Retro-review, Star Trek Original Series: "Charlie X" (Episode S01E07)

by Adrian Martinez

Rating: 4 Stars out of 5
Preview link: Remastered episode

The Enterprise has a rendezvous with the survey ship Antares and takes on a passenger who is shrouded in mystery. Though outwardly a boy of 17, Charles Evans — introduced to the crew by the captain of the Antares as simply Charlie — carries a lot of unanswered questions with him. For example, why is the command crew apparently so eager to foist Charlie off on the Enterprise? Why is their praise so effusive, so guarded and yet so fearful? Is it coincidence that the Antares blows up just after they drop him off? Why do strange things start happening around Charlie?

Paranormal occurrences notwithstanding, Charlie is still a human adolescent and is trying to come to grips with who he is. Things get messy when he develops a crush on Yeoman Rand and she rebuffs him. Kirk suddenly has to play father figure to Charlie who is no longer a child, is not yet a man, and, incidentally, has the power of a god.

This episode sets the tone of Star Trek as a drama that examines the human condition instead of just a weekly action adventure show that has the crew killing the monster of the week.

Penned by DC Fontana, this show thrusts adolescence, that most awkward of all ages, into the spotlight. Even though the treatment is a bit dated — the teenager seen through the eyes of the 1950s (even as the Flower Children have begun their march that would eventually lead them to Woodstock three years later) — the underlying human condition rings true: adolescence is an age of uncertainty, confusion, loneliness, and even fear.

The painful realization that one was in transition is poignantly portrayed. As a product of its time, the show has Charlie behave in typical 1950s teenage fashion, except that he has god-like powers. But that detail becomes trivial as the drama unfolds and the character's humanity comes to the fore: how would a child raised with no boundaries react when suddenly confronted with them?

Charlie sends chills down my spine as he acts out every puerile wish I ever entertained as I was growing up. After all, when you have the power of a god, why shouldn't you use them to get what you want? But the limitations of these powers become apparent all too quickly; try as he might, he cannot use them to get what he desires most desperately: the love of Yeoman Rand and the respect of Captain Kirk. Powerful as he is, there is no place for him on board the Enterprise or any other human settlement for that matter. Just before he turns into a monster we cannot relate to, the beings who raised him suddenly appear to take him back. As he fades away, he pleads to be allowed to stay — another wish that cannot be granted. His pleas to stay still raise goosebumps. In the end, though he is the villain, you end up crying for Charlie, because in him you recognize your own desperate loneliness.

I wonder what a current version would look like. Would the desperate eagerness of Charlie Evans to fit in be replaced by a brooding cynicism? Would Charlie's attempts to control his environment be replaced by efforts to dismiss, mock and ultimately destroy it? Adolescence hasn't really changed much. The condition has remained pretty much the same, except maybe that it has become more alienated and more desperate. I wonder if adolescence is really a natural phase in growing up or if it is a symptom of a civilization that is really deeply flawed.