Charlie X

DVD, Star Trek S1 (Charlie X)

Kirk as a Father is how I'd best describe this episode, although it's also the origins of the 'childlike alien causes the crew problems' archetype, which itself could trace its roots in the second pilot, 'Where No Man Has Gone Before,' with a similar event in Gary Mitchell's transformation into a powerful being capable of threatening the entire ship and only caring about his own desires. Charlie Evans is the teenaged version of Mitchell, crossed with something like Tarzan, or whatever legend of children surviving in an 'alien' environment, away from human society, you want to apply (Romulus and Remus, perhaps!). You could even say he's Wesley Crusher combined with Thomas Riker. Where Mitchell had bonds with Kirk and the crew, which he outgrew, and had an awareness of the stir he was creating among his friends and colleagues as he changed, not to mention that we saw these changes as they occurred, Charlie was altered early in his development, from the age of three, and has a need to learn the ways and etiquettes of his human brethren, especially when he experiences the, shall we say, Pon Farr of his species, after being spellbound by Janice Rand. So, rather than considering himself above these petty humans, like Mitchell, he's coming from the opposite perspective (which shows how a premise can be flipped or diverted to a whole new direction in Trek's storytelling style, creating a new and satisfying exploration of the same subject, one reason why Trek's persisted in the entertainment world).

Charlie quickly learns to respect Kirk and has a strong desire to be accepted and liked, yet still wants to do things his way. This is where Kirk steps in and makes me think that David Marcus would have done well to have him as a Father, though you get a sense that he might still have remained a distant figure (and not just because of the lack of families on this version of the Enterprise). He isn't initially keen to take on the responsibility of Charlie's development, and it takes multiple incidents for him to see that he is the right man for the job. I'm not sure if this is because he has a ship to run and sees Charlie as a low priority in his daily life, or whether he's humble enough that he can't immediately see that he's exactly the kind of role model a teenage boy needs. Either way, it takes Spock and McCoy's urging, as well as the more lighthearted romantic troubles of Rand (who's obviously got over her terrible ordeal with the evil Kirk of 'The Enemy Within' since she's comfortable enough to come to her Captain with the request for him to discuss the fine points with Charlie). When Kirk beats Spock at Tri-dimensional chess in his illogical way, the Vulcan's penance is to teach young Evans to play, as Kirk is off to his next appointment or duty, while Charlie clearly prefers to spend time with him.

Charlie's attitude towards Spock is very much as Mitchell's was to the whole crew. He denigrates the Vulcan, thinks he looks funny, treats him without any respect and doesn't see anything he could learn from the intelligent alien. He only cares about fellow humans, and that callousness increases as his interest in the crew narrows. At first he's delighted by the inner workings of the ship, watching with a grin as some technician lowers a pole or conduit (I'm not sure exactly what he is doing), into an access hatch, or explores a Jefferies Tube (where, upon exiting, he learns the friendly attitudes displayed between male colleagues, mistakenly thinking such behaviour is interchangeable with the females!), but his offhand manner with Spock and his complete rejection of Rand's attempt to set him up with a Yeoman, Third Class, closer to his age, demonstrates his selfish focus and disregard for others' feelings. Those that are particularly friendly he gets on well with - McCoy giving him a clean bill of health pleases him, but if only the Doctor had known what he was dealing with you can imagine him quickly becoming irascible with the young man (his line, "What do you suggest we do? Spank it?" about V'Ger in 'The Motion Picture' kept coming to mind, and he's very aware of the lack of defence they have against the telekinetic power of Charlie - an example that also brings 'TMP' to mind is when Uhura's hands are burned on the console, the Doctor called to the Bridge).

This is where Kirk steps in and shows that he won't back down, Charlie will have to make him 'go away' if he wants to overrule Kirk's authority on his own ship. It's a gamble, but Kirk is a gambler. In addition, he knows that he has Charlie's respect and even if he didn't, he wasn't going to be the one to become a mealymouthed apologist in order to trick the boy. He keeps control over him to a certain measure for a while, but eventually he does sort of try to trick him, sending him into a room which has a forcefield, only to find the powers had been underestimated when Charlie vanishes the entire bulkhead, the forcefield along with it, freezing Kirk and Spock in place. I never felt that things had moved beyond a reasonable logic - Charlie's powers need to remain mostly in check, for budgetary reasons, but more importantly for story reasons, as, if he had just ripped through the crew, rearranged the ship to his liking, and completely turned the environment topsy-turvy there would be no drama. The fact he's kept in check, and that his power is on the verge of being released if the wrong word is said, or someone looks at him funny, gives the episode its tension, and we still have to have some degree of sympathy for his growing pains, or he'd just be a monster of the week, nothing more.

Because he's human, at least in origin and form, and he's going through the teenage years, having supposedly survived on a planet for most of his life (again, I hear echoes of Seven of Nine, assimilated at a young age by an advanced alien race, and changed forever, having to learn to assimilate back into her original society), we can identify with him, and a lot more than we could with Mitchell, whose delusions of godhood and detached interest in his former life were merely unpleasant with no hope for redemption. Charlie wants to be good, although in his mind that still means having everything his way, but Kirk steps in at the end to defend his need for humanity when the Thasian comes for Charlie and explains that he can't live with his own kind as he'll end up destroying them (which leaves the question of why they allowed him to be taken by the Antares in the first place). Charlie, too, believes he needs human companionship as the Thasians have no love, no physical form, and his greatest punishment is to be taken back to that life. But, despite the characters having sympathy for his plight, especially as the damage has been undone (although the Antares couldn't be saved from destruction), Rand even shedding tears for him, he had sealed his fate. It's a powerful final scene, not diluted by an extraneous moment of irony or hilarity to lighten the mood, as most of the episodes have, and one of the best endings so far, leaving us thinking on the outcome as we pull away from the group of characters.

For an episode set entirely aboard the good ship Enterprise, and featuring an integral guest star, it's surprisingly involving. As I've noted in other reviews, and even those for the spinoffs, a guest can take away from the main cast, and a bottle show can be a bit dull. But if the writing is up to the task, as in this case, it gives us further insight into characters and doesn't detract, but enhances the crew through their interactions with the interloper, and that was certainly the case this time. At this stage it still feels as if any crewmember on screen could become a recurring role as the cast hasn't been handpicked and buttoned down, being more organic in its approach (in this week's Locate Leslie, he was in the Rec Room). The character of the Enterprise also gets her screen time and development, with revisits to various areas within her, and even a new set: the gymnasium where Kirk teaches Charlie the manly art of wrestling to loosen him up a bit, while gymnasts do their gymnasting, and we see people sparring in the background with wooden poles. We also get our best view of the Bridge's deck, when Kirk falls to the floor - it's definitely carpeted (so 'TNG' didn't do it first, it's just a more functional, bland colour in 'TOS'), features nice little steps up to the outer ring of consoles, and we see a line in the floor which must be where that section of the 'wild wall' could be removed for shooting purposes, so not only do we get more idea of the in-universe world they inhabit, but the production side of things - I also noticed the Bridge creaking under Spock's weight!

The episode walks the line between playful humour at Charlie's expense, and the diabolical matter of a fully functioning starship "in the hands of an adolescent," as Spock says (being in thrall to an adolescent or child would be repeated this very season with 'The Squire of Gothos,' a similar tale of a minor with ridiculous levels of power, duplicating the ending where the 'parents' come to sort out the mess and take him home). It's good to see the fully formed trio of Kirk, Spock and McCoy, who meet to discuss the problem of Charlie, for once the argumentative pair in accord that Kirk is the one Charlie looks up to, and also that if Kirk continues to stand up to him, he'll eventually take it out on the Captain. Surprisingly, there's no sign of either Sulu or Scotty - there's a different Transporter Chief operating the device when Charlie and representatives of the Antares beam over, and I wonder what the rationale was in not using them? It reinforces the style of the time to have lead actors and the rest be recurring, as Rand and Uhura have their moments, but it's mainly Kirk, Spock and Charlie, with a side order of McCoy. I like that Rand continues to be used, and much of the humour comes from her slightly embarrassed interactions with the ardent Charlie who's latched onto her as his first crush. She sets up the Captain and Dr. McCoy nicely when she tells Charlie to ask them to explain why you shouldn't slap a woman on the rear!

Rand does seem to be easily taken in by Charlie's card tricks, which are pretty creepy - how did he get these images of her which appear, magically on the playing cards? She's impressed, but not surprised, so perhaps the computer can be rigged to use its internal data recorders to print images of any member of the crew. We know that Charlie's using unnatural powers to create them, but the crew must know of a way to do such a thing otherwise they'd be totally amazed and demand to know how he did it. But once again, Trek shows how forward thinking it was - now we can easily take digital photos and even print them off on small devices, so how much more easily would it be in a couple of centuries to be able to harness the power of constant surveillance and instant technology to produce such things? That, and sleight of hand to get a card to appear down Rand's tunic… The Rec Room where his tricks are performed is also where the most cited evidence for the Spock/Uhura romance of the Kelvin Timeline occurs: Uhura decides to tease Spock, who keeps getting put off by her inadvertent singing while he tries to practice the lute. He must be in the mood for company or he'd be playing alone in his quarters, which shows that he does at least appreciate some human company in his off hours. I grant that they do appear to tease a little, Spock actually smiling quite a bit, but it's only a one-off event and it's more about Uhura showing off to Rand and having a bit of fun (she gives Janice a big wink, which tells me she's not too serious at that moment), so it's taking things too far to extrapolate anything beyond those intentions.

An interesting point about her song, or two points to be exact (Spock's ears), are the references to 'Satan's guise,' and 'Devil ears and Devil eyes,' referring to Spock. This would have been a direct ribbing of the TV executives that had wanted to lose Spock after the first pilot because of what they considered his Satanic looks. He was the character that just couldn't be got rid of, and they must have felt confident about his role by this time to point so directly to the concerns that had previously been expressed! Day to day life on the Enterprise is well represented as there is no pressing engagement or clock counting down, so there's time for Charlie, and by extension us, to explore the Enterprise and its facilities. There are also little asides in dialogue that further enhance the experience and sense of community such as when Kirk mentions Thanksgiving and asks what appears to be the chef, or at least a galley crewman, to make the meatloaf look like turkey. This tells us that the food slots which we'd only seen once so far (and don't appear in this episode), don't necessarily do everything. It's still synthetic food, as Kirk says, but there's some preparation required. Later we hear that the meatloaf was changed into turkeys in the oven, I think (a result of Charlie using his power for the benefit of his crew mates for once). There's also the return of the wall-mounted leg exercisers we saw Kirk use before, operated by Charlie as he has his medical.

The recreational lives of the crew continue to be expanded upon, what with the singing, lute playing, card games and chess, but we also see Kirk as another who likes books, with a stack of large bound volumes in his quarters. He invites the Antares crew over for some shore leave, but of course they're anxious to be done with Charlie and get on their way. I was wondering what the entertainment tapes were, which Kirk said the Enterprise had a wide selection of. They couldn't be holo-programs as the Holodeck hadn't been invented yet, a new technology at the start of 'TNG,' so they could be as simple as books or films from the database, or maybe they are something more. A device that could be put over the eyes to see a different environment? There's no evidence for such things, and the series has been very careful not to be too outlandish, concentrating on the realistic naval style of life aboard ship, so I imagine it would be more basic entertainment, reading material, music, that kind of thing, though it could easily be retconned in 'Discovery.' I like that the Antares has its own insignia, though it's far inferior to our own Enterprise's variety. It became unofficial canon that all ships after the Enterprise adopted their style of the vertical arrowhead chevron in respect for its contribution to the service, which is good enough reason as any. It also looks like they didn't have the time or budget to design something as fitting as that for the Antares, but it's interesting to get a peek into another corner of 23rd Century design.

Kirk wears his green tunic at the start of the episode, previously seen as the weaker Kirk's choice of clothing in 'The Enemy Within,' probably to suit his mood of relaxed geniality - he's in good spirits, not getting annoyed with Charlie for continually butting in on his conversation with the Antares' Captain and Navigator. But he's soon in his usual gold uniform, the ideal outfit to suit his Captain's authority, especially when he and Charlie have a confrontation. Charlie's choice of clothing also contains more meaning, as initially he wears the pale, bland uniform of the pilot episodes since that's what the Antares crew were wearing (the newer cut probably hadn't reached them yet, being a transport ship they wouldn't be top priority for new uniforms, I'm sure). Once Charlie is no longer hiding his powers at all and is in full confidence of himself, he wears a smart suede jacket with the same horizontal arrowhead buckle featured on the green tunic. Again, it's nice to see more of the era's design, and visually denotes Charlie's growing control over the ship. In inverse, Rand is mostly seen in her usual red uniform, but when Charlie goes to her at the end (entering her locked quarters unannounced, which shows they do have the capability to lock their doors!), she's in a more vulnerable, feminine outfit of pink gown, her hair down, the look almost Roman fashion, except for what looked like fluffy white slippers! The attention to the mood through clothing is one of the great things about the episode, demonstrating a depth to proceedings that not all episodes have had.

The effects are another, mostly standout success of the episode. I say mostly, as some of the vanishing sequences, such as the Security officer's arm visibly changing position during the Phaser's disappearance (like Pike when he crossed into different illusions in 'The Cage'), are a bit rough. But most of the vanishing stuff is really good, and the floating green face of the Thasian which appears rippling on the Bridge to take Charlie back, was fantastic. Our first view of a non-corporeal life form in Trek is a real corker, even if it does set the trend for many of them to be depicted as old men. I suppose it makes sense as we have a collective understanding of wisdom and age personifying or personified by an aged male face such as the image many people have of God as an old guy with a beard. It's a shortcut for audiences to latch onto a familiar concept and understand this weird character in relation to the drama. The same can't be said for the Thasian vessel which was just a green blob. It would have been better not to have a ship at all (after all, what does a Thasian need with a starship!). I appreciated the use of makeup, too, such as the woman whose face has been wiped clean off by Charlie's sensitive aversion to laughter, and I loved that (like 'Interstellar'), they used an actual old woman to portray the ageing Charlie forces on a hapless crew woman passing by, instead of trying to achieve the same effect in makeup.

Another quality aspect to the production was the innovative use of lighting to enhance the drama: when Kirk and Charlie face up to each other, their eyes are highlighted, narrowing it down to a battle of wills, like some Old West gunfight (a suitable analogy, since the series was based on the Wild West - all it needed was Kirk to hover his hand over a Phaser at the hip to complete the picture!), really enhancing the moment. In fact, it made me wish they'd use greater contrast, as shown in that scene, for the majority of the episodes. But their mandate was to appeal to those with newfangled colour TVs, so they wanted it bright and colourful as much as possible. There was further enhancement in the detail of individual sounds for each of the jewel buttons Uhura presses on her console, and we get an exact number for the crew complement (428), further grounding the world in an establishing reality pleasing to observe, even if it does tie the writing down with each new piece of information. But that's the struggle of this sort of episodic writing: to keep things fresh and new, while continuing to fill out the known universe these characters inhabit, and something that was successfully achieved for almost all of its fifty year history. As Spock would say in a future episode, it would be interesting to revisit Charlie's world in a hundred years and see what crop had been borne of such a seed. Shame they never made a sequel: 'Star Trek XIV: The Wrath of Charlie' anyone?

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