Surfing Retro: Star Trek – Space Seed
Wow, I think I get the first opportunity to write a Surfing Retro post, so what better way than to go way, way back to 1967 with the origin of the best villain in Star Trek history! I’m talking of course about KHHHAAAAAAN!!!!!!!!!
Cruising through space, minding their own business, the crew of the Enterprise come across an ancient Earth spaceship that Spock identifies as a DY-100 class spaceship, correcting his Captain who thought it was a DY-300 class ship. Seriously Spock, if my kids were that literal and eager to correct me I would send them to their room! You sure your emotions are suppressed cos I think being a know-it-all gives you a huge amount of joy!
Always ready to run into danger, Kirk beams over to the ship to make sure there aren’t any sexy Orion slave girls that need attention. Disappointed, Kirk turns his attention to a waking human in a stasis pod while Bones saves the human’s life. They take him back to the Enterprise for his recovery. Oh and there are about 70 other sleeping people in stasis on the old ship, but let’s leave them asleep. They have been there for 300 years, what’s a bit longer?
Now, this is the only part I don’t like about Space Seed. The old ship is called The Botany Bay, referencing a place in New South Wales, Australia. Kirk suggests that Botany Bay was a penal colony in Australia for the Commonwealth and therefore the ship must be full of prisoners. Thankfully, Spock disagrees, and why wouldn’t he? He disagrees with Kirk on just about everything. What I hate about this is, as an Australian, I can tell you nobody in Australia thinks about convicts when they think about Botany Bay. Botany Bay conjures up images of discovery. Songs have been written about Captain Cook sailing into Botany Bay and starting the first Australian settlements. Not convicts! Wouldn’t a ship called Botany Bay be about discovery? I don’t know what the Americans think of Australia but it can’t be good. (Editor’s note: We think about that Men At Work song. -T)
Back on the Enterprise. The time-traveling human is getting his strength back as fast as a convict running from the law. He makes himself known, firstly to Bones when he attacks him with a scalpel. The heroic and forever cocky Doctor eyeballs the patient and gives him advice on how to better kill the doctor. The patient appreciates Bones’ courage and they make friends. Awww how sweet.
Random helpings of Kirk and the human come over the next few scenes (OK so you know it’s Khan. I know that, you know that so I’m just going to start calling him that. Just don’t tell Kirk yet. He needs to work it out for himself!). Kirk does the most brain dead thing he has ever done and gives Khan technical readouts of the Enterprise, cos what could a 300 year old man do with the information, anyway? We already discovered earlier in the season during Tomorrow is Yesterday that it’s pointless to try and re-educate a man from the 20th century because he is just too far behind. Not Khan, he is a biologically produced super human!
More scenes of Kirk and Khan mind wrestling happen, and we see a ship’s historian, who was on the Botany Bay when Khan woke, fall in love with the demented murderer. Khan gives her the bad boy treatment and she falls head over heels, finally agreeing to help Khan take over the Enterprise. Da da da dummm!
Having woken his followers, Khan takes over the Enterprise by cutting off the oxygen to the bridge, forcing the crew to pass out. The crew come to and find themselves prisoners of Khan while Kirk is in a pressure chamber, slowly having the oxygen sucked out of it. Khan tells the crew, if they don’t pledge allegiance to Khan’s posse, Kirk will die and they will be next! Years of Starfleet stubbornness frustrates Khan as no one will join his side.
That horny historian sneaks down to save Kirk and, together with Spock, who was to be put into the pressure chamber next, a plan is formulated to gas Khan and his enhanced followers. Unfortunately, someone forgot to close the door before gassing Kahn and he escapes to the engine room again, this time to destroy the ship. Why not destroy the ship, he forgot to record all his favourite TV shows anyway. There is nothing left to live for! The poor old guy even missed Lost when he was in stasis!
Kirk and Khan disappear and two men who look like them (but don’t really) fight it out in the engine room. Khan laughs at Kirk, reminding him that he is five times stronger. Unperturbed, Kirk grabs a flimsy tube of plastic and beats Khan into submission. The ship is saved!
Very quickly now, because the episode only has four minutes to wrap up, Kirk convenes a ships court and sentences Khan and his followers to a rough, un-inhabited planet called Ceti Alpha V. Given the choice of following Khan or receiving a Starfleet court-martial, the horny historian follows Khan. The End, or is it?
Space Seed is a neat little origin story of Khan. There is a little back story, none of which I got into here and it’s all pretty cool. Khan is by far my favourite Star Trek villain and I would love to see him come back in the re-imagined Star Trek.
An afternoon with Space Seed followed by Star Trek II ; The Wrath of Khan is by far the best afternoon of Star Trek you could ever hope to have!
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