Wednesday, June 18, 2014

Star Trek: S1E2 Charlie X review

There was a book in the school library that I never read but I remember seeing it numerous times. Space Brat. I'm betting it was all about Charlie Evans.

Did this episode go a bit too far with the scope of Charlie's reality-modifying powers? Telekinesis, some mind control, I'd buy that. Turning someone into a lizard? Mayyyybe not so much.

The plight of Charlie Evans is pretty horrifying. Stranded and alone, then powerful beyond anything they understand but unable to get what it is that he desires or even understand it, he's just a child. The look in his eyes, no matter whether he's angry or fascinated or anything else, is always fear. There's nothing to him but impulse and untempered emotions. It's not the fault of the aliens - that's very interesting, there's nothing to fault in the episode. Charlie's a dink, sure, but I can't blame him. He's so hungry for humanity, and his ultimate fate is a lack of contact and intimacy simply because the kind of compassion he received in his youth was not in line with the needs or limits of humans. These super-powerful alien heads offered him what they thought would serve his needs, but you can't reasonably expect either the super-powerful or the alien to understand basic human needs.

The end result is a kid who's afraid of where he was, where he is and where he will be going. I found it interesting, though I hope the super-powerful alien angle doesn't get overused. Again, psionics are interesting, but flat-out wizard magic not so much. Also we were missing Sulu this episode and instead we got awkward singing. I'd rather have the wacky garden and references to the divine space bird. Uhura (thanks Rachel) seems to be in charge of communicating with other ships. Spock deals with analytics and data. Still not sure what Janice's job is, but I'm sure we'll get there. I'm also sure people tried to tell me in the comments, but this is a finding out stuff kind of quest. I don't know the next mission of the good ship Enterprise, but I'm on a quest to puzzle out what the uniform colors mean.

12 comments:

  1. Generally speaking, the uniform colors correspond to the person's role on the ship. Red = Ship Services: Engineering, Security, Communications, etc. Blue = Science & Research: Spock is the chief science officer, McCoy is a doctor (not a...) Gold = Command. There are of course, exceptions, omissions, and continuity errors, but that's the general rule

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  2. Question for anyone else reading this: Can you guess what it was Noise said in his final paragraph that made me laugh out loud at my computer screen?

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    1. A reference to Yoda's initial reluctance to train Luke, the first line was. Hmm? Hmm.

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    2. "I found it interesting, though I hope the super-powerful alien angle doesn't get overused."

      I know this because I had the same reaction as you, Jake.

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  3. If you don't like reality-warpers, Star Trek (especially TOS) may not be for you, it's something of a favorite plot device of theirs. Granted they're usually less annoying than Charlie by a damn sight.

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  4. I sort of wish you were hitting a select few of the best of the original series, rather than sequentially. There are much better episodes than Charlie X...

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    1. As soon as I run into a real stinker, you'll get your wish. I feel like I need to get a taste of what it was like as a show, more than just a highlight reel.

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    2. Don't listen to the naysayers. As far as I could tell, Star Trek was always good watching. I like having these reminders of EVERYTHING that was in the show, not just the fan favorites.

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    3. Alright, seems like a good way to handle at least more episodic shows like this.

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    4. Oh, don't get me wrong. The original series is still my favorite of all the Star Trek series. But unless you're going to watch all of them, it would be good to watch some of the best. Sounds like you have it planned out, though, so good!

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    5. Okay, so just skip the overtly sexist ones?

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  5. Just to warn you, the next episode was the pilot episode, filmed a year before the rest of the series and is supposed to take place before anything you've watched so far, so things will look different and some characters won't be there.

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