Ep. 24 Space Seed

The Enterprise finds a sleeper ship, S.S. Botany Bay, from Earth, circa 1990's, containing a race of genetic supermen who are woken up. One of them, Khan tried to take over and destroy the ship. He had help in the form of the ship's historian, with whom he falls in love. After capturing the bridge crew especially, and suffocating Kirk until the crew fall in line, but none do. Khan is eventually defeated because McGivers betrays him, but he forgives her. Khan, who had once ruled about a quarter of the planet Earth, would always be dangerous, so Kirk maroons him and his people a planet, including the historian, after dropping all charges against them. The arrangement suits Khan, having a planet to tame, and they part on amicable terms.

A sequel to this episode was made in the form of a movie, Star Trek II The Wrath of Khan, arguably the best of all the Star Trek movies. While this episode states that the ship came from the Eugenics Wars, Earth's last world war, though later episodes would establish that World War III happened in the mid twenty-first century, decades after the Eugenics Wars. One must assume that perhaps Spock meant that the Eugenics Wars led to the world war. Further confusing the matter, Kirk says that Khan has been asleep for two hundred years, though later dates mentioned would suggest that it has been about three hundred years since the 1990's when this series takes place. On an interesting note, the Eugenics Wars took place about the same time as Desert Storm, and there are two novels that tie together global events of that era, written just a few years ago, that show how a global war could happen without the general population knowing. Very good books. I digress, this was a really cool episode. It was an action sci-fi adventure, and I was very pleased with not only it, but especially the movie sequel. Ricardo is a superior actor. It is interesting how Kirk and Khan both respect each other greatly, even while hating each other. A must watch episode for any Star Trek fan.

RECURRING CHARACTERS:
DeForrest Kelley as McCoy
James Doohan as Scotty
Nichelle Nichols as Uhura

NOTABLE GUEST STARS:
Ricardo Montalban as Khan
Madlyn Rhue as Lt. Marla McGivers
Mark Tobin as Joaquin

Quote:
"It would be most effective if you would cut the cartoid artery, just under the left ear." ~ McCoy to Khan as the latter holds a knife to the doctor's throat.