Trek Review: The Man Trap & Charlie X

I feel like I'm the last person to watch through Star Trek (The Original Series) and for someone as big a fan of the whole franchise as me, that's a little weird! But it's true, of the many series and movies that make up the Star Trek universe, The Original Series is among those that I haven't seen in its entirety. That will soon change as I embark on watching through the remastered blu-ray episodes in my re-appreciation of old sci-fi.

I'll start by saying that I'm used to 'The Cage' or 'Where No Man Has Gone Before' being the pilot episodes of The Original Series, so when the blu-ray set began with 'The Man Trap', I was a little surprised...

The Man Trap

Apparently this episode was chosen to air first by luck of the draw. Clearly it's a character building episode focussing on Dr McCoy with Kirk and Spock having large roles but ultimately they're helping McCoy through the events of the episode.

Arriving at a Federation outpost, McCoy looks forward to catching up with an old flame of his. I don't think we've even got to the opening credits before one of the away team dies! Within the first ten minutes there are several other deaths from the Enterprise crew - notably, no red shirts though!

So there's an alien being on the loose and murdering people. They soon realise it's killing for salt, which it must consume to survive. Ultimately, the creature ends up on the Enterprise and Kirk, Spock and McCoy become involved in the showdown to stop more people from dying.

I'll say I feel 'Where No Man Has Gone Before' is the preferable pilot for the series. While this episode focusses on the 'strange new worlds' part of Star Trek, it seemed slowly paced and a little predictable in outcome. I could be saying this with my prior knowledge of the show, however I don't remember seeing this episode before.

I also didn't feel the crew were at their best yet, they didn't feel like they had come together at this point. Perhaps they had only just been assigned to the ship, but I'm sure the characters will grow in time. Scotty and Chekov fail to appear in this episode.

The remastered effects are amazing and blu-ray brings out the colours and details as you'd expect from the format.

Overall episode rating: 6/10


Charlie X

This is another episode I don't remember seeing. The tale of an adolescent male being transported aboard the Enterprise on his way to a colony. On his trip he tries to blend in with the crew, he does this by making everyone like him and doesn't quite understand when people try to go about their normal duties or go about their normal lives.

In the end, we find out there is more to Charlie than meets the eye, not before Kirk is forced to take drastic measures to save his ship and his crew. We particularly found the conversation between Kirk and Charlie humourous, when Kirk is trying to explain why hitting Yeoman Rand on her bottom was wrong. This episode alsot stood out for the amount of 'adult themes' with men commenting on the ladies of the ship (carried over from the previous episode as well) - you can really tell it's the 60's!

Another character building episode with more a focus on Kirk and Spock this time, while Yeoman Rand gets her fair share of screen time as the young Charlie falls for her.

Again, the effects make this episode a great (re)watch. Some of the effects shots, particularly one of the Enterprise rendezvous with the Antares look so much better than the original. All colours and audio are once again vibrant.

Overall episode rating: 6/10

...and so I'm on my way watching through the original Star Trek!

Warp Speed!