“Charlie X” was written
by Dorothy C. Fontana, from a story by Gene Roddenberry, was directed by Lawrence
Dobkin, was produced by Gene Roddenberry, held production code 8, was the 2nd
episode of Star Trek Season 1, and
was originally broadcast on 15 September 1966.
If “The Man Trap” served
as an episode to introduce the characters of Star Trek than “Charlie X” is an episode to show what types of
stories the series can do, when written well that is. The first thing that struck me about the episode
is how much better the story was at direction and pacing were improved by miles
above the first episode. This is down to
setting the episode on the ship, which saved money on sets, and allowed the
director to use creativity to tighten shots.
This tightening of shots creates tension and this tension rises until
the conclusion of the story itself leaves the viewer wanting to experience
more.
The episode begins with
the Enterprise beaming over men from
the Antares to transfer a
passenger. Charlie Evans, played by
Robert Walker Jr., was the sole survivor of a ship crashing on the planet
Thasus where he has lived for 14 years.
The Enterprise is tasked with
taking Charlie to his nearest living relatives on Alpha V. The initial conflict of the episode comes
from Charlie’s inexperience with social interaction so he is unsure of how to
conduct himself. Walker plays the
character almost like a bad actor would act, never knowing quite where to put
his eyes, not speaking in the most natural of patterns, and his biggest faux
pas, slapping Janice Rand, played by Grace Lee Whitney, on the ass. This section of the episode, while good, has
the most problems, mainly in the dialogue.
The characters don’t really know how to deal with Charlie, but it feels
a bit more like poor writing than natural.
Captain Kirk (William Shatner) has the worst luck here as the captain at
the very least should have enough preparation for situations like this. The sexual assault of Janice, however, while
not the best portrayal, is done well with Janice not taking any of Charlie’s
shit, but still is accommodating as he never really understood the social niceties.
The second act of the
episode ramps up the tension by having Kirk attempt to bond with Charlie, but
things begin to go sour. It starts
simply enough with Charlie using impossible magic tricks to impress Janice and
other crew members, but the episode quickly turns to a darker tone. Kirk attempts to teach Charlie to fight, but
when his training partner laughs at the boy, Charlie displays a power of the
mind, making him disappear. Charlie is
the villain of the episode and making a child the villain creates an insane
amount of tension as none of the crew wish to hurt the boy, but he leaves them
no choice in doing so as he takes over the ship. This leads into a sequence of horror as he
makes people disappear, turns people into lizards, and deletes their
faces. This is a highlight of the
episode and uses simple effects and camera trickery to achieve something that
still holds up.
The third act introduces
the dynamic between Kirk, Spock (Leonard Nimoy), and Bones (DeForest Kelley) as
they use their wit to play Charlie in a game of three-dimensional chess (an
idea originated earlier in the episode).
The way they take him down is to overload his mind by forcing him to
take control of too much which is a clever way of ending the episode. Once he is defeated the episode wraps up with
the aliens he was raised by taking him back where he won’t be able to hurt
anyone, which is a little bit of a deus ex machina.
Outside of the main
story, the episode takes a bit of time to develop more of the supporting cast,
particularly Lieutenant Uhura (Nichelle Nichols) and Spock. Spock plays an instrument while Uhura sings,
and the way it is acted gives a lot to what Spock thinks of Uhura and vice
versa, mainly their equal respect for each other. Uhura is extremely flirtatious as she was in “The
Man Trap”, but this feels extremely natural.
She also gets a scene or two later to expand on her role as
communications officer, which reveals she is an accomplished engineer (all
through one throwaway line no less).
“Charlie X” is an
excellent example of good writing, meeting good direction, and good characters
to create a science fiction experience that uses its allotted runtime to the
fullest. The few flaws come from scenes
being not in the most logical order and some dialogue that doesn’t feel nearly
as natural as it initially should be for a show set in the future. 80/100
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