ST:TOS - Charlie X (little things I missed before)

[Broomstick]

Still watching the Old Series on local TV. This time it was "Charlie X", another first season episode.

In many ways, it seems to have stood up fairly well. You get early foreshadowing of problems with the over-eagerness of the Antares crew members to get the hell out of Dodge. The pacing still works nicely. There is the "wonder kid/boy genius" motif that can be as annoying as hell, but at least Charlie, at 17, is in many ways and actual adult and, as we learn by the end, there has been interference with him from an outside agency that "explains" his powers. (There is also a motif here that when superior/more advanced/whatever aliens interfere with humans in can cause problems, we see this also in "The Cage"/"The Menagerie", sort of the other side of the Prime Directive). I'm not a huge fan of the Magical Mind Powers of various Star Trek entities but it is a well established convention within the series, right from the very first (mind powers appearing in both pilots).

I am enjoying some of the remastering, such as the sequences orbiting over planets, which are more than just multicolored blobs now, as well as exterior shots of other ships, particularly "effect" ships such as appear in this episode with the Thasians.

One incongruity, or at least something that caught my attention, was the mention of Thanksgiving dinner. Specifically Kirk mentions having to serve meatloaf instead of turkey for Thanksgiving (except Charlie magics the meatloaf into turkeys). The Federation celebrates Thanksgiving? A largely US/Canadian holiday? (the US and Canada celebrate on separate days, and have slightly different origins, they aren't the same holiday despite much similarity). It's a little detail that completely escaped me as a child, but it does make me think. Do they celebrate Thanksgiving, or just have the dinner? Does the fact the captain grew up in Iowa account for this, or is it a fleet-wide thing? (Presumably, many non-Earth cultures would also have a harvest festival of some sort.) Do they celebrate/note other days of significance to crewmembers? I'm trying to recall if the old series did that or not, and I can't recall a specific instance. Which means little, as my memories of some episodes are decades old, I find it remarkable that I retain as much as I do.

I also noted the three dimensional chess set. I wanted one for years. I grew up in a family where everyone learned basic chess very early (I was introduced to it around age 4. Needless to say, I was terrible at it at that age, but it was typical of my generation to learn that young. I still own two of the family's old chess sets). Three dimensional chess fascinated us (and yes, we'd say that with one eyebrow quirked upwards) and yet we never did locate a genuine 3D chess set, nor any rules on how to play 3D chess. We did acquire a three dimensional tic-tac-toe game, which provided many hours of entertainment for years.

For all I know, 3D chess was really just a prop but one of many that caught our attention. Communicators and little squares of plastic for computer data were also "just props" at the time I first watched Star Trek, but I currently own a flip-top phone and stacks of floppy disks. Did anyone ever come up with a workable 3D chess game?

[Bounty]

Franklin Mint has released both TOS and TNG 3D chess sets. Not sure if they came with full rules, though. You can find examples on eBay.

[Broomstick]

Well, don't have the cash to spare for one right now.

[Gramzamber]

I think that the Thanksgiving thing was due to how in TOS the whole setting changed episode to episode, the whole concept of the Federation, Starfleet and whatnot coming and going depending on the writer.
Sometimes it really was just the United States in space, or at least seemed to be.

[Broomstick]

Especially in the first season.

[Broomstick]

On thing that annoyed me the first time I saw this episode, and still annoys me, is that they called the episode "Charlie X". From the first, the characters name is Charlie Evans. Personally, I like the original episode title, "Charlie's Law" (Better be nice to Charlie... or else...) But that's a pretty minor quibble.

[Vympel]

I just saw this episode tonight, about an hour ago (started watching my TOS Blu-Rays finally, and Charlie X is the second episode of the first season as far as the Blu-Ray is concerned, which is weird, I think they're going by the order the episodes were actually aired).

This episode was great. Really quality TV, and I love the 1960s hotties.

They don't make women like that anymore - well - they do - they just don't put em on TV

[Skylon]

I just saw this episode tonight, about an hour ago (started watching my TOS Blu-Rays finally, and Charlie X is the second episode of the first season as far as the Blu-Ray is concerned, which is weird, I think they're going by the order the episodes were actually aired).

The prior DVD sets did the same thing. I wish they'd at least just put "Where No Man Has Gone Before" at the beginning. It's jarring to suddenly switch after a few episodes into that.

This episode was great. Really quality TV, and I love the 1960s hotties.

Amen brother. To that and the fine mini-skirts they were given to wear.

[Bounty]

What I especially liked about Charlie X was the way it made Charlie a very believable character. He could easily have been an annoying kid with superpowers; instead he's presented as a sincere young man who just grew up without social contact and suffers from it. You can see why Charlie got frustrated from his point of view as well as from the crew's. It's a pain to have a kid running around with no real social skills and no way to deal with new feelings, but it's equally frustrating if you're thrust into a world that has seemingly random rules which no-one has ever explained to you and where you're confronted with your own limitations at every turn - especially when your father figure is completely out of his comfort zone when dealing with you.

I'd comment on the irony of one of the first Trek episodes being about the dangers of having maladjusted, sexually frustrated teenagers on spaceships but I think that one speaks for itself

[Gramzamber]

I may be in the minority here, but I preferred when the women wore proper uniforms in the two pilots... they looked hotter too.

[starslayer]

Did anyone ever come up with a workable 3D chess game?

Actually, yes, several as a matter of fact. Wiki has a good summary, and links to more stuff on the subject.