ST: TOS, S1, E2: Charlie X

I am going to admit up front that I missed every conversation regarding the green floating head aliens until the scene where one appears on the bridge. I know from glancing over Bonita's shoulder that their name starts with a T, so I will call them T-aliens.

You guys are missing out. I am super comfy.

This episode showcases Kirk's authoritative prowess along side his odd wardrobe choices. Both Bonita and I were wondering what this green v-neck crotch pointing shirt was and I suggested maybe it was a formal dress because he was meeting crew from another ship. When that crew turned out to be some dumpy guys from a twenty man ship, that theory lost what ever water it was holding. Maybe it was casual Friday and no one else put a credit in the jar for that week. Maybe he lost a bet. We will never know.

It becomes very clear right away that Charlie is controlling people with his mind. At first I thought this would be a purely psychic in nature, like Professor X. (note: For a lame X-Men/Next Gen crossover, get the novel "Planet X") That is to say that I thought he would only be able to control minds and having never encountered a Vulcan, Spock would be immune.

When Charlie performs the card trick for Janis, the one where he changes the pictures, I was unsure if that was mass illusion or reality warping. Speaking of Janis; I feel sorry for her. She can only have so many close calls before that red shirt catches up to her. In the last episode the salt sucking alien was stalking her, in this one a reality bending attention/sex starved young man has an incredibly dangerous crush on her. As a man, I don't know what it would be like if the first time I saw a girl was also very close to the first time I saw an actual human and also near the end of my puberty cycle. I think, maybe my head would have just exploded. Clean up, transporter room six.

Kirk has agreed to take Charlie to Colony 5, but it doesn't seem like any one on the ship thought about the challenges that even a normal human boy first introduced into society at the age of 17 would face. They have a room ready for him, that seems to be the entirety of their preparations. Of course, he meets Janis in the transporter room, and she is the one assigned to take him there. Great planning guys. Kirk should have switched that up the moment Charlie asked, with eyes wide and pants engorged "Is that a girl?" A little later he slaps Janis on the ass, she forgives him but tells him he should ask the captain why that is not appropriate. When Charlie does ask, Kirk is befuddled at having to give s kind of sex talk, but it kind of comes across like he doesn't actually know why. The lead men on the ship, Kirk, Bones, and Spock, all try to to pass the responsibility of "raising" him to each other. It's kind of cute, but then when you think about it, it's really irresponsable. I guess Bones should have explained sex to Charlie, he's the most qualified to talk about biological functions and reactions and we know from the previous episode that he has been in love at least once.

Ladies?

Kirk decided that Charlie needs to work off some energy so he takes him to the gym. I'm sure skinny Charlie felt right at home and safe in the midst of dudes throwing each other, pudgil-stick fighting, and incredibly flexible women doing flips. It was a good theory though and it would have worked if not for Charlie's secret ability to bend reality to his very whim! he makes Kirk's practice partner disappear and Kirk takes it incredible calmly. Like it happens every single time he goes to the gym, ok.

At first Charlie obey's Kirk's father-like authority, but that looses traction quickly and people start disappearing, or being turned into iguanas like poor thrown under the bus Tina.


Kirk comes up with a plan that doesn't exploit some hidden strength that humanity has, but the limits of Charlie's power. Identifying that Charlie was getting near the threshold of his capabilities could have been done by any one, and I bet if Spock had not been so worried about being made to perform morose prose, he would have gotten there first.

The T-aliens that gave Charlie his powers show up to take him back. Kirks tries to get them to let him stay, saying he should be with his own kind but the T-aliens insist that the power they gave him is too tempting and he must go with them. If this T-aliens can bend reality to their will, and bestow that same power to a human, why can't they de-power him and send him on his way? You can feel bad for Charlie who will never touch another being again.

What was up with Uhura singing? Was that flirting, mockery? Was it supposed to be good? Was it good? I don't really know.

ST: TOS: S1, E1: The Man Trap

This episodes starts off establishing a friendship between Captain Kirk and Doctor McCoy right in the opening Captain's Log when Kirk makes note that they will be seeing a woman from McCoy's past. There is no way for Kirk to have known that with out having talked to McCoy. That is more than we get in the entire Pilot episode.

McCoy is humanized very quickly when it is established that this is a lost love they will be visiting, and maybe one that he is not entirely over 12 years later. Kirk ribs him gently about this at the beginning of the episode further establishing the relationship that they have. They are comfortable enough with each other to poke fun while on the job. By comparison, Pike seemed to keep everyone at a distance, he didn't even want yeoman around him to deliver reports. When on the planet they discover the first dead member of the away team (a blue shirt, btw) McCoy doesn't say, "He's dead, Captain." he says, "He's dead, Jim.". He uses Kirk's first name. He is familiar with Kirk and comfortable with him, they are on a first name basis. Not even "He's dead James.", it's a nickname basis. That line will become iconic as the series ages. I had never thought about the implications of it before, that it gives us so much information in so little time.

She doesn't realize that Spock's sex rage is forthcoming.

Spock is cold in this episode, he is logical. That is to say, he is Vulcan, and not a human with pointy ears. He doesn't understand when Uhura, pretty aggressively, flirts with him right on the bridge. She is the initiator here, approaching him while he is in the Captain's Chair. This is a far cry from Pike's Enterprise where woman look coyly at the captain and are objects of lust and distraction. Our take away from this is that Uhura is a strong, assertive woman, with her own desires. I also had not realised that there was a TOS precedent for the the Uhura/Spock pairing set up in the 2009 Star Trek movie.

The antagonist creature in this episode is once again an alien that is not really malicious  but just trying to survive. As a "last of it's kind", you can kind of feel for it even as it starts to kill it's way through the away team and crew. Using McCoy's memories and the image of his lost love against him, you can feels bad for both the creature and McCoy. The doctor has a hard choice to make and is only capable of it after Spock rains down his famous two handed hammer punch upon the salt sucking alien in defense of Kirk. As ugly as it's true form is, as brutal as its killing methods, you still feel bad for witnessing the death of a species.

The salt sucking alien had lived on a planet with no salt left on it. I guess it probably licked the sweat from it's  "husband". Maybe that was some sort of foreplay, part of the reason he excepted it. He was it's meal ticket, supplying it with small jars of tiny salt cubes. The alien seemed to be doing fine with that level of consumption, but boy, once the buffet shows up it goes hog wild. The incredibly socially inept Green dies almost moments after his feet materialize on the planet surface. I guess the prospect of getting off that rock of a planet, and no longer having to depend on an aging "husband" for sustenance was enough to make it go into a, wait for it, salt rage.

All in all a fine first episode. The terms have fallen in line, the women, though now in short skirts, seem to be more respected. He had a little bit of Sulu in this episode, and his role was unclear. Is he a botanist? Why was yeoman Janis stealing his food? I'm waiting for Chekov and Scotty. Listening to the opening of the Pilot without the "Boldly go..." narration was really weird, I am super happy to have had it here.

ST: TOS: Pilot: The Cage

These eyes will soon reveal a sex rage.

When we started watching TOS I had forgotten that the pileot episode contained almost a wholly different crew. Captain Pike helms this episode with a woman at the actual helm. That actually struck me as pretty forward thinking until Pike acts like a douche bag because a female yeoman brings him the report(paper btw) that he asked for at the time he asked for it. He then says to one of the other bridge members that he'll "...never get used to women on the bridge." which earns him a glare for the helmsman. Pike then says that he meant no offense and that she doesn't count. Really smooth.

The only cast member you recognize is Leonard Nimoy's Mr. Spock, with his pointed ears be forward thinking emo hair style.  The odd thing is, even as the Star Trek character with the longest tenure in the franchise, this doesn't seem to be the beginning of the Spock that we know. He doesn't have the emotionless quality, or the logic based way of thinking. He's just a human with pointy ears. I didn't see anything spectacular out of his performance either, leading me to wonder what it was about Nimoy that got him invited to stay.

They try to characterize Pike, the whole plot revolves around him, but it's the Doctor that gets the most flushed out. He's older than the rest of the crew we meet, he knows the value of a stiff drink in place of medicine stating "A man will tell a bartender things he'll never tell his Doctor." You see, Pike is having all kinds of angst about being a Captain and having to make choices that are hard. "Boohoo, I'm the Captain of an awesome space ship and i have to make decisions. Boohoo." He lost some crew members on a mission immediately prior to the opening credits. His Doctor comes to talk to him about it. It's the most human and real thing that happens in the episode.

On this "space vehicle" Enterprise people walk around in nineteen '50's style clothing, like they are going to go to the ships malt shop and grab a burger. Maybe that was just a result of funding being tight.

Finally, a man with some sex rage.

Not only does Pike have to deal with making choices, but he apparently has a lot of pent up sex rage. When ever he is confronted with something that may have a vagina his eyes get all crazy and he starts to sweat like he's running a marathon. This starts with the blond refuge girl that the force him to protect and picnic with, but intensifies later with the dancing green alien woman. As he watches her dance you get the strong feeling that his penis is going to rip out of his uniform, kill everyone present and have sex with what ever is left. A Federation Captain that objectifies and hungers for women is really kind of disturbing.

This pilot does confront some tough issues though. I poke some fun at Pike's angst over the responsibility he has as Captain, but really it would be a good plot point and character builder. It would be if we had known him first, if we had been given a few episodes to see his actions and the choices that had lead him to feel that way. Coming into his internal conflict with no prior experience makes it hard to be empathetic.

No one in the crew seems to have any real relationships with each other. We see brief glimpses of friendship with the doctor and Pike, but even that seems kind of a reach.

The effects of the aliens illusions are interesting. They are very strong and seems that the humans are totally at their mercy. Pike's ability to fill his mind with hate, instead of another primal emotion, wins the day though. Still, even as he is making his escape, he must get his captors to comply before he can leave his cell, as he is unable to break the illusion.

All in all I wouldn't say that it felt like Gene Roddenberry's vision of the future. Hokey terms like time-warp drive and hyper-drive(which feels more at home in gritty Star Wars), the almost all white, all male bridge crew, and the lusty hunger of not only the captain but of many of the crew member doesn't feel like it would evolve into the show that we know. It does provide some stepping stones though. The aliens that confront mankind not out of malice but need or curiosity is present in this episode and will be hallmark of the franchise.