“They don’t love!”
Content Warning: brief mention of sexual assault
Yeoman Janice Rand escapes the popular memory of Star Trek. Kirk, Spock, McCoy, Sulu, Chekov, Scotty, and Uhura have entered legend, but Rand is trivia. Yeoman Rand, played by Grace Lee Whitney, was intended to be a large part of the series, with an unspoken romantic tension between her and Kirk.1 Whitney’s original contract guaranteed her at least seven out of the first thirteen episodes filmed, the exact deal DeForest Kelley got for playing McCoy.2 After all, Whitney was an established actress, having worked with Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry on his previous show The Lieutenant.3 But unlike Kelley, her time on the show ended abruptly. She appeared in only eight episodes; Whitney was fired before “The Man Trap even aired.”4
Grace Lee Whitney as Yeoman Janice Rand. Rand’s hairstyle is obviously notable. Officially described as a “beehive",” it was made from two wigs bolted together around a mesh cone. Associate Producer Bob Justman once said “you could hit it with a sledgehammer and never make a dent.”
The reasons why are complex. The official explanation from production was that Rand’s character limited Kirk’s potential romantic opportunities, which the show famously went on to embrace, and embrace, and embrace again.5 However, production members have since stated that Whitney’s release was financially motivated.6 She was one of the higher billed recurring cast members and the show was losing money on every episode. With production quickly realizing Kelley and Leonard Nimoy would be needing raises down the line, Whitney was an easy axe. Whitney did not deny the financial situation, but stated in her memoir that an unnamed show executive sexually assaulted her shortly before she was let go, which perhaps provides the reason why her salary was singled out as disposable.7 She later returned to the franchise and acting in general after a public struggle with alcoholism and drug addiction.8
It is thus darkly ironic (or unintentionally revealing) that the first episode in which Yeoman Rand features prominently is entwined with a toxic, if ignorant, masculinity. In “Charlie X,” we see a god-like seventeen-year-old literally erase women he cannot have sex with and chafe against the commands of a traditional, ruggedly masculine father figure. Is it any wonder this was written by a woman?
Dorothy “D.C.” Fontana, the writer of this episode who would go on to become Story Editor for the first two seasons of The Original Series.
“Charlie X” is the first episode written by Dorothy Fontana (credited as “D.C. Fontana”) who began life on the show as Gene Roddenberry’s secretary. She was given first pass at this script by associate producer Robert Justman, who was aware of Fontana’s interest in writing and directing.9 She became a regular Star Trek writer and the show’s story editor, even briefly returning to the franchise for The Next Generation. In her first go around, she delivers a focused, ship-bound episode concerned with two contrasting styles of masculinity.
The episode begins with the merchant ship Antares docking alongside the Enterprise. The Antares has found a seventeen-year-old boy named Charlie marooned on the planet Thasus. Charlie was the sole survivor of a ship crash on the planet and has been stranded there alone since he was four years old. Questions of how the boy survived are raised but brushed off. Conveniently, the Enterprise is headed towards Charlie’s closest living relatives, and the Antares crew is desperate to offload the boy onto Kirk and Starfleet. After declining a drink, they teleport away.
Robert Walker, Jr. as Charlie Evans ponders 3-D Chess. Evans was 26 while playing the 17-year old Charlie, and would later appear in the classic counter-culture film “Easy Rider”.
Charlie proves to be an odd duck, overly concerned with whether people like him and quick to anger if things do not go his way. He also becomes immediately infatuated with Yeoman Rand, who is the first woman he’s ever seen. After their first friendly conversation, he slaps her on the ass (apparently misinterpreting a behavior he picked up on the all-male Antares) and becomes upset when she is offended. As his advances on Rand are continuously, but sympathetically, rebuffed, Charlie begins demonstrating terrifying powers. The Antares is mysteriously destroyed as it attempts to hail the Enterprise again. Uhura loses her voice when she and Spock distract Rand from Charlie’s magic tricks with a song. A chessboard melts in front of Charlie after Spock quickly checkmates him. The crew complains and the Captain responds. Kirk reluctantly attempts to explain to Charlie that courtship is about “how the girl feels too,” but his stabs at fatherly guidance fail. Charlie becomes frustrated with his failures and begins phasing people who challenge him out of existence. He even deletes Rand after she rejects him yet again.
The crew hypothesize that Charlie has somehow gained the powers of a Thasian: non-corporeal natives of Thasus who could create and destroy objects with their minds. They all agree that Charlie only respects Kirk; he is irrationally cowed by the man he sees as a father. Kirk attempts to control Charlie by overloading his powers but fails, only being saved by the arrival of a Thasian ship. A Thasian, portrayed as a sickly green projection of energy, informs the crew that they had granted Charlie their powers in order to survive on Thasus alone, but that he is now too dangerous to be among others. Kirk protests but loses the debate. Charlie is not fit for society. The Thasians return all the people Charlie disappeared and begin to phase him away while the crew watches in disbelief. His last words are directed towards Rand: “They can’t feel. Not like you! They don’t love! Please, I want to stay.”
The Thasian, played by Abraham Sofaer. Sofaer would later go on to have a recurring role on “I Dream of Genie” as . . . a different genie.
The episode identifies Charlie’s issues as “adolescence” made dangerous by his complete lack of social experience. However, it is hard not to see the criticisms of a certain kind of masculinity right below. Charlie’s main obsession is getting what he wants, sure, but what he wants most of all is Yeoman Rand. Not only does he want her, he identifies his desire as an urge; when Charlie approaches Rand he tells her that she makes him feel “like [he's] hungry all over.” Rand sees this for what it is. In the episode’s most chilling scene, she tells him that she has “seen that look before,” begging Charlie to leave her alone. To bring the portrayal of sexual entitlement to a close, Charlie’s continuous refrain after deleting someone is that the person “made him” do it, not unlike how abusers will often blame their victims for “making” them violent, often through perceived “teasing” or explicit rejection.10 It’s telling that the depiction of “adolescence” here could just as easily fit into a modern episode of SVU.
The thrust of the plot is a series of attempted fatherly lessons by Kirk to teach the kid what’s what. But this, too, is framed as a contest of masculinity. Whereas Charlie seeks to “make” people like him, Kirk’s approach is a combination of gentleness, confidence, and charm. McCoy begins the episode by telling Charlie that “Captain Kirk is one of a kind,” and the episode spends time differentiating him from Charlie in traditionally masculine ways. Kirk, unlike Charlie, knows how to approach women. He is flat out told by Rand to teach Charlie the right way to flirt. Kirk is hesitant at first (his version of “the talk” showing off Shatner’s comedic chops) but warms to Charlie’s awkwardness. The next lesson then? Teaching Charlie martial arts. In this scene, a shirtless Kirk attempts to teach Charlie how to throw another man to the ground. But Charlie can’t get it down, he has no patience, he is physically weak, covered, and scrawny. Kirk throws him to the ground instead. This humiliation is what finally sends Charlie into an all-out tyranny. The episode is clear: his entitlement and blunt power is no match for the “real” man.
Kirk looks on as Charlie moves to spar with another crew member. I would not call this framing subtle.
With this in mind, the end goes from being a deus ex machina to a declarative statement that requires a break from clean plotting. The Thasians are portrayed as god-like. They can create with their minds. They have no physical form. The one we see is a mere mental projection, a burning bush on the ship deck. Kirk argues with the Thasian, saying Charlie belongs with people who can love him and teach him the way to be human. But the Thasian says no. God looks at a human with his powers, with this attitude, and says they are not human anymore. They are not fit to be with their own kind. As a statement about Charlie the god-kid, it’s true. As a statement about this kind of entitled masculinity, it’s radical.
Stray Thoughts
This episode features an all-time great Kirk fit, although there is a rather blatant continuity error where he enters an elevator in the classy captain uniform and leaves looking like he’s heading to a disco. Look at this king:
In a scene in the breakroom, Uhura improvises a song while Spock plays a Vulcan lyrette. She refers to him as “satanic” in this song, a knowing wink to NBC and their concerns about his appearance. Nichelle Nichols later noted that there were hints in scripts that Uhura and Spock had some sort of feelings for each other, which would later be made explicit in the 2009 reboot movies. It’s easy to see why, Nichols and Nimoy are great together.
Gene Roddenberry makes his only appearance in The Original Series in this episode, although he is not on screen. In a scene where Charlie has turned all of the Enterprise’s food into real turkey for Thanksgiving, the cook calls Kirk to notify him of the problem. That voice was Gene Roddenberry, doing a quick drop in to help move production along.
Photo Credits
Grace Lee Whitney as Janice Rand: https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0926298/
Dorothy Fontana: https://daytonward.wordpress.com/2019/12/04/dorothy-d-c-fontana-rip/
Robert Walker, Jr.: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0708424/
The Thasian: https://memory-alpha.fandom.com/wiki/Thasian
Kirk in green tunic: https://www.thecompanion.app/star-trek-starfleet-uniforms/
Herbert Solow and Robert Justman, Inside Star Trek: The Real Story, p. 243.
David Alexander, The Authorized Biography of Gene Roddenberry: Star Trek Creator, p. 275.
Solow and Justman, p. 75.
Alexander, p. 275.
Solow and Justman, p. 243.
Id.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2015/05/04/star-trek-actress-grace-lee-whitney-who-alleged-sexual-assault-by-tv-executive-dead-at-85/.
https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0926298/. Whitney later appeared as Rand in four of franchise’s films: Star Trek: The Motion Picture, Star Trek III: The Search for Spock, Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home, and Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country. She also appeared in an episode of Star Trek: Voyager in 1996.
Solow and Justman, p. 132-33. Fontana had written episodes on previous shows she had done administrative work on, such as The Tall Man, Frontier Circus, and Shotgun Slade.
https://www.thehotline.org/identify-abuse/power-and-control/
really liked the seriousness with which this episode was analyzed. when i was watching it i was like this is literally just what being 17 is like.
very side tangent, i love how william has a great bod but isn't marvel-movie ripped like male actors these days. he's the kind of hottie you'd encounter in real life. thanks for the important inclusion of the shirtless pic.