Network Execs Hated The Star Trek Episode That Created A Great Guest Villain

By Chris Snellgrove
| Published 1 hour ago

Star Trek is a franchise that most fans love to watch because of its heroes. It’s genuinely thrilling to see characters like Captain Kirk overcome insurmountable odds (he doesn’t believe in the no-win scenario), or Captain Picard overcome unstoppable villains (the line must be drawn here!). However, I’d argue that the villains of Trek are actually much more compelling. Characters like Gul Dukat, Q, and even Nus Braka steal every scene and leave us quietly rooting for the bad guys to finally win.

Believe it or not, this is a franchise tradition that goes all the way back to the beginning. In addition to those recurring baddies mentioned above, Trek has always had memorable guest villains played by actors who show up and immediately blow everyone away. The Star Trek: The Original Series episode “Charlie X” was one that the network absolutely hated, but fans came to love. Of course, most of that affection is because of one man: Robert Walker, whose method acting turned a frightened 17-year-old boy into one of the scariest villains the Enterprise crew ever encountered!

Get Out My Ship, Charles!

“Charlie X” is an episode where the Enterprise crew rescues a young man named Charlie (played by Robert Walker) whose ship had crashed. The crew tries to help the kid out, including Captain Kirk, whom he sees as a father figure. However, things take a sinister turn when the crew discovers that Charlie has the powers of telepathy and transmutation, which he uses for horrific acts like making everyone who annoys him disappear. Eventually, the godlike aliens who gave this kid superpowers show up to take custody of him, reasoning that he is now too dangerous to be raised among humans.

These days, “Charlie X” is considered a fairly strong episode of Star Trek: The Original Series. At the time, though, NBC really hated the episode because they thought Charlie’s presence made the story feel too much like a teenage melodrama. Plus, everything took place aboard the Enterprise, so the episode didn’t have any of the “strange new worlds” the show would become famous for. That second factor ended up being a blessing in disguise, though: postproduction was very easy on “Charlie X” (especially after they recycled some footage), so it became the second episode of Star Trek to hit the airwaves.

Boldly Going Where No Villain Has Gone Before

Fortunately, the episode didn’t need exotic locations to be memorable when it had a killer guest star. Robert Walker played a young man with fantastic powers, and he blew the cast and crew away with his acting talent. In The Longest Trek: My Tour of the Galaxy, Janice Rand actor Grace Lee Whitney explained that Walker was a method actor who deliberately avoided interacting with the cast between shots so that he could stay in character. She claimed that “it worked” and that “You can see it in his performance, a subtle yet persistent air of estrangement from the Enterprise crew, and indeed, from the rest of humanity.” 

She gushed that Walker’s “careful effort to stay in character added a convincing dimension to his performance,” which helped the actor “[capture] the perfect balance, projecting vulnerability, innocence, and horrifying menace at the same time. A lesser actor could not have handled the range and depth of the character.” In a later interview with the Television Academy Foundation, “Charlie X” writer D.C. Fontana agreed, noting that Walker “was excellent as Charlie.” She also commended the then-26-year-old actor for successfully portraying a 17-year-old character, noting that “he looked young enough to pull it off.”

“Charlie X” was a Star Trek: The Original Series episode that NBC hated but that fans loved. They wouldn’t have loved it nearly so much, though, if Robert Walker hadn’t turned in such a chillingly perfect performance. He’s one of the best guest villains in the franchise, and his method-acting talents give us a one-off villain that fans love to hate. It’s an approach that would inspire later Star Trek actors, including Michael Dorn, whose own method acting made Klingon security chief Worf one of the most beloved characters in Star Trek history.