Charlie X

Exercising is far easier when you’re watching something. Yeah it is not going to lead me to me Mr Muscle but it is better to exercise and watch than never to exercise at all. Shakespeare said that didn’t he?

I may have undone some of the work by the Chai latte and the Indian meal and in the evening I had a party to go to. I brought doughnuts which few people seemed to want. There were 8 or so left – so I gave them away. The woman I gave them to does a lot of sport, and goes to the gym a lot more, so she can justify a doughnut in a way my flabby gut cannot!

I was watching the TOS episode Charlie X while on the treadmill. I am still yet to get to any really good episodes. This episode was odd.

A young boy is brought aboard the Enterprise and is quickly shown to have superpowers. He can make crewmen disappear, mutilate them, melt chess pieces, and do card tricks.

Charlie has been isolated from humans for his whole life and so it is quite a learning curve for him to adjust to life in society. And we see what a child might do if presented with great power.

The ending is problematic as it is a desus ex machiina. The Enterprise was only saved because the aliens bailed them out. At least the existence of the aliens was at least telegraphed earlier in the show.

Gender has to again be talked about here. Yeoman Rand was the first woman Charlie had ever seen.

It is natural that he would feel drawn to her.  Given his age sex education is vital to his development. Unfortunately he is on a ship from the 1960s. Meaning that Kirk, McCoy, and even Spock seem incapable of explaining these matters to him.

As this was the 1960s there was no way for the writer’s to talk about sex. In a later episode, Wink of an Eye, Kirk is seen putting on his boots while a woman brushes her hair behind him. And this was considered to have been getting something passed the sensors. I think though they could have at least suggested that Charlie had received that education. Maybe even that was too much for the time.

There is also the problematic thing of Rand being called a girl. I’ll discuss that in The Lights of Zetar as it becomes more relevant in that one.

Over all this is a below average entry in the series. Admittedly most of my issues with it steam from my modern view point but still I don’t think it is one of the best. The next one features God-like powers too.

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