A young man with strange powers hitches a ride on the Enterprise. His name is Charles Evans- Charlie to you and me- and as the sole survivor of a crash he has been alone on a deserted planet for fourteen years. But making Charlie's return to society more difficult is his mysterious godlike abilities
This episode is almost certainly a metaphor for puberty/adolescence: it's the awkward stage taken to the exaggerated extreme. Charlie is the uncertain, stumbling teen- a lusty man one moment and a spiteful child the next. He's flexing his newfound muscles and does not yet realize his own strength. And who should be the object of Charlie's first crush? Why it's none other than Yeoman Janice Rand, intergalactic chew toy and perpetual victim. (Poor Janice- is she cursed?) Charlie reaches for her ample backside but is reprimanded because he has not taken her to Olive Garden first. Kirk is asked to step in as the boy's father figure but he neatly weasels his way out of the job, "delegating" the task back to Spock and Bones.
Next we have the single most mystifying sequence in the first season of the show: Uhura's cafeteria cabaret performance. She's in uniform, in front of the entire crew, singing to Spock's funky harp jam and serenading Charlie until he uses his power to destroy her vocal chords. (We owe you one, Chuck.) Why did anyone think a musical number would be appropriate here? This always stood out as strange to me. Charlie demonstrates his gifts by performing card tricks for Janice, who suddenly seems less upset about the ass-grabbing in Corridor B.
If Kirk's advice to Charlie ("There's no right way to hit a woman") is less than romantic at least it's well-intentioned, but father-son time is over as the ship which brought Charlie aboard is suddenly- and mysteriously- destroyed. Next Charlie loses to Spock at chess and melts the pieces in frustration. At this point it's impossible not to draw a parallel between this story and the "It's A Good Life" episode of The Twilight Zone, in which a small town is terrorized by a young boy with unlimited powers. Were the Trek writers unconsciously copying that story? Consciously copying it? We may never know. Back on the ship Charlie pursues Janice and her giant beehive because she "smells like a girl" and she makes him "hungry, all over." Down, boy.
Kirk pulls Charlie aside for a verbal hose-down and then tries to beat the puberty out of him with a gymnastics routine that evidently consists of slamming your body against the mat as hard as you possibly can. (This is the secret to the Captain's bodacious physique.) Charlie doesn't seem to enjoy it and begins to vanquish crew members to oblivion, and in short order he's taken command of the Enterprise.
We cut to Janice in her quarters: she's alone, in her nightie, writing a letter to Starfleet requesting a transfer to another ship. Then Charlie comes barging in, cornering her, hitting on her hard, and wishing her away when she rejects him. Next the boy goes on a ship-wide tirade, forcing a female crew member through a one-minute menopause and punishing another for laughing by evidently gluing a pancake to her face. (Tough but fair.) Kirk tries to overwhelm Charlie's abilities but suddenly an alien vessel appears and power is restored to the ship, with missing crew members magically returned.
In this final act an almost literal deus ex machina is used to resolve the plot: a "god" appears on the bridge and simply takes Charlie away. It is a disappointing and confusing resolution to an otherwise fine episode, and raises some major plot questions. (If these aliens gave Charlie magic powers in order to survive why didn't they just rescue him? If they're omnipotent why did they allow him to get out of control in the first place?) You can't write a story this good and then just press the Reset button when you run out of time... it's too bad because "Charlie X" deserved an ending.
GRADE: B-
This episode is almost certainly a metaphor for puberty/adolescence: it's the awkward stage taken to the exaggerated extreme. Charlie is the uncertain, stumbling teen- a lusty man one moment and a spiteful child the next. He's flexing his newfound muscles and does not yet realize his own strength. And who should be the object of Charlie's first crush? Why it's none other than Yeoman Janice Rand, intergalactic chew toy and perpetual victim. (Poor Janice- is she cursed?) Charlie reaches for her ample backside but is reprimanded because he has not taken her to Olive Garden first. Kirk is asked to step in as the boy's father figure but he neatly weasels his way out of the job, "delegating" the task back to Spock and Bones.
Next we have the single most mystifying sequence in the first season of the show: Uhura's cafeteria cabaret performance. She's in uniform, in front of the entire crew, singing to Spock's funky harp jam and serenading Charlie until he uses his power to destroy her vocal chords. (We owe you one, Chuck.) Why did anyone think a musical number would be appropriate here? This always stood out as strange to me. Charlie demonstrates his gifts by performing card tricks for Janice, who suddenly seems less upset about the ass-grabbing in Corridor B.
If Kirk's advice to Charlie ("There's no right way to hit a woman") is less than romantic at least it's well-intentioned, but father-son time is over as the ship which brought Charlie aboard is suddenly- and mysteriously- destroyed. Next Charlie loses to Spock at chess and melts the pieces in frustration. At this point it's impossible not to draw a parallel between this story and the "It's A Good Life" episode of The Twilight Zone, in which a small town is terrorized by a young boy with unlimited powers. Were the Trek writers unconsciously copying that story? Consciously copying it? We may never know. Back on the ship Charlie pursues Janice and her giant beehive because she "smells like a girl" and she makes him "hungry, all over." Down, boy.
Kirk pulls Charlie aside for a verbal hose-down and then tries to beat the puberty out of him with a gymnastics routine that evidently consists of slamming your body against the mat as hard as you possibly can. (This is the secret to the Captain's bodacious physique.) Charlie doesn't seem to enjoy it and begins to vanquish crew members to oblivion, and in short order he's taken command of the Enterprise.
We cut to Janice in her quarters: she's alone, in her nightie, writing a letter to Starfleet requesting a transfer to another ship. Then Charlie comes barging in, cornering her, hitting on her hard, and wishing her away when she rejects him. Next the boy goes on a ship-wide tirade, forcing a female crew member through a one-minute menopause and punishing another for laughing by evidently gluing a pancake to her face. (Tough but fair.) Kirk tries to overwhelm Charlie's abilities but suddenly an alien vessel appears and power is restored to the ship, with missing crew members magically returned.
In this final act an almost literal deus ex machina is used to resolve the plot: a "god" appears on the bridge and simply takes Charlie away. It is a disappointing and confusing resolution to an otherwise fine episode, and raises some major plot questions. (If these aliens gave Charlie magic powers in order to survive why didn't they just rescue him? If they're omnipotent why did they allow him to get out of control in the first place?) You can't write a story this good and then just press the Reset button when you run out of time... it's too bad because "Charlie X" deserved an ending.
GRADE: B-