January 10, 2024 • 37 mins
X-men, misfit toys, and teenage hormones, oh myyy! Join Ethan and Anthony as they discuss Season 1, Episode 2 of Star Trek: The Original Series, "Charlie X" and ponder the episode's exploration of the challenges and awkwardness of adolescence. The father and son hosts also examine other themes from the episode, including sexual harassment, the dangers of irresponsible people gaining power, how society deals with violent offenders, and the relationship between our corporeal nature and the capacity to love. Tune in for a fun and thought-provoking conversation!
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Ethan (00:18):
Hello, everybody.
Welcome back to another episodeof Father and Son's Guide to the
Galaxy.
I'm your host,
Anthony (00:24):
Ethan, and I'm your co host,
Ethan (00:26):
Anthony.
And today we are covering seasonone, episode two of Star Trek,
the original series.
The episode is titled Charlie X.
Anthony (00:37):
Yeah, Charlie X.
The first thing I thought ofwhen.
I saw the title for this episodewas X Men and Professor Charles
Xavier.
Apparently there is nocorrelation between the title of
this episode and X Men, althoughI looked it up and the first
comic came out in like 1963, sothat would have been before this
(00:58):
episode of Star Trek was shot.
But apparently there's noconnection at least nothing that
I could find on the internets todocument a connection.
So, in any event, we'll betalking about Star Trek, not X
Men
Ethan (01:11):
today.
But who knows, if you want tohear about some X Men content,
let us know! Yeah,
Anthony (01:17):
we can always incorporate that.
Ethan and I are X Men fans, forsure.
Ethan (01:22):
Yep.
Maybe we'll cover the new X Menshow that will come out soon.
That's
Anthony (01:27):
right, X Men 97, which is a sequel to the original X
Men cartoon that came out in the90s, is supposed to be coming
out, I think, sometime in 2024.
Hopefully.
Who
Ethan (01:39):
knows, might be good.
Yeah.
Alright, so, today's episode,Charlie X, started off with the
Enterprise meeting a cargovessel known as the Antares.
Am I pronouncing that right?
I think so,
Anthony (01:52):
yeah, the Antares.
Yep,
Ethan (01:54):
and they kind of described it as they were
transporting like a victim froma crash who had apparently been
stuck on a planet since he was 3years old and is now 17.
And it was kind of just amiracle he survived.
Anthony (02:07):
Yeah, and his name is Charlie Evans, hence the title
of the episode, Charlie X.
And he's a human, but the shipthat he was on crashed on this
planet called Thasis, and he wasthe sole survivor of the crash.
And I guess he learned how totalk and communicate and You
(02:30):
know, do human stuff through theship's computer, which was
apparently still intact evenafter the crash.
So he's 17 when he comes aboardthe Enterprise.
And the Enterprise is supposedto take him to his closest
living relatives on an Earthcolony called Alpha 5.
(02:50):
And what were your initialimpressions of Charlie when he
comes on the ship?
Ethan (02:54):
He just kind of seemed like he was in a daze the whole
time.
Like he was just kind of, he wasinterrupting the conversations
Between Kirk and the captain ofthe other ship, and he was just
wandering around the room.
It was kind
Anthony (03:06):
of weird.
Yeah, he definitely gave off aweird vibe from the very
beginning.
What I thought of is that he waslike a, a misfit toy.
Like he belonged on the islandof misfit toys.
So, he's a strange guy.
His eyes are, like, often times,like, wide open.
(03:27):
And he gives this kind of creepyvibe and, he keeps interrupting,
right, when Kirk is talking tothe, captain and the other
officer from the Antares whobeamed over with Charlie and
Kirk, chastises him.
He says Charlie, that's notpolite, that's rude.
You shouldn't interrupt.
I mean,
Ethan (03:45):
he was stuck on a planet by himself for all those years,
so I guess the computer didn'tteach him social
Anthony (03:50):
cues.
Right.
And that becomes a big problemfor Charlie as we get into the
episode, is his lack ofunderstanding of social norms.
So, Kirk tells Yeoman JaniceRand who, who comes to the
transporter room to take Charlieto his quarters.
And Charlie is immediatelystruck by Yeoman Rand and asks
(04:15):
her, Are you a girl?
So he evidently had heard ofgirls before, but this is like
his first encounter with a girl.
Keep in mind he's 17 years old,not too much older than you,
right Ethan?
So he's right in the middle ofthis time where girls are
becoming very important andattractive, and so he asks Rand
(04:36):
if she's a girl which is kind ofawkward, and then he goes for a
physical with Dr.
McCoy.
Ethan (04:44):
Yeah, when he goes in with the exam with Dr.
McCoy, McCoy's very surprised tofind out he's totally physically
intact.
Like, there was nothing, wrongwith him, he just managed to
survive from the age of 3 to 17on a planet by himself.
Cause, he even asked him likethe ship's rations probably
depleted, what did you do?
And he just simply answered, Ifound other things
(05:04):
to
Anthony (05:05):
eat.
Yeah.
Apparently eating plant life onthesis or whatever.
Yeah, so he's healthyphysically.
Mentally, not so much as, aswe'll come to see.
So one of the things that Ithought was interesting when
Charlie is done with his examwith Dr.
McCoy is he asked McCoy aboutKirk and Charlie says that Kirk
(05:29):
isn't like the other captain onthe Antares.
Doesn't really say what he meansby that, but he points out that
Kirk is different.
And McCoy just says, yeah,Captain Kirk is one of a kind,
right?
Which is true, but McCoy's notreally understanding what
Charlie means I don't think.
And then Charlie asks McCoy ifhe likes him.
(05:51):
Which is, you know, an awkwardquestion, and then he proceeds
to tell Dr.
McCoy that he wants to be likedby everybody on the ship.
Yeah,
Ethan (06:02):
pretty reasonable thing for somebody to want.
He probably with his lack ofsocial skills on his, on the
other ship, probably was doingthe same thing he was doing
here, asking awkward questions,or not reading the room
correctly, and so he probablyperceived it as people not
liking him, when, if they triedto correct him, or something
along those
Anthony (06:22):
lines.
Right.
And I can kind of Sympathizewith how he might have felt.
I mean, it's been a while sinceI was a teenager, but I do
remember, when you're goingthrough those years, there's a
strong desire to be liked byyour peers.
You want people to like you.
And so that can make for somesometimes awkward interactions
(06:45):
with people.
When you're maybe trying toohard or whatever to be light.
So I could sympathize a littlebit with where Charlie was
coming from.
You're closer.
Well, you're right in the midstof your teenage years.
Any thoughts on, your experienceas a teenager as compared to
Charlie's?
Ethan (07:00):
I can definitely see the mindset to be liked.
I'm surprised you remember thatmindset from the dinosaur
period, Dad.
Anthony (07:07):
Yeah, it was a long time ago.
A galaxy far, far away.
Right.
So Charlie's social skills, orlack of social skills, we should
say becomes a big problem forhim because he just has no sense
of social norms, and it's alsogonna turn out in the episode
that he has these amazing powersthat he uses, like, telepathy
(07:32):
and the ability to, like, changethe shape of objects
transmutation, that kind ofstuff And so one of the first
indications that there's goingto be issues with Charlie's
social skills is his immediateinfatuation with Yeoman Rand,
right?
(07:53):
And he gives her a gift at somepoint early in the episode.
And it must have been somethingthat he created with his mind.
I think it was like perfume
Ethan (08:01):
or something.
Yeah, it looked like a perfumeand Yuminran was like, They
don't carry this flavor in theship store.
I actually found that line veryfunny because in, like, the
Navy, in real life, they do havea ship store.
On the ships.
And so I was like, oh, they'rekind of just bringing elements
from The Navy and putting itinto Star Trek.
Anthony (08:19):
Yeah, so he gives her this gift, and like you said,
she points out that it's not inthe store.
So that's kind of our first cluethat, Charlie might have some
kind of special power orsomething.
And then After he gives her thegift, And talks to her for a
minute, He slaps her on thebutt.
Right?
What did you think when thatscene happened?
(08:41):
I was like,
Ethan (08:41):
ooh, he made a mistake right there.
Yeah.
His lack of social norms, but Iwas also surprised he knew that
that was a thing, too.
Anthony (08:50):
Right.
So was that instinct on his partjust being attracted to the
opposite sex and thinking that,you know, this would be okay
behavior instinctually?
I don't know.
Maybe, maybe not.
But it was an awkward moment.
And Rand, of course, is takenaback.
And she chastises him,rightfully so.
For being inappropriate.
(09:11):
And I think she also realizesthat he Doesn't understand these
social norms.
And so she tells him to ask Kirkor McCoy, why what he did was
wrong.
And so he'll do that later inthe episode, but she does invite
him to meet up with her at theend of her shift in the rec
(09:33):
room.
And so he agrees to that.
Ethan (09:35):
Yeah, so, the scene where he does go meet in the rec room,
I found really weird.
Cause then, Spock was like,playing on one of his Vulcan
instruments, things, I don'teven remember what they're
named.
But then, Uhura starts singingalong, and it was just this
really awkward scene in theepisode.
And it, yeah, it was just like,It's really weird.
(09:57):
What were your thoughts on that?
Anthony (09:58):
Yeah, it was kind of weird, but I, I kind of liked
it.
I, I thought it was quirky andfun and you kind of get to see
another side of Uhura you know,she's got some musical talent,
apparently, and she can come upwith lyrics on the fly.
The other part that stuck out tome about that was, Uhura clearly
has the hots for Spock, right?
(10:20):
And they showed that, we didn'ttalk about this in the last
episode, but in, in the The lastepisode there was a scene where,
you know, she clearly has somephysical attraction to Spock.
I don't remember if they everdeveloped that or not.
I don't think they do in theoriginal series, but it may be
that that was inspiration forthe Spock Uhura Relationship in
(10:45):
the J.
J.
Abrams reboot movies I, I don'tknow, but it seems like the
writers were maybe trying earlyon to establish some kind of
romantic connection betweenOhura and Spock, and we'll have
to see if it develops, but Idon't think it actually does
during the series, I'm not, I'mnot
Ethan (11:03):
sure.
I wouldn't think it woulddevelop either because it's kind
of hard to develop arelationship with a man who
Denies the feeling of emotions.
Anthony (11:14):
That's true, but think about, like, Strange New Worlds,
right, where Spock and NurseChapel have a blossoming romance
and I think there is, later onin the original series, One or
two episodes where Nurse Chapeland Spock have some romantic
interactions of one sort oranother.
(11:36):
I'm not sure about that, but Ibelieve that may be the case.
We'll have to wait and see oncewe get to those
Ethan (11:41):
episodes.
Yeah, I think that incident inStrange New Worlds it was If I'm
remembering correctly, it wasthe time where Spock was trying
to explore his human side a bitmore, since, you know, obviously
he's half human, but this Spockin the original series seems
like he's just almost completelyVulcan.
But like in Strange New Worlds,you could see Spock with
(12:03):
emotional faults, which was areally interesting take on his
character.
Anthony (12:08):
Yeah, yeah, for sure.
There, there was one scenebefore the rec room that I
wanted to mention.
So, this is on the bridge, andBones is there, and Kirk gives
Bones the assignment to teachCharlie about adolescence.
And McCoy suggests that thatshould be Kirk's job, but Kirk
is having none of it.
He clearly is not comfortablejumping into the role of a
(12:32):
father figure.
And so McCoy is given thisassignment, but It later becomes
Kirk, who is the one who triesto teach Charlie a little bit
about adolescence, and the firstconversation that they have
doesn't really go well, and thisis when Charlie asks Kirk why
Rand got upset when he hit heron the butt.
(12:53):
I thought Kirk did a terriblejob of explaining why that was
inappropriate.
What were your thoughts on that?
Yeah,
Ethan (13:00):
I was even confused what he was trying to say, but like
if I'm remembering correctly,wasn't there like, this might be
just from the J.
J.
Abrams Star Trek, didn't he havelike issues with his father or
something?
Or is that in this one too?
Anthony (13:15):
Well, in the J.
J.
Abrams movies, his father diedright after he was born.
Oh,
Ethan (13:23):
right.
That, that's what made theKelvin timeline.
Right.
The
Anthony (13:25):
whole thing.
Right.
But I don't know if there's anybackstory on Kirk's father.
I'm not sure.
That's a good question.
So maybe he had some fatherissues or something.
And so he's just You know, notcomfortable jumping into that
role, but he does do it and tohis credit and he gets better at
it, right?
He seems to get better attalking to Charlie and
explaining kind of why thingsare the way they are.
(13:49):
Now Charlie doesn't necessarilyreceive his counsel and wisdom
very well, but Kirk at leastdoes kind of get the hang of it.
Ethan (13:58):
Yeah, you could see some significant growth in his
character throughout the episodeas he kind of Learns to deal
with Charlie and his justmisunderstanding of, like, just
the normal things that happen ina social environment in a
struggle.
For
Anthony (14:17):
sure.
And so, in the meantime, whileall this is happening, the
Antares has transmitted amessage to the Enterprise, but
the message doesn't get through,right?
And so the Enterprise scans forthe Antares and finds that it's
been destroyed.
All they are finding is debrisfrom the ship.
Ethan (14:37):
Yeah, and then the most interesting part of the scene
was When Charlie talks about,like, he says this thing
beforehand, like, the ship waspoorly made or something to that
extent, and then they find thedebris of the ship.
So then there's just evidencethat Charlie knew before they
knew that the ship wasdestroyed, and everyone was kind
(14:57):
of questioning him about that.
Anthony (15:00):
Right.
Yeah, another clue that Charliemaybe up to no good.
So Rand then tries to introduceCharlie to another girl who's
closer in age but Charlie isn'thaving it, and he's quite rude
to the girl, and she storms off.
And Rand kind of gets onto himfor it, and calls him out for
(15:21):
being rude, and He says to her,to Rand, that the other girl
isn't like her, and that Randsmells like a girl, and he also
says, when I see you, I feellike I'm hungry all over.
Which is, you know, again, kindof, kind of creepy.
(15:42):
So, that, that's another oddinteraction with Rand, and she's
disturbed by it, right?
Ethan (15:48):
Mm hmm.
Yeah, her character expressed itas uncomfortable, and Aisha was
uncomfortable watching it.
I was like, man, this dude is acreep.
He doesn't know when to stop.
Anthony (15:57):
Yeah, and so Rand is so disturbed by it that she goes to
talk to Kirk about it.
And Kirk, you know, at firsthe's like, Oh, I already talked
to him about slapping you on thebutt, and explain that.
Again, he didn't do a very goodjob of that, but, but he did
talk to him, but eventually Kirkagrees to talk to Charlie again,
and so Kirk sits down with them,and, and Charlie, is kind of
(16:22):
defensive, and he sayseverything I do is wrong.
And Kirk makes an effort to tryto reassure him, like, hey, you
know, this is an awkward time.
You know, every guy, you know,since the, the beginning has
made these kinds of mistakes,you know.
I think he
Ethan (16:36):
said the line, since the model came out.
Anthony (16:38):
Yes, since, since the model came out, the first, the
first male model.
Mo Ha ha.
Since that time, men have beenmaking mistakes with with women.
And so he tries to reassure thembut he also makes it clear that
Charlie can't have Rand.
She's not interested, and thatlove or, or like is a two way
(17:01):
street.
It requires, you know, bothparties to be attracted to one
another and want to You know,take the relationship to a
another level.
So, Charlie doesn't like thatand then there's another scene
after that where Kirk is tryingto teach Charlie some martial
arts.
Ethan (17:19):
Yeah, that, their gym looks so weird and the uniforms
they were wearing were, like, itwas just so weird because Kirk
was wearing tights and then justnothing for a shirt.
And they had like, and if theywere wearing something over
them, like, Charlie had like, abathrobe on, and it
Anthony (17:37):
was Yeah, the, the costuming in the, the gym or
wherever they were on the shipwas, was quite something to
behold.
So anyway, so so Kirk's tryingto teach Charlie some martial
arts, and then at one point,Kirk knocks Charlie down, and
(17:57):
one of the other crewmen therestarts laughing.
Because it was funny, butCharlie doesn't think it's
funny.
Right?
And he says, don't laugh at me.
And he gets so mad that all of asudden he makes the guy who was
laughing at him disappear.
Well, I can say
Ethan (18:14):
Charlie has a fine career if he wants to be a magician
after seeing this scene.
Anthony (18:18):
Right.
So, it's not clear when he makesthe guy disappear whether the
guy is dead or not.
Or if he just, you know, ceasedto exist and he can be brought
back.
It's not clear.
So Kirk calls security.
Security shows up and Charlie isresistant, of course.
(18:39):
And he makes all of the phaserson the ship disappear, including
the phaser in the securityguard's hand.
anD it's clear that Charlie'sgoing to be a problem.
However he does comply withKirk's order for him to go to
his quarters.
Which, you know, which is maybea good sign.
Ethan (19:00):
Yeah, it was like, the only one he would listen to was
Kirk, but he listened to Kirkwith a lot of resistance, too.
Because Kirk was like, if you'renot going to your quarters, I
will carry you there.
Right.
So I guess he decided to walkout with a little bit of
dignity.
Anthony (19:15):
Not to get too personal here, but maybe you and I can
relate to this a little bit,right?
A father wanting his son to dosomething, and the son not
really wanting to do it.
And it creates some tension fromtime to time.
So that's, you know, just humannature, right?
It happens.
But Charlie does go to hisquarters.
(19:37):
And then later Kirk and Spockand McCoy are discussing the
situation and they realize thatthese powers that he seems to
have are the same powers thatthe Thasians have, but McCoy is
certain that Charlie is humanbased on his physical exam and
testing.
(19:58):
And.
Spock observes that even thoughhe's human, he seems to have a
total disregard for human life.
And then Kirk kind of goes tobat for him a little bit.
He says, you know, he's a boy ina man's body trying to be an
adult with the adolescence inhim getting in the way.
And so Kirk is a little moreempathetic to what Charlie's
(20:21):
going through but Spock clearlyrecognizes the, the danger of
the situation.
And so they end up confrontingCharlie about the Antares and he
admits that he used his powersto destroy the Antares.
And then at that point, that'swhere things get kind of crazy.
Right.
Ethan (20:41):
He, he kind of just He like, if I remember correctly,
he sort of like, ran out of theroom in a storm of anger, if I
remember correctly, right?
And that, that girl that he wasintroduced to earlier that he
kind of just like, told off orwas being very rude to, he
turned her into an iguana.
Anthony (21:03):
Right.
Ethan (21:04):
Yeah, that was, that was Like, not vanished into thin
air, an iguana.
Anthony (21:09):
Right, so his powers are quite broad, I guess he can
make people vanish, he can makethem turn into animals, he can
also freeze people, and so he,he, some of the people that he
passes in the ship as Kindagoing on this crazy tirade he,
he causes them to, like, freezein place, other people he makes
(21:29):
vanish he's just out of control,
Ethan (21:31):
right?
And then, like, the one girl he,like, aged to be an old woman,
and then the most disturbing ofthem was when people were
laughing in the hallway atsomething and he removed their
faces.
Right.
Anthony (21:46):
Yeah, so this kid's just, out of control.
And so Spock and Kirk try totrap him in a force field, and
that goes terribly wrong.
He's too powerful to be heldback by.
Ethan (21:57):
Gotta just remove the room from existence.
Anthony (21:59):
Right, right.
And so, he He meets up againwith Rand, and again tries to
express his love.
She's obviously extremelyuncomfortable as he's
approaching her, and then sheends up slapping him and so that
makes him angry, and so he makesRand disappear now, the one that
(22:20):
he, he supposedly has all thesefeelings for.
And so his rage is just takingover, and he's not in control Of
his emotions.
And so, Kirk, of course,recognizing the The danger of
the situation tries to changecourse so that the enterprise
(22:42):
doesn't go to Alpha 5 because ifCharlie gets there he could use
his powers and harm all thepeople on Alpha 5 which they
obviously want to try to avoid.
And so Kirk makes this effort tochange course but Charlie
figures it out.
Right?
And then he takes control,Charlie takes control of the
(23:04):
Enterprise with his mentalpowers that he has.
Ethan (23:08):
Yeah, and then, here's what I thought was interesting.
Kurt came up with the idea thathis powers were, like, to almost
their full extent because henoticed nobody else since he'd
taken over and disappeared.
So he tried to, like, challengeCharlie.
While also turning on everythingin the ship to kind of like
(23:29):
Overload what he couldn'tcontrol and have some method to
take control back from him so itwas it was kind of it was an
interesting scene becauseCharlie was threatening like I
could make you disappear at anymoment Kirk and Kirk was kind of
like I'm not so sure about thatand kind of just signaled Spock
and McCoy to start turning oneverything in the
Anthony (23:50):
bridge.
Right, but it doesn't actuallywork, right?
He tries to take down Charlieafter that and isn't successful,
but In the meantime, we learnedthat it turns out that the
Thasians have a ship and they'vebeen trying to intercept the
Enterprise because they realizedthat Charlie has Left their
(24:13):
planet and is likely out doingbad things with his
Ethan (24:16):
powers.
Well, I thought their plan kindof did work because Charlie like
blocked all subspacecommunication.
But then when they overloadedeverything subspace
communication came back online,and that's when they received
the the signal from theThasians.
Anthony (24:31):
Yeah, yeah, I guess you're right.
I guess it was successful to acertain degree.
I guess I was just meaning thatKirk wasn't able to completely
stop him at that point, butthey, yeah, you're right.
And so the Thasians show up anda Thasian Dude, his face, a
(24:53):
holographic face appears on thebridge of the Enterprise and he
restores the ship's power backto Kirk and he brings back all
the people that had vanished andmakes everything right again on
the Enterprise.
And so it turns out that theThasians had given Charlie his
(25:13):
powers.
So that he could survive ontheir world but they now realize
that he's, he's too powerful toactually live among humans,
among his own kind.
I
Ethan (25:26):
thought this scene was interesting because the
holographic head that wasspeaking said like, I had made
this form to look after Charlieor something.
So I think the Thasians are sortof like, Is non corporeal the
right word for it?
Like, they don't have physicalform, but that's kind of like
the way they communicated withCharlie.
And so, after they come andlike, fix everything, they try
(25:50):
to like, take Charlie back.
Kirk kind of tries to fight forCharlie.
It's like, is there any way,like, he can not use his power
so he can be with his ownpeople?
And Thazians were kind of justlike, we can't do anything about
it, so we have to put him in ourcustody.
And then Charlie is trying tofight the whole thing, he's
like, No, don't let them takeme, cause they can't feel, they
(26:10):
can't love, you can't touchthem.
So, it was a sad scene when theytook him away, But, I mean, it
was for the safety of the place,of like the colony and everyone
on the Enterprise,
Anthony (26:25):
so.
Yeah, yeah, you can't help butfeel sorry for him, even though
he's, you know, he died.
Blew up the Antares and killedthose people on the ship and,
you know, he's done these awfulthings but you can't help but
feel sorry for him because, Imean, he's been on his own
essentially since he was three,right?
And, had no upbringing, youknow, no, no, it didn't, didn't
(26:49):
have a normal human upbringingand doesn't know how to interact
socially, doesn't know how tohave friends, maintain
relationships and now, you know,he's been out and, and has had
interactions with humans andthey haven't gone well, and now
he's got to go back to Thesiswhere he's essentially going to
be by himself again.
(27:10):
And so you do kind of feel sorryfor him, but like you said, and
Kurt clearly feels sorry for himtoo, and, suggests that, maybe
he can learn not to use hispowers and live among the
humans, but the Thasian guy islike, no, you know, he's
eventually going to use thosepowers and they could either
destroy you or you could end updestroying him.
(27:31):
And so he says that we offer himlife, and we will take care of
him.
So it's not the best situationin Charlie's mind, but it is the
best situation, the best outcomefor him, that he's gonna go back
with the Thasians, and he'll be,at least, if nothing else, he'll
be able to live life and betaken care of by the Thasians.
Ethan (27:56):
Yeah, I can agree with you, it was probably the best
choice they could have made.
Because if you had him go tothat colony, the whole colony
would have been destroyed, orthey would have executed him for
like, everyone's safety, so.
It's the best way for him tolive a life, even if it is a
life without human interaction.
Anthony (28:15):
Right.
You mentioned Charlie's lineabout how they don't have bodies
and they can't love.
And that line kind of got methinking, like, what does our
physical nature have to do withour ability to to show and
receive love?
Is it essential?
That our, bodies are anessential part of our ability to
(28:39):
show and receive love withothers.
What are your thoughts on
Ethan (28:43):
that?
I mean, it definitely is a bigfactor to showing, like,
affection towards people, butit's not impossible to be
without it.
Like, I mean, with me and myfriends.
A lot of the times I play videogames with my friends, we're not
there with a physicalconnection, but we're there, you
(29:05):
know, mentally, together, but, Imean, we still do have times
where we are together in person,so it's kind of just like, you
know, it's, physical connectionis nice, but it's possible to be
without it.
Anthony (29:20):
Yeah.
Yeah.
It's a lot more difficult.
Yeah.
To develop a close relationshipand to, and to love.
When you're not physically withthe person, or, or people, for
sure.
So I thought this overall was apretty good episode.
I think I liked it a littlebetter than the last one.
(29:40):
I gave it an A and you know,thought overall it was, it was
decent.
What, what about you?
Ethan (29:47):
I'd probably give it about the same.
It was a very interestingepisode concept, and yeah, I'd
probably give it an A too.
It was a very interestingepisode, the concept was cool,
but like, there was just someparts I found a little weird in
my opinion, like the scene inthe rec room I thought was a
little odd, and And there wastimes, like, where,
(30:12):
intentionally, though, Charliemade you uncomfortable as you
were watching.
So, yeah, A ranking is what
Anthony (30:19):
I'd give it.
Yeah, yeah, I think for a lot ofthe episode, you were supposed
to feel uncomfortable with, atleast in the scenes with
Charlie.
For sure.
I thought there were someinteresting themes in this
episode.
So adolescence growing up, youknow, that's obviously a big
theme.
What happens when irresponsiblepeople gain power, right?
(30:42):
And how that can be catastrophicif the wrong people have too
much power in society.
And then also what What societydoes with those who are
dangerous.
Right?
That, that was kind of a themethat's touched on at the end of
the episode.
You know, Charlie You know, deepinside, he probably wasn't a bad
(31:07):
person, right?
But he, and he grew up in thisunfortunate circumstance, and so
he has no sense of social norms,and in a way, doesn't have a
strong sense of right and wrong.
He's, he's learning morals ashe's interacting with these
humans for the first time.
(31:28):
But he's dangerous, right?
And so what do you do withpeople like that?
pEople with mental healthissues, people who are violent
offenders in society, you know,it's a good question.
And that's one of the things Ilove about science fiction is
that it raises interestingquestions about what it means to
(31:50):
be human and what it means tolive in a civilized society.
That you, you know, we could, wecould talk about forever.
And then the last theme that Inoticed was kind of touched on,
I wouldn't say it was a strongtheme, but it was somewhat
prevalent, was sexualharassment.
Right?
And keep in mind, this is.
(32:12):
Shot in the 1960s, you and I areliving in a post MeToo era.
era, right, where there's a lotmore awareness and women are a
lot more comfortable speakingout about some of the horrible
things that they've had to dealwith in the workplace,
disgusting guys, bosses, and soforth.
(32:32):
In the 1960s, things were, wereworse for women in the
workplace, right?
And so this was a very relevanttheme.
For when the episode was aired.
And it's still relevant today.
It's not like sexual harassmenthas gone away.
(32:53):
There's clearly plenty of itstill.
But there is a lot moreawareness of it and we can talk
about it more openly.
Especially women can talk aboutit more openly.
So I thought that was anotherinteresting aspect of the show.
Ethan (33:08):
Yeah.
I definitely noticed all thosethemes.
There, I think you pretty muchsaid it
Anthony (33:14):
all.
Yeah, well, a couple of otherthings I wanted to point out.
So, we get our first glance atStar Trek Chess in the episode.
Which is, I don't know if there,I don't think there's actual
rules for Star Trek Chess.
They call it three dimensionalchess, right, in Star Trek.
But it's got the three differentlevels.
(33:35):
But you and I both enjoy playingchess.
And so that was kind of fun tosee that for the first time in.
A Star Trek episode, and I lovehow there's a scene where Spock
and Kirk are playing each other,and Kirk ends up beating him and
Spock makes a comment about hisillogical approach to chess.
And then Gene Roddenberry'svoice was actually in the
(33:58):
episode.
He was uncredited but there wasa scene where Kirk had told the
people in the kitchen to, theywere, they were making a,
Meatloaf, but he said make itlook like turkey because it was,
Thanksgiving was coming up andhe wanted the crew to be able
to, if they couldn't actuallyeat turkey, at least Feel like
they were eating turkey orsomething like that.
You remember that and so laterin the episode There's a voice
(34:22):
From the cook that comes overthe the intercom on the bridge
That says something about thethe turkey being ready or
something like
Ethan (34:31):
that Well, I think the line was the meatloaf turned
into actual turkeys.
Anthony (34:35):
Oh, that's right.
That's right the meat You'reglad you mentioned.
Yeah, so that was Charlieexercising his powers again.
So yeah, so the the meatloaf Hemade Turn Into Actual Turkeys
and so that voice was GeneRoddenberry, who is of course
the creator of Star Trek and thegenius behind much of it.
(34:55):
And then, one other thing Inoticed that you wouldn't have
noticed, but there's a lot ofparallels between This episode
and a book called Stranger in aStrange Land, which is written
by Robert Heinlein, who's one ofthe great science fiction
writers of all time.
And that book's about a humanwho goes on an expedition.
(35:21):
He's a, he's a kid, but he goeson a space expedition to Mars
and everybody in the crew endsup dying and he's left alone on
Mars, but the Martians care forhim and raise him and they give
him, you know, powers or helearns how to have access to
these powers and then heeventually comes back to Earth.
It's a, it's a really quirky,odd book.
(35:41):
And I love Robert Heinlein'swritings.
This, I didn't necessarily lovethis book, but if you're a fan
of reading science fiction, it'sone of those books that you
should probably read at somepoint just because it's good to
have in your repertoire ofscience fiction writing, but
anyway, there were definitelysome parallels between Stranger
in a Strange Land and thisepisode, and, and the book was
(36:03):
published in 1963, I believe, soa few years before the Star Trek
episode aired, so it would havebeen probably something that the
writers had read and talkedabout.
Ethan (36:14):
Well I don't have anything else to say about this
episode,
Anthony (36:17):
do you?
No, I think we've covered it.
It's been a good discussion.
So, next time we will talk aboutepisode three, which I believe
is called Where no man has gonebefore and This will be
interesting because this wasactually the second pilot the
(36:38):
first pilot was the one withCaptain Pike that never aired
This was the second pilot, butthey didn't air it first.
They ended up airing it third Wetalked about that last week
about why the they chose to gowith the man trap as the first
episode But that'll beinteresting to talk about next
time Yeah,
Ethan (36:54):
so everyone who listened in today and we hope to see you
all in the next episode.
Leave a comment if there'sanything specific you'd like to
see us do, but for now, see younext time.
All right, take care.
Hello, everybody.
Welcome back to another episodeof Father and Son's Guide to the
Galaxy.
I'm your host,
Anthony (00:24):
Ethan, and I'm your co host,
Ethan (00:26):
Anthony.
And today we are covering seasonone, episode two of Star Trek,
the original series.
The episode is titled Charlie X.
Anthony (00:37):
Yeah, Charlie X.
The first thing I thought ofwhen.
I saw the title for this episodewas X Men and Professor Charles
Xavier.
Apparently there is nocorrelation between the title of
this episode and X Men, althoughI looked it up and the first
comic came out in like 1963, sothat would have been before this
(00:58):
episode of Star Trek was shot.
But apparently there's noconnection at least nothing that
I could find on the internets todocument a connection.
So, in any event, we'll betalking about Star Trek, not X
Men
Ethan (01:11):
today.
But who knows, if you want tohear about some X Men content,
let us know! Yeah,
Anthony (01:17):
we can always incorporate that.
Ethan and I are X Men fans, forsure.
Ethan (01:22):
Yep.
Maybe we'll cover the new X Menshow that will come out soon.
That's
Anthony (01:27):
right, X Men 97, which is a sequel to the original X
Men cartoon that came out in the90s, is supposed to be coming
out, I think, sometime in 2024.
Hopefully.
Who
Ethan (01:39):
knows, might be good.
Yeah.
Alright, so, today's episode,Charlie X, started off with the
Enterprise meeting a cargovessel known as the Antares.
Am I pronouncing that right?
I think so,
Anthony (01:52):
yeah, the Antares.
Yep,
Ethan (01:54):
and they kind of described it as they were
transporting like a victim froma crash who had apparently been
stuck on a planet since he was 3years old and is now 17.
And it was kind of just amiracle he survived.
Anthony (02:07):
Yeah, and his name is Charlie Evans, hence the title
of the episode, Charlie X.
And he's a human, but the shipthat he was on crashed on this
planet called Thasis, and he wasthe sole survivor of the crash.
And I guess he learned how totalk and communicate and You
(02:30):
know, do human stuff through theship's computer, which was
apparently still intact evenafter the crash.
So he's 17 when he comes aboardthe Enterprise.
And the Enterprise is supposedto take him to his closest
living relatives on an Earthcolony called Alpha 5.
(02:50):
And what were your initialimpressions of Charlie when he
comes on the ship?
Ethan (02:54):
He just kind of seemed like he was in a daze the whole
time.
Like he was just kind of, he wasinterrupting the conversations
Between Kirk and the captain ofthe other ship, and he was just
wandering around the room.
It was kind
Anthony (03:06):
of weird.
Yeah, he definitely gave off aweird vibe from the very
beginning.
What I thought of is that he waslike a, a misfit toy.
Like he belonged on the islandof misfit toys.
So, he's a strange guy.
His eyes are, like, often times,like, wide open.
(03:27):
And he gives this kind of creepyvibe and, he keeps interrupting,
right, when Kirk is talking tothe, captain and the other
officer from the Antares whobeamed over with Charlie and
Kirk, chastises him.
He says Charlie, that's notpolite, that's rude.
You shouldn't interrupt.
I mean,
Ethan (03:45):
he was stuck on a planet by himself for all those years,
so I guess the computer didn'tteach him social
Anthony (03:50):
cues.
Right.
And that becomes a big problemfor Charlie as we get into the
episode, is his lack ofunderstanding of social norms.
So, Kirk tells Yeoman JaniceRand who, who comes to the
transporter room to take Charlieto his quarters.
And Charlie is immediatelystruck by Yeoman Rand and asks
(04:15):
her, Are you a girl?
So he evidently had heard ofgirls before, but this is like
his first encounter with a girl.
Keep in mind he's 17 years old,not too much older than you,
right Ethan?
So he's right in the middle ofthis time where girls are
becoming very important andattractive, and so he asks Rand
(04:36):
if she's a girl which is kind ofawkward, and then he goes for a
physical with Dr.
McCoy.
Ethan (04:44):
Yeah, when he goes in with the exam with Dr.
McCoy, McCoy's very surprised tofind out he's totally physically
intact.
Like, there was nothing, wrongwith him, he just managed to
survive from the age of 3 to 17on a planet by himself.
Cause, he even asked him likethe ship's rations probably
depleted, what did you do?
And he just simply answered, Ifound other things
(05:04):
to
Anthony (05:05):
eat.
Yeah.
Apparently eating plant life onthesis or whatever.
Yeah, so he's healthyphysically.
Mentally, not so much as, aswe'll come to see.
So one of the things that Ithought was interesting when
Charlie is done with his examwith Dr.
McCoy is he asked McCoy aboutKirk and Charlie says that Kirk
(05:29):
isn't like the other captain onthe Antares.
Doesn't really say what he meansby that, but he points out that
Kirk is different.
And McCoy just says, yeah,Captain Kirk is one of a kind,
right?
Which is true, but McCoy's notreally understanding what
Charlie means I don't think.
And then Charlie asks McCoy ifhe likes him.
(05:51):
Which is, you know, an awkwardquestion, and then he proceeds
to tell Dr.
McCoy that he wants to be likedby everybody on the ship.
Yeah,
Ethan (06:02):
pretty reasonable thing for somebody to want.
He probably with his lack ofsocial skills on his, on the
other ship, probably was doingthe same thing he was doing
here, asking awkward questions,or not reading the room
correctly, and so he probablyperceived it as people not
liking him, when, if they triedto correct him, or something
along those
Anthony (06:22):
lines.
Right.
And I can kind of Sympathizewith how he might have felt.
I mean, it's been a while sinceI was a teenager, but I do
remember, when you're goingthrough those years, there's a
strong desire to be liked byyour peers.
You want people to like you.
And so that can make for somesometimes awkward interactions
(06:45):
with people.
When you're maybe trying toohard or whatever to be light.
So I could sympathize a littlebit with where Charlie was
coming from.
You're closer.
Well, you're right in the midstof your teenage years.
Any thoughts on, your experienceas a teenager as compared to
Charlie's?
Ethan (07:00):
I can definitely see the mindset to be liked.
I'm surprised you remember thatmindset from the dinosaur
period, Dad.
Anthony (07:07):
Yeah, it was a long time ago.
A galaxy far, far away.
Right.
So Charlie's social skills, orlack of social skills, we should
say becomes a big problem forhim because he just has no sense
of social norms, and it's alsogonna turn out in the episode
that he has these amazing powersthat he uses, like, telepathy
(07:32):
and the ability to, like, changethe shape of objects
transmutation, that kind ofstuff And so one of the first
indications that there's goingto be issues with Charlie's
social skills is his immediateinfatuation with Yeoman Rand,
right?
(07:53):
And he gives her a gift at somepoint early in the episode.
And it must have been somethingthat he created with his mind.
I think it was like perfume
Ethan (08:01):
or something.
Yeah, it looked like a perfumeand Yuminran was like, They
don't carry this flavor in theship store.
I actually found that line veryfunny because in, like, the
Navy, in real life, they do havea ship store.
On the ships.
And so I was like, oh, they'rekind of just bringing elements
from The Navy and putting itinto Star Trek.
Anthony (08:19):
Yeah, so he gives her this gift, and like you said,
she points out that it's not inthe store.
So that's kind of our first cluethat, Charlie might have some
kind of special power orsomething.
And then After he gives her thegift, And talks to her for a
minute, He slaps her on thebutt.
Right?
What did you think when thatscene happened?
(08:41):
I was like,
Ethan (08:41):
ooh, he made a mistake right there.
Yeah.
His lack of social norms, but Iwas also surprised he knew that
that was a thing, too.
Anthony (08:50):
Right.
So was that instinct on his partjust being attracted to the
opposite sex and thinking that,you know, this would be okay
behavior instinctually?
I don't know.
Maybe, maybe not.
But it was an awkward moment.
And Rand, of course, is takenaback.
And she chastises him,rightfully so.
For being inappropriate.
(09:11):
And I think she also realizesthat he Doesn't understand these
social norms.
And so she tells him to ask Kirkor McCoy, why what he did was
wrong.
And so he'll do that later inthe episode, but she does invite
him to meet up with her at theend of her shift in the rec
(09:33):
room.
And so he agrees to that.
Ethan (09:35):
Yeah, so, the scene where he does go meet in the rec room,
I found really weird.
Cause then, Spock was like,playing on one of his Vulcan
instruments, things, I don'teven remember what they're
named.
But then, Uhura starts singingalong, and it was just this
really awkward scene in theepisode.
And it, yeah, it was just like,It's really weird.
(09:57):
What were your thoughts on that?
Anthony (09:58):
Yeah, it was kind of weird, but I, I kind of liked
it.
I, I thought it was quirky andfun and you kind of get to see
another side of Uhura you know,she's got some musical talent,
apparently, and she can come upwith lyrics on the fly.
The other part that stuck out tome about that was, Uhura clearly
has the hots for Spock, right?
(10:20):
And they showed that, we didn'ttalk about this in the last
episode, but in, in the The lastepisode there was a scene where,
you know, she clearly has somephysical attraction to Spock.
I don't remember if they everdeveloped that or not.
I don't think they do in theoriginal series, but it may be
that that was inspiration forthe Spock Uhura Relationship in
(10:45):
the J.
J.
Abrams reboot movies I, I don'tknow, but it seems like the
writers were maybe trying earlyon to establish some kind of
romantic connection betweenOhura and Spock, and we'll have
to see if it develops, but Idon't think it actually does
during the series, I'm not, I'mnot
Ethan (11:03):
sure.
I wouldn't think it woulddevelop either because it's kind
of hard to develop arelationship with a man who
Denies the feeling of emotions.
Anthony (11:14):
That's true, but think about, like, Strange New Worlds,
right, where Spock and NurseChapel have a blossoming romance
and I think there is, later onin the original series, One or
two episodes where Nurse Chapeland Spock have some romantic
interactions of one sort oranother.
(11:36):
I'm not sure about that, but Ibelieve that may be the case.
We'll have to wait and see oncewe get to those
Ethan (11:41):
episodes.
Yeah, I think that incident inStrange New Worlds it was If I'm
remembering correctly, it wasthe time where Spock was trying
to explore his human side a bitmore, since, you know, obviously
he's half human, but this Spockin the original series seems
like he's just almost completelyVulcan.
But like in Strange New Worlds,you could see Spock with
(12:03):
emotional faults, which was areally interesting take on his
character.
Anthony (12:08):
Yeah, yeah, for sure.
There, there was one scenebefore the rec room that I
wanted to mention.
So, this is on the bridge, andBones is there, and Kirk gives
Bones the assignment to teachCharlie about adolescence.
And McCoy suggests that thatshould be Kirk's job, but Kirk
is having none of it.
He clearly is not comfortablejumping into the role of a
(12:32):
father figure.
And so McCoy is given thisassignment, but It later becomes
Kirk, who is the one who triesto teach Charlie a little bit
about adolescence, and the firstconversation that they have
doesn't really go well, and thisis when Charlie asks Kirk why
Rand got upset when he hit heron the butt.
(12:53):
I thought Kirk did a terriblejob of explaining why that was
inappropriate.
What were your thoughts on that?
Yeah,
Ethan (13:00):
I was even confused what he was trying to say, but like
if I'm remembering correctly,wasn't there like, this might be
just from the J.
J.
Abrams Star Trek, didn't he havelike issues with his father or
something?
Or is that in this one too?
Anthony (13:15):
Well, in the J.
J.
Abrams movies, his father diedright after he was born.
Oh,
Ethan (13:23):
right.
That, that's what made theKelvin timeline.
Right.
The
Anthony (13:25):
whole thing.
Right.
But I don't know if there's anybackstory on Kirk's father.
I'm not sure.
That's a good question.
So maybe he had some fatherissues or something.
And so he's just You know, notcomfortable jumping into that
role, but he does do it and tohis credit and he gets better at
it, right?
He seems to get better attalking to Charlie and
explaining kind of why thingsare the way they are.
(13:49):
Now Charlie doesn't necessarilyreceive his counsel and wisdom
very well, but Kirk at leastdoes kind of get the hang of it.
Ethan (13:58):
Yeah, you could see some significant growth in his
character throughout the episodeas he kind of Learns to deal
with Charlie and his justmisunderstanding of, like, just
the normal things that happen ina social environment in a
struggle.
For
Anthony (14:17):
sure.
And so, in the meantime, whileall this is happening, the
Antares has transmitted amessage to the Enterprise, but
the message doesn't get through,right?
And so the Enterprise scans forthe Antares and finds that it's
been destroyed.
All they are finding is debrisfrom the ship.
Ethan (14:37):
Yeah, and then the most interesting part of the scene
was When Charlie talks about,like, he says this thing
beforehand, like, the ship waspoorly made or something to that
extent, and then they find thedebris of the ship.
So then there's just evidencethat Charlie knew before they
knew that the ship wasdestroyed, and everyone was kind
(14:57):
of questioning him about that.
Anthony (15:00):
Right.
Yeah, another clue that Charliemaybe up to no good.
So Rand then tries to introduceCharlie to another girl who's
closer in age but Charlie isn'thaving it, and he's quite rude
to the girl, and she storms off.
And Rand kind of gets onto himfor it, and calls him out for
(15:21):
being rude, and He says to her,to Rand, that the other girl
isn't like her, and that Randsmells like a girl, and he also
says, when I see you, I feellike I'm hungry all over.
Which is, you know, again, kindof, kind of creepy.
(15:42):
So, that, that's another oddinteraction with Rand, and she's
disturbed by it, right?
Ethan (15:48):
Mm hmm.
Yeah, her character expressed itas uncomfortable, and Aisha was
uncomfortable watching it.
I was like, man, this dude is acreep.
He doesn't know when to stop.
Anthony (15:57):
Yeah, and so Rand is so disturbed by it that she goes to
talk to Kirk about it.
And Kirk, you know, at firsthe's like, Oh, I already talked
to him about slapping you on thebutt, and explain that.
Again, he didn't do a very goodjob of that, but, but he did
talk to him, but eventually Kirkagrees to talk to Charlie again,
and so Kirk sits down with them,and, and Charlie, is kind of
(16:22):
defensive, and he sayseverything I do is wrong.
And Kirk makes an effort to tryto reassure him, like, hey, you
know, this is an awkward time.
You know, every guy, you know,since the, the beginning has
made these kinds of mistakes,you know.
I think he
Ethan (16:36):
said the line, since the model came out.
Anthony (16:38):
Yes, since, since the model came out, the first, the
first male model.
Mo Ha ha.
Since that time, men have beenmaking mistakes with with women.
And so he tries to reassure thembut he also makes it clear that
Charlie can't have Rand.
She's not interested, and thatlove or, or like is a two way
(17:01):
street.
It requires, you know, bothparties to be attracted to one
another and want to You know,take the relationship to a
another level.
So, Charlie doesn't like thatand then there's another scene
after that where Kirk is tryingto teach Charlie some martial
arts.
Ethan (17:19):
Yeah, that, their gym looks so weird and the uniforms
they were wearing were, like, itwas just so weird because Kirk
was wearing tights and then justnothing for a shirt.
And they had like, and if theywere wearing something over
them, like, Charlie had like, abathrobe on, and it
Anthony (17:37):
was Yeah, the, the costuming in the, the gym or
wherever they were on the shipwas, was quite something to
behold.
So anyway, so so Kirk's tryingto teach Charlie some martial
arts, and then at one point,Kirk knocks Charlie down, and
(17:57):
one of the other crewmen therestarts laughing.
Because it was funny, butCharlie doesn't think it's
funny.
Right?
And he says, don't laugh at me.
And he gets so mad that all of asudden he makes the guy who was
laughing at him disappear.
Well, I can say
Ethan (18:14):
Charlie has a fine career if he wants to be a magician
after seeing this scene.
Anthony (18:18):
Right.
So, it's not clear when he makesthe guy disappear whether the
guy is dead or not.
Or if he just, you know, ceasedto exist and he can be brought
back.
It's not clear.
So Kirk calls security.
Security shows up and Charlie isresistant, of course.
(18:39):
And he makes all of the phaserson the ship disappear, including
the phaser in the securityguard's hand.
anD it's clear that Charlie'sgoing to be a problem.
However he does comply withKirk's order for him to go to
his quarters.
Which, you know, which is maybea good sign.
Ethan (19:00):
Yeah, it was like, the only one he would listen to was
Kirk, but he listened to Kirkwith a lot of resistance, too.
Because Kirk was like, if you'renot going to your quarters, I
will carry you there.
Right.
So I guess he decided to walkout with a little bit of
dignity.
Anthony (19:15):
Not to get too personal here, but maybe you and I can
relate to this a little bit,right?
A father wanting his son to dosomething, and the son not
really wanting to do it.
And it creates some tension fromtime to time.
So that's, you know, just humannature, right?
It happens.
But Charlie does go to hisquarters.
(19:37):
And then later Kirk and Spockand McCoy are discussing the
situation and they realize thatthese powers that he seems to
have are the same powers thatthe Thasians have, but McCoy is
certain that Charlie is humanbased on his physical exam and
testing.
(19:58):
And.
Spock observes that even thoughhe's human, he seems to have a
total disregard for human life.
And then Kirk kind of goes tobat for him a little bit.
He says, you know, he's a boy ina man's body trying to be an
adult with the adolescence inhim getting in the way.
And so Kirk is a little moreempathetic to what Charlie's
(20:21):
going through but Spock clearlyrecognizes the, the danger of
the situation.
And so they end up confrontingCharlie about the Antares and he
admits that he used his powersto destroy the Antares.
And then at that point, that'swhere things get kind of crazy.
Right.
Ethan (20:41):
He, he kind of just He like, if I remember correctly,
he sort of like, ran out of theroom in a storm of anger, if I
remember correctly, right?
And that, that girl that he wasintroduced to earlier that he
kind of just like, told off orwas being very rude to, he
turned her into an iguana.
Anthony (21:03):
Right.
Ethan (21:04):
Yeah, that was, that was Like, not vanished into thin
air, an iguana.
Anthony (21:09):
Right, so his powers are quite broad, I guess he can
make people vanish, he can makethem turn into animals, he can
also freeze people, and so he,he, some of the people that he
passes in the ship as Kindagoing on this crazy tirade he,
he causes them to, like, freezein place, other people he makes
(21:29):
vanish he's just out of control,
Ethan (21:31):
right?
And then, like, the one girl he,like, aged to be an old woman,
and then the most disturbing ofthem was when people were
laughing in the hallway atsomething and he removed their
faces.
Right.
Anthony (21:46):
Yeah, so this kid's just, out of control.
And so Spock and Kirk try totrap him in a force field, and
that goes terribly wrong.
He's too powerful to be heldback by.
Ethan (21:57):
Gotta just remove the room from existence.
Anthony (21:59):
Right, right.
And so, he He meets up againwith Rand, and again tries to
express his love.
She's obviously extremelyuncomfortable as he's
approaching her, and then sheends up slapping him and so that
makes him angry, and so he makesRand disappear now, the one that
(22:20):
he, he supposedly has all thesefeelings for.
And so his rage is just takingover, and he's not in control Of
his emotions.
And so, Kirk, of course,recognizing the The danger of
the situation tries to changecourse so that the enterprise
(22:42):
doesn't go to Alpha 5 because ifCharlie gets there he could use
his powers and harm all thepeople on Alpha 5 which they
obviously want to try to avoid.
And so Kirk makes this effort tochange course but Charlie
figures it out.
Right?
And then he takes control,Charlie takes control of the
(23:04):
Enterprise with his mentalpowers that he has.
Ethan (23:08):
Yeah, and then, here's what I thought was interesting.
Kurt came up with the idea thathis powers were, like, to almost
their full extent because henoticed nobody else since he'd
taken over and disappeared.
So he tried to, like, challengeCharlie.
While also turning on everythingin the ship to kind of like
(23:29):
Overload what he couldn'tcontrol and have some method to
take control back from him so itwas it was kind of it was an
interesting scene becauseCharlie was threatening like I
could make you disappear at anymoment Kirk and Kirk was kind of
like I'm not so sure about thatand kind of just signaled Spock
and McCoy to start turning oneverything in the
Anthony (23:50):
bridge.
Right, but it doesn't actuallywork, right?
He tries to take down Charlieafter that and isn't successful,
but In the meantime, we learnedthat it turns out that the
Thasians have a ship and they'vebeen trying to intercept the
Enterprise because they realizedthat Charlie has Left their
(24:13):
planet and is likely out doingbad things with his
Ethan (24:16):
powers.
Well, I thought their plan kindof did work because Charlie like
blocked all subspacecommunication.
But then when they overloadedeverything subspace
communication came back online,and that's when they received
the the signal from theThasians.
Anthony (24:31):
Yeah, yeah, I guess you're right.
I guess it was successful to acertain degree.
I guess I was just meaning thatKirk wasn't able to completely
stop him at that point, butthey, yeah, you're right.
And so the Thasians show up anda Thasian Dude, his face, a
(24:53):
holographic face appears on thebridge of the Enterprise and he
restores the ship's power backto Kirk and he brings back all
the people that had vanished andmakes everything right again on
the Enterprise.
And so it turns out that theThasians had given Charlie his
(25:13):
powers.
So that he could survive ontheir world but they now realize
that he's, he's too powerful toactually live among humans,
among his own kind.
I
Ethan (25:26):
thought this scene was interesting because the
holographic head that wasspeaking said like, I had made
this form to look after Charlieor something.
So I think the Thasians are sortof like, Is non corporeal the
right word for it?
Like, they don't have physicalform, but that's kind of like
the way they communicated withCharlie.
And so, after they come andlike, fix everything, they try
(25:50):
to like, take Charlie back.
Kirk kind of tries to fight forCharlie.
It's like, is there any way,like, he can not use his power
so he can be with his ownpeople?
And Thazians were kind of justlike, we can't do anything about
it, so we have to put him in ourcustody.
And then Charlie is trying tofight the whole thing, he's
like, No, don't let them takeme, cause they can't feel, they
(26:10):
can't love, you can't touchthem.
So, it was a sad scene when theytook him away, But, I mean, it
was for the safety of the place,of like the colony and everyone
on the Enterprise,
Anthony (26:25):
so.
Yeah, yeah, you can't help butfeel sorry for him, even though
he's, you know, he died.
Blew up the Antares and killedthose people on the ship and,
you know, he's done these awfulthings but you can't help but
feel sorry for him because, Imean, he's been on his own
essentially since he was three,right?
And, had no upbringing, youknow, no, no, it didn't, didn't
(26:49):
have a normal human upbringingand doesn't know how to interact
socially, doesn't know how tohave friends, maintain
relationships and now, you know,he's been out and, and has had
interactions with humans andthey haven't gone well, and now
he's got to go back to Thesiswhere he's essentially going to
be by himself again.
(27:10):
And so you do kind of feel sorryfor him, but like you said, and
Kurt clearly feels sorry for himtoo, and, suggests that, maybe
he can learn not to use hispowers and live among the
humans, but the Thasian guy islike, no, you know, he's
eventually going to use thosepowers and they could either
destroy you or you could end updestroying him.
(27:31):
And so he says that we offer himlife, and we will take care of
him.
So it's not the best situationin Charlie's mind, but it is the
best situation, the best outcomefor him, that he's gonna go back
with the Thasians, and he'll be,at least, if nothing else, he'll
be able to live life and betaken care of by the Thasians.
Ethan (27:56):
Yeah, I can agree with you, it was probably the best
choice they could have made.
Because if you had him go tothat colony, the whole colony
would have been destroyed, orthey would have executed him for
like, everyone's safety, so.
It's the best way for him tolive a life, even if it is a
life without human interaction.
Anthony (28:15):
Right.
You mentioned Charlie's lineabout how they don't have bodies
and they can't love.
And that line kind of got methinking, like, what does our
physical nature have to do withour ability to to show and
receive love?
Is it essential?
That our, bodies are anessential part of our ability to
(28:39):
show and receive love withothers.
What are your thoughts on
Ethan (28:43):
that?
I mean, it definitely is a bigfactor to showing, like,
affection towards people, butit's not impossible to be
without it.
Like, I mean, with me and myfriends.
A lot of the times I play videogames with my friends, we're not
there with a physicalconnection, but we're there, you
(29:05):
know, mentally, together, but, Imean, we still do have times
where we are together in person,so it's kind of just like, you
know, it's, physical connectionis nice, but it's possible to be
without it.
Anthony (29:20):
Yeah.
Yeah.
It's a lot more difficult.
Yeah.
To develop a close relationshipand to, and to love.
When you're not physically withthe person, or, or people, for
sure.
So I thought this overall was apretty good episode.
I think I liked it a littlebetter than the last one.
(29:40):
I gave it an A and you know,thought overall it was, it was
decent.
What, what about you?
Ethan (29:47):
I'd probably give it about the same.
It was a very interestingepisode concept, and yeah, I'd
probably give it an A too.
It was a very interestingepisode, the concept was cool,
but like, there was just someparts I found a little weird in
my opinion, like the scene inthe rec room I thought was a
little odd, and And there wastimes, like, where,
(30:12):
intentionally, though, Charliemade you uncomfortable as you
were watching.
So, yeah, A ranking is what
Anthony (30:19):
I'd give it.
Yeah, yeah, I think for a lot ofthe episode, you were supposed
to feel uncomfortable with, atleast in the scenes with
Charlie.
For sure.
I thought there were someinteresting themes in this
episode.
So adolescence growing up, youknow, that's obviously a big
theme.
What happens when irresponsiblepeople gain power, right?
(30:42):
And how that can be catastrophicif the wrong people have too
much power in society.
And then also what What societydoes with those who are
dangerous.
Right?
That, that was kind of a themethat's touched on at the end of
the episode.
You know, Charlie You know, deepinside, he probably wasn't a bad
(31:07):
person, right?
But he, and he grew up in thisunfortunate circumstance, and so
he has no sense of social norms,and in a way, doesn't have a
strong sense of right and wrong.
He's, he's learning morals ashe's interacting with these
humans for the first time.
(31:28):
But he's dangerous, right?
And so what do you do withpeople like that?
pEople with mental healthissues, people who are violent
offenders in society, you know,it's a good question.
And that's one of the things Ilove about science fiction is
that it raises interestingquestions about what it means to
(31:50):
be human and what it means tolive in a civilized society.
That you, you know, we could, wecould talk about forever.
And then the last theme that Inoticed was kind of touched on,
I wouldn't say it was a strongtheme, but it was somewhat
prevalent, was sexualharassment.
Right?
And keep in mind, this is.
(32:12):
Shot in the 1960s, you and I areliving in a post MeToo era.
era, right, where there's a lotmore awareness and women are a
lot more comfortable speakingout about some of the horrible
things that they've had to dealwith in the workplace,
disgusting guys, bosses, and soforth.
(32:32):
In the 1960s, things were, wereworse for women in the
workplace, right?
And so this was a very relevanttheme.
For when the episode was aired.
And it's still relevant today.
It's not like sexual harassmenthas gone away.
(32:53):
There's clearly plenty of itstill.
But there is a lot moreawareness of it and we can talk
about it more openly.
Especially women can talk aboutit more openly.
So I thought that was anotherinteresting aspect of the show.
Ethan (33:08):
Yeah.
I definitely noticed all thosethemes.
There, I think you pretty muchsaid it
Anthony (33:14):
all.
Yeah, well, a couple of otherthings I wanted to point out.
So, we get our first glance atStar Trek Chess in the episode.
Which is, I don't know if there,I don't think there's actual
rules for Star Trek Chess.
They call it three dimensionalchess, right, in Star Trek.
But it's got the three differentlevels.
(33:35):
But you and I both enjoy playingchess.
And so that was kind of fun tosee that for the first time in.
A Star Trek episode, and I lovehow there's a scene where Spock
and Kirk are playing each other,and Kirk ends up beating him and
Spock makes a comment about hisillogical approach to chess.
And then Gene Roddenberry'svoice was actually in the
(33:58):
episode.
He was uncredited but there wasa scene where Kirk had told the
people in the kitchen to, theywere, they were making a,
Meatloaf, but he said make itlook like turkey because it was,
Thanksgiving was coming up andhe wanted the crew to be able
to, if they couldn't actuallyeat turkey, at least Feel like
they were eating turkey orsomething like that.
You remember that and so laterin the episode There's a voice
(34:22):
From the cook that comes overthe the intercom on the bridge
That says something about thethe turkey being ready or
something like
Ethan (34:31):
that Well, I think the line was the meatloaf turned
into actual turkeys.
Anthony (34:35):
Oh, that's right.
That's right the meat You'reglad you mentioned.
Yeah, so that was Charlieexercising his powers again.
So yeah, so the the meatloaf Hemade Turn Into Actual Turkeys
and so that voice was GeneRoddenberry, who is of course
the creator of Star Trek and thegenius behind much of it.
(34:55):
And then, one other thing Inoticed that you wouldn't have
noticed, but there's a lot ofparallels between This episode
and a book called Stranger in aStrange Land, which is written
by Robert Heinlein, who's one ofthe great science fiction
writers of all time.
And that book's about a humanwho goes on an expedition.
(35:21):
He's a, he's a kid, but he goeson a space expedition to Mars
and everybody in the crew endsup dying and he's left alone on
Mars, but the Martians care forhim and raise him and they give
him, you know, powers or helearns how to have access to
these powers and then heeventually comes back to Earth.
It's a, it's a really quirky,odd book.
(35:41):
And I love Robert Heinlein'swritings.
This, I didn't necessarily lovethis book, but if you're a fan
of reading science fiction, it'sone of those books that you
should probably read at somepoint just because it's good to
have in your repertoire ofscience fiction writing, but
anyway, there were definitelysome parallels between Stranger
in a Strange Land and thisepisode, and, and the book was
(36:03):
published in 1963, I believe, soa few years before the Star Trek
episode aired, so it would havebeen probably something that the
writers had read and talkedabout.
Ethan (36:14):
Well I don't have anything else to say about this
episode,
Anthony (36:17):
do you?
No, I think we've covered it.
It's been a good discussion.
So, next time we will talk aboutepisode three, which I believe
is called Where no man has gonebefore and This will be
interesting because this wasactually the second pilot the
(36:38):
first pilot was the one withCaptain Pike that never aired
This was the second pilot, butthey didn't air it first.
They ended up airing it third Wetalked about that last week
about why the they chose to gowith the man trap as the first
episode But that'll beinteresting to talk about next
time Yeah,
Ethan (36:54):
so everyone who listened in today and we hope to see you
all in the next episode.
Leave a comment if there'sanything specific you'd like to
see us do, but for now, see younext time.
All right, take care.
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