Star Trek: The Original Series Vol. 04: Charlie X / Balance of Terror (DVD)

I like both of these episodes. The first one focusses on a spoilt brat who has extraordinary mental abilities - funnily enough he's called Charlie. Capt. Kirk tries to get through to him but even he can't in the end and Charlie has to be taken away from the human race and gets taken away by the more superior beings who feel responsible for him. There's also a very nice scene of Uhura singing in this one. A good and more human episode with real paralells to life. This one is no way near as good as the next one though, blanace of terror that introduced the Romulans to the Trek universe. This episode is a battle of wits between the Romulan commander and Kirk as a ...  Read the complete review

This disc from the original STAR TREK TV series collection features two episodes from the first season, CHARLIE X and BALANCE OF TERROR. The first story has the crew of the Enterprise escorting a 17 year old boy from a planet where he has been living alone since the age of 3, since his transport ship crash landed there 14 years ago and everyone else on the ship perished. The boy has strange powers and develops a crush on the Captain's yeoman, Janice Rand, and when she turns him down he takes out his frustrations on the crew of the ship. This is a disappointing episode, mainly because I don't really like watching shows about teenage boys with crushes. Charlie, ...  Read the complete review

The fourth (now-)budget DVD twin-pack of classic Star Trek episodes again provides an entertaining clash of polar opposites, pitting the whimsical, adolescent coming-of-age tale 'Charlie X' against the merciless 'Balance of Terror,' the latter providing the introduction of the Romulans and the nastiest space-submarine face-off until 'Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan.' Despite taking substantial liberties from the series' norm as it was coming to be established, to the annoyance of creator Gene Roddenberry as well as a minority of fans, the latter episode is widely regarded among the finest offerings of the original series, though opinion would seem to be divided on the ...  Read the complete review