In the opening scenes of this episode the Enterprise comes across an ancient Earth ship whose crew have spent two centuries in suspending animation. As the away team explore the ship one of crew starts to wake up; he is taken to the Enterprise sickbay and quickly recovers. It turns out the ship, the Botany Bay, was launched during the Eugenics War of the 1990s when a group of genetically modified supermen ruled the world
and this survivor is Khan; one of the most infamous. It isn't long before Khan is planning to continue where he left off by seizing the Enterprise. To this end he is assisted by the ship's historian Lt. Marla McGivers; an attractive redhead who is fascinated by powerful historical figures.
This episode's claim to fame is that it introduces Khan and sets up things for the excellent 'Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan' feature film. Ricardo Montalban does a fine job as the genetically 'improved' Khan; a charismatic but obviously dangerous character. Madlyn Rhue does a decent job as Lt. McGivers even if it is hard to believe her character would fall for Khan and commit treason so quickly! The idea of genetic modification is interesting although it would have been more believable if it had happened much later than the 1990s surely when this was made the creators didn't think such advances might happen in a quarter of a century! The discussion of the Eugenics Wars leads to some enjoyable conversations between McCoy and Spock. Given its connection to the later film this is a must see for 'Star Trek' fans but even without that it was a solid episode with some interesting ideas.
This episode's claim to fame is that it introduces Khan and sets up things for the excellent 'Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan' feature film. Ricardo Montalban does a fine job as the genetically 'improved' Khan; a charismatic but obviously dangerous character. Madlyn Rhue does a decent job as Lt. McGivers even if it is hard to believe her character would fall for Khan and commit treason so quickly! The idea of genetic modification is interesting although it would have been more believable if it had happened much later than the 1990s surely when this was made the creators didn't think such advances might happen in a quarter of a century! The discussion of the Eugenics Wars leads to some enjoyable conversations between McCoy and Spock. Given its connection to the later film this is a must see for 'Star Trek' fans but even without that it was a solid episode with some interesting ideas.