Star Trek The Original Series
Episode: Charlie X
Season 1, Episode 2

Captain's Log, star date 1533.6.
Now maneuvering to come alongside
cargo vessel Antares.
Its captain and first officer
are beaming over to us with an unusual passenger.
All right, Chief, begin materialization.
Captain Ramart, I'm Captain Kirk.
This is my navigator Tom Nellis.
How do you do?
And this is our young castaway Charlie,
Charlie Evans, his dossier.
Mr. Evans.
We've heard a great deal about you.
Welcome aboard.
[Ramart] Wonderful boy, Charlie.
It's been a great pleasure having him aboard with us.
The things that he's learned...
Absolutely.
To think he spent practically his whole life
alone on that planet.
How many humans like me on this ship?
Like a whole city in space, Charlie.
Over 400 in the crew of a starship,
aren't there, Captain?
428, to be exact.
Anything we can do for you, Captain?
Medical supplies, provisions?
Hundreds!
All human, like me.
That's exciting.
Is that the right word?
That's perfect, the exact word.
We'd like to keep Charlie with us.
But with his closest living relatives on Colony 5
and your vessel going that way--
I'd like to see your ship now.
The people and everything.
You keep interrupting, Mr. Evans.
That's considered wrong.
I'm sorry.
We have a large supply of entertainment tapes.
No. We've a tight schedule to make, Captain.
Just 20 of us, we're making out fine.
This must be a space first.
A transport ship that doesn't need anything?
Nothing.
Not even Sarian brandy?
We're fine, thank you.
Pleasant journey, Captain.
Thank you.
Yeoman Rand, this is Charles Evans.
Show him to his quarters
and drop his records off at Dr. McCoy's office.
Yes, sir.
Come with me, please.
A-Are you a girl?
Is that a girl?
That's a girl.
Space--the final frontier.
These are the voyages of the starship Enterprise.
Its five-year mission--
to explore strange new worlds,
to seek out new life and new civilizations,
to boldly go where no man has gone before.
Captain's Log, star date 1533.7.
We have taken aboard an unusual passenger
for transport to Colony Alpha 5--
Charles Evans,
the sole survivor of a transport crash 14 years ago.
The child, alone from age 3,
has not only survived,
but has grown to intelligent, healthy adolescence.
Tell me, um, the, uh, ship's supply of food concentrates
couldn't have lasted 14 years.
After that I found other things to eat,
just...growing around.
And you learned to talk
by just listening to the ship's tapes?
The memory banks still worked.
They talked to me, and I talked back.
You're a 4-0.
A what?
4-0, 100%, sound of wind and limb.
That--That Captain...Kirk?
Yeah.
Why does he call me Mr. Evans?
'Cause that's your name.
He's not...
He isn't like Captain Ramart.
Well, no.
Captain Kirk is one of a kind, Charlie.
Do you like me?
Why not?
Some...
The other ship, they didn't like me.
I tried.
I'm trying to make people like me.
I want them to like me.
Most 17-year-olds do.
Come on. Let's go.
I'll show you to your quarters.
Hey, I'll put the equipment away.
See you in the rec room, huh?
You got a deal.
All right.
Hello.
I brought you a present.
Oh, thank you.
I really appreciate it, but...but I have to go.
I-l'm on duty.
Do you like that kind?
Yes, l...
It's my favorite!
Where did you get it?
They don't have any in the ship's stores.
It's a present.
I know,
but where did...
Gee, I'm late, Charlie.
I--I really have to go.
Can't you stay and talk?
Look, I'm off duty at 1400.
Why don't you join me
in recreation room 6, deck 3.
You got a deal.
Charlie!
Oh, I thought...
Don't be angry. I didn't...
I wanted...
Charlie, you--you...
You just don't go around slapping girls on the...
It's okay, but, uh, just don't do it again.
Don't be angry.
Look, why don't you tell Captain Kirk
or Dr. McCoy what you did.
They'll explain it to you, okay?
I will.
Okay.
But tell me, what reason would he have to lie
if there are Thasians?
That is a very intriguing question.
Scanners show no disturbances
in this quadrant, Captain.
Good.
Dr. McCoy, Mr. Spock is working out--
Excuse me, Captain. Status report.
Thank you.
He's working out a training program for Charlie Evans--
Earth history, his own background, that sort of thing.
I'd like you to give him
the necessary medical orientation
on the problems of, um...uh...
adolescence.
Wouldn't it be better for a father image?
He already looks up to you.
The job is yours.
Flattery will get you nowhere.
Didn't the boy make any reference to Thasians?
Do you believe the legend, Mr. Spock,
that Thasians still exist on that planet?
Charlie's existence proves there must be
some intelligent form of life on Thasus.
He could not possibly have survived alone.
The ship's food would have been exhausted in a year.
He would have eaten fruits, vegetables.
Probes of Thasus indicate very little edible life.
Probes have been wrong.
Doctor, are you speaking
scientifically or emotionally?
Gentlemen, the fact is the boy is here
and he's alive and he needs our help.
And he needs a guide and father image, Jim.
Hmm.
I'll depend on your astute abilities
to supply him with that...
or find him one.
[Music Plays]
[Uhura Hums]
I'm sorry.
I did it again, didn't l?
[Music Plays]
Oh, on the starship Enterprise
There's someone who's in Satan's guise
Whose devil ears and devil eyes
Could rip your heart from you
[Crew Laughs]
At first, his look could hypnotize
And then his touch would barbarize
His alien love could victimize
And rip your heart from you
And that's why female astronauts
Oh, very female astronauts
Wait terrified and overwrought
To find what he will do
Oh, girls in space, be wary
Be wary, be wary
Girls in space, be wary
We know not what he'll do
One more time!
Now from a planet out in space
There comes a lad, not commonplace
A-seeking out his first embrace
He's saving it for you
Oh, Charlie's our new darling
Our darling, our darling
Charlie's our new darling
We know not what he'll do
Want to see something?
Turn them over.
Well, how did you do that?
I can do a lot of card tricks.
One of the men on the Antares showed me.
I don't believe it!
On Earth today, it's Thanksgiving.
If the crew has to eat synthetic meat loaf,
I want it to look like turkey.
Charlie.
Captain?
I'm supposed to ask you something.
Why shouldn't l...
I don't know how to explain it.
Say it right out. That usually works.
Well, in the corridor I saw...
When Janice...
When Yeoman Rand was...
Well, I did that to her.
She didn't like it.
She said you'd explain it to me.
Me?
I see, well, um...
Uh, there are things you can do with a lady,
uh, Charlie, that you...
Uh, there's no right way to hit a woman.
I mean, man to man is one thing,
but, um, man and woman, uh, it's, uh...
is, uh...
Well, it's, uh, another thing.
Do you understand?
- I don't know. - [Intercom Whistles]
Captain Kirk.
Excuse me.
Kirk here.
Captain Ramart of the Antares is on ''D'' channel.
I'm on my way to the bridge.
Can I come?
I don't think so.
I won't get in the way.
Can you boost your power, Antares?
We're barely reading your transmission.
We are at full power, Enterprise.
I must speak to Captain Kirk.
Kirk here, Captain Ramart.
Captain, we're just barely in range.
I've got to warn--
Re-establish contact.
They're not transmitting.
Keep trying.
It wasn't very well constructed.
Sweep the area of the Antares transmission
with our probe scanners, Mr. Spock.
Affirmative, Captain.
You think something happened to the Antares, Charlie?
I--I don't know.
Picking up some debris on our scanners, Captain.
What about the Antares?
The debris is what's left of the Antares.
Captain Kirk from ship's galley.
Kirk here.
Sir, I put meat loaf in the ovens.
There's turkeys in there now,
real turkeys.
Chief, have you--
Captain's Log, star date 1535.8.
USFA headquarters notified of the mysterious loss
of science probe vessel Antares.
Your mind is not on the game, Captain.
Check.
The Antares?
A survey ship with 20 men aboard lost.
No reason.
Obviously, Captain Ramart
was not aware of any trouble.
I can't figure it.
My own concern is more immediate--
the boy.
I can usually follow you, Mr. Spock,
but this time...
he seemed to know what happened to the Antares
before we did.
I'd call it a pretty long reach for evidence.
Come in, Charlie.
And again.
Check.
Checkmate.
Your illogical approach to chess
does have its advantages
on occasion, Captain.
I'd prefer to call it inspired.
As you wish.
At any rate, the game is yours.
You play chess, Charlie?
Oh, l... I watched them play on the Antares.
Can I try?
I place you in the hands of our chess master.
The principles of three-dimensional chess
are basically mathematic, Charlie.
You put the white here
and the black on the secondary level.
I know what it is. Let's play.
Very well.
That was a mistake, Charlie.
No, it wasn't.
Checkmate.
No, it isn't.
If you'll excuse me.
Oh, Charlie.
I was looking for you.
I'd like you to meet Tina Lawton, Yeoman Third Class.
Charlie Evans.
Hello, Charlie.
I thought you might enjoy meeting someone your own age.
Can I talk to you...alone?
Charlie, Tina's...
Excuse me.
I must be wanted somewhere.
That was...
That was rude and completely uncalled-for.
But I want to talk to you.
That's no excuse.
Better learn that right now.
You have to live with people, Charlie.
You're not alone anymore.
But she's not as...
She doesn't...
She's not the same...
Not like you.
She's... She's just a girl.
You're...
You smell like a girl.
All the other girls on the ship, they...
they look just like Tina.
You're the only one...
who looks like you.
You can understand, can't you?
You know about... being with somebody?
Wanting to be?
If I had the whole universe...
I'd give it to you.
When I see you, l...
I feel like I'm hungry...
all over.
Hungry.
Do you know how that feels?
What?
I wasn't sure I should, uh,
talk to you about this.
Charlie's 17 years old.
Exactly, and he's--
I talked to him about the swat.
It's not that.
Captain, I've seen the look before,
and if something isn't done,
sooner or later I'm going to have to hurt him.
Tell him to leave me alone.
Hmm.
That wouldn't be good for him right now.
You see, I'm his first crush,
his first love,
and his first--
Yes, Yeoman, I'll talk to him.
I'll look into it.
Thank you, sir.
Come in, Charlie.
Uh, Charlie...
Charlie, do you know, uh...
anything about this chess piece.
Do you notice anything peculiar in them...
when you were using them this afternoon?
No, sir. Is that all?
No.
Sit down.
Charlie, being 17
is more than how many years you've lived.
It's a whole other thing.
Dr. McCoy could probably
explain the biological conditions.
Well, let's--Iet's use a specific.
Yeoman Rand is a woman.
Oh, I won't hit her like that anymore.
There's more to it than that.
Everything I do or say is wrong.
I'm in the way, I don't know the rules,
and when I learn something and try to do it,
suddenly I'm wrong!
Now wait...
I don't know what I am...
or what I'm supposed to be
or even who.
I don't know why I hurt so much inside.
You'll live, believe me.
There's nothing wrong with you
that hasn't gone wrong with every other human male
since the model first came up.
What if you care for someone?
What do you do?
You go slow.
Give it a while.
You'll be gentle.
I mean, it's not a one-way street, you know,
how you feel and that's all.
It's how the girl feels, too.
Don't press, Charlie.
If the girl feels...
anything for you at all,
you'll know it.
You understand?
You don't think Janice...
You...
She could love me!
She's not the girl, Charlie.
The years are wrong, for one thing,
and there are other things.
She can.
No, Charlie.
- She is. - No.
But if I did what you said!
There are a million things in this universe you can have
and a million things you can't have.
It's no fun facing that,
but that's the way things are.
Then what am I going to do?
Hang on tight and survive.
Everybody does.
You don't.
Everybody, Charlie. Me, too.
I'm trying...
but I don't know how.
[Intercom Whistles]
Kirk, here.
[Uhura] You asked to be notified
when we were to make our course adjustments, sir.
Ask Mr. Spock to see to it.
[Click]
Charlie, come on with me.
You've got to slap the floor
to absorb the energy when you fall.
Go ahead. Try it.
Like everything else, it takes practice.
Try again.
Good. That's much better.
Now I'll show you a shoulder roll.
Try that.
I don't want to do that.
It makes it hard to teach you--
I don't want to do that.
All right, Charlie. Lesson's over for today.
You were going to teach me how to fight.
You have to learn to protect yourself in a fall first.
It's more than teaching you to defend yourself.
Charlie, I want you to learn...
Charlie?
Hey, Sam, let me borrow you
for a couple easy throws, all right?
Watch this, Charlie.
That wasn't so bad, was it?
Now I'll throw him.
Here we go, Sam.
That looks hard.
Aw!
Come on, Charlie. Try it.
Attaboy. Let's get over.
Oh!
[Sam Laughs]
That wasn't so bad, was it?
Don't laugh at me.
Don't laugh at me!
Charlie.
He shouldn't have done that.
It's not nice to laugh at people.
What happened to him, Charlie?
He's gone.
That's no answer.
He's gone!
I didn't mean to do that.
He made me do it!
He laughed at me.
Bridge.
Kirk here. Two men from security, on the double.
Affirmative.
What are you going to do to me?
I'm confining you to quarters.
You stay there.
I won't let them hurt me.
I'll make them go away, too.
They won't hurt you, Charlie.
They'll take you to your quarters. Go with them.
No!
Go to your quarters.
He was going to hurt me.
Go to your quarters
or I'll pick you up and carry you there.
I won't let you.
That's your choice, Charlie.
I won't let them hurt me.
They won't hurt you.
[Intercom Whistles]
[Uhura] Captain Kirk.
Kirk here.
Security reports that all phaser weapons have disappeared.
Shall I repeat, Captain?
No, I heard you.
Have Dr. McCoy and Mr. Spock meet me in the briefing room.
Thasians have been referred to in our records
as having the power to transmute objects
or render substances invisible.
It's generally been regarded as legend,
but Charlie seems to possess this power.
What are chances Charlie's not an Earthling
but a Thasian?
No, I don't think so,
unless they're exactly like Earthlings.
The development of his fingers and toes
exactly matches present development of man.
Well, whatever he is,
we've some idea of his power.
I know what I saw in the gymnasium.
Considering the effect
normal adolescents have on a home, Charlie...
Short-tempered, because he doesn't understand.
He needs, he wants. Nothing happens fast enough.
The probability is he's responsible
for the destruction of the Antares,
which indicates total disregard for human life.
He doesn't understand what life is.
He's a boy.
Well, what do we do with this boy, Jim?
How do we keep him caged up?
It goes even further, Doctor.
We can't take him to Earth Colony 5.
Imagine what he'd do in an open, normal environment.
I've talked with him, listened.
He's a boy in a man's body trying to be adult,
adolescence getting in the way.
With a weapon in him,
which could destroy you or anyone
anywhere on this ship.
Well, for the moment he's stopped.
You're an authority he respects, Jim.
Agreed.
The struggle must remain between you and him.
Should any of us interfere...
You wanted to ask me something he said.
Are you responsible for what happened
to the Antares, Charlie?
Why?
Answer me.
Yes.
There was a warped baffle-plate
on their energy pile shield.
I made it go away.
It would've blown up anyway.
Well, they weren't nice to me!
They wanted to get rid of me.
They don't now.
What about us, Charlie?
I don't know.
We're in the hands of an adolescent.
Lieutenant, raise Colony 5.
I want to speak directly to the governor.
Navigator, lay a course away from Colony 5.
Buy me some time.
Aah!
Spock, get the doctor up here on the double.
How bad is it?
I think it's all right, sir.
There's no reason for that panel
to cross-circuit like that.
I checked it over myself not 15 minutes ago.
Captain, I can't feed any course coordinates
into the panel, sir.
It rejects the course change.
Helm doesn't respond either, sir.
Mr. Spock, you getting any instrument readings?
Yes, sir. There's a--
''Tiger, tiger, burning bright
in the forest of the night.''
Mr. Spock.
I'm trying to--
''Saturn rings around my head,
down a road that's Martian red.''
You're trying to change course, Captain.
You can't.
I want to get to Colony 5 as soon as we can.
Release the transmitter.
You don't need all that subspace chatter.
What's going on here?
Spock calls me to the bridge
and goes into some kind of poetry.
See to her, Doctor.
''Once upon a midnight dreary
while I pondered, weak and weary...''
Very nice, Mr. Ears.
I can make him do anything--
whirl around, laugh, anything.
That's enough, Charlie.
Don't you think he's funny?
I think he's funny.
Leave my crew alone.
Jim, he'll soon reach a point
where he won't back down.
I know.
Charlie, what's wrong?
I have something for you.
Pink is your favorite, isn't it?
You don't walk into a room without knocking.
Don't ever lock your door on me again, Janice.
I love you.
I'll lock it when I please.
What is it you want, anyway?
You.
I only want to be nice to you.
I can give you anything.
Just--Just tell me.
I want you to get out.
But I only want to be nice to you.
Get out, Charlie.
I can't make it any plainer than that.
I love you.
You don't know what the word means.
Then show me.
No!
Charlie.
Why did she do that?
I loved her,
but she wasn't nice at all.
What you did wasn't nice either,
but I still need you, Captain.
The Enterprise isn't quite like the Antares.
Running the Antares was easy.
You have to be nice.
All right?
Mr. Spock?
My legs--
They're broken.
Let him go, too, Charlie.
Why?
Because I'm telling you to.
You need me to run the ship, and I need him.
If you try to hurt me again,
I'll make lots of people go away.
And what about Yeoman Janice?
Is she dead?
Gone? Destroyed?
I won't tell you.
Growing up isn't so much.
I'm not a man, and I can do anything!
You can't.
I'll activate the force field myself.
You can return to your section.
He had a mean look.
I had to freeze him.
I like happy looks.
Aren't you coming in?
That wasn't nice.
You'll be sorry.
You wait. You'll see.
You'll be sorry you did that.
You will.
Aah!
[Laughing]
No.
No laughing!
[Silent]
Aah!
Aah! Aah!
[Moaning]
Captain Kirk...
my instruments show we're receiving a message
on subspace frequency 3, ship-to-ship.
I can't hear it, sir.
You're creating that message, Charlie,
or you're blocking one that's coming in.
It's my game, Captain.
You have to find out.
Like you said, that's how the game's played.
You can have it now.
I've locked on course for Colony 5 again.
I've waited long enough.
I'm going to take him on.
You don't have any special immunity.
Not anymore.
Push far enough,
he'd send you to oblivion, too.
Mr. Spock?
Out of the question.
Wait a minute.
Does Charlie...
Now, wait...
Spock, has he done away with anybody
since he took over?
Not so far as we know.
Then maybe he can't.
Could be he's overreached himself.
It's a big ship. He's taken full control.
If we could tax his power--
turn on every device on the ship,
every circuit, every light, all of it--
and while he's fighting that,
if I could distract him,
maybe you could tranquilize him,
keep him under,
until we reach Colony 5.
Risky, Jim.
If we don't try, Doctor,
he'll get rid of us anyway.
There's no choice, gentlemen,
none at all.
I can make you all go away...
anytime I want to.
Get out of my chair and get out now.
I've got your ship, Captain.
Maybe, Charlie,
but I don't think you can handle any more.
I think you've reached your limit
and can't take on one more thing.
But you're going to have to.
I could've sent you away before, but I didn't.
You're going to have to take me on.
Don't make me do it.
You've got my ship, and I want it back.
I want my crew back whole,
if I have to break your neck to do it!
Don't push me.
Aah!
Aah! Aah!
Aah.
Sorry.
I'm sorry...
but...
Aah!
[Receiver Crackles]
Stop that.
I said stop it!
Captain, the navigation console is clear now.
The ship is answering the helm.
Sir, something off our starboard bow.
The message says they're from Thasus.
Oh.
Captain, how did l--
It's all right, Yeoman.
Sensors show something's there.
Deflectors indicate no solid substance.
No!
Oh, no, please...
don't let them take me.
I can't live with them anymore!
You're my friends.
You said you were my friends. Remember?
When I came aboard!
Please...
I want to go home.
Take me home.
I have taken my form centuries ago,
so that I may communicate with you.
We did not realize until too late
that the boy had gone.
We are saddened that his escape
cost the lives of the first ship.
We could not help them,
but we have returned your people
and your ship to you.
Everything is as it was.
Oh, I won't do it again.
Please, I'll be good.
I won't ever do it again.
I'm sorry about the Antares.
I'm sorry!
When I came aboard!
Please?
I want to go with you.
Help me!
The boy belongs with his own kind.
That would be impossible.
We can teach him to live in our society.
If he can be taught not to use his power...
We gave him power so he could live.
He will use it always,
and he would destroy you and your kind,
or you would be forced to destroy him
to save yourselves.
Is there nothing you can do?
We offer him life,
and we will take care of him.
Come, Charles.
Oh, please...
Don't let them take me.
I can't even touch them!
Janice...
They can't feel.
Not like you!
They don't love!
Please...
I want to stay...
stay...
stay...
stay...
stay...
stay...
stay.
[Uhura] Charlie's back on board the Thasian ship, sir.
They signaled they're leaving.
It's all right, Yeoman.
It's all over now.