Star Trek (1966) 1.02

Charlie X

The Enterprise picks up a 17-year-old named Charles Evans. He was living on the planet Thasus by himself. He had been there since he was three years old. Charlie has trouble adjusting to life on the Enterprise. He worries very much about people liking him. He quickly develops a crush on Yeoman Janice Rand.

Captain Kirk tries to advise Charlie as to how to behave around Yeoman Rand and the rest of the crew. Charlie doesn't care for the advice that Captain Kirk gives him. He kills two members of the crew, one of whom is Yeoman Rand, and destroys a nearby starship.

Charlie takes complete control of the Enterprise. Captain Kirk tries to overload Charlie by having Mr. Spock and Doctor McCoy turn on every program and machine they can from the bridge. A Thasian ship shows up just and retrieves Charlie. Their leader apologizes for what Charlie has done. He restores the crew members who were killed or changed in other ways by Charlie.

Thoughts

This episode felt a bit like an episode of the Twilight Zone.

One moment that I found offputting was when Lieutenant Uhura sang a song about Mr. Spock. Everyone present seemed to enjoy it. She seemed to be making fun of him. He was unmoved by the song and was playing music to accompany the words on a stringed instrument. I felt kind of icky listening to it.

I liked how Yeoman Rand and Captain Kirk struggled to find the words to tell Charlie that it was wrong of him to swat her behind. Where did he learn to do that?

I'm not crazy about this episode. It is basically a story about a teenager who isn't used to dealing with others and has great power. It is a bit of a trope. There are other episodes of Star Trek like this one, where the Enterprise has to deal with a man or creature (Trelane, Q) with god-like powers but little to no sense of right and wrong and is only concerned with what they want.

I'm not crazy about this episode. I felt a bit sorry for Charlie but his actions, especially once he started killing people, were inexcusable. Once he crossed that line I stopped feeling sorry for him.