STORY BY
Gene Roddenberry
TELEPLAY BY
D. C. Fontana
DIRECTED BY
Lawrence Dobkin
AIRED ON
September 15, 1966
RUNTIME
50 minutes
STARRING
VIEWS
479
LAST UPDATE
2024-09-17 21:14:23
PAGE VERSION
Version 7
LIKES
2
DISLIKES
0
SUMMARY
No summary yet.
STORY
No story yet.
BEHIND THE SCENES
- Captain Kirk tells that there are 428 human crew members on his ship.
- Original Title: The episode was originally pitched by Gene Roddenberry as "The Day Charlie Became God." During production, it was briefly known as "Charlie's Law," with the phrase "You'd better be nice to Charlie ... or else" being part of the script, though it was cut before airing.
- Roddenberry's Cameo: Gene Roddenberry made a rare vocal cameo in the episode, uncredited, as the ship’s cook who is shocked when the turkey-shaped meatloaf turns into actual turkeys. This was Roddenberry’s only audio appearance in the original series.
- Robert Walker's Performance: The actor who played Charlie Evans, Robert Walker, was praised for his portrayal of the character’s dangerous immaturity, making Charlie both frightening and sympathetic. His performance is often considered one of the standout guest roles in the series.
- Adolescent Themes: The episode uses Charlie’s character to comment on adolescence, particularly the difficulty of controlling new emotions and abilities. This theme of unchecked youthful power has drawn comparisons to Stephen King's Carrie.
- Thanksgiving Episode: The events of "Charlie X" take place on Thanksgiving Day in the Star Trek universe, an amusing detail for fans of the show.
MYTHOLOGY
Introduction of superhuman abilities in humans, a recurring theme in Star Trek.
Charlie Evans is revealed to have god-like powers given to him by the Thasians, an advanced alien race, showcasing the dangers of such power.
QUOTES
Kirk: 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.
Janice Rand: Charlie, you... you... you just don't go around slapping girls on the...
Spock: Doctor, are you speaking scientifically or emotionally?
Lt. Nyota Uhura: [jauntily singing a disturbingly prophetic verse]
Oh, on the Starship Enterprise
There's someone who's in Satan's guise
Whose devil's ears and devil's eyes
Could rip your heart from you!
At first his look could hypnotize
And then his touch would barbarize
His alien love could victimize...
And rip your heart from you!
And that's why female astronauts
Oh very female astronauts
Wait terrified and overwrought
To find what he will do
Oh girls in space, be wary
Be wary, be wary!
Girls in space, be wary!
We know not what he'll do
Lt. Nyota Uhura: [jauntily singing a disturbingly prophetic verse]
Now from a planet out in space
There comes a lad, not commonplace
A-seeking out his first embrace
He's saving it for you
Oh, Charlie's our new darling
Our darling, our darling
Charlie's our new darling
We know not what he'll do
Mr. Spock: And again. Check.
Capt. Kirk: [moving his next piece] Checkmate.
Mr. Spock: Your illogical approach to chess does have its advantages on occasion, Captain.
Capt. Kirk: I prefer to call it inspired.
Mr. Spock: As you wish. At any rate, the game is yours.
Charlie: 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.
FILMING LOCATIONS
TOPICS
No topics yet.
REVIEWS
Who's Charlie?
Written by
Pike on 2024-08-01
★
★
★
★
CHARLIE
Captain Kirk has to welcome Charlie onboard. Charlie is an odd character, which we don't know about. When he meets a girl for the first time, he simply slaps her ass - hello 1960's. This is a time before the #MeToo movement. Or even hashtags for that matter.
CHILL OUT
It was interesting to see the crew chill out, with Spock playing some music and Uhura's singing. This could have been easily ridiculous, but the director was actually able to pull this one off. But unfortunately, there is actually a scene at the gym that is ridiculous, with Kirk topless wearing tight red pants, trying to teach Charlie how to fall and fight.
MUSIC
I was impressed by the original score. This is a time before cheap synthesizer TV music, thank God.
WHO IS HE/IT?
Overall, the episode is definitely enjoyable. The great thing is that we keep wondering about Charlie until the end of the episode. In a way, this episode is very similar to The Man Trap, the previous episode, where we would be left wondering about Nancy until the end of the episode (she was actually a monster).
The end is really satisfying and most of the episode is actually good, simply because of Robert Walker Jr., the great actor portraying Charlie.
SUMMARY
I give it 4 out of 5. Very good.
Oh, and 3D chess!
___________________________________________
The One Where a Teenage Space Jerk Gets Superpowers and Awkward Vibes
Written by
lilly on 2024-09-15
★
★
★
★
Ah, Charlie X, the Star Trek episode that proves space puberty is worse than we ever imagined. Enter Charlie Evans, a 17-year-old who spent his formative years stranded on a planet without any humans—so naturally, he’s a little… socially awkward. But wait! He’s not just a moody teen; he’s got god-like powers to boot. Combine unchecked superpowers with raging hormones, and you’ve got yourself a recipe for disaster (or, at least, some very uncomfortable Thanksgiving dinners on the Enterprise).
Things start off innocently enough. Charlie just wants to be part of the crew, maybe show off his card tricks. But it quickly becomes clear that he's the galaxy’s worst dinner guest. He turns crew members into lizards, makes women disappear for not liking him back, and mentally zaps people who try to correct his terrible space flirting. And oh boy, does he make things awkward when he crushes on Yeoman Rand. His approach to impressing her? Staring creepily and throwing tantrums when things don’t go his way. Classic.
Kirk’s doing his best “space dad” routine, trying to teach Charlie about life, manners, and the importance of not turning people into mannequins when they annoy you. But even Kirk can’t solve the hormonal hurricane that is Charlie. At one point, the kid tries to wrestle Kirk in the gym because… what’s a sci-fi show without a little shirtless wrestling?
Things spiral out of control when Charlie decides to literally take over the ship. The crew is powerless to stop him—until the super-advanced aliens that raised him show up like the cosmic parents he desperately needs. They beam him away to space time-out, and we’re all left wondering if he’ll ever learn how to ask someone out without melting them into a puddle.
In the end, Charlie X is a cautionary tale: never give god-like powers to an angsty teenager who doesn’t know how to handle rejection. And if you do, keep your distance—at least 1 galaxy away.
TRANSCRIPT
Captain's Log, star date 1533.6. Now manoeuvring to come alongside cargo vessel Antares. Its Captain and First officer are beaming over to us with an unusual passenger.
[Transporter room]
KIRK: All right, Chief, begin materialisation. Captain Ramart, I'm Captain Kirk.
RAMART: This is my navigator Tom Nellis.
KIRK: How do you do?
NELLIS: How do you do?
RAMART: And this is our young castaway Charlie, Charlie Evans. His dossier.
KIRK: Mister Evans. We've heard a great deal about you. Welcome aboard.
RAMART: Wonderful boy, Charlie. Its been an honour having him aboard.
NELLIS: Why, it's been a great pleasure. The things that he's learned in the last
RAMART: Absolutely. To think this boy spent practically his whole life alone on that planet. Everyone killed, just a few microtapes to learn from.
CHARLIE: How many humans like me on this ship?
RAMART: Like a whole city in space, Charlie. Over four hundred in the crew of a starship, aren't there, Captain?
KIRK: Four hundred and twenty eight, to be exact. Is there anything we can do for you, Captain? Medical supplies, provisions?
CHARLIE: Hundreds. All human, like me. That's exciting. Is that the right word?
NELLIS: That's perfect. It's the exact word.
RAMART: You see. We'd like to keep Charlie with us, but with his closest living relatives on Colony Five and your vessel going that way, why
CHARLIE: I'd like to see your ship now. All of it. The people and everything.
KIRK: You keep interrupting, Mister Evans. That's considered wrong.
CHARLIE: I'm sorry.
KIRK: We have a large supply of entertainment tapes, gentlemen.
RAMART: No, we've a tight schedule to make, Captain. Just twenty of us, we're making out fine.
KIRK: This must be a space first. A transport ship that doesn't need anything?
RAMART: Nothing.
KIRK: Not even Sarian brandy?
RAMART: We're fine, thank you. Pleasant journey, Captain.
KIRK: Thank you. (the pair are beamed off)
KIRK: Yeoman Rand, this is Charles Evans. Show him to his quarters and drop his records off at Doctor McCoy's office, if you will.
RAND: Yes, sir. Come with me, please.
CHARLIE: Are you a girl? Is that a girl?
KIRK: That's a girl.
Captain's Log, star date 1533.7. We have taken aboard an unusual passenger for transport to Colony Alpha Five. Charles Evans, the sole survivor of a transport crash fourteen years ago. The child, alone from age three, has not only survived, but has grown to intelligent, healthy adolescence.
[Sickbay]
MCCOY: Tell me. The ship's supply of food concentrates couldn't have lasted fourteen years.
CHARLIE: After that I found other things to eat, just growing around.
MCCOY: And you learned to talk by just listening to the ship's tapes?
CHARLIE: The memory banks still worked. They talked to me, and I talked back.
MCCOY: You're four-oh.
CHARLIE: Four?
MCCOY: Four-oh. One hundred percent. Sound of wind and limb.
CHARLIE: That, that Captain. Kirk?
MCCOY: Yeah.
CHARLIE: Why does he call me Mister Evans?
MCCOY: Because that's your name.
CHARLIE: He's not, well, he isn't like Captain Ramart.
MCCOY: Well, no. Captain Kirk is one of a kind, Charlie.
CHARLIE: Do you like me?
MCCOY: Why not?
CHARLIE: Some, the other ship, they didn't like me. I tried. I'm trying to make people like me. I want them to like me.
MCCOY: Most seventeen year olds do. Come on, let's go. I'll show you to your quarters.
[Corridor]
CREWMAN 1: Hey, I'll put the equipment away. See you in the rec room, huh?
CREWMAN 2: You got a deal, friend. (slaps man on bottom)
CREWMAN 1: All right. (to Charlie) Hello.
CHARLIE: I brought you a present.
(A bottle of perfume.)
RAND: Oh, thank you. I really appreciate it, but, but I have to go. I'm on duty.
CHARLIE: Do you like that kind?
RAND: Yes, I, it's my favourite. Where did you get it? They don't have any in the ship's stores.
CHARLIE: It's a present.
RAND: I know, but where did? Gee, I'm late, Charlie. I really have to go.
CHARLIE: Can't you stay and talk a little while?
RAND: Look, I'm off duty at fourteen hundred. Why don't you join me in recreation room six, deck three.
CHARLIE: You got a deal, friend. (slaps her bottom)
RAND: Charlie!
CHARLIE: I thought. Don't be angry. I didn't, I wanted.
RAND: Charlie, you, you, you just don't go around slapping girls on the. It's okay, but er, just don't do it again.
CHARLIE: Don't be angry.
RAND: Look, why don't you tell Captain Kirk or Doctor McCoy what you did. They'll explain it to you. Okay?
CHARLIE: I will.
RAND: Okay.
[Bridge]
MCCOY: But tell me, what reason would he have to lie if there are Thasians?
SPOCK: That is a very intriguing question. Scanners show no disturbances in this quadrant, Captain.
KIRK: Good. Doctor McCoy, Mister Spock is working out
UHURA: Excuse me, Captain. Status report.
KIRK: Thank you. He's working out a training programme for Charlie Evans. Earth history, his own background, that sort of thing. I'd like you to give him the necessary medical orientation on the problems of, um, er, adolescence.
MCCOY: Well, don't you think it'd be better for a strong father image like you? He already looks up to you.
KIRK: The job is yours, Bones. Flattery will get you nowhere.
SPOCK: Doctor, didn't the boy make any reference at all to Thasians?
KIRK: Do you believe the legend, Mister Spock, that Thasians still exist on that planet in some form?
SPOCK: Charlie's very existence proves in fact there must be some intelligent form of life on Thasus. He could not possibly have survived alone. The ship's food concentrates would have been exhausted in a year or so.
MCCOY: By which time he would have been eating fruits, vegetables.
SPOCK: Probes of Thasus indicate very little edible plant life.
MCCOY: And probes have been known to be wrong, Spock.
MCCOY: Doctor, are you speaking scientifically or emotionally?
KIRK: Gentlemen, the fact is the boy is here and he's alive and he needs our help.
MCCOY: And he needs a guide and he needs a father image, Jim.
KIRK: Hmm. I'll depend on your astute abilities to supply him with that, or find him one.
[Recreation room]
(Spock is strumming his lyre when Uhura starts humming. Spock stops)
UHURA: I'm sorry. I did it again, didn't I.
(Spock smirks and Uhura begins playing again.)
UHURA: (singing) Oh, on the starship Enterprise There's someone who's in Satan's guise Whose devil ears and devil eyes Could rip your heart from you. At first, his look could hypnotise And then his touch would barbarise His alien love could victimise And rip your heart from you. And that's why female astronauts, Oh, very female astronauts Wait terrified and overwrought To find what he will do. Oh, girls in space, be wary, be wary, be wary, Girls in space, be wary. We know not what he'll do.
RAND: One more time!
UHURA: (singing) Now from a planet out in space, there comes a lad, not commonplace. A-seeking out his first embrace. He's saving it for you. Oh, Charlie's our new darling, our darling, our darling. Charlie's our new darling. We know not what he'll do.
(Uhura suddenly loses her voice and the lyre makes no sound.)
CHARLIE: Want to see something? (puts three cards face down) Turn them over. (They have pictures of Rand on them)
RAND: Well, how did you do that?
CHARLIE: Oh, I can do a lot of card tricks. One of the men on the Antares showed me.
(The cards return to normal)
RAND: I don't believe this!
(Hhe lays out the aces, throws one over his shoulder, then Rand removes it from her cleavage)
[Corridor]
KIRK: On Earth today, it's Thanksgiving. If the crew has to eat synthetic meat loaf, I want it to look like turkey. Charlie.
CHARLIE: Captain? I'm supposed to ask you something. Why shouldn't I? I don't know how to explain it.
KIRK: Say it right out, Charlie. That usually works.
CHARLIE: Well, in the corridor I saw. When Janice, when Yeoman Rand was. (slaps Kirk's bottom) I did that to her. She didn't like it. She said you'd explain it to me.
KIRK: Me. I see. Well, um, er, there are things you can do with a lady, er, Charlie, that you er. There's no right way to hit a woman. I mean, man to man is one thing, but, er, man and woman, er, it's, er, it's, er. Well it's, er, another thing. Do you understand?
CHARLIE: I don't know.
UHURA [OC]: Captain Kirk.
KIRK: Excuse me. Kirk here.
UHURA [OC]: Captain Ramart of the Antares is on D channel.
KIRK: I'm on my way to the Bridge now.
CHARLIE: Can I come with you?
KIRK: I don't think so, Charlie.
CHARLIE: I won't get in the way.
KIRK: Okay.
[Bridge]
UHURA: Can you boost your power, Antares. We're barely reading your transmission.
RAMART [OC]: We're at full output, Enterprise. I must speak to Captain Kirk.
KIRK: Kirk here, Captain Ramart.
RAMART [OC]: Captain, we're just barely in range. I've got to warn
KIRK: Re-establish contact.
UHURA: They're not transmitting.
KIRK: Keep trying.
CHARLIE: It wasn't very well constructed.
KIRK: Sweep the area of the Antares transmission with our probe scanners, Mister Spock.
SPOCK: Affirmative, Captain.
KIRK: You think something happened to the Antares, Charlie?
CHARLIE: I don't know.
SPOCK: Picking up some debris on our scanners, Captain.
KIRK: What about the Antares?
SPOCK: The debris is what's left of the Antares.
CHEF [OC]: Captain Kirk from ship's Galley.
KIRK: Kirk here.
CHEF [OC]: Sir, I put meat loaf in the ovens. There's turkeys in there now. Real turkeys.
KIRK: Chief, have you been
(Charlie laughs and leaves.)
Captain's Log, star date 1535.8. UESPA headquarters notified of the mysterious loss of science probe vessel Antares.
[Recreation room]
(Kirk and Spock are playing 3D chess)
SPOCK: Your mind is not on the game, Captain. Check. The Antares?
KIRK: A survey ship with twenty men aboard lost. No reason. Obviously, Captain Ramart was not aware of any trouble. I can't figure it.
SPOCK: My own concern is more immediate. The boy.
KIRK: I can usually follow you, Mister Spock, but this time?
SPOCK: He seemed to know what happened to the Antares before we did.
KIRK: I'd call it a pretty long reach for evidence, Mister Spock. Come in, Charlie.
SPOCK: And again, check.
KIRK: Checkmate.
SPOCK: Your illogical approach to chess does have its advantages on occasion, Captain.
KIRK: I prefer to call it inspired.
SPOCK: As you wish. At any rate, the game is yours.
KIRK: You play chess, Charlie?
CHARLIE: Oh, I, I watched them play on the Antares. Can I try?
KIRK: I place you in the hands of our chess master.
(Kirk gets up and leaves)
SPOCK: The principles of three-dimensional chess are basically mathematic, Charlie. You put the white here and the black on the secondary level.
CHARLIE: I know what it is. Let's play.
SPOCK: Very well. (just three moves later) That was a mistake, Charlie.
CHARLIE: No, it wasn't.
SPOCK: Checkmate.
CHARLIE: No, it isn't.
SPOCK: If you'll excuse me.
(Spock leaves. Charlie melts the white chess pieces.)
[Corridor]
RAND: Oh, Charlie. I was looking for you. I'd like you to meet Tina Lawton, Yeoman Third Class. Charlie Evans.
TINA: Hello, Charlie.
RAND: I thought you might enjoy meeting someone your own age.
CHARLIE: Can I talk to you, alone.
RAND: Charlie, Tina's
TINA: Excuse me. I must be wanted somewhere.
RAND: That was, that was rude and completely uncalled-for.
CHARLIE: But I don't need her. I want to talk to you.
RAND: That's no excuse. You'd better learn that right now. You have to live with people, Charlie. You're not alone anymore.
CHARLIE: But she's not as. She doesn't. She's not the same. Not like you. 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 feel like I'm hungry all over. Hungry. Do you know how that feels?
[Bridge]
KIRK: What?
RAND: I wasn't sure I should, er, talk to you about this.
KIRK: Charlie's a seventeen year old boy.
RAND: Exactly, and he's
KIRK: I talked to him about the swat.
RAND: It's not that. Captain, I've seen the look before, and if something isn't done, sooner or later I'm going to have to hurt him. Tell him to leave me alone, and that wouldn't be good for him right now. You see, I'm his first crush, his first love, and his first
KIRK: Yes, Yeoman, I'll talk to him. I'll look into it.
RAND: Thank you, sir.
[Kirk's quarters]
KIRK: Come in, Charlie. Er, Charlie. Charlie, do you know anything about this chess piece? Did you notice anything peculiar in them when we were using them this afternoon?
CHARLIE: No, sir. Is that all?
KIRK: Er, no. No, no. Sit down. Charlie, being seventeen is more than how many years you've lived. It's a whole other thing. Doctor McCoy could probably explain the biological conditions. Well, let's, let's use a specific. Yeoman Rand is a woman.
CHARLIE: Oh, I won't hit her like that anymore.
KIRK: No, there's more to it than that.
CHARLIE: Everything I do or say is wrong. I'm in the way, I don't know the rules, and when I learn something and try to do it, suddenly I'm wrong!
KIRK: Now wait, wait.
CHARLIE: I don't know what I am or what I'm supposed to be, or even who. I don't know why I hurt so much inside all the time.
KIRK: You'll live, believe me. There's nothing wrong with you that hasn't gone wrong with every other human male since the model first came up.
CHARLIE: What if you care for someone? What do you do?
KIRK: You go slow. You be gentle. I mean, it's not a one-way street, you know, how you feel and that's all. It's how the girl feels, too. Don't press, Charlie. If the girl feels anything for you at all, you'll know it. Do you understand?
CHARLIE: You don't think Janice. You. She could love me!
KIRK: She's not the girl, Charlie. The years are wrong, for one thing, and there are other things.
CHARLIE: She can.
KIRK: No, Charlie.
CHARLIE: She is.
KIRK: No.
CHARLIE: But if I did what you said! If I was gentle!
KIRK: Charlie, there are a million things in this universe you can have and there are a million things you can't have. It's no fun facing that, but that's the way things are.
CHARLIE: Then what am I going to do?
KIRK: Hang on tight and survive. Everybody does.
CHARLIE: You don't.
KIRK: Everybody, Charlie. Me, too.
CHARLIE: I'm trying, but I don't know how.
KIRK: Kirk here.
UHURA [OC]: You asked to be notified when we were to make our course adjustments, sir.
KIRK: Ask Mister Spock to see to it. Charlie, come on with me.
[Gymnasium]
KIRK: You've got to slap the floor to absorb the energy when you fall. Go ahead, try it. Like everything else, it takes practice, Charlie. Try again. Good. That's much better. Here, now I'll show you a shoulder roll. Try that.
CHARLIE: I don't want to do that.
KIRK: Well, it makes it hard to teach you
CHARLIE: I don't want to do that.
KIRK: All right, Charlie. Lesson's over for today.
CHARLIE: You were going to teach me how to fight.
KIRK: You have to learn to protect yourself in a fall before I do that. It's more than teaching you to defend yourself. Charlie, I want you to learn. Charlie? Hey, Sam, let me borrow you for a couple easy throws, all right?
SAM: Right.
KIRK: Watch this, Charlie. That wasn't so bad, was it? Now I'll throw him. Here we go, Sam.
CHARLIE: That looks hard.
SAM: Oh.
KIRK: Come on, Charlie. Try it. Attaboy. Let's go.
(Charlie can't make Kirk lose his balance. He gets dumped instead.)
CHARLIE: Oh!
(Sam laughs.)
KIRK: That wasn't so bad, was it?
CHARLIE: Don't laugh at me.
KIRK: Cool off.
CHARLIE: Don't laugh at me!
(Sam disappears.)
KIRK: Charlie.
CHARLIE: He shouldn't have done that. It's not nice to laugh at people.
KIRK: What happened to him, Charlie?
CHARLIE: He's gone.
KIRK: That's no answer.
CHARLIE: He's gone! I didn't mean to do that. He made me do it! He laughed at me.
CREWMAN [OC]: Bridge.
KIRK: Kirk here. Two men from security, on the double.
CREWMAN [OC]: Affirmative.
CHARLIE: What are you going to do to me?
KIRK: I'm confining you to quarters. I want you to stay there.
CHARLIE: I won't let them hurt me. I'll make them go away, too.
KIRK: They won't hurt you, Charlie. (security arrive) They'll take you to your quarters, Charlie. Go with them.
(Charlie knocks them down, one draws his phaser)
CHARLIE: No! (phaser disappears)
KIRK: Go to your quarters.
CHARLIE: He was going to hurt me.
KIRK: Go to your quarters or I'll pick you up and carry you there.
CHARLIE: I won't let you.
KIRK: That's your choice, Charlie.
CHARLIE: I won't let them hurt me.
KIRK: They won't hurt you.
UHURA [OC]: Captain Kirk.
KIRK: Kirk here.
UHURA [OC]: Security reports that all phaser weapons have disappeared. Shall I repeat, Captain?
KIRK: No, I heard you. Have Doctor McCoy and Mister Spock meet me in the Briefing room.
[Briefing room]
SPOCK: Thasians have been referred to in our records as having the power to transmute objects or render substances invisible. It has generally been regarded as legend, but Charlie does seems to possess this same power.
KIRK: What are chances that Charlie's not an Earthling, that he's a Thasian?
MCCOY: No, I don't think so, not unless they're exactly like Earthlings. The development of his fingers and toes exactly matches the present development of mans on Earth.
SPOCK: Agreed.
KIRK: Well, whatever he is, we have some idea of the power he has. I know what I saw him do in the gymnasium.
MCCOY: Considering the effect a normal adolescent has on a home, Charlie with the power he has
KIRK: Short-tempered, because he doesn't understand. He needs, he wants. Nothing happens fast enough.
SPOCK: The probability is he's responsible for the destruction of the Antares, which would indicate a total disregard for human life.
KIRK: He doesn't understand what life is. He's a boy.
MCCOY: Well, what do we do with this boy, Jim? How do we keep him caged up?
KIRK: It goes even further than that, Doctor. We can't take him with us to Earth Colony Five. Can you imagine what he'd do in an open, normal environment. I've talked with him, listened. He's a boy in a man's body, trying to be an adult with the adolescence in him getting in the way.
SPOCK: And with a weapon in him which could destroy you or anyone, anywhere on this ship.
MCCOY: Well, for the moment he's stopped. You're an authority he respects, Jim.
SPOCK: Agreed. The struggle must remain between you and him. Should any of us interfere
(Charlie enters under guard)
CHARLIE: You wanted to ask me something, he said.
KIRK: Are you responsible for what happened to the Antares, Charlie?
CHARLIE: Why?
KIRK: Answer me.
CHARLIE: Yes. There was a warped baffle-plate on the shield of their energy pile. I made it go away. It would've blown up anyway. Well they weren't nice to me! They wanted to get rid of me. They don't now.
KIRK: What about us, Charlie?
CHARLIE: I don't know.
(Charlie leaves)
SPOCK: We're in the hands of an adolescent.
[Bridge]
KIRK: Lieutenant, raise Colony Five. I want to speak directly to the governor.
UHURA: Yes, sir.
KIRK: Navigator, lay a course away from Colony Five. Buy me some time.
NAVIGATOR: Yes, sir.
(Uhura's console short-circuits and she is thrown to the floor)
KIRK: Spock, get the doctor up here on the double. How bad is it?
UHURA: I think it's all right, sir. Sir, there's no reason for that panel to cross-circuit like that. I checked it over myself not fifteen minutes ago.
NAVIGATOR: Captain! I can't feed any course co-ordinates into the panel, sir. It rejects the course change.
PILOT: Helm doesn't respond either, sir. (Charlie enters)
KIRK: Mister Spock, you getting any readings on your instruments?
SPOCK: Yes, sir. There's a Tyger, tyger, burning bright in the forest of the night.
KIRK: Mister Spock.
SPOCK: I'm trying to Saturn rings around my head, down a road that's Martian red.
CHARLIE: You're trying to change course, Captain. You can't do that. I want to get to Colony Five as soon as we can.
KIRK: Release the transmitter.
CHARLIE: You don't need all that subspace chatter.
MCCOY: What's going on here? Spock calls me to the Bridge and goes into some kind of poetry.
KIRK: See to her, Doctor.
SPOCK: Once upon a midnight dreary while I pondered, weak and weary.
CHARLIE: Very nice, Mister Ears. Oh, I can make him do anything, whirl around, laugh, anything.
KIRK: That's enough, Charlie.
CHARLIE: Don't you think he's funny? I think he's funny.
KIRK: Leave my crew alone. (Charlie leaves)
SPOCK: Jim, he'll soon reach a point where he won't back down.
KIRK: I know.
[Corridor]
TINA: Charlie, what's wrong? (he turns her into an iguana)
[Rand's quarters]
CHARLIE: I have something for you. (a rose) Pink is your favourite, isn't it?
RAND: You don't walk into a room without knocking.
CHARLIE: Don't ever lock your door on me again, Janice. I love you.
RAND: I'll lock it when I please. What is it you want, anyway?
CHARLIE: You. I only want to be nice to you. I can give you anything. Just, just tell me.
RAND: (switching on comm.) I want you to get out.
[Bridge]
CHARLIE [OC]: But I only want to be nice to you.
RAND [OC]: Get out, Charlie.
KIRK: Spock.
RAND [OC]: I can't make it any plainer than that.
[Rand's quarters]
CHARLIE: I love you.
RAND: You don't know what the word means.
CHARLIE: Then show me.
RAND: No!
(Kirk and Spock rush in, Charlie knocks them down.)
RAND: Charlie!
(She slaps him, so he makes her disappear.)
CHARLIE: Why did she do that? I loved her, but she wasn't nice at all. What you did wasn't nice either, but I still need you, Captain. The Enterprise isn't quite like the Antares. Running the Antares was easy. You have to be nice. All right? (gives pain)
KIRK: Mister Spock?
SPOCK: My legs. They're broken.
KIRK: Let him go, too, Charlie.
CHARLIE: Why?
KIRK: Because I'm telling you to. Because you need me to run the ship, and I need him.
CHARLIE: If you try to hurt me again, I'll make a lot of people go away.
KIRK: And what about Yeoman Janice? Is she dead? Gone? Destroyed?
CHARLIE: I won't tell you. Growing up isn't so much. I'm not a man, and I can do anything! You can't.
[Corridor]
SPOCK: I'll activate the force field myself. You can return to your section.
CHARLIE: He had a mean look. I had to freeze him. I like happy looks. (enters room) Aren't you coming in?
(A forcefield activates in the doorway so Charlie makes the wall go away and freezes Kirk and Spock.)
CHARLIE: That wasn't nice. You'll be sorry. You wait, you'll see, you'll be sorry you did that. (unfreezes them) You will.
(He turns a young woman into an old one. Some crew are laughing in a room.)
CHARLIE: No. No laughing!
(The shadows freeze, then a woman with no face feels her way around the corner)
[Bridge]
UHURA: Captain Kirk, my instruments show we're receiving a message on subspace frequency three, ship-to-ship. I can't hear it, sir.
KIRK: Are you creating that message, Charlie, or you're blocking one that's coming in.
CHARLIE: It's my game, Captain. You have to find out. Like you said, that's how the game's played. You can have it now. I've locked on course for Colony Five again. (leaves)
KIRK: I've waited long enough. I'm going to take him on.
MCCOY: You don't have any special immunity. Not anymore. Pushed far enough, he'd send you off to oblivion, too.
KIRK: Mister Spock?
SPOCK: Out of the question.
KIRK: Wait a minute. Does Charlie? Now, wait, Spock, has he done away with anybody since he took over?
SPOCK: Not so far as we know.
KIRK: Maybe he can't. Could be he's overreached himself. It's a big ship. He's taken full control. If we could tax his power, turn on every device on the ship, every circuit, every light, all of it, and while he's fighting that, if I could distract him, maybe you could tranquilize him, keep him under until we reach Colony Five.
MCCOY: Risky, Jim.
KIRK: If we don't try, Doctor, he'll get rid of us anyway. There's no choice, gentlemen, none at all.
CHARLIE: I can make you all go away anytime I want to.
KIRK: Get out of my chair, Charlie, and get out of it now.
CHARLIE: I've got your ship, Captain.
KIRK: Maybe, Charlie, but I don't think you can handle any more. I think you've reached your limit and can't take on one more thing, but you're going to have to.
CHARLIE: I could've sent you away before, but I didn't.
KIRK: You're going to have to take me on.
CHARLIE: Don't make me do it now.
KIRK: You've got my ship, and I want it back. I want my crew back, whole, if I have to break your neck to do it! (throws him out of command chair)
CHARLIE: Don't push me. (gives Kirk pain) Sorry. I'm sorry but. Stop it. I said stop it!
SPOCK: Captain, the navigation console is clear now. The ship is answering the helm.
UHURA: Sir, something off our starboard bow. The message says they're from Thasus.
(Rand reappears)
CHARLIE: Oh.
RAND: Captain, how did I?
KIRK: It's all right, Yeoman.
SPOCK: Sensors show there something's there, Captain. Deflectors indicate no solid substance.
CHARLIE: No! Oh, no, please, don't let them take me. I can't live with them anymore. You're my friends. You said you were my friends, remember? When I came aboard! Please, I want to go home. Take me home.
THASIAN: I have taken my form from centuries ago, so that I may communicate with you. We did not realise until too late that the boy had gone, and we are saddened that his escape cost the lives of the first ship. We could not help them, but we have returned your people and your ship to you. Everything is as it was.
CHARLIE: I won't do it again. Please, I'll be good. I won't ever do it again. I'm sorry about the Antares. I'm sorry! When I came aboard! Please, I want to go with you. Help me!
KIRK: The boy belongs with his own kind.
THASIAN: That would be impossible.
KIRK: With training, we can teach him to live in our society. If he can be taught not to use his power
THASIAN: We gave him the power so he could live. He will use it, always, and he would destroy you and your kind, or you would be forced to destroy him to save yourselves.
KIRK: Is there nothing you can do?
THASIAN: We offer him life, and we will take care of him. Come, Charles.
CHARLIE: Oh, please, don't let them take me. I can't even touch them! Janice, they can't feel. Not like you! They don't love! Please, I want to stay. (fades away)
UHURA: Charlie's back on board the Thasian ship, sir. They signal they're leaving.
KIRK: It's all right, Yeoman. It's all over now.
2024-09-17 21:14:23 -
Pike:
Added the director.
2024-09-17 09:48:34 -
Pike:
Added some trivia.
2024-09-15 21:32:29 -
lilly:
New review added.
