Charlie Evans

Charles "Charlie" Evans is a fictional character featured in the original 1960s sci-fi series Star Trek. Played by actor Robert Walker, Jr., he appeared in the season one episode, "Charlie X".

Overview
Charlie Evans was a teenage boy who was marooned on a remote planet for many years where he developed superhuman abilities. A Federation transport vessel discovered him and delivered him to the crew of the USS Enterprise where he became the temporary ward of Captain James T. Kirk. Bereft of any social skills, Charlie used his powers to get his own way, causing the crew of the Enterprise no end of distress.

Biography
Charlie Evans was born in the year 2249. When he was only three years old, his parents' ship crash landed on the planet Thasus, killing everyone on board except for Charlie. Food and other materials was in short supply and ran out quickly. The native species on the planet, the Thasians, took pity on Charlie and imbued with him a portion of their vast power so that he would be able to survive on his own. Charlie grew up isolated and scared. He educated himself by reading the memory banks on the ship's computer files, which were still operational.

In 2266, a Federation cargo transport ship the USS Antares discovered Charlie Evans on Thasus and took him off world. They found that his closest living relatives were on Colony Alpha V. They contacted the USS Enterprise, which was en route to that sector and Captain James T. Kirk agreed to pick Charlie up and bring him to Colony Alpha V. Before reaching the Enterprise, Charlie believed that the crew of the Antares - Captain Ramart and his First Officer Tom Nellis were not particularly nice people. When they brought him on board the Enterprise, Charlie used his mental powers to manipulate Ramart and Nellis' thoughts, forcing them to effuse unending praise with regards to Charlie. A whole new world of possibilities opened up before Charlie. Having spent the last fourteen years alone, he was amazed to be in the midst of such a large crew of people of various races and cultures; but moreover, there were girls (which Charlie had never seen before). The first woman Charlie ever laid eyes on was Yeoman Janice Rand. He was immediately smitten with her and did not have the emotional maturity to process this new influx of hormonal emotion. Charlie became obsessed with Yeoman Rand despite the fact that she was several years his senior and used his powers to find various ways to impress her including giving her a bottle of perfume and doing various card tricks.

Yeoman Rand reported Charlie's inappropriate behavior to Captain Kirk. Upon consulting with his senior staff, Doctor Leonard McCoy and Mister Spock, he realized that he had taken on the role of a father figure to the boy and was now responsible for him. After discouraging Charlie from pursuing Yeoman Rand, Captain Kirk tried to bond with him. He brought him to the gymnasium to show him some self defense techniques. Charlie was impatient however and wanted to learn how to fight like a real man. The two sparred with one another, which resulted in Kirk slamming Charlie down on the mat, embarrassing him greatly. Another crewman present, Sam, laughed at Charlie, which enraged him. Without fear of consequence, Charlie used his power to make Sam disappear. Kirk was shocked to witness this and realized that there was more to Charlie Evans than he had previously believed.

Charlie continued to obsess over Yeoman Rand, even going so far as to enter her quarters unbidden. When Rand rebuked his advances, Charlie grew outraged. As with Sam in the gymnasium, he used his power to make Rand disappear.

Now that Charlie was considered a real and present danger, Captain Kirk altered the Enterprise 's course heading to take them away from Colony 5. Charlie didn't care for this at all, and used his power to take control of the ship. Whenever one of the crew members tried to intercept them, he would his telekinesis to push them away. One on instance, he even froze Mister Spock in place, forcing him to spout out lines of poetry. The ship's course caused them to intercept the Antares. Charlie cut off all subspace communications between the two ships and then used his power to destroy the Antares citing, "They weren't nice to me".

Kirk determined that the more Charlie used his power he became more unstable and neurotic. He took a risky gamble, believing that if he were to force Charlie to overload his psionic abilities, he might be able to burn him out. He had McCoy and Spock activate every electronic device on the Enterprise, forcing Charlie to spread his power out so as to maintain control over all of the ship's systems.

Suddenly, a glowing green disembodied head appeared on the bridge of the ship. This was a psychic manifestation of one of the Thasians who gave Charlie his power. Charlie appeared terrified of them and even humbled himself before Kirk, begging him to keep him safe from them. The Thasian apologized to Kirk for Charlie's behavior, explaining to him how they had given him power so that he could survive being marooned on Thasus, but they did not have the ability to take it away. However, they did reverse some of Charlie's handiwork, returning Yeoman Rand (and presumably Sam) to the ship intact. He then teleported Charlie off the Enterprise and brought him back to Thasus.

Notes & Trivia



 * Charlie Evans was also featured in the short story adaptation of "Charlie X", which was included as the first vignette in the Star Trek 1 novel by James Blish. The title of the story is changed to "Charlie's Law".


 * Charlie Evans returned later in the eighth issue of the Star Trek: Starfleet Acadmy comic book series by Marvel Comics.