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Charlie X (episode)

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Real World article
(written from a Production point of view)
"Charlie X"
TOS, Episode 1x07
Production number: 6149-08
First aired: 15 September 1966
Remastered version aired: 14 July 2007
← 8th of 80 produced in TOS →
← 2nd of 80 released in TOS →
← 38th of 80 released in TOS Remastered →
← 2nd of 727 released in all →
Teleplay By
D.C. Fontana

Story By
Gene Roddenberry

Directed By
Lawrence Dobkin
1533.6 (2266)
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The Enterprise takes seventeen-year-old Charles Evans aboard for transport after he spent fourteen years alone on a deserted planet, but he's unable to interact with his fellow Humans.

Contents

[edit] Summary

Yeoman Janice Rand

The USS Enterprise rendezvouses with the Antares, a small survey ship. While investigating the planet Thasus, the Antares discovered a young boy named Charles Evans who had been raised by a mysterious, ancient alien race. Evans transfers to the Enterprise, which is going to Colony 5, where Evans' only relatives live.

Captain Ramart and his navigator, Tom Nellis, are eager to be on their way, even refusing Kirk's offer of Saurian brandy. But they are also effusive in their praise of Charlie. This is the first of many mysteries surrounding Charlie.

Charlie attempts to learn and integrate, demonstrating the effect of his years away from all Human contact. At the same time, strange incidents occur in his vicinity. Charlie is also struggling mightily with adolescence and with his first crush, on Yeoman Janice Rand. In the briefing lounge, where Uhura is singing "Oh, On the Starship Enterprise" to a rapt Rand, Rand ignores Charlie's card tricks; he secretly silences Uhura, so that he can have Rand's undivided attention.

At extreme range, Captain Ramart attempts to contact the Enterprise, but before he can say more than "I've got to warn...", his ship is destroyed. Charlie advises Kirk that "It wasn't very well constucted" – a strange comment, since it comes before Spock actually confirms the Antares' destruction.

"She's not the girl, Charlie"

Kirk takes pity on Charlie and attempts to befriend him, taking him to the physical training room for some light sparring. Initially refusing to participate, Charlie falls awkwardly and prompts laughter from Sam, one of Kirk's sparring partners. Humiliated and angry, Charlie makes Sam "go away", revealing his powers. Confronted, Charlie admits to destroying the Antares by making a warped baffle plate in its energy pile "go away". He defends his action by claiming that the ship would have blown up anyway, and that the crew weren't nice to him.

Kirk speculates that Charlie might be a Thasian, but McCoy's medical analysis results make this an unlikely possibility.

Charlie, his powers now common knowledge, takes overt control of the Enterprise. Attempts to thwart him fail, and he wreaks havoc. He wants to go to Colony 5; Kirk knows that the mayhem he'd create in that unstructured setting would be far worse than what he's done so far.

Determined to stop Charlie before he can reach Colony 5, Kirk attempts to overload his abilities, ordering more and more ship's systems activated. In the midst of this struggle, a ship from Thasus appears. The Thasians granted Charlie immense powers so he could live – powers that they cannot, or will not, remove. Certain it would be impossible for Charlie to live a normal life with his own people, the Thasians remove him to their vessel and depart.

[edit] Log Entries

  • "Captain's log, stardate 1533.6. Now maneuvering to come alongside cargo vessel Antares. Its captain and first officer are beaming over to us with an unusual passenger."
  • "Captain's log, stardate 1533.7. We have taken aboard an unusual passenger for transport to Colony Alpha V. Charles Evans, the sole survivor of a transport crash fourteen years ago. The child, alone from age 3, has not only survived, but has grown to intelligent, healthy adolescence."
  • "Captain's log, stardate 1535.8. UESPA headquarters notified of the mysterious loss of science probe vessel Antares."

[edit] Memorable Quotes

"Tiger, tiger, burning bright in the forest of the night."

- Spock


"Saturn rings around my head, down a road that's Martian red."

- Spock


"Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered weak and weary."

- Spock


"CHARLIE! You just don't go around slapping girls on the...!"

- Yeoman Janice Rand


"Sir, I put meatloaf in the ovens, there's turkeys in there now. Real turkeys."

- Galley chef


"She's... she's just a girl. You're... you smell like a girl. All the other girls on the ship, they... they look just like Tina. You're the only one... who looks like you. You can understand, can't you? You know about... being with somebody? Wanting to be? If I had the whole universe... I'd give it to you. When I see you, I... I feel like I'm hungry... all over. Hungry. Do you know how that feels?"

- Charlie, to Yeoman Janice Rand


"That's enough, Charlie."
"Don't you think he's funny? I think he's funny."
"Leave my crew alone!"

- Kirk and Charlie


"There's no right way to hit a woman."

- Kirk

[edit] Background Information

  • This episode was directed by Lawrence Dobkin, who later guest-starred as Ambassador Kell in TNG: "The Mind's Eye".
  • James Doohan (Scotty) and George Takei (Sulu) do not appear in this episode, although two words of Takei's dialog from "The Man Trap" are dubbed in when Kirk calls the bridge from the gymnasium.
  • The Galley chef was voiced by Gene Roddenberry, in his only acting role in Star Trek.
  • Gene Roddenberry had written a one-sentence synopsis of this episode on the first page of his original series outline for Star Trek under the title "The Day Charlie Became God." The page is reproduced in the Herbert F. Solow-Robert H. Justman volume Inside Star Trek: The Real Story.
  • "Charlie X" was adapted for a novelization by James Blish. It was published in the first Bantam Books Star Trek novelization collection in 1967 under the original script name, "Charlie's Law." (This name is a pun on Charles' Law, a law of physics dealing with how changes in temperature affect the volume of a gas.)
  • Although it may not canonically represent the creative staff's intentions, the novelization identifies the unnamed crewman named Sam (that Charlie "disposes" of) as Sam Ellis, an officer on McCoy's medical staff. The episode made it clear that he, along with all of the officers who were disfigured by Charlie, were "restored" along with Rand when the Thasians intervened. The USS Antares could not be saved because, as the Thasian explained, it was destroyed "in this frame" whereas the zapped Enterprise personnel were "kept intact in the next frame."
  • In the scene in Rand's quarters, when Charlie flings Kirk and Spock against the wall, the wall has a hole punched in it. On an earlier take, Leonard Nimoy had struck the wall too forcefully. This alternate take can be seen at the end of the episode's preview.
  • This is the first time we see the brig in the series, although the electrically charged "bars" that emerge from either side of the doorway will be removed and replaced with lights hereafter. During season two, it was given a permanent location in the hallway leading to the engineering set (which is near this set across the hallway). This same spot is used as the guest quarters in "The Conscience of the King", and as part of Engineering in "The Alternative Factor". Finally it becomes the medical lab in "Operation -- Annihilate!".
  • Charlie wears one of the old turtleneck shirts from "Where No Man Has Gone Before".
  • Spock's scanners in this episode make the same sound the Metron transmission does in "Arena".
  • After this episode William Shatner only wore tights once more, in "Errand of Mercy". He later poked fun at his costume in this episode when clips of it were shown as part of the History Channel show, How William Shatner Changed the World.
  • After Charlie transforms Tina Lawton into an iguana, the noise the reptile makes is identical to the sounds made by Sylvia and Korob's true forms at the end of "Catspaw".
  • The grates in the floors of the corridors disappeared in later episodes. In one scene, Charlie takes great delight in watching a technician lower some tubing into one of these floor grates.
  • Publicity stills of Grace Lee Whitney were used on the playing cards Charlie modifies.
  • This is the first of six original series episodes that takes place entirely aboard the Enterprise. The others are "The Changeling", "Journey to Babel", "Elaan of Troyius", "Let That Be Your Last Battlefield", and "Is There in Truth No Beauty?".
  • During the first-season episodes, cinematographer Jerry Finnerman was encouraged to maximize placement of colored background lighting to add exotic warmth to the gray walls of the Enterprise set. This was a major promotional point for NBC, as Star Trek was a selling point for color televisions. As pressure to complete episodes grew, this touch gradually faded from the series. NBC was owned at the time by RCA, a major manufacturer of color television sets. (Inside Star Trek)
  • Like Trelane, Apollo and the Gorgan, Charlie makes his exit with fading repetition of his final words.
  • The music accompanying Charlie's disappearance at the end of this episode would be re-used effectively in "Space Seed"; as the landing party beams onto the Botany Bay; in "Patterns of Force" for the death of John Gill; in "The Tholian Web" as Chekov witnesses the dead engineering crew on the Defiant; as Kirk wanders the empty corridors of the faux-Enterprise early in "The Mark of Gideon" and in "The Ultimate Computer" during Daystrom's final conversation with his M-5 computer.
  • The opening credits of this episode are the same as those used in "The Man Trap", which included a "Created by Gene Roddenberry" credit. The credits at the close of the episode only list Roddenberry as Producer. Also, the credits for William Shatner and Leonard Nimoy are missing the "starring" and "also starring" designations. This episode followed "The Man Trap" in airdate order. The main titles were standardized for syndication, however the DVD prints restore the titles to their original configuration.
  • Still not firmly set in his characterization in this early episode, Spock both shows irritation and smiles as Uhura makes fun of him. It seems that he has learned how to express irritation ("Ah yes, one of your Earth emotions") fairly quickly since the events of "Where No Man Has Gone Before".
  • When Kirk and Charlie have their final confrontation, the camera moves to a rare floor-level view of the bridge. This close-up shows that the set is carpeted. This was probably done as a noise-absorber, given the propensity of the set to pick up noises like plumbing and squeaking floors. The material itself is Ozite, a portion of which was sold at the Profiles in History Star Trek auction In June 2002.
  • The United Earth Space Probe Agency is referenced for the first time in this episode, with the acronym "UESPA". Years later, Star Trek: Enterprise would reference UESPA in several episodes, including "Demons".
  • The scene where Charlie witnesses one crewman give another a friendly swat on the butt is frequently cut for syndication. This unfortunately removes imitation as Charlie's motivation when he does the same to Yeoman Rand.
  • DS9 writer Ira Steven Behr says that this is the episode that "won him over". [1]
  • The line "Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered weak and weary" spoken by Spock while under Charlie's influence is the first line of the poem "The Raven", by Edgar Allan Poe.
  • The song that Uhura sings to Spock and then Charlie may have been taken from an old Scottish folk song penned by Robert Burns called "Charlie, He's My Darling". The chorus in that song is almost identical to what Uhura sings. [2]
  • This is the only episode shot after the pilots to have no exterior views of the Enterprise using the updated "series" model. All of the shots are footage from "The Cage" and "Where No Man Has Gone Before".
  • According to Kirk's line "On Earth today it's Thanksgiving", the beginning of this episode takes place on 22 November 2266.

[edit] Production Timeline

[edit] Script vs. screen

  • The second draft of this episode's script was completed 27 June 1966, with the final draft coming in on 5 July. The episode itself was filmed in mid-July.
  • In the final draft, the card trick Charlie plays with Janice, which reveals her photograph on the cards, is not specified. The script simply states that Charlie performs a variety of card tricks which amaze Janice and the onlookers.
  • The script calls for the Antares to be seen.

[edit] Remastered Information

The remastered version of "Charlie X" aired in many North American markets during the weekend of 14 July 2007. The episode included new effects shots of the Thasian ship, replacing the blob-like object seen on screen with a torpedo-shaped vessel. Most notably, the remastered episode opens with a shot featuring the Antares, a new design based upon the robot grain ships seen in the Star Trek: The Animated Series episode "More Tribbles, More Troubles".

The Enterprise and the Antares rendezvous

The original Thasian ship...

...and the remastered counterpart.

[edit] Video and DVD releases

[edit] Links and references

[edit] Starring

[edit] Also starring

[edit] Guest star

[edit] Featuring

And:

[edit] Uncredited Co-Stars

[edit] Stunt double

[edit] References

2249; 2252; Antares; Antares-type; astronaut; atmospheric system; baffle plate; biology; chess master; Colony Alpha V (Colony V, Earth Colony V); dossier; Earth history; Earthling; electronic clipboard; energy pile; entertainment tapes; food concentrate; fruit; governor; gymnasium; iguana; Martian; mathematics; meat loaf; memory banks; micro-tape; navigation console; non-corporeal species; Oh, On the Starship Enterprise; poetry; probe scanner; puberty; quadrant; Raven, The; record tapes; Satan; Saturn; Saurian brandy; science-probe vessel; ship's stores; shoulder roll; survey ship; Thanksgiving; Thasian; Thasian ship; Thasus; three-dimensional chess; transmitter; transmutation; transport ship; turkey; Tyger, The; United Earth Space Probe Agency; UESPA Headquarters; vegetable; Vulcan lute

[edit] External link


Previous episode produced:
"The Naked Time" 		Star Trek: The Original Series
Season 1 		Next episode produced:
"Balance of Terror"
Previous episode aired:
"The Man Trap" 		Next episode aired:
"Where No Man Has Gone Before"
Previous remastered episode aired:
"Return to Tomorrow" 		TOS Remastered Next remastered episode aired:
"The Squire of Gothos"
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