I really hated this episode as a teenager, and it's not hard to figure out why. The teenage "hero" is stereotyped as a big, spoiled baby. Charlie X acts like a weak, whiny brat, (as if all teenagers are like that) and he keeps sulking about how "being a grown up isn't everything" and how he could run the Enterprise if he had the chance. But he never shows any character, intelligence, or leadership. Even when he gets "magic powers" it only serves to underline the fact that he's still a child and not a man.
Now I'm fifty three, and in a way I feel almost nostalgic for this episode. I mean, Charlie X is exactly who I was at that age -- he's totally self-pitying, and he expects things to be handed to him. He has a wonderful role model in Kirk, (a lot better than my old man) but instead of trying to learn and taking his knocks he goes over the top and starts blasting people for no reason! Even Yeoman Rand tries to fix him up with a cute junior girl volunteer (who really was gorgeous, by the way) but Charlie doesn't want to know. Now that I'm in my fifties I no longer feel that Charlie is getting a raw deal. In fact in a lot of ways I think he gets off very lightly! The hard lesson of the show is that growing up means you have to stop thinking of yourself as a victim and start listening to what other people have to teach you.
Now all that is just one man's story, and probably not very interesting to most people. But I have to share something really funny about the way STAR TREK has changed. When I went out and bought the complete original series on Blu Ray, it was one of the happiest days of my life. It's been such a thrill watching all the old episodes in perfect condition! But some discs have these really annoying commercials to start them off. The disc with Charlie X on it has a trailer for one of the new, horrendously bad Star Trek movies -- the kind where a very spoiled, pouting James Dean lookalike (young Jim Kirk, if you please) is zooming around on his motorcycle, blowing off all the grown ups and their stupid rules (like the speed limit), and then suddenly he's in command of the Enterprise because "they" are blown away by his "potential."
I guess you could say Charlie X has got his revenge at last!
Now I'm fifty three, and in a way I feel almost nostalgic for this episode. I mean, Charlie X is exactly who I was at that age -- he's totally self-pitying, and he expects things to be handed to him. He has a wonderful role model in Kirk, (a lot better than my old man) but instead of trying to learn and taking his knocks he goes over the top and starts blasting people for no reason! Even Yeoman Rand tries to fix him up with a cute junior girl volunteer (who really was gorgeous, by the way) but Charlie doesn't want to know. Now that I'm in my fifties I no longer feel that Charlie is getting a raw deal. In fact in a lot of ways I think he gets off very lightly! The hard lesson of the show is that growing up means you have to stop thinking of yourself as a victim and start listening to what other people have to teach you.
Now all that is just one man's story, and probably not very interesting to most people. But I have to share something really funny about the way STAR TREK has changed. When I went out and bought the complete original series on Blu Ray, it was one of the happiest days of my life. It's been such a thrill watching all the old episodes in perfect condition! But some discs have these really annoying commercials to start them off. The disc with Charlie X on it has a trailer for one of the new, horrendously bad Star Trek movies -- the kind where a very spoiled, pouting James Dean lookalike (young Jim Kirk, if you please) is zooming around on his motorcycle, blowing off all the grown ups and their stupid rules (like the speed limit), and then suddenly he's in command of the Enterprise because "they" are blown away by his "potential."
I guess you could say Charlie X has got his revenge at last!