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"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

[edit] Teaser

Charlie's first crush...the beautiful Yeoman 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.

[edit] Act One

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 the beautiful 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 constructed" – a strange comment, since it comes before Spock actually confirms the Antares' destruction.

[edit] Act Two

"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.

[edit] Act Three

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

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.

Charlie, his powers now common knowledge, takes over control of the Enterprise. 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. Charlie then starts his reign of terror. At one point, a spurned Charlie makes Rand disappear.


[edit] Act Four

Attempts to thwart Charlie fail, and he continues to wreak havoc.

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

"Is that a girl?"
"That's a girl."

- Charlie and Kirk, on Rand


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

- Kirk to Charlie, on slapping Rand's bottom


"If I had the whole universe, I'd give it to you. When I see you, I feel like I'm hungry all over. Hungry. Do you know how that feels?"

- Charlie, to Rand


"There are a million things in this universe you can have and there are a million things you can't have!"

- Kirk, to Charlie


"He's a boy in a man's body, trying to be an adult with the adolescence in him getting in the way."

- Kirk, on Charlie


"There's a – Tiger, tiger, burning bright in the forest of the night."

- Spock under Charlie's control, reciting William Blake's "The Tiger"


"I'm trying to – Saturn rings around my head, down a road that's Martian red."

- Spock, still under Charlie's control


"Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered, weak and weary."
"Very nice, Mister Ears."

- Spock and Charlie, as Spock recites Edgar Allen Poe's "The Raven"


"Growing up isn't so much. I'm not a man, and I can do anything! You can't."

- Charlie to Kirk, after Rand vanishes


"I want to stay!"

- Charlie's last words


[edit] Background Information

[edit] Production timeline

[edit] Story and production

  • The first-draft script featured Uhura as a trained mimic, who amused crewmembers by parodying her fellow officers in the recreation room. It was later turned into her performing a song, to fit Nichelle Nichols' musical talents. (The Star Trek Compendium)
  • "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.)
  • 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.
  • 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)
  • 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".

[edit] Performers

  • Although it may not canonically represent the creative staff's intentions, the novelization by James Blish in Star Trek 1 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."

[edit] Sets

  • 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.
  • 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.
Charlie in the brig
  • 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!".
  • 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 ship's gymnasium makes its first and only apperance in the series. It was originally intended to be seen in more episodes, as some of the shots showing acrobatics and gymnastics there were filmed as intended stock footage for reuse later. The gymnasium was a redress of the engineering set. The room where the gymnasts are tumbling is the redecorated briefing room.
  • The bench on which Sam was sitting when he was zapped would later turn up in other episodes. In "Court Martial", it held the wrench that Ben Finney would snatch in his attempt to club Kirk. In "This Side of Paradise", it was topped off by the metal tray that Spock grabs during his fight with Kirk in the transporter room.

[edit] Props and special effects

  • Charlie and the crew of the Antares are wearing old turtleneck uniforms left over from the two pilots. Also, when Charlie is causing panic on the corridors, crewmen can be seen wearing the new series shirts with old, pilot version trousers and boots. (The Star Trek Compendium)
  • Also, Charlie is wearing a gold wraparound suit, which is an unused, early version of Kirk's green tunic made for "The Enemy Within". It is apparently too big for him. (The Star Trek Compendium)
  • Publicity stills of Grace Lee Whitney were used on the playing cards Charlie modifies. (The Star Trek Compendium)
  • 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 was that of the sound made by Sylvia and Korob when they returned to their true forms at the end of "Catspaw".
  • Spock's scanners in this episode make the same sound the Metron transmission does in "Arena".
  • 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, highlighted by a mournful bassoon dirge, 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.

[edit] Continuity

  • According to Kirk's line "On Earth today it's Thanksgiving", the beginning of this episode takes place on 22 November 2266 (assuming American Thanksgiving is meant).
  • Still not firmly set in his characterization in this early episode, Spock shows both irritation and amusement 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".
  • 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. Spock is also forced to quote some lines from "The Tyger" by William Blake when he shouts that there is a "Tyger, Tyger burning bright, in the forests of the night". [1]
  • 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]

[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".

[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; Blake, William; 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; Poe, Edgar Allen; 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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