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Charlie X -- The Chess Game
posted by sukhisooSTAFFMOD on October 22, 2018 at 6:46 PM
First, some background: Kirk never actually beats Spock at chess. When Spock reaches a position where his own win is inevitable, Kirk plays an illegal move and declares checkmate. So that Kirk can save face, Spock allows it. Kirk pretends to have achieved victory, but both know deep down that Spock has won.
When Charlie Evans came aboard, he could perform a number of feats that were beyond the capabilities of normal human beings. He could transmute matter. He could make people and things just disappear. He could (both literally and figuratively) wipe a smile off of someone's face.
There is one thing he could not do, though. He could not persuade others to willingly do his bidding.
This is an ability that Kirk seemed to have in abundance. Heck, even the teenager himself with the Godlike powers would involuntarily obey one of Kirk's orders.
Charlie wanted badly to be liked. He wanted to be accepted. He wanted others to like him so much that they would do as he asked. He very specifically wanted Yoeman Rand to like him and to do all sorts of things to him that had only been done to him in his adolescent imagination. But poor Charlie had no experience with social interactions, and so his desires went unsatisfied.
One day, he saw Kirk and Spock play 3D chess. He was highly inexperienced in the tactics and strategies of the game, but he was familiar enough with it to know the rules. He knew, for example, that Kirk was in check and was thus obligated by the rules of the game to either move his king, capture the checking piece, or intervene one of his own pieces in such a way to nullify the check. Kirk did none of these actions. Instead, he made a move completely away from the action and put Spock's king in checkmate. Spock calmly conceded.
Charlie was flabbergasted. He knew that Kirk had the ability to persuade others to do whatever he wanted, but this was beyond the pale.
Then Spock and Charlie played. Spock calmly initiated the 3D chess version of the scholar's mate, and declared checkmate.
"NO IT ISN'T," insisted Charlie. But Charlie wasn't Kirk. Charlie was bound by the rules and by social conventions that he didn't understand. His mini tantrum did not magically turn defeat into victory.
In his frustration, he melted the chess set.
He wasn't defeated, yet. Oh no. Not by a long shot...
Reply by Nexus71
on November 10, 2018 at 9:14 PM
Mostly, he wanted to fit into Yeoman Rand.
But in all fairness I don't think Charlie would have known what to do if he had gotten himself romantically involved with Rand did Kirk tell him about the "birds and bees" yet ? The only thing that could have come from that relationship was disaster or Charlie because of his lack of experience would have become so frustrated with his inability to handle such a relationship or Rand could have laughed at the size of his penis (and we all know Charlie doesn't like laughter)
Reply by Knixon
on November 10, 2018 at 9:50 PM
So what? For what Charlie wanted, Rand didn't need a face anyway.
(And we don't know how much he might have learned from the computer tapes. If they really existed.)
Reply by Nexus71
on November 10, 2018 at 9:59 PM
So what? For what Charlie wanted, Rand didn't need a face anyway.
Charlie's version of a brown paper bag?
Those tapes are rated 18+ Knix,Charlie has no access to those
Reply by Knixon
on November 10, 2018 at 10:08 PM
Well maybe if they were VHS tapes, who's to stop him?
Actually I think Rand's face was another of her best attributes. But Charlie was in a rather primitive state. To him, all her face did was say "no."
Reply by Nexus71
on November 10, 2018 at 10:18 PM
I think it is safe to assume that since VHS is hardly used nowadays that by the time of Kirk & Co. all of those would have been stored digitally in the memory of the computer of Enterprise and those programs can be restricted.And besides if Charlie would have watch "Deep Throat" he would have found a "faceless Rand" anatomically lacking.
Reply by sunshine62
on November 15, 2018 at 12:46 PM
by Nexus (page 3):
Or more about the personna himself lot of air little substance still hate the guy (Puffy )for butchering Every Breath You Take by the Police
I totally agree…I just finished binge watching the first 2 seasons of the series “Spooks “..with Mathew Macfadyen..very talented actor…I found this video of The Police …I love everything about this song ...words , melody and Sting's voice.
Enjoy!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qaQf26mdWlQ
PS. I understand your frustration but shouldn't your distain be directed to The Police ?
To make a remix doesn't one first need the okay from the author(s) ?
The Police agreed and Puff Daddy paid stacks of "argent " too I imagine.
Reply by Nexus71
on November 16, 2018 at 4:02 PM
Well I'm not frustrated Sunshine it's just in the way P-Diddy did it ,that version totally changes what the song is about .The original is unlike what most people think not about missing somebody you love but the song is written from the perspective of a stalker which is directly linked with the last track on Synchronicity "Murder By Numbers" (which is a song written from the perspective of a serial killer).And the heart of the song is a guitar riff written by Andy Summers and he unlike Sting hasn't seen a dime from P-Diddy.Also the whole running theme on Synchronicity seems to be about death and decay(Tea In The Sahara),fear of nuclear destruction(Walking In Your Footsteps),the monotony of every day life(Synchronicity II),loneliness(Oh My God/King Of Pain),psychological disease(Every Breath You Take/Murder By Numbers),suffocating relationships(Wrapped Around Your Finger),overbearing mothers(Mother) etc.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B3l0kpl5tA4
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3nIx4vFnO5A
The last song was inspired by the book The Sheltering Sky by Paul Bowles which was made into a movie By Bernardo Bertolucci with Debra Winger and John Malkovich.
Reply by sunshine62
on November 17, 2018 at 6:13 AM
Thanks for the insight Nexus . I Remember reading back in the time that the song was about a stalker but I didn't know it was part of a series of songs concerning human ailments.
A reason more The Police should not have sold the rights then.
I looked up the film "The Sheltering Sky by Bertolucci the plot sounds very interesting ,hopefully I can get my hand on it .
Reply by Nexus71
on November 20, 2018 at 8:33 PM
A reason more The Police should not have sold the rights then.
Well I don't think they sold the right to them they only paid for the use of material.but I assume that Sting thought it's better to get financial benefit from someone stealing your IP in stead of letting them get away with it since part of the success is based on the recognisability of your IP.And since theft of samples and parts of songs that are the IP of other artist has become common practise in the film and music nowadays I think it was the only thing he could do so and since so many artists noways don't see the benefits from others using their IP I think the move was understandable and probably also as served as a warning to other artists who want to use the IP of The Police.
I looked up the film "The Sheltering Sky by Bertolucci the plot sounds very interesting ,hopefully I can get my hand on it .
From what I remember of the movie watching it twenty something years ago that it was a very dreary movie,just to warn you Sunshine.
Reply by sunshine62
on November 22, 2018 at 1:34 PM
by Nexus:
From what I remember of the movie watching it twenty something years ago that it was a very dreary movie,just to warn you Sunshine.
@No wonder “ The Sheltering Sky” didn’t ring a bell. I thought it was strange I had missed a film made by Bertolucci ..I know this film by another title ..In Italian it’s : Il Té nel Deserto…. ( Tea in the Desert).
I remember reading about this film when it came out..I saw some clips today and the video below is very intriguing ..the visuals are beautiful…I find it hard to believe the film is .…dreary…..maybe when you where young Nexus you were focused more on those empty comic /action packed films that America still wastes so much money on making . Maybe you would appreciate it more now that you are older.
Personally I can’t wait to see it …My library has not got a copy but it will see if another library close by has it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pLsrz-TXTL8
Reply by Nexus71
on November 22, 2018 at 3:03 PM
Well that I found the movie dreary doesn't mean I didn't appreciate it and my tastes in movies has been quite eclectic since I can remember and sure the more mainstream movies have always been a part of taste it didn't stop me from loving movies of other genres or from countries other than US films since my early teens I've seen a lot of French,German,Italian,Spanish,Japanese,Chinese,Dutch,Belgium and some Scandinavian movies and series so it's not a matter of maturing taste.But one thing I do remember is the rather harsh conditions the heroine of this movie has to go through and just when you as viewer think things couldn't get much worse but they do also since the setting is the Sahara region we see a lot of native folks and nomadic tribes which kind of results in a movie with not so much dialogue but from the visual perspective the movie is quite breathtaking .