sparring partner. Humiliated and angry, Charlie makes Sam disappear, revealing his powers.

Act Three [ ]

Kirk immediately calls for security to escort Charlie back to his quarters. But Charlie resists, knocking down the two security officers with his powers. One of them draws his phaser , but Charlie makes it disappear. However, he finally agrees to go to his quarters after Kirk tells the young man that he will personally pick him up and take him there himself if he does not. After Charlie and security leaves Kirk is informed by Uhura that all phasers on board the Enterprise have disappeared. Later, in the briefing room discussing Charlie to McCoy and Spock following the incident in the gymnasium, Kirk speculates that Charlie might be a Thasian , but McCoy doubts this based on his medical analysis results.

Uhura's communication console explodes

Charlie then enters and Kirk asks him outright if he was responsible for the Antares ' destruction. Confronted, Charlie admits to destroying the Antares by making a warped baffle plate in its energy pile "go away". He defends his action by claiming that the ship would have blown up anyway, and that the crew weren't nice to him and tried to get rid of him. He leaves and Spock tells Kirk and McCoy, " We're in the hands of an adolescent. "

Yeoman Lawton turned into an iguana

Charlie, his powers now common knowledge, takes over control of the Enterprise , starting with Charlie causing Uhura's communications console to explode, preventing Kirk from sending a distress signal and causing Uhura second-degree burns on her hands. He wants to go to Colony 5; Kirk knows that the mayhem he would create in that unstructured setting would be far worse than what he's done so far on the Enterprise . Charlie then begins his reign of terror. Passing Yeoman Lawton in the corridor, he turns her into an iguana . When he enters Rand's quarters with a pink rose - after he found out that pink was the yeoman's favorite color, Rand is in her nightdress and is shocked and angry that Charlie came in her room without knocking. When Rand asks Charlie what he wants, he says he only wants her. Rand is able to activate a communication device in her room. On the bridge, Kirk and Spock hear the conversation, and leave the bridge to rescue Yeoman Rand.

Act Four [ ]

Crew woman loses her face

Kirk and Spock rush to Rand's room and try to stop Charlie, but he throws them against the wall, and breaks Spock's legs in the process. A shocked and angry Rand slaps Charlie across the face, to which he responds by making her "go away." Charlie refuses to tell Kirk what he did to her. He then releases both Kirk and Spock after he realizes that he needs their help to run the Enterprise . Rigging a force field, the crew attempts to confine Charlie in his own quarters, but he makes the force field disappear. He then goes on a rampage, turning a young crewmember into an old lady, ordering a group of crew members to stop laughing by removing their faces. One of them - a woman - comes out into the corridor, groping the wall and still able to make vocal sounds and Charlie freezes another crewwoman as he walks past her.

A Thasian appearing on the bridge

Determined to stop Charlie before he can reach Colony 5, Kirk speculates that in taking over the ship, Charlie may have reached his limit. He therefore attempts, with the help of Spock and McCoy, to overload the boy's abilities by ordering all of the ship's systems to be activated.

In the midst of the struggle, a ship from Thasus appears. It is at this point that Charlie begs to stay with the Enterprise crew. The Thasians restore the Enterprise back to normal and return Yeoman Rand on the bridge, looking startled and confused. The Thasian explains to the bridge crew that they granted Charlie immense powers so he could live. The Thasian expresses regret at the loss of the Antares , but reassures Kirk that crew and ship have been fully restored to him. The Thasian also tells Kirk it would be impossible for Charlie to live a normal life with his own people, and despite Charlie's pleas to stay with the crew, the Thasians return him to their vessel and depart. Rand – with tears in her eyes – moves instinctively close to Kirk, seated in his captain's chair. As she leans on the chair, Kirk laments, " It's all right, Yeoman. It's all over now. " McCoy leads Rand from the bridge to her room as the Enterprise moves on in space.

Log entries [ ]

• Captain's log, USS Enterprise (NCC-1701), 2266

Memorable quotes [ ]

" You keep interrupting, Mr. Evans. That's considered wrong. "

" Is that a girl? " " That's a girl. "

" There's no right way to hit a woman. "

" If I had the whole universe, I'd give it to you. When I see you, I feel like I'm hungry all over. Hungry. Do you know how that feels? "

" Charlie, there are a million things in this universe you can have and there are a million things you can't have. It's no fun facing that, but that's the way things are. "

" Sir, I put meatloaf in the ovens. There's turkeys in there now. Real turkeys. "

" He's a boy in a man's body, trying to be an adult with the adolescence in him getting in the way. "

" There's a – Tyger, tyger, burning bright, in the forest of the night. "

" I'm trying to – Saturn rings around my head, don a robe that's Martian red. "

" Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered, weak and weary. " " Very nice, Mister Ears. "

" Growing up isn't so much. I'm not a man, and I can do anything! You can't. "

" Yeoman Rand? Is she dead, gone, destroyed?" " I won't tell you."

" I've waited long enough. I'm going to take him on! "

" I can make you all go away… anytime I want to! "

" Don't let them take me… I – I can't even TOUCH them! "

" I want to stay…stay…stay…stay… "

Background information [ ]

Production timeline [ ].

• Original story premise in Star Trek is... : 11 March 1964
• Story outline "Charlie Is God" by Gene Roddenberry : 23 April 1964
• Revised story outline: 28 August 1964
• Story outline "Charlie X" by Gene Roddenberry: 14 April 1966
• Story outline by Gene Roddenberry: 23 April 1966
• Story outline by D.C. Fontana : 27 April 1966
• Revised outline: 9 May 1966
• First draft teleplay by Fontana: 6 June 1966
• Second draft teleplay: 27 June 1966
• Staff rewrite: 30 June 1966
• Final draft teleplay by Gene Roddenberry : 5 July 1966
• Additional revisions: 11 July 1966 , 13 July 1966
• Day 1 – 11 July 1966 , Monday (Half Day) – Desilu Stage 9 : Int. Sickbay , Kirk's quarters
• Day 2 – 12 July 1966 , Tuesday – Desilu Stage 9 : Int. Corridors , Bridge
• Day 3 – 13 July 1966 , Wednesday – Desilu Stage 9 : Int. Bridge
• Day 4 – 14 July 1966 , Thursday – Desilu Stage 9 : Int. Recreation room (redress of Briefing room )
• Day 5 – 15 July 1966 , Friday – Desilu Stage 9 : Int. Transporter room , Janice Rand's quarters
• Day 6 – 18 July 1966 , Monday – Desilu Stage 9 : Int. Briefing room , Gymnasium (redress of Engineering )
• Day 7 – 19 July 1966 , Tuesday – Desilu Stage 9 : Int. Corridors (including Brig ), Tie-down vfx shot of Abraham Sofaer
• Score recording: 29 August 1966
• Original airdate: 15 September 1966
• Repeated: 1 June 1967
• First UK airdate (on BBC1 ): 13 September 1969
• First UK airdate (on ITV ): 13 September 1981

Story and production [ ]

• Gene Roddenberry had written a one-sentence synopsis of this episode on the first page of his original series outline for Star Trek under the title "The Day Charlie Became God." The page is reproduced in the Herbert F. Solow / Robert H. Justman volume Inside Star Trek: The Real Story , p. 125. Writer Dorothy Fontana also confirmed that the episode was based on that story idea. Fontana developed the story and wrote the teleplay, but Roddenberry received story credit. [1]
• This episode was originally scheduled to air further into the season, as all action took place aboard the Enterprise , and it was basically a teenage melodrama set in the space age, both of which elements NBC disliked. However, as it required no new outer space visual effects shots (actually all Enterprise shots are recycled from the two pilots), its post-production took less time than other episodes. It was chosen to be the second episode to air, out of necessity, as no other episodes were ready for the deadline. The Antares was originally to be shown on screen, but when the early airdate was commissioned, this was eliminated. ( These Are the Voyages: TOS Season One , p. 201)
• "Charlie X" was adapted for a novelization by James Blish . It was published in the first Bantam Books Star Trek novelization collection in 1967 under the name "Charlie's Law". (This name is a pun on Charles' Law , a law of physics dealing with how changes in temperature affect the volume of a gas. ( citation needed • edit ) )
• The opening credits of this episode are the same as those used in " The Man Trap ", which included a "Created by Gene Roddenberry" credit. The credits at the close of the episode only list Roddenberry as Producer. Also, the credits for William Shatner and Leonard Nimoy are missing the "starring" and "also starring" designations. This episode followed "The Man Trap" in airdate order. The main titles were standardized for syndication, however the DVD prints restore the titles to their original configuration.
• During the first-season episodes, cinematographer Jerry Finnerman was encouraged to maximize placement of colored background lighting to add exotic warmth to the gray walls of the Enterprise set. This was a major promotional point for NBC, as Star Trek was a selling point for color televisions. But as pressure to complete episodes grew, this touch gradually faded from the series. NBC was owned at the time by RCA, a major manufacturer of color television sets. ( Inside Star Trek , p. 113)
• This episode was directed by Lawrence Dobkin , who later guest-starred as Ambassador Kell in TNG : " The Mind's Eye ".
• DS9 writer/producer Ira Steven Behr says that this is the episode that "won him over." ( AOL chat , 1997 )

Performers [ ]

• James Doohan ( Scott ) and George Takei ( Sulu ) do not appear in this episode, although two words of Takei's dialogue from " The Man Trap " are dubbed in when Kirk calls the bridge from the gymnasium.
• The galley chef was voiced by Gene Roddenberry , in his first and only acting role in Star Trek . Despite having dialogue, Roddenberry remained uncredited on-screen.
• In her autobiography, Grace Lee Whitney mentions that Robert Walker , (a method actor), completely avoided the cast on the set, trying to stay alone and "in character". " He explained to us when he arrived to the set that he wanted to remain alien and apart from us – and it worked. You can see it in his performance, a subtle yet persistent air of estrangement from the Enterprise crew, and indeed from the rest of humanity. His careful effort to stay in character added a convincing dimension to his performance. " Furthermore, she added, " It's impossible to imagine anyone else in the role – he captured the perfect balance, projecting vulnerability, innocence and horrifying menace all the same time. A lesser actor could not have handled the range and depth of the character. " ( The Longest Trek: My Tour of the Galaxy , pp. 98-99)
• Fontana also praised Walker's performance, " [He] was excellent as Charlie. And he was quite a young man, he was in his twenties, but playing a teenager, he looked young enough to pull it off." [2]
• Allan Asherman , in The Star Trek Compendium , also mentions that Walker " turns in a powerful and fascinating performance ". (p. 39)
• The role of Sam was to be initially played by Beau Vandenecker , but it was eventually recast to Robert Herron . ( Per casting sheet ) Herron was a stuntman, so it was cheaper to hire him as an actor/stuntman.
• Although it may not canonically represent the creative staff's intentions, the novelization by James Blish in Star Trek 1 identifies the unnamed crewman named Sam (whom Charlie "disposes" of) as Sam Ellis, an officer on McCoy's medical staff. The episode novelization made it clear that he, along with all of the officers who were disfigured of by Charlie, were "restored" along with Rand when the Thasians intervened. However, the USS Antares could not be saved because, as the Thasian explained, it was destroyed "in this frame" whereas the zapped Enterprise personnel were "kept intact in the next frame."
• This was one of only three episodes of the first season that didn't show Vina in the last closing still. The other two episodes were " What Are Little Girls Made Of? " and " Dagger of the Mind ".
• This is the first of six original series episodes that takes place entirely aboard the Enterprise . The others are " The Changeling ", " Journey to Babel " (Babel itself is never seen), " Elaan of Troyius ", " Is There in Truth No Beauty? ", and " Let That Be Your Last Battlefield ". " The Doomsday Machine ", " The Ultimate Computer ", " The Immunity Syndrome ", and " The Tholian Web " were also filmed using only the Enterprise sets, including that of the shuttlecraft interior, but some of the action in these episodes took place on other Constitution -class starships. By any reasonable definition, each of these entries qualifies as a bottle show .
• The grates in the floors of the corridors disappeared in later episodes. In one scene, Charlie takes great delight in watching a technician lower some tubing into one of these floor grates.
• During the scene in Rand's quarters, when Charlie flings Kirk and Spock against the wall, the wall clearly has a hole punched in it. On an earlier take, Leonard Nimoy had struck the wall too forcefully.
• When Kirk and Charlie have their final confrontation, the camera moves to a rare floor-level view of the bridge. This close-up shows that the set is carpeted. This was probably done as a noise-absorber, given the propensity of the set to pick up noises like plumbing and squeaking floors. The material itself is Ozite, a portion of which was sold at the Profiles in History Star Trek auction in June 2002.
• The ship's gymnasium makes its first and only appearance in the series. It was originally intended to be seen in more episodes, as some of the shots showing acrobatics and gymnastics there were filmed as intended stock footage for reuse later. The gymnasium was a redress of the engineering set. The room where the gymnasts are tumbling is the redecorated briefing room .
• The bench on which Sam was sitting when he was zapped turned up later in other episodes. In " Court Martial ", it held the wrench that Benjamin Finney snatched in his attempt to club Kirk. In " This Side of Paradise ", it was topped off by the metal tray that Spock grabs during his fight with Kirk in the transporter room.

Props and special effects [ ]

• This is the only episode shot after the pilots to have no exterior views of the Enterprise using the updated "series" model. All of the shots are footage from " The Cage " and " Where No Man Has Gone Before " (see: above).
• Publicity stills of Grace Lee Whitney were used on the playing cards Charlie modifies. ( The Star Trek Compendium , p. 39)
• After Charlie transforms Tina Lawton into an iguana, the noise the reptile makes was that of the sound made by Sylvia and Korob when they returned to their true forms at the end of " Catspaw ".
• Spock's scanners in this episode make the same sound the Metron transmission does in " Arena ".
• Like Trelane , Apollo , and the Gorgan , (other advanced beings whose powers threatened the crew) Charlie makes his exit with fading repetition of his final words.
• The music accompanying Charlie's disappearance at the end of this episode, highlighted by a mournful bassoon dirge, was re-used effectively in " Space Seed " as the landing party beams onto the Botany Bay ; in " Patterns of Force " for the death of John Gill; in " The Tholian Web " as Chekov witnesses the dead engineering crew on the Defiant ; as Kirk wanders the empty corridors of the faux- Enterprise early in " The Mark of Gideon "; and in " The Ultimate Computer " during Daystrom's final conversation with his M-5 computer.

Costumes [ ]

• Charlie comes on board the Enterprise wearing a patched cloak; he later leaves it on the floor beside a Jefferies tube.
• Charlie and the crew of the Antares are wearing old turtleneck uniforms left over from the two pilots. Also, when Charlie is causing panic on the corridors, crewmen can be seen wearing the new series shirts with old, pilot version trousers and boots. ( The Star Trek Compendium , p. 39)
• For most of the episode, Charlie wears a gold wraparound jacket, which appears to be an unused, early version of Kirk's green tunic made for " The Enemy Within ". It is apparently too big for him. ( The Star Trek Compendium , p. 39)
• After this episode William Shatner only wore tights once more, in " Errand of Mercy ". He later poked fun at his costume in this episode when clips of it were shown as part of the History Channel show, How William Shatner Changed the World .

Continuity [ ]

• According to Kirk's line " On Earth today it's Thanksgiving ", the beginning of this episode takes place on 22 November 2266 (assuming American Thanksgiving is meant). The reference to Thanksgiving was included in the script because originally the episode was supposed to air in late-November. ( These Are the Voyages: TOS Season One [ page number? • edit ] )
• Still not firmly set in his characterization in this early episode, Spock shows both irritation and amusement as Uhura makes fun of him. It seems that he has learned how to express irritation (" Ah yes, one of your Earth emotions ") fairly quickly since the events of " Where No Man Has Gone Before ".
• The United Earth Space Probe Agency is referenced for the first time in this episode, with the acronym "UESPA". It was mentioned again in episode " Tomorrow is Yesterday ". Years later, Star Trek: Enterprise referenced UESPA in several episodes, including " Demons ".
• The line " Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered weak and weary " spoken by Spock while under Charlie's influence is the first line of the poem " The Raven ", by Edgar Allan Poe . Spock is also forced to quote some lines from " The Tyger " by William Blake when he shouts that there is a " Tyger, Tyger burning bright, in the forests of the night ". [3] . In a later episode " Plato's Stepchildren " Spock is again forced to show emotion and sing " Maiden Wine " by powerful mind power aliens.
• The song that Uhura sings to Spock and then Charlie may have been taken from an old Scottish folk song penned by Robert Burns called "Charlie, He's My Darling". The chorus in that song is almost identical to what Uhura sings. [4]
• The crew compliment of the Enterprise is stated as 428.

Script vs. screen [ ]

• The first-draft script featured Uhura as a trained mimic, who amused crewmembers by parodying her fellow officers in the recreation room. It was later turned into her performing a song, to fit Nichelle Nichols ' musical talents. ( The Star Trek Compendium , p. 38)
• The second draft of this episode's script was completed on 27 June 1966 , with the final draft coming in on 5 July . The episode itself was filmed in mid- July .
• The final draft script called for the Antares to be seen, dwarfed by the Enterprise . [5]
• A strange bit of dialogue present in the teleplay was cut from the episode: when discussing the possible existence of Thasians , and Kirk's possible father-figure behavior to Charlie, Spock satirically asked McCoy, " Shall I schedule you to give him voodoo and superstition lessons, doctor? " McCoy replied, " You can if he provides his own chicken 's teeth and penguin feathers , " to which Spock told him, " I'll see to it, doctor. " [6]
• In the final draft script, a remnant of Uhura's mimicking of other crewmembers still remained; just before she sang, Rand suggested to her, " Do someone. Do the Captain, " but Uhura replied, " No, I've done him. Someone else… let's see… " It was then that Uhura started singing about Spock.
• In the final draft script, the card trick Charlie plays with Janice, which reveals her photograph on the cards, was not specified. The script simply stated that Charlie performed a variety of card tricks which amazed Janice and the onlookers. [7]
• Writer Dorothy Fontana recalled that the filmed episode was basically the same as her screenplay, " There were a few line changes, not much. The images of how Charlie affected people, you know, no face so a woman couldn't talk, things like that, those were all there […] I noticed there really wasn't that much that was changed, it was pretty much the way I wrote it. " [8]

Preview [ ]

• The preview contains an edited Captain's Log from the finished episode: " Captain's log, stardate 1533.7. We have taken aboard an unusual passenger… the sole survivor of a transport crash fourteen years ago. "
• An alternate take of Charlie throwing Spock and Kirk against the wall in Yeoman Rand's quarters is included. The hole in the wall is still visible (Nimoy apparently hitting it too hard on a prior take or rehearsal), but while the final episode shows the start of the throw from the side, the preview shows it from the front.

Reception [ ]

• Actress Grace Lee Whitney listed this episode as one of her three favorites. " 'Charlie X' brought out another side of me, the woman looking at a younger man. That was also wonderful because I felt an allegiance to Captain Kirk. " ( Starlog #105, April 1986 , p. 49)

Syndication cuts [ ]

During the syndication run of Star Trek , the following scenes were typically cut from broadcast. The remastered version of the episode contained all scenes from the original unsyndicated version.

• Extended scenes from Charlie's beam-in to the Enterprise .
• Scenes of crewmen working in the corridor, including a scene where Charlie observes two men saying "You've got a deal, friend". In the syndicated version, this was never explained where Charlie learned the expression or why he smacked Janice Rand on her rear when repeating.
• Spock smiling while Uhura talks to him just before the musical session in the crewmen's lounge.
• Kirk talking to Charlie in his cabin.
• Women exercising in leotards when Charlie and Kirk enter the ship's gym. At the end of the gym scene, several additional tense moments were cut of Kirk demanding Charlie go to his quarters.
• Extended briefing room discussion about Charlie and his abilities.
• Additional scenes of Charlie angrily moving through the ship's corridor where he freezes a female crewman and shoves past three men; he also turns a young female crewman into an old woman.
• Extended scenes on the bridge with Charlie pleading not to be returned to Thasia.
• Extended scenes in Kirk's cabin where Kirk askes Charlie about the melted Chess pieces.

Apocrypha [ ]

• A cat version of "Charlie X" was featured in Jenny Parks ' 2017 book Star Trek Cats .

Remastered information [ ]

The remastered version of "Charlie X" aired in many North American markets during the weekend of 14 July 2007 . The episode included new effects shots of the Thasian ship, replacing the blob-like object seen on-screen with a torpedo-shaped vessel. Most notably, the remastered episode opens with a shot featuring the Antares , a new design based upon the robot grain ships seen in the Star Trek: The Animated Series episode " More Tribbles, More Troubles ".

Video and DVD releases [ ]

• Original US Betamax/VHS release: 28 February 1985
• Original UK VHS release (two-episode tapes, CIC Video ): Volume 5 , catalog number VHR 2250, release date unknown
• US VHS release: 15 April 1994
• UK re-release (three-episode tapes, CIC Video): Volume 1.3, 8 July 1996
• Original US DVD release (single-disc): Volume 4, 19 October 1999
• As part of the TOS Season 1 DVD collection
• As part of the TOS Season 1 HD DVD collection
• As part of the TOS Season 1 Blu-ray collection

Links and references [ ]

Starring [ ].

• William Shatner as Capt. Kirk

Also starring [ ]

• Leonard Nimoy as Mr. Spock

Guest star [ ]

• Robert Walker as Charles Evans

Featuring [ ]

• DeForest Kelley as Dr. McCoy
• Grace Lee Whitney as Yeoman Rand
• Nichelle Nichols as Uhura
• Charles J. Stewart as Captain Ramart
• Dallas Mitchell as Nellis
• Don Eitner as the Navigator
• Patricia McNulty as Tina Lawton
• John Bellah as Crewman I
• Garland Thompson as Crewman II
• Abraham Sofaer as " The Thasian "

Uncredited co-stars [ ]

• William Blackburn as Hadley
• Vinci (aka "Guard II")
• Bobby Herron as Sam
• John Lindesmith as the Helmsman
• Robert Metz as Sciences crewman 2
• Eddie Paskey as Leslie
• Gene Roddenberry as the voice  file info of the galley chef
• George Takei as Sulu (voice only; recycled audio)
• Ron Veto as Harrison (aka "Engineer")
• Laura Wood as a Command crew woman 1 (old)
• Command crewman 1
• Command crewman 2
• Command crewman 3
• Command lieutenant 1
• galley chef
• Sciences crewman 1
• Two crewmen in gymnasium
• Command crew woman 1
• Command crew woman 2 (young)
• Command crew woman 3
• Command crew woman 4
• Command crew woman 5
• Command lieutenant 2
• Command lieutenant 3
• Command officer (gymnast)
• Sciences crew woman 1
• Sciences crew woman 2
• Sciences crew woman 3
• Two gymnasts

Stunt double [ ]

• Loren Janes as the stunt double for William Shatner

Stand-ins [ ]

• William Blackburn as the stand-in for DeForest Kelley
• Frank da Vinci as the stand-in for Leonard Nimoy
• Jeannie Malone as the stand-in for Grace Lee Whitney
• Eddie Paskey as the stand-in for William Shatner

References [ ]

2249 ; 2252 ; 4-0 ; ability ; ace ; adolescence ; adult ; anger ; answer ; Antares ; Antares -type ; area ; astrogator ; astronaut ; atmospheric system ; authority ; baffle plate ; biology ; black ; body ; " Bones "; bow ; captain's chair ; card trick ; cargo vessel ; castaway ; Charlie's parents ; Charlie's relatives ; Charlie's transport ; century ; check ; checkmate ; chef ; chess master ; chess piece ; chief ; choice ; city ; Colony Alpha 5 ( Colony 5 , Earth Colony 5 ); Colony 5 governor ; computer statistics ; confined to quarters ; Constitution -class decks ; contact ; coordinates ; course ; D channel ; debris ; deflectors ; devil ; door ; dossier ; duty ; ear ; earring ; Earth ; Earth history ; Earthling ; eating ; effect ; electronic clipboard ; energy pile ; entertainment tapes ; evidence ; exercise mat ; exercise table ; eye ; falling ; father image ; female ; first officer ; fingers ; flattery ; floor ; food concentrate ; force field ; forest ; fracture ; fruit ; galley ; guide ; gymnasium ; gymnastics ; heart ; home ; Human ; hunger ; idea ; iguana ; immunity ; Jefferies tube ; judo ; knocking ; laser beacon ; laughter ; leg ; legend ; lesson ; limb ; logic ; love ; Martian ; mathematic ; meat loaf ; memory banks ; microtapes ; million ; mind ; minute ; mistake ; mister ; name ; navigator ; navigation console ; neck ; non-corporeal species ; object ; " Oh, On the Starship Enterprise "; one-way street ; oven ; passenger ; perfume ; phaser weapon ; pink ; playing card ; Poe, Edgar Allan ; poetry ; power ; present ; probability ; probe scanner ; puberty ; pugil stick ; quadrant ; quarters ; range ; " Raven, The "; record tapes ; recreation room ; risk ; road ; room ; rose ; rule ; Satan ; Saturn ; " Saturn Rings "; Saurian brandy ; schedule ; science-probe vessel ; section ; sensors ; ship's stores ; shoulder roll ; slap ; society ; solitaire ; " sound of wind and limb "; space ; starboard ; status report ; subspace frequency ; subspace frequency three ; subspace transmitter ; survey ship ; survivor ; synthetic food ; Thanksgiving ; Thasian ; Thasian ship ; Thasus ; thing ; three-dimensional checkers ; three-dimensional chess ; toes ; towel ; training program ; transmission ; transmutation ; transport ship ; transporter chief ; throw ; turkey ; " Tyger, The "; UESPA headquarters ( United Earth Space Probe Agency ); universe ; vegetable ; Vulcan lute ; wardroom ; white ; wind ; word ; year ; yeoman third class

Unreferenced material [ ]

Antarian metal chess pieces ; bluejay ; book ; detention cell ; chariot ; Charlie's law ; deck five ; feathers ; Ferndok ; ( gods ); hell ; helmet ; hybrid ; Jupiter ; lab ; librarian ; library ; meteoroids ; microscope ; pay ; penguin ; Phynburg Oscillating Framizam ; rattle ; Romulus and Remus ; subspace radio ; superstition ; teeth ; Tweedledum and Tweedledee ; voodoo ; Vulcan ; wolf ; " Wonderful One-Hoss Shay, The "; " Wynken, Blynken, and Nod "

External links [ ]

• " Charlie X " at Memory Beta , the wiki for licensed Star Trek works
• " Charlie X " at Wikipedia
• " Charlie X " at the Internet Movie Database
• " Charlie X " at MissionLogPodcast.com , a Roddenberry Star Trek podcast
• 3 Erigah (episode)

• Cast & crew
• User reviews
• Episode aired Sep 15, 1966

Captain Kirk must learn the limits to the power of a 17-year-old boy with the psionic ability to create anything and destroy anyone. Captain Kirk must learn the limits to the power of a 17-year-old boy with the psionic ability to create anything and destroy anyone. Captain Kirk must learn the limits to the power of a 17-year-old boy with the psionic ability to create anything and destroy anyone.

• Lawrence Dobkin
• D.C. Fontana
• Gene Roddenberry
• William Shatner
• Leonard Nimoy
• Robert Walker Jr.
• 42 User reviews
• 12 Critic reviews

• Captain James Tiberius 'Jim' Kirk

• Mister Spock

• Charlie Evans
• (as Robert Walker)

• Yeoman Rand

• Captain Ramart
• (as Charles J. Stewart)

• Tina Lawton
• (as Patricia McNulty)

• The Thasian
• Lieutenant Hadley
• (uncredited)

• Operations Division Lieutenant
• All cast & crew
• Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

Did you know

• Trivia In the original script, Uhura was to amuse the crew by performing as a trained mimic, imitating Spock and other officers. This was changed to her singing a song about Spock, followed by a spoof of the 18th-century Scottish song "Charlie is my Darling", the best-known version of which is attributed to Robert Burns , in order to highlight Nichelle Nichols ' singing talent.
• Goofs When the captain of the Antares is trying to warn Kirk of Charlie's abilities, Kirk is in a corridor talking to Charlie about not slapping girls on the butt. He says, "I'm on my way to the bridge now," and gets on the turbolift wearing his usual yellow shirt. When he arrives on the bridge he is wearing the green tunic.

Capt. Kirk : There are a million things in this universe you can have and a million things you can't have. It's no fun facing that, but that's the way things are.

Charlie Evans : Then what am I going to do?

Capt. Kirk : Hang on tight and survive. Everybody does.

• Alternate versions Special Enhanced version Digitally Remastered with new exterior shots and remade opening theme song. A highlight of the new special effects is the Antares, which was never seen in the original version.
• Connections Edited into Galaktische Grüße (1996)
• Soundtracks Charlie is My Darling (uncredited) Traditional Lyrics adapted from those by Robert Burns Sung by Nichelle Nichols

User reviews 42

• Oct 10, 2021
• September 15, 1966 (United States)
• United States
• Official Facebook
• Desilu Studios - 9336 W. Washington Blvd., Culver City, California, USA
• Desilu Productions
• Norway Corporation
• See more company credits at IMDbPro

Technical specs

• Runtime 50 minutes

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Home » TV » TV Recaps

Flashback | Recap | Star Trek: The Original Series S1E02: “Charlie X”

Now from a planet out in space There comes a lad not commonplace A’ seeking out his first embrace. He’s saving it for you. Oh, Charlie’s our new darling, Our darling, our darling. Charlie’s our new darling. We know not what he’ll do.

– Uhura’s Song

What happened?

The Enterprise brings aboard an unfortunate passenger: Charlie Evans (Robert Walker), who spent almost his entire life alone on a planet. However, as Charlie tries to figure out who he is as a member of a community, it becomes clear just how Charlie survived for so long on the planet. The indigenous creatures of the planet have bestowed near godlike powers upon the boy, but he may not be mature enough to control them.

Let’s Dig Deeper

It’s not 90 seconds into “Charlie X” that we see that there’s something wrong with Charlie Evans. Yes, he’s a bit awkward, but the way the Antares captain dumps him off, sweaty palms and all, on Kirk, then suddenly changes his tune, boasts a subtlety I didn’t remember. I thought it would take a while before getting to Charlie’s creepy eyeroll powers, but no: just a minute in and it’s there in full force.

One thing Star Trek does best is speaking about the human condition. Charlie is a frightfully embarrassing teenager, compounded by the fact that he’s had no real human contact for fourteen years. He has no context for how to be a person, but he’s trying and growing more frustrated:

CHARLIE: Everything I do or say is wrong. I’m in the way, I don’t know the rules, and when I learn something and try to do it, suddenly I’m wrong! KIRK: Now wait, wait. CHARLIE: I don’t know what I am or what I’m supposed to be, or even who. I don’t know why I hurt so much inside all the time. KIRK: You’ll live, believe me. There’s nothing wrong with you that hasn’t gone wrong with every other human male since the model first came up. CHARLIE: What if you care for someone? What do you do? KIRK: You go slow. You be gentle. I mean, it’s not a one-way street, you know, how you feel and that’s all. It’s how the girl feels, too. Don’t press, Charlie. If the girl feels anything for you at all, you’ll know it. Do you understand? … KIRK: Charlie, there are a million things in this universe you can have and there are a million things you can’t have. It’s no fun facing that, but that’s the way things are. CHARLIE: Then what am I going to do? KIRK: Hang on tight and survive. Everybody does. CHARLIE: You don’t. KIRK: Everybody, Charlie. Me, too. CHARLIE: I’m trying, but I don’t know how.

If this isn’t something universal about the human condition (not just to males, but we do pretty well on our own here…), I don’t know what is. “He’s a boy in a man’s body, trying to be an adult with the adolescence in him getting in the way.” Charlie is sorting out his humanity, as are we all, and he thinks that Kirk has it all figured out. We all look to others and just assume their lives are sorted out, that they’ve hacked life and know how to level up faster than we do. But we’re all just faking it because it’s each of our first times.

Charlie awkwardly interrupts, doesn’t know how to talk to girls, slaps Yeoman Rand on the backside after seeing two male colleagues do so. He messes up – but don’t we all? He’s “got to live with people…[he’s] not alone anymore,” as Rand chastises Charlie. What’s even funnier is the fact that Kirk, Spock, and McCoy debate how to talk to Charlie about the birds and the bees, about who will be the boy’s best role model.

Charlie is just learning to be a person, but he’s had no context, and his powers have taught him that wishing will give him everything he can hope for. He does card tricks, makes turkeys for Thanksgiving (a noble move), gives gifts of perfume – all innocuous events. It’s when he starts taking away Uhura’s voice, removing a crew member’s face, turning Tina into an iguana, and zapping people away that he gets himself into real trouble, and everything spirals out of control from there.

Check another box for another trope that we’ll see repeatedly in the Star Trek franchise: people with superhuman powers who can’t handle them (we’ll see them again very soon, in an episode filmed before this one – it’s at the heart of Star Trek ), and the message doesn’t change: our human foibles remain, and no amount of power or technology can change that.

However, the deus ex machina of this episode leaves me deeply unsatisfied. While some episodes deal with the godlike human by killing the problem (“Where No Man Has Gone Before”), outwitting it (about 3/4 of the Q episodes, as well as “The Squire of Gothos”), or arguing that humanity is worth not squashing like puny insects (all the rest of the Q episodes) – this episode just takes the problem out of the Enterprise crew’s hands. They just survive the episode until Charlie’s adoptive green space mist parents come to collect him. There’s no humanity left for Charlie – it’s taken from him.

Earlier, I talked about the wonderfully uncomfortable debate about who will talk to Charlie about the ways of the world (obviously, it should be Kirk). However, the more important revelation in this conversation is the solidification of the dynamic between Kirk, Spock, and McCoy. In short, they are ethos , logos , and pathos. Kirk represents all the nobility and philosophy of the Federation – its ethos , its moral center. McCoy pushes forward with his pathos , often speaking out of turn, commenting on situations from an emotional standpoint, or providing a counterpoint to Spock’s logos . In all things, Spock must look from an utterly logical perspective, which Kirk needs and so does McCoy. The three balance one another out (at times throughout the series, Kirk and McCoy switch categories, but generally this remains).

This is an uneven episode in many ways, as the show was still trying to figure itself out. However, the main point takeaway for me is the burgeoning relationship between Kirk, Spock, and McCoy: it’ll become the core of the show, after all.

Random Thoughts on  Star Trek: The Original Series

This is an episode I often skip when I rewatch. As a result, I haven’t seen it in a long time. I’ve always found Robert Walker’s Charlie to be just painfully awkward. Maybe it was a reflection of myself that I shied away from. I was a terribly awkward teenager (but who wasn’t, right? Don’t tell me if you weren’t…), and so it’s possible that I just didn’t want that mirror held up to myself. Or maybe it’s his daggone creepy eyes. Seriously, they still skeeve me out. His eyes are highlighted just about as much as Bela Lugosi’s Dracula , and I’m wondering who’s job that was on the Enterprise . Probably the same guy who puts vaseline on everyone’s eyes when Kirk has his shirt off, to make Kirk look extra dreamy. Perks of having your own starship, I guess.

I enjoy the belowdecks exploration of the Enterprise here: we see maintenance tubes (not Jeffries Tubes yet), the gym, the rec room, lots of the crew doing their job, not just the bridge crew. It builds this world nicely, especially seeing Spock there, who’s the last person we would expect.

Last week I mentioned that “The Man Trap” was the only source of the Abramsverse Spock-Uhura relationship, but Spock alluringly plays the Vulcan lyre while Uhura  sings  about his pointy ears. Seriously, get a room, guys!

D.C. Fontana’s immense contribution as a writer and producer for  Star Trek (and therefore science fiction in general) cannot be ignored. She ran the first season of Star Trek: The Animated Series , helped kick off and run Star Trek: The Next Generation , and therefore was instrumental, second only to Gene Roddenberry, in ensuring the longevity of Star Trek through the decade-long desert after its cancellation in 1969. Her episodes are among the best in the entire franchise. Particularly “Yesteryear,” “Journey to Babel,” and “The Enterprise Incident,” in The Original Series .

We’ve got some great costume choices here: our first shirtless Kirk (don’t worry, it’s not the last!) and our first glimpse of Kirk’s informal, casual uniform shirt . It’s so strange and out of place. Still, I’d wear it.

Memorable Quotes from Charlie X

“is that a girl” “that’s a girl.”.

– Charlie asking Kirk about Yeoman Rand (that Antares crew has no women aboard – that’s definitely not very enlightened of them!)

“There’s no right way to hit a woman.”

– Kirk telling Charlie not to slap Yeoman Rand’s backside. (Apparently ignoring the fact that there’s an Orion Slave Girl trafficking ring going on under the Federation’s watch, but yeah, worry about that…)

“Captain Kirk is one of a kind, Charlie.”

– Dr. McCoy, just bromancing a bit.

Keep Watching?

Yes! Brace yourselves. Next week’s episode is a little rougher around the edges, production-wise, but it deals with very similar issues from a different angle. It’s really one of the best-written episodes of  The Original Series . If you like good science fiction that talks about issues of who we are as humans – this is your place!

Article by Tyler Howat

Tyler Howat joined Ready Steady Cut in November 2017, publishing over 100 articles for the website. Based out of Wenatchee City, Washington, Tyler has used his education and experience to become a highly skilled writer, critic, librarian, and teacher. He has a passion for Film, TV, and Books and a huge soft spot for Star Trek.

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Star Trek : "The Man Trap"/"Charlie X"/"The Naked Time"

"Is something wrong, Captain?"

"I was just thinking about the buffalo, Mr. Spock."

Out of context it sounds like a bad joke. Oh that crazy Kirk and his buffalo-thinking ways! But in context, the final two lines of "The Man Trap" form a surprisingly melancholy exchange. Our first three episodes of the series proper—full cast in place (okay, Walter Koenig won't show up until the second season, but this is as close as we'll get for a while), everybody wearing the appropriate uniforms, Spock finally settling into his expected, stoic self—show Star Trek at its best and worst, mixing grand ideas and grander passions with antiquated sexual politics, bad hair, and in one case, a distractingly familiar storyline. The episodes are sometimes sad, in ways you might not expect; it's not like "salt vampire" is a phrase that lends itself to tragedy. (There's a bit in one of Shakespeare's unpublished plays about "yon slumbering saline succubus," but it doesn't scan, and most critics think it's something Harold Bloom stuck in there to screw with our heads.)

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"Where No Man Has Gone Before" may be Trek' s official pilot, but "Man Trap" was the first episode to air, not that you could tell from watching it. Apart from one hilariously forced conversation between Spock and Uhura, there's not much effort made to introduce us to the various crew members, or even the Enterprise herself. We get some standard exposition as to where the ship is, and why it's visiting this week's planet, and there's some obvious backstory thrown into the banter, but it's the sort of backstory that would've popped up regardless of where the ep fell in the show's run. That's not to say the story's not hard to follow, or the characters aren't immediately recognizable; it's a nicely wound script, delivering just as much information as is required each scene to let you know what's at risk, and the cast already seems completely at home in their roles. The banter between Kirk and McCoy may be on the corny side, but it still comes across as natural ribbing between old friends. One of the original Trek' s great strengths—and it's something that none of the spin-offs were ever quite able to capture, though some came closer than others—is that feeling of immediate camaraderie. Some of the actors are better than others, and sometimes the whole boy's club atmosphere gets annoyingly thick, but hanging out with this crew is like going to a family reunion; only, here it's the reunion of a family you actually like.

TOS (the accepted nomenclature for Trek the original) has been credited as an influence on pretty much every genre series to hit TV since it originally aired—some sort of Velvet Underground parallel could made, I guess—and while that influence may have been exaggerated, it's not hard to draw a line between something like "The Man Trap" and at least a dozen different X-Files episodes. (The connection gets even more obvious with "The Naked Time," which isn't at all what it sounds like.) The structure is familiar; our leads arrive at a new location, mysterious deaths occur and minor inconsistencies build up, a monster is discovered with a clear modus operandi, the threat strikes home, and ultimately, the creature is dispatched in a climactic confrontation. Come to think of it, that's the plot of half of the sci-fi movies ever made. And for good reason—it's logical, and, when done well, works like gangbusters.

"Trap" is done very well, I think. Back when I first bought the set, this episode was one of the few that I'd seen but didn't remember very well; watching it again then (and now), I was impressed by its efficiency and its pathos. It doesn't have the gimmicky brilliance of "City On The Edge Of Forever"—the threat, an alien that can change its form and needs high quantities of salt to survive, is clever but not exactly mind-blowing. But it's solid, and some of the additional touches are quite effective. In particular is the pathos I mentioned earlier that culminates in the Kirk/Spock exchange. When the Enterprise arrives in orbit around M-113, they find Professor Crater and his wife Nancy, exactly as they were expecting, hanging around doing what appears to be frontier science in the ruins of a long dead civilization. Unfortunately, it's not that simple: it takes the deaths of three crew members before anybody catches on, but the Prof's wife (who happens to be a former flame of McCoy's) actually died a year ago. The woman everybody thinks is Nancy is actually a creature native to the planet, and now she's going about killing folks. What makes this interesting is that while faux-Nancy is a very definite threat, she's also the last of her kind; and after killing Crater's wife, the two formed a bound out of the Prof's grief and the creature's apparent need to be loved.

That's some pretty dark stuff. The buffalo idea comes from Crater, trying to explain why he protected his unwife for so long. See, once upon a time, there were millions of buffalo. And then white guys showed up, and they started shooting, and eventually, the buffalo died. There used to be millions of salt vamps on planet M-113—and now, but for one, they're gone. We don't know what killed them, but we do know that Crater's pet is the last of her kind, and that once she's gone, her species will be gone forever. Crater's reasons for keeping Nancy 2 around are probably more personal than philosophical; he's lonely, and she doesn't seem that easy to kill. But that the show makes extinction a consideration at all is noteworthy, and makes Kirk and his crew's victory something less than a triumph. There's an ambiguity here that isn't just lazy writing. When Crater tells us the creature needs love, he's telling the truth, but that doesn't change what happens.

There's a bit of ambiguity in "Charlie X" too, but it doesn't work quite as well. It's not a bad episode, but I'd say it's the weakest of today's three. Our Story: The Enterprise meets up with the Antares, a science vessel with an unusual passenger, Charlie Evans, the lone survivor of a transport ship crash, left marooned on an apparent desert planet for over a decade. That Charlie survived is a miracle; he's a bit rough on manners and has a tendency to wander around the ship like a yokel in Times Square, but he's just a teenager, so it's not like it's that surprising. Unfortunately, he also has the ability to transmute matter with his mind, and he's good enough at it that he can destroy space ships, disappear anyone who gets in his way, and do moderately impressive card tricks. Yeah, that's gonna be a problem.

"Man Trap" marks the first appearance of Yeoman Janice Rand, but it's in "Charlie X" that she really takes center stage—and man, there's a reason nobody remembers her. Grace Lee Whitney is a competent actress, but her character represents some of Trek' s most egregious offenses against feminism. She brings people lunch, is available to be menaced when appropriate, and gets easily flustered, which happens a lot in "X" after Charlie develops a crush on her. There's a "hilarious" gag when Charlie slaps Rand on the ass, and nobody can explain to him why the gesture is inappropriate; the fact that Rand can't say a simple, "Kid, you shouldn't whack somebody," is embarrassing. Charlie's infatuation makes sense, if you can overlook Rand's hideous basket-style hairdo (nobody gets off too easy in the looks department on this show, but I'd say the women get stuck with the worst wigs), but her inability to handle the situation like an adult doesn't really fit. Of course, handling things like adults is not the Enterprise crew's strong suit, but it takes some of the fun out of things when you look at all those officers and realize that, apart from Uhura, not one of them is a woman. And Uhura's really just a glorified receptionist.

If Rand's inanity were the episode's only problem, I'd probably rate it higher than I do; but here we've got yet another threat with near limitless powers. It's like the ship keeps running afoul of the animator from "Duck Amok." Charlie's personality and relationship with Kirk make this different enough from "Where No Man Has Gone Before" that it's not exactly a retread, but that the show was dipping this often into the god-child well is disappointing. It's just such a lazy device, the sort of thing you come up with when you don't really have any ideas. Apart from Rand, the character stuff isn't bad; Charlie looking to Kirk as a father figure fits, and gives us both a reason to believe that the kid wouldn't just lay waste to everything, as well as providing the opportunity for a fairly hilarious "fight training" sequence. But that doesn't change the fact that the ending is as blatant a deus ex machina as you can get without bringing in the flowered chair.

There's some good stuff; a few of Charlie's more outlandish tricks are actually disturbing (like the woman with no face), and the boy is believably whiny as someone just realizing you can't always get what you want. Plus, Charlie's agony at his defeat—his adopted alien parents show up to bring him home—has that sadness to it we were talking about; the kid's a twerp, no question, but the way he screams, "I can't even touch them!" makes you feel bad about the whole thing. As if two times weren't enough, we'll be getting another godlike twerp further into the season, with much the same resolution; only that time, the resolution is played for laughs. Here, there's something horrifying about Charlie's fate. He didn't deserve to be stranded a billion miles from home, but now he's doomed to spend the rest of his life in exile.

"The Naked Time" is probably the best of the lot for this week; it's certainly the most iconic, as nothing gets stuck in the memory quite like a shirtless George Takei running around trying to enthuse people to death. It's also the first episode of the show to focus almost entirely on the main cast; there's no shape-shifting beasty killing people, nor do we have an emo guest star for everyone to bounce off. Here the danger is entirely internal, which means there's a lot of ACTING, a lot of camp, and, depending on your tolerance level, a certain amount of pathos.

If "The Man Trap" set ground for The X-Files , "Time" basically built the house that "Ice" rented. The Enterprise is in orbit around Psi 2000 (I love that the supposedly scientific planet names are as well planned as the original star dates) to pick up a science team and observe the planet as it breaks apart. When Spock and proto red shirt Tormolen beam down, they find the team dead—an engineer frozen at his post, another man frozen while showering fully clothed, and a couple more corpses, each in some bizarre, seemingly inexplicable state. While Spock checks through the facility, Tormolen stays behind; and being an idiot, he takes off the glove of his bio-suit, which lets him get infected by a strange red substance that he then brings back up to the ship with him. (Although seeing has how the suit's have headpieces that don't directly connect to the torso, he was probably doomed from the start.)

Soon enough, Tormolen starts acting freaky, obsessing over the dead bodies and wondering if man was really meant to explore the stars. (Shades of Conquest of Space here.) He ultimately ends up stabbing himself with what appears to be a butter knife and dying, but not before passing his sickness on to Sulu and the ever-annoying Riley. Soon, Sulu's swinging an epee about with wild-abandon, and Riley's taken over the engine room because he thinks he's an Irish king. Spock, Kirk, and McCoy realize they have an epidemic on their hands; a highly communicable illness that brings out the repressed elements of the personality, turning Tormolen into a suicide, Sulu into a swashbuckler, and Riley into even more of a jackass than usual.

The psychological commentary of "Time" isn't exactly what you'd call subtle (why don't we have "secret me" disease?), but it's a lot of fun to watch. The build from mystery to discovery to immediate problem is well-handled, and the gradual disintegration of the ship's crew, combined with the Enterprise's slow descent towards the planet, gives us a sense of danger to rest all the silliness on. Things get especially interesting when our leads are directly affected. McCoy manages to dodge the problem completely (considering he's treating the infected and taking no real precaution against infection himself, should we assume he's immune?), but Spock gets a bad dose when Nurse Chapel, whose apparently got herself a case of logic lust, puts the moves on him. The emotions he's spent a lifetime holding at bay come to the foreground, and after making a fast exist from sickbay, Spock ducks into a briefing room, tears streaming down his face. He's freaking out; which sucks for him, but sucks even more for everyone, since he's the only one on board who can get the ship's engines running again.

Here's where that whole ACTING thing comes into play. By and large, Nimoy is the straight man to a crew of stooges, but TOS got a lot of mileage out of pushing him over the edge when it could. Kirk shows up eventually and delivers his own freak out—once again, the supposedly hotness of Yeoman Rand is apparently crucial—but Spock's is the one that hits home the hardest. You don't want to see him reduced to everyone else's level. Thankfully, after an epic slapfight, Spock regains his self-control; and of all the people who get infected in "Time," he's the only one who beats the disease on his own.

For the most part, "Time" works, but the ending is a little odd. Forced to restart the engines after Riley turns everything off, Spock and Scotty "implode" them, and the Enterprise escapes orbit; only it goes so fast that it actually travels back in time. Plot-wise, this has no effect on anything—the only go back three days, and the ep is basically over anyway. You could say that it reminds that Kirk and his crew are essentially explorers, armed with technology they can operate but whose ramifications no one completely understands. But it was probably just thrown in because the show ran a little short, and hey, who doesn't like time travel.

"The Man Trap": A-

"Charlie X": B

"The Naked Time": A

Stray Observations:

— It's weird seeing Uhura and Chapel hit on Spock. Also weird? Uhura getting a musical number.

—When Kirk offers the Antares "entertainment tapes," is he offering them porn? I'd like to think so.

—Again we see Kirk beating Spock at chess through his "illogical" strategy. I'm not a master, but I'm pretty sure chess doesn't work like that.

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http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Recap/StarTrekS1E2CharlieX

Recap / Star Trek S1 E2 "Charlie X"

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Original air date: September 15, 1966

The Enterprise takes on a passenger, being that they are commonly in the habit of ferrying civilians . The boy is Charlie, an orphan with a Mysterious Past and really bad social skills. The people dropping him off seem in quite a hurry to leave.

Charlie becomes infatuated with Yeoman Rand, stalking her and delivering presents she doesn't want. In the rec room we get to see Spock and Uhura make music together, which annoys Charlie because it distracts everyone (and especially Yeoman Rand) from him.

The ship Charlie arrived on blows up mid-transmission, with Charlie making a snide remark. Everyone is somewhat concerned, especially as odd things continue to happen upon the ship. For instance, Charlie loses chess and causes the chess pieces to melt. Nobody connects this to him (yet). Kirk is given the responsibility of talking to the boy and attempting to explain how to be normal.

Which he does by teaching him to wrestle . (Obviously.) When Kirk's training partner laughs at Charlie, Charlie makes him disappear. Kirk is upset and orders him to his quarters, where he goes after making several threats. Charlie goes on a rampage when Kirk refuses to bring him to the human colony he was planning on going to. The aliens that taught Charlie his powers appear to take him back, apologizing for the damage he's caused. He is brought back to live with them and the people that were attacked are brought back to normal .

• Adaptation Title Change : When James Blish adapted it as a short story, the title was "Charlie's Law", as he adapted it from an earlier version of the script, with that name.
• Alas, Poor Villain : Charlie doesn't want to go back with the Thasians, as they aren't physically present like Kirk or Rand. Kirk even argues for a chance for Charlie to stay if he can be rehabilitated. However, the Thasians point out they can't undo the talents they'd given Charlie to survive on their world, and he's returned to them despite his desperate begging to stay.
• Artificial Meat : Kirk orders the food workers to at least make the synthetic meatloaf the crew is having for Thanksgiving look like turkey. Charlie obliges by putting real turkeys in the oven.
• Berserk Button : Never laugh at Charlie if you value your life.
• Big "NO!" : Charlie screams it when a Thasian ship arrives to take him home to his kind.

• Can't Kill You, Still Need You : Charlies says he needs Kirk alive to help him run the Enterprise , as it's a lot bigger and more complicated than the Antares .

• Chiaroscuro : In the gym when Kirk and Charlie are facing off, the lighting somehow changes mid-scene to make both Charlie and Kirk appear as though they are in a typical Film Noir scene with Venetian blinds. Also, their eye areas are highlighted to emphasize the drama and tension.
• Continuity Nod : This happens after "The Enemy Within", so Kirk's "romance has to be two-sided" also serves as guilt for what his evil half did to Janice.
• Creator Cameo : Gene Roddenberry provides the voice of the Galley Chief amazed at the appearance of real turkeys.
• Cut Phone Lines : Charlie cross-circuits Uhura's instrument panel when she tries to send a warning to Colony Five.
• Death Glare : Charlie has one using his powers. Kirk gives him one of his own after he breaks Spock's legs.
• Did You Just Flip Off Cthulhu? : Kirk grabs the sociopathic man-child with superhuman powers and throws him out of his chair. Moral: Do not take the captain's chair!
• Dirty Coward : Charlie, after smugly tormenting the crew with his psychic abilities, freaks out when the Thasians appear to collect him, with his fear mostly based around how his abilities do nothing to them and they can easily undo the harm he's done.
• Disconnected by Death : The Antares ceases transmitting to the Enterprise when Charlie destroys it.
• Disproportionate Retribution : Due to his uncontrollable temper, Charlie uses his powers on people who did harmless things to him. He makes a crewmember in the gym disappear because he laughed at him getting thrown on his ass by Kirk. A gaggle of anonymous crewmembers are rendered faceless because they just happened to be laughing when Charlie stormed past. One female crewmember is turned into a lizard after expressing genuine concern for him. And Charlie wonders why nobody likes him.
• Don't Make Me Destroy You : Charlie seems genuinely reluctant to vanish Kirk, even though by that stage Kirk is deliberately provoking and even assaulting Charlie. Fortunately, the Thasians intervene before he overcomes this reluctance.
• Downer Ending : Charlie only wanted to be liked and accepted by the crew. His temper and "talent" make it impossible, but it's not his fault (entirely) since he'd been alone since age three.
• Dub Name Change : Charlie's name in the Japanese dub is Peter as Scotty's name was changed to Charlie. One-Steve Limit is to blame.
• The Antares crew's tan, ribbed-collar tunics, which were reused from the two pilot episodes.
• Kirk & Co. work for the United Earth Space Probe Agency.
• The rank insignia on Kirk's green tunic are on his shoulders instead of around his wrists, where they would appear later in the series.
• The destination is alternatively referred to as Colony Alpha 5 and Earth Colony 5. As the show progressed, Federation colonies would receive proper names.
• Having to convert meatloaf to turkey for Thanksgiving. This suggests that they didn't have food synthesizers and their onboard food wasn't far ahead of astronaut food of The '60s . Accordingly, this is also the only episode that features or makes mention of a galley chef.
• Spock smiles while he's with Lt. Uhura in the crew lounge. This contradicts his characterization throughout the rest of the series, during which he almost always acts in a completely emotionless manner.
• Eldritch Starship : The Thasians' ship resembles a nebulous mobile cloud of glowing green gas (in the original version); in the Remastered episode, it is similar looking, but with some kind of lighted tubes inside the gas cloud. The Thasians themselves are noncorporeal aliens who appeared to the Enterprise crew as floating, ghostly green humanoid heads .
• Explosive Instrumentation : The communication console emits a shower of sparks and burns Uhura's hand. Justified in this case because it's Charlie using his powers to prevent communications with anyone outside the ship; Uhura states that there wouldn't normally be any reason for it to do that.
• Many have compared Charlie to Anthony Fremont from The Twilight Zone (1959) episode " It's a Good Life ", which is based on the short story of the same name .
• To Valentine Smith from the novel Stranger in a Strange Land , as both are superpowered individuals attempting to reintegrate to normal human society. Valentine manages to make a good life for himself, Charles...doesn't.
• Some may have noticed the title "Charlie X" and a connection to a certain Charles Xavier . The debut of the comic book X-Men does predate this episode by three years, but Professor X (who rarely if ever goes by "Charlie") is of course a mature man with telepathic (not telekinetic) powers that he only uses for the good of mankind. Also, at the time of this episode, the X-Men were one of the more obscure Marvel titles. It's most probable that any similarities were coincidental.
• Also might be an expy of Charlie Gordon, in Flowers for Algernon , as a young man unable to cope with the powers he has been given.
• Famous, Famous, Fictional : When Charlie forces Spock to recite poetry, he quotes from William Blake 's The Tyger , Poe's The Raven , and what appears to be a future poem. Spock: I'm trying to— Saturn rings around my head, down a road that's Martian red.
• Flirtatious Smack on the Ass : Charlie slaps Janice on the rear after seeing one crewman playfully do it to another (not realizing it has different connotations when one of the people is female), but he is so horrified at her offended reaction that she just mildly reprimands him.
• A Form You Are Comfortable With : The Thasian who speaks to the Enterprise takes on a copy of the physical form he had centuries ago in order to better communicate with the crew.
• Fully-Clothed Nudity : Rand appears embarrassed that the Thasians' Reset Button put her on the bridge in her nightgown, even though it fully covers her.
• Yeoman Rand gets the fuzzy treatment in all her close-ups (and not just the ones that are representing the infatuated Charlie's point of view).
• So, for some reason, does William Shatner.
• Go to Your Room! : After Charlie causes Sam to vanish in the gymnasium, Kirk orders him "confined to quarters", which is an actual punishment in military and naval settings.
• His Name Is... : The Antares tries to contact the Enterprise to warn them about Charlie (presumably after they felt they were a safe distance away), but Charlie destroys their ship, trying to pass it off as being a result of the ship being poorly built. Nobody buys it at this point.
• Impractically Fancy Outfit : Rand's ridiculous one-shouldered hot pink nightdress, which is definitely more seduction wear than practical sleepwear.
• Instant Costume Change : While Kirk fumbles his way through The Talk with Charlie, he is wearing his command gold tunic. When he responds to an urgent call from the bridge in the next scene, he's back in the green tunic. The most likely explanation is that Kirk had so many shirtless scenes they couldn't fit them all into the show.
• I Just Want to Be Loved : Charlie wants to make friends and to be loved. Unfortunately, his lack of social skills and his violent temper make him quite dangerous. Based on how he reacts when the Thasians take him back, it seems like he didn’t receive the love that he’s so desperate to have.
• It's the Only Way : Charlie is steering the Enterprise to an inhabited planet, and Kirk's hold over him is growing increasingly tenuous, so he forces a final confrontation despite both McCoy and Spock advising him against it.
• Killed Mid-Sentence : The captain of the Antares (along with his entire crew).
• Kubrick Stare : Charlie does one when he's angry, and an exaggerated version with his eyes rolled up into his head when he uses his powers.
• Logic Bomb : Realizing that Charlie may be at the limit of his power, the bridge crew turn on every system in an attempt to drain him.
• Mind Rape : There's a bit where Charlie is making Spock recite poetry instead of say what he wants to say on the intercom. Charlie comments that he could make Spock spin around, dance, or laugh . A couple of seasons later, the Platonians do just that .
• Mood Whiplash : In-Universe during the wrestling scene; the moment Charlie makes someone vanish in front of Kirk he realizes he's not just dealing with a Hormone-Addled Teenager but an Outside-Context Problem .
• Mr. Fanservice : Kirk has an extended scene where he wears nothing but a pair of tights.
• Never My Fault : Charlie's reasoning is exactly like a child's, with the reality warping powers of a Thasian behind it. "No, it wasn't Charlie who made Sam disappear, Sam laughed at Charlie - Sam MADE Charlie make Sam disappear!"
• Nightmare Face : How do you know Charlie's about to ruin somebody's day? He tilts his head down and his eyes roll up to fixate on his target, making him look like he has Blank White Eyes , with that "that wasn't very nice..." frown on his face. There's a Scare Chord and a dramatic zoom-in as well, to heighten the effect.
• Not So Above It All : When Uhura interrupts Spock's lute-playing with her singing, he plays the lute for her instead, and has a wry smile as she teases him with the lyrics.
• No Social Skills : Charlie, having lived with no human contact since he was three years old (and is now 17), has insufferably poor social skills.
• Oh, Crap! : When Kirk first sees evidence of Charlie's supernatural ability, making Crewman Sam disappear for laughing at him - he suddenly recognizes that he, and the Enterprise, could be dealing with an exceptionally powerful being with the body and temperament of a child. He recovers after a few seconds.
• Out-of-Character Alert : The crew of the Antares leave as quickly as possible, refusing an offer to take on supplies from Kirk's Starship Luxurious , which he muses is unprecedented.
• O.O.C. Is Serious Business : When the Thasians show up to take Charlie away, Charlie begs the crew not to let them. Seeing the Spoiled Brat who'd been nothing but arrogant and cocky throughout the whole episode completely break down at the sight of his foster parents is jarring, to say the least. Charlie: Oh, please, don't let them take me. I can't even touch them! Janice, they can't feel. Not like you! They don't love!
• Parental Substitute : McCoy suggests that Kirk would make a good father figure for Charlie. Kirk tries to shove the task back onto McCoy , but when Rand approaches him about Charlie's behavior Kirk realizes he can't just let things lie. After Charlie reveals his powers, this is the only hold that Kirk has over him, though they all know Charlie will reach a point where he'll refuse to submit to Kirk's authority.
• Percussive Therapy : Realizing Charlie is suffering from an excess of teenage hormones , Kirk helps him burn some off by teaching him wrestling. It's working well enough until Charlie makes a nearby crewman who laughed at him vanish .
• Charlie can do lots of things, including transmogrification and making people involuntarily recite poetry.
• He can also reach into Yeoman Rand's head and discover her favorite perfume. Ew.
• Psychopathic Man Child : Charlie, an impulsive and unhealthily needy teenager with an ability to make people vanish.
• Rapid Aging : Charlie does this to a pretty crewmember in retribution for Kirk trying to trap him behind a forcefield .
• Reality Warper : From affecting people and objects close to him, to those far away in space, Charlie definitely has some dangerous powers - fortunately, their effects (when directly caused by his powers) can be reversed, and are at the end .
• Red Shirt : The one guy in the gym that laughs at Charlie. Charlie starts his rampage by making him disappear. Interestingly, he's wearing a red dogi. Other crewmembers of all uniform colors suffer in some way or another for offenses both great and small.
• Reset Button : The Thasians undo everything Charlie did on the Enterprise , but are unable to do anything for the crew of the Antares , who were killed by a warp core breach (caused by Charlie) rather than merely being transformed or disappeared.
• Replacement Goldfish : Rand attempts to invoke this by setting Charlie up with a cute blonde crewmember closer to his age, but Charlie is utterly disinterested.
• Screw the Rules, I Have Supernatural Powers! : Charlie Evans was given superpowers by the Thasians after his ship crashed and everyone else was killed. When the Enterprise picks him up, he has an obsession with being liked and "removes" people from reality if they piss him off. Eventually, the Thasians show up to take him back and repair the damage, but they're too late for a ship he destroyed that was trying to warn the Enterprise . While Charlie repents in the end and promises never to use the powers again, Kirk and the Thasians agree that it's too much of a temptation.
• Shipper on Deck : The latter part of Uhura's song comes a bit across as if she is this for Charlie and Rand. But maybe she, like everyone else at first, merely considers this amusing without taking it all too seriously.
• Significant Reference Date : The episode was initially intended to air around Thanksgiving, hence the turkeys reference. However it ended up airing earlier due to it being the only completed episode at the time.
• Sore Loser : Spock crushes Charlie at chess, so Charlie uses his creepy mental powers to melt the pieces.
• Spiritual Antithesis : The episode can be seen as an antithesis of Robert A. Heinlein 's novel Stranger in a Strange Land , which was published just five years before that episode aired. The plots of both works are essentially the same: an orphaned young man with nigh-omnipotent psychic powers is forced to adjust to human society after living his entire life among aliens, and finds himself entranced by the mysteries of human women. But while Heinlein's Valentine Michael Smith is a blissfully innocent figure who tries to use his powers to rid the human race of everything holding it back, Star Trek 's Charlie Evans is a chillingly amoral figure whose alien upbringing leaves him incapable of using his powers responsibly. While Mike ends up successfully founding his own religion and social movement, Charlie is forcibly banished from human society for life.
• Stalker with a Crush : Charlie is one to Janice. He follows her around on the ship and drops by her room to confess his love for her only to be rejected by her. He also reads her mind so he knows what she likes.
• Stalking is Love : That's what Charlie thinks, anyway. Kirk admirably attempts to explain why this is not the case.
• Stepford Smiler : The captain of the Antares and his navigator, though eager to leave as soon as possible, are otherwise acting as if everything is fine. This may be partly so that Kirk doesn't get suspicious, but maybe also out of fear that Charlie will make them vanish too if they don't keep up a good mood.
• The Stoic : Spock doesn't think having his legs broken is worthy of mention until Kirk asks him to stand up.
• Sufficiently Advanced Aliens : The Thasians, who put everything right — except for the fate of the Antares — in about two minutes.
• Sympathy for the Devil : Charlie begs not to go, and while none of the crew likes him, they're all pretty tearful at his fate.
• The Talk : Charlie's social awkwardness around girls is bad enough that Bones decides the boy needs to learn the rules. So he convinces Kirk to give it. And Kirk , despite his experience with women, gets too embarrassed to give it straight at all. Kirk: There's no right way to hit a woman.
• Teens Are Monsters : Charlie is a teenager, with all the insistence that he's old and mature enough and the frustration at not getting what he wants that entails. With his power to mutilate other objects and people, he becomes a threat to entire ships.
• Thanksgiving Episode : According to Kirk's line "On Earth today it's Thanksgiving", the beginning of this episode takes place on 22 November 2266 (assuming American Thanksgiving is meant). The reference to Thanksgiving was included in the script because originally the episode was supposed to air in late-November.
• There Was a Door : Spock tries to trap Charlie behind a Forcefield Door , but he simply vanishes the entire surrounding wall.
• To the Tune of... : Uhura's song is the public domain tune "Charlie Is My Darling" with new lyrics.
• Unnecessary Combat Roll : Kirk demonstrates it for Charlie, and insists it's important when Charlie just wants to learn how to fight. Justified because Kirk is actually showing him how to fall safely when hit, which is just as important as being able to return the blow.
• Victoria's Secret Compartment : Charlie shows Yeoman Rand a "card trick" in which he tosses a card aside and makes it reappear down the front of her low-cut uniform. She's understandably startled and perhaps annoyed, given that the crew doesn't yet know about Charlie's powers and she can only assume that he pulled a rather naughty bit of sleight-of-hand.
• Why Did You Make Me Hit You? : Whenever Charlie makes someone vanish it's Never My Fault , but theirs for provoking him. When called out on what happened to the Antares , Charlie says that a baffle plate on the warp drive was buckled and would have destroyed the ship anyway. "I just made it vanish."
• Wild Child : Everyone assumed Charlie took care of himself from a very early age, explaining his horrible social conduct. Well, he did indeed have no human contact, so that does basically explain it.
• Wolf in Sheep's Clothing : Shown in the scene where Uhura jokes about Spock's devilish appearance and pretends he's someone female astronauts have to be afraid of , while being ignorant of the actual danger in the room. On singing about Charlie and getting to the verse, " We know not what he'll do-- " , Charlie abruptly mutes her voice.
• Woobie, Destroyer of Worlds : Charlie has No Social Skills , desperately wants to be liked and have friends, and has no sense of proportion when people don't treat him the way he wishes them to. Oh, and he is omnipotent. Picture a corporeal version of Q with No Sense of Humor and you have Charlie in a nutshell. The result is a maladjusted teenager who everyone is afraid of, who tries to make people like him by punishing them whenever they make him unhappy.
• Your Favourite : Charlie gives Rand a bottle of her favorite perfume, despite there not being any in the ship's stores. And how did he know what perfume Rand liked most anyway?

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STAR TREK: THE ORIGINAL SERIES SCREENCAPS Man Trap

STAR TREK Episodes

The 79 episodes broadcast during 3 seasons of STAR TREK: The Original Series (TOS) from 1966 to 1969 form the basis of this website's Starfleet uniform research, alongside the unaired first pilot made in 1964 - '65.

Starfleet.ca episode codes are in production order , which for research purposes is superior to airing order. Various other sources sort by release date for nostalgic reasons, but it is STAR TREK 's filming order that reveals the true linear progression of how its uniform designs evolved.

Episodes Grid

For quick reference, external links are provided to each episode's article at Memory Alpha , screencaps gallery at TrekCore , and dialogue at Chrissie's Transcripts Site : all invaluable resources.

First Pilot

Tos season 1 (1966 - '67), tos season 2 (1967 - '68), tos season 3 (1968 - '69).