‘Star Trek’ Retro Recap: ‘Charlie X’

Written by John Edward Betancourt

I think it is safe to assume that each and every one of us, pondered upon what life would be like, if we could have exactly what we wanted, on a moment’s notice, when we were kids. Because life seemed quite unfair at times when we were growing up, especially when our parents told us ‘no’ to something we definitely wanted to do, or when they restricted our freedom because we didn’t finish our chores or our homework. Those are the kind of actions that prompted us to take the time to imagine a world where we were in charge, where everyone had to answer to us and while we know such a reality could never come to fruition, it was a nice way to escape the world for a moment and process why we were grounded or why we were told no. Because eventually, we saw things from our parent’s perspective and moved on with our young lives.

But fiction, always finds a way to revisit the impossible and in some cases the trappings of our youth and it just so happens that Star Trek took the time to explore what could happen if a child was able to harness the power of their imagination and do whatever they wished by way of its next episode, ‘Charlie X’ and well, it turns out that this particular tale, one that I didn’t care much for initially, ended up being quite brilliant after giving it a second look. For this tale accomplished a great many things when all is said and done since it really was able to capture the imagination of youth to a tee since Charlie’s fantasies and actions play out in the wildest of fashion, and seeing him silence people on a whim or make them pay for crossing him truly takes you back to those furious moments in one’s bedroom, where we all pondered upon how we would, ‘show them’.

Yet, while that alone draws one into the story, since it is so supremely relatable, it’s the details of Charlie’s story that make this episode so fascinating. Because from a historical perspective, this tale honestly takes a fascinating look at something socially relevant to the times, since the breakup of the nuclear family was of concern back in the 1960s and while the show didn’t subscribe to the idea that the status quo had to remain since it was so progressive in its own right, the portrayal of Charlie here was perhaps more of a warning of what could come out of this grandiose change to the family lifestyle. After all, a broken family could mean there are children who don’t receive the care and guidance that they need from their father or mother, and by not being present, important formative moments are missed and grand lessons are forgotten. Which makes the moral of this story simple; if by chance your marriage comes to an end, and there are children involved, don’t forget about them and be a great parent to keep them on track.

Which is quite the incredible message to toss into a science fiction show to say the least, but the fact that Charlie looks up to Kirk and needs his guidance speaks volumes to the message and oddly enough, this is a story that also took the time to tackle an important social issue that was gaining steam in the late 1960s; equal rights for women and how they are treated by men. Because Charlie’s inability to treat women with respect takes the center stage often in this tale, and it was quite stunning, in a good way, to see Kirk explain to this confused young man about how he simply cannot go about treating women like objects, since that wasn’t quite the view at the time. But this just goes to show how progressive the series was at the time and I’m equally as impressed with how this part of the story is still relevant today since toxic masculinity is an important topic in our modern world and Charlie Evans is more or less a poster child for everything involving that.

If anything, I have to admit that I was supremely impressed with this re-watch, which on a personal level, is quite the big deal, since I made mention of how I really didn’t like this episode the first time I saw it. I thought Charlie was annoying at first glance and that his goofy face was comical at best. But that was back in the mid-1980s, when I didn’t understand the finer points of character studies, and that’s why we go back and revisit stories like this, because they were put on film for a reason, and now I get what Gene Roddenberry was working to accomplish here and it really is wonderful to see this series dive into such matters this early on. Because most shows wait until their second season to dive into the deeper stuff, which has me wondering what other incredible stories await me down the line since I’m certain there are others that I didn’t ‘get’ my first time around. Which means, it’s time to bring this Retro Recap to a close and return to the bridge of the NCC-1701 to see what kind of brilliant storytelling awaits me in the depths of space. Until next time. 

---