In the Star Trek: The Original Series episode “Charlie X”, the Enterprise beams aboard a teenage boy, Charlie, who is supposedly the last living human from his planet. Charlie has not had any human interaction in a very long time and has no idea what acceptable behavior is or how to normal people interact with each other. Aboard the Enterprise, Charlie has his first encounter with women, and he even falls in love with the first one he sees. Soon it becomes clear that Charlie is not a normal person. Charlie has the power to control people and objects with his mind. He is easily upset and doesn’t always use his powers for good. When Charlie doesn’t get his way, he throws a temper tantrum and lashes out at someone. Captain Kirk witnesses Charlie make someone disappear, that is when Kirk realizes that Charlie was responsible for the disappearance of a ship a few days earlier. Charlie ends up taking control of the ship and holds all of its crew members hostage.
Watching the episode, I found myself thinking about Charlie as an Adolf Hitler of sorts. Charlie’s mental ability to control people reminded me of the persuasive powers Hitler had. After Hitler came to power, he could basically make anyone do anything he wanted them to. If people made Charlie angry, or if Charlie didn’t like someone, he would just make them disappear. If Hitler didn’t like someone or feared someone, he had them killed. Also, Hitler’s primary goal was to eliminate all non-Aryan people. Finally, Charlie’s takeover of the Enterprise could represent Hitler’s takeover of Germany.
No comments:
Post a Comment