Girls in Space

The sole survivor of a space crash, Charlie Evans grew up alone from the age of three until seventeen, when Starfleet showed up to rescue him and ruin his life.

Charlie has a large forehead and he’s not afraid to use it.  By contorting his face into an expression that suggests he’s been interfered with, he can control objects, making them appear and disappear at will. Imagine Santa Claus, if he were to replace elves with advanced forehead technology.

However, Chuck has problems. Because of his hermit-like upbringing, he’s never developed social skills and has never even met a female. So when he first meets Yeoman Janice Rand he needs Kirk to confirm that she is, in fact, a girl.  Why yes Charlie, that is a girl. That’s a space girl. Now wipe the drool off your chin and shift your eyes upwards 12 inches.

Charlie’s social incompetence and creepy desire for Janice Rand drives the story forward. He slaps her butt, gives her rare gifts and even performs card tricks in an effort to impress her, the most disturbing of which involves him turning over the cards to reveal pictures of her posing and smiling. Personally speaking, this is the point at which I’d be arranging the restraining order. The most unsettling of Charlie’s lines to her is, “You smell like a girl”. Yes, Charlie, and you smell like a stalker.  Now get out of my bath, Fivehead.

Like all truly obsessive predators, Charlie only has eyes for Janice. Tina, a space girl his own age, is transformed into a lizard, but frankly, she gets off lightly. He rapidly ages one lady (the only one who walks around in trousers rather than a mini-skirt) and terrifyingly removes the face from another. Ouch.

When our Chuck isn’t harassing the female crew, his other hobby is that of taking over the Enterprise, and vanishing expendable crew members. Again, employing his gargantuan forehead. Why don’t they beam him into space, I wonder? Ah yes, because Kirk has to undo years of social conditioning with a half-hearted effort to befriend him. Kirk does this by showing him some of his patented moves, such as rolling on his back like a banana. In tights.

The episode has a good beginning and middle, and successfully develops a growing feeling of unease about Charlie as the story progresses. Sadly this tension is not relieved by the efforts of Kirk (or better yet from Janice herself), but by a wobbly green head appearing on the bridge to take Charlie to Wobbly Green Head Land. A solution from within the crew would have been a much more gratifying outcome.

If only Charlie had met Nancy the shape-shifting salt monster from The Man Trap. She could have adopted Janice’s body and he could have summoned endless salt to satisfy her cravings.

As for our space girls, there are some nice character pieces for Rand and Uhura, including a wonderful scene in the Enterprise bar where Uhura sings about Spock while he plays Space-Lute™. Delightfully, the lyrics include the line “Girls in Space be wary”. Girls in Space being mentioned in Star Trek can only be a good thing.

For Charlie’s gigantic cranium alone, this episode is worth watching.  It boldly goes where no man has gone before(head).

Cast:
William Shatner as James T. Kirk
Leonard Nimoy as Spock
DeForest Kelley as Leonard H. McCoy
Nichelle Nichols as Uhura

Guest Cast:
Grace Lee Whitney as Janice Rand
Robert Walker, Jr. as Charlie Evans
Charles J. Stewart as Captain Ramart

Creative Staff:
Director:  Lawrence Dobkin
Teleplay By: D. C. Fontana
Story By: Gene Roddenberry

Official Episode Guide