So what are entertainment tapes? Charlie X episode

Give them a chance....

 

Grew up on military bases as a kid and watched many a film at the base theater.

 

Rimmer, is that you?

 

The weird thing is, why is Kirk offering these to Ramart and not vice versa?

Surely Ramart, in a supply ship of some sort, would hit port far more often than Kirk in his deep space exploration vessel. Ramart should have better access to newest tapes, fresh fruit and other things calling for frequent port calls. Considering he also picked up Charlie Evans from a most unlikely location, a planet with zero known value to the Federation, it could also be argued Ramart gets a better choice of exotic liquors than Kirk, what with visiting these exotic ports but without a tight schedule* of getting an actual mission (survey, rescue, combat) done there.

Why would "starships" be in a position to offer goods to "transport ships" when the latter are dedicated to the carrying of goods?

Timo Saloniemi

* Ramart does use "tight schedule" as an excuse for leaving, but obviously that's a Charlie-imposed lie. If the schedule were tight, there'd be no Charlie!

 

The Antares is also referred to as a "Science Probe Vessel" which would suggest some kind of double duty mission to me, and they picked up Charlie during the survey portion of their job rather than the other thing.

Alternately, the ship may have been built as a transport but later repurposed as a scout ship and they are strictly on a survey mission, but the ship may still be referred to as a transport due to its original type.

--Alex

 

Not related to my OP question but I was also wondering if Charlie were allowed to stay as Kirk pleads, would he not have been charged with mass homicide. I guess his defense would be his mind had been psychologically altered by the Thasians.

 

Add me to the list of people who thought Kirk was talking about porn.

 

Actually, he might be talking about vhs lol we saw kirk with other antiques aboard the enterprise in TWOK--who says Kirk didn't have a stash of old movies aboard?
"Here's the plan--we get rid of the kid, and if he mentions his damn 20th century porn collection, we tell kirk we've got to go."

 

Most likely, he would have (as an adult), and then sent to prison (Tantalus IV or any other similar place) although prison in the 23rd century isn't like it is now. Mitigating circumstances could be argued at his trial that he was indeed fraked up by the Thasians, but if that happened, then it could also be argued that Charlie has to spend a very long time in prison, enough of it to learn how to be with people and to truly function in society.

And even if he were to be released (or at least be on the verge of being released) the parole board and his psych team would have to consider his powers and how dangerous they would be, and if there was a way to train him how to 'use' them right-maybe have him be sent to Professor Xavier's school? (IMHO, the aliens should have tried to find his people, contact them, and have him sent back to be with other humans rather than them giving him powers he couldn't cope with.) Of course, they could simply say that Charlie can't be with other beings and keep him in prison for life, or send him to a planet like Vulcan to handle said powers, or they could simply find a way to dampen them with drugs/bio-wetware tech in his skull. Or they could erase his memory and start over again (c.f. the 'death of personality' from Babylon 5), with him preforming restitution service someplace in the Federation. But all of that's moot, as what happened in the episode happened, and us viewers/fans have to deal with it.

 

I imagine they would try to teach him to use his powers safely and heal the damage done to his mind then put him on parole for a while to make sure the treatment sticks. The Federation isn't the type to mindwipe someone or keep them locked up for life after treatment because they were mentally ill.

 

^I can see that.

 

Since there was no possible way anyone could restrain Charlie or control his powers, I'm not sure what could have been done. Charlie would have had no reason to submit to any kind of treatment or punishment - not when he could make anyone disappear at his whim.

 

I thought the Thasians could/would remove Charlie's abilities if they allowed him to stay. I guess I missed or never realized his powers could not be taken away.

 

So what's the earpiece for then?

 

Yeah, there's just no way he could have stayed. I always go back to the all-powerfuls that were each brought low by our heroes' presence/intervention: Mitchell, Charlie, Trelane, Apollo- etc.

None come back with our Big Happy Fleet. Even Khan (series) gets left behind- and he's still human (mostly)

Once, just once- I would have liked Q to really have called out the Feds on this. Not like the BS 21st century trial we saw- but a "Who do you think you are" kind of thing:

Why does the prime directive only apply to societies below some arbitrary Federation level of development? Can't a lonely, depressed or eccentric demi god have a bad day without you StarFleet people just wiping him out?

 

The Thasians, for some reason not explained in the episode, could not remove Charlie's powers. I don't think the subject even came up at all. They just never even talked about it.

 

Just having watched the ep (netflix)

1)

First Kirk calls the Antares a Cargo Vessel while dictating his log

Then, in the transporter room with the Antares Captain- he refers to it as a Transport Ship


2) The Thasians were arrogant about the power- "We gave it to him so he would use it- and he will use it- Always" ... "He would destroy you, or you would be forced to destroy him" ..." We offer him a life... we would take care of him"

No mention at all that they were interested in de-powering him.

 

I realize no mention of removing his power but the Thasians never entertained the notion to let him remain. I was assuming if they had so he could live amongst his own kind as Kirk I.plores, then they would want to remove the power they had given to him.

Surely if they gave him the power, they could remove it. And this is sci-fi, so anything goes I guess.