Star Trek 1x02: Charlie X
Probably the last one for a bit since my viewing buddy is off for parts unknown. But that's okay! Because this was just about as much 60s sensibility as I can take.
Star Trek 1x02: Charlie X
In which we learn why teenage boys + unlimited cosmic power + girls = Dooooooom.
Charlie Evans is a 17-year-old boy who was the sole survivor of a transport crash when he was small. Somehow he appeared to have raised himself alone until he's found by a ship called the Antares, which then passes him off to the Enterprise. This is not the best representation, or at least not the best explanation, of introducing a completely unsocialized human into well, society. Ignoring that Charlie speaks English and knows of girls without having seen one before (maybe the ship communicated with him? why does no one ask these relevant questions?) he also copies behavior such as slapping people on the ass (when he does this to Kirk, I had to stop the episode and die a little), stalking Yeoman Rand, and making Sam in the gym disappear. Also it turns out he blew up the Antares. Kirk doesn't really blink, but he gets annoyed when Charlie makes Rand disappear and then breaks Spock's legs. Eventually his alien keepers show up and reclaim him, giving Rand and Sam (and whoever else) back, and the whole bridge makes puppy eyes at Charlie's terror because even though he could blink them out of existence with a thought, he's still cute and most of them seem to think of him as a baby still. (They clearly all failed the Bambi test.)
Character-wise:
Spock plays the Vulcan lyre and actually smiles a little. Uhura sings about how Spock is a hunka hunka burnin' alien manflesh, and dances around the room (she's really quite awesome) until Charlie takes her voice away. No one seems to notice except Spock who is maybe not as oblivious to Uhura as he was pretending to be last episode.
Yeoman Rand, for all that you can play checkers on her hairdo, is actually a pretty tough cookie. She let Kirk know that something had to be done about Charlie's crush on her before she had to hurt him. (That last him being Charlie.) She was pretty firm about her boundaries, too. It almost made up for the horrid pink one-shouldered dress. Or nightie. reccea and I are in disagreement.
No Sulu or Scotty and as sizequeen pointed out last night, Chekov doesn't show up this season.
1960s Fail:
Okay, I found his episode horrendously embarrassing. And I don't really have an embarrassment squick. But mostly Kirk trying to give Charlie THE TALK when he has spent most of the episode trying to pass him off on Spock or McCoy and then the whole, "There's nothing wrong with you that hasn't gone wrong with every other human male since the model first came out," thing and then...THEN Kirk decides to take Charlie to the gym for some sparring.
Apparently everyone on the Enterprise works out in orange leggings and black socks. And sometimes, little kimonos. And sometimes (Jim Kirk, I'm looking at you) NOT. So yeah, Kirk is basically barechested with orange leggings and this shiny black socks and I can't decide if I'm more traumatized that I have seen the, you know, form of Shatner's junk, or that there is a shiny silver Starfleet insignia on the hip of the orange tights. I just. *flails* Argh. Also there is grappling but that is too gay and possibly pedophilic to discuss here.
ANYWAY. There was a brief moment where Kirk was a terrible supervisor and sort of mocked Yeoman Rand's sexual harassment claim, but she stuck to her guns and he promised to talk to Charlie. It is entirely possible he's meant to be banging her in these early eps. I wonder if she has to be on top as not to screw up her hair.
I'm...going to go watch some Criminal Minds before I sleep. BECAUSE I NEED TO SCRUB OUT MY BRAIN OMG.
What Reccea Learned from Watching This Episode
Star Trek 1x02: Charlie X
In which we learn why teenage boys + unlimited cosmic power + girls = Dooooooom.
Charlie Evans is a 17-year-old boy who was the sole survivor of a transport crash when he was small. Somehow he appeared to have raised himself alone until he's found by a ship called the Antares, which then passes him off to the Enterprise. This is not the best representation, or at least not the best explanation, of introducing a completely unsocialized human into well, society. Ignoring that Charlie speaks English and knows of girls without having seen one before (maybe the ship communicated with him? why does no one ask these relevant questions?) he also copies behavior such as slapping people on the ass (when he does this to Kirk, I had to stop the episode and die a little), stalking Yeoman Rand, and making Sam in the gym disappear. Also it turns out he blew up the Antares. Kirk doesn't really blink, but he gets annoyed when Charlie makes Rand disappear and then breaks Spock's legs. Eventually his alien keepers show up and reclaim him, giving Rand and Sam (and whoever else) back, and the whole bridge makes puppy eyes at Charlie's terror because even though he could blink them out of existence with a thought, he's still cute and most of them seem to think of him as a baby still. (They clearly all failed the Bambi test.)
Character-wise:
Spock plays the Vulcan lyre and actually smiles a little. Uhura sings about how Spock is a hunka hunka burnin' alien manflesh, and dances around the room (she's really quite awesome) until Charlie takes her voice away. No one seems to notice except Spock who is maybe not as oblivious to Uhura as he was pretending to be last episode.
Yeoman Rand, for all that you can play checkers on her hairdo, is actually a pretty tough cookie. She let Kirk know that something had to be done about Charlie's crush on her before she had to hurt him. (That last him being Charlie.) She was pretty firm about her boundaries, too. It almost made up for the horrid pink one-shouldered dress. Or nightie. reccea and I are in disagreement.
No Sulu or Scotty and as sizequeen pointed out last night, Chekov doesn't show up this season.
1960s Fail:
Okay, I found his episode horrendously embarrassing. And I don't really have an embarrassment squick. But mostly Kirk trying to give Charlie THE TALK when he has spent most of the episode trying to pass him off on Spock or McCoy and then the whole, "There's nothing wrong with you that hasn't gone wrong with every other human male since the model first came out," thing and then...THEN Kirk decides to take Charlie to the gym for some sparring.
Apparently everyone on the Enterprise works out in orange leggings and black socks. And sometimes, little kimonos. And sometimes (Jim Kirk, I'm looking at you) NOT. So yeah, Kirk is basically barechested with orange leggings and this shiny black socks and I can't decide if I'm more traumatized that I have seen the, you know, form of Shatner's junk, or that there is a shiny silver Starfleet insignia on the hip of the orange tights. I just. *flails* Argh. Also there is grappling but that is too gay and possibly pedophilic to discuss here.
ANYWAY. There was a brief moment where Kirk was a terrible supervisor and sort of mocked Yeoman Rand's sexual harassment claim, but she stuck to her guns and he promised to talk to Charlie. It is entirely possible he's meant to be banging her in these early eps. I wonder if she has to be on top as not to screw up her hair.
I'm...going to go watch some Criminal Minds before I sleep. BECAUSE I NEED TO SCRUB OUT MY BRAIN OMG.
What Reccea Learned from Watching This Episode