Warning: SPOILERS For Star Trek: Khan Episode 4 – “Magical Thinking”After 43 years, Star Trek: Khan finally asks a damning question about Captain James T. Kirk (William Shatner) and what he knew before exiling Khan Noonien Singh (Ricardo Montalban) in Star Trek: The Original Series‘ “Space Seed.”
Captain Kirk sent Khan and his 70+ genetically engineered followers, along with Starfleet Lieutenant Marla McGivers (Madlyn Rhue), to Ceti Alpha V, which was a lush but challenging world Khan looked forward to conquering and molding in his own image.
Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan saw Khan return after nearly 20 years, hellbent on revenge against Admiral James T. Kirk. Khan revealed that six months after being exiled on Ceti Alpha V, the neighboring planet, Ceti Alpha VI, exploded, turning Khan’s new world into a desolate wasteland.
In Star Trek II, Captain Clark Tyrell (Paul Winfield) and Commander Pavel Chekov (Walter Koenig) beamed to Ceti Alpha V, encountering Khan and his remaining people. Chekov and Tyrell thought they were on Ceti Alpha VI, but how could they have made such an error?
Star Trek: Khan is well-aware of these odd discrepancies in Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, and the dramatic narrative podcast asks the same hard questions Star Trek fans have pondered since 1982.
Star Trek: Khan Asks A Pivotal & Damning Captain Kirk Question 43 Years Later
In Star Trek: Khan episode 4’s framing sequence, Dr. Rosalind Lear (Sonya Cassidy) poses the same questions about what Captain Kirk knew about the Ceti Alpha system before exiling Khan and his followers. Lear’s insinuations paint a damning portrait of Kirk, who is already ‘deceased’ in 2293.
Captain Kirk is believed to have died saving the USS Enterprise-B from the Nexus, as seen in the prologue of Star Trek Generations. Kirk has been dead for 3 months when Star Trek: Khan‘s framing sequences begin.
Star Trek: Khan reveals that parts of Captain Kirk’s conflict with Khan in Star Trek: The Original Series‘ “Space Seed” are not part of Kirk’s official report to Starfleet. Dr. Lear cannot access Kirk’s private Captain’s logs about the incident, which are sealed after the Captain’s death as per Starfleet protocols.
Dr. Lear is drawing the same conclusion as Khan did in Star Trek II. They suspect Captain Kirk knew Ceti Alpha VI would explode after exiling Khan and his people on Ceti Alpha V. Ensign Tuvok (Tim Russ) confirmed scanning the entire Ceti Alpha system would have been standard procedure by the USS Enterprise.
Further, Dr. Lear questions how the USS Reliant could have missed that the Ceti Alpha system only had five planets instead of the expected six. Lear mocks whether the Reliant’s crew could “count that high.” Yet, it has always been bizarre that Captain Tyrell and Commander Chekov could have mistaken Ceti Alpha V for Ceti Alpha VI.
By raising both issues about Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, which have lingered since 1982, Star Trek: Khan tacitly promises to provide answers to what Kirk really knew, and whether the report Kirk filed to Starfleet could have affected the USS Reliant’s scans of the Ceti Alpha system.
Star Trek: Khan Could Be Setting Up A Captain Kirk Twist
Dr. Rosalind Lear’s suspicions about Captain Kirk and what he really knew before condemning Khan and his followers to Ceti Alpha V paint the Captain of the Enterprise in a sinister light. However, Ensign Tuvok clocks Lear’s low opinion of Kirk as part of her bias against Starfleet.
Dr. Lear never met Captain Kirk, but audiences know that regardless of how he may or may not have felt about Khan, James T. Kirk would never knowingly condemn Khan or his people to certain death.
Star Trek II also indicates Kirk did not know the fate of Ceti Alpha V and VI. At worst, that is negligence on Kirk’s part, but not malicious intent. Yet, Dr. Lear and Tuvok are correct that the Starship Enterprise would have scanned the Ceti Alpha system and detected that Ceti Alpha VI was unstable.
Further, Star Trek: Khan has curiously not mentioned the USS Enterprise crew member who likely would have scanned the Ceti Alpha system: the Science Officer, Mr. Spock (Leonard Nimoy). Did Spock know about Ceti Alpha VI, and is he the one who purged details of Khan from the Enterprise’s official report to Starfleet?
Spock has a history of doing such things. At the end of Star Trek: Discovery season 2, Lieutenant Spock (Ethan Peck) redacted the truth about the USS Discovery time-traveling to the 32nd century. Spock did it to protect his adopted sister, Commander Michael Burnham (Sonequa Martin-Green).
Appearing on Virtual Trek Con’s Star Trek and Chill podcast, Star Trek: Khan co-writer David Mack said that he and his writing partner, Kirsten Beyer, were tasked with bringing Star Trek: Khan‘s story in line with the greater Star Trek canon. This could include Spock’s history of erasing Starfleet files to protect his friends and loved ones.
It’s possible that, given Spock’s romantic history with Khan’s descendant, Lt. La’an Noonien-Singh (Christina Chong) on Star Trek: Strange New Worlds, the Vulcan acted against Khan and covered it up. While this twist would prove Kirk’s innocence, it would be damning to Spock.
Whatever Star Trek: Khan’s explanation for why the USS Enterprise didn’t properly log or failed to detect the pending destruction of Ceti Alpha VI, and why the USS Reliant didn’t realize there should have been six planets in the Ceti Alpha system, ought to be fascinating.
Star Trek Answers Another 43-Year-Old Khan Question
Star Trek: Khan episode 4 also definitively reveals the truth about Khan’s (Naveen Andrews) relationship to Marla McGivers (Wrenn Schmidt). In Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, the augmented madman referred to the late Marla as “my beloved wife.”
Khan and Marla weren’t in love when she volunteered to join him on Ceti Alpha V, and Star Trek: Khan revealed there was initial distrust between them, while McGivers was also ostracized by Khan’s augmented people.
Star Trek: Khan episode 4 proved that Marla and Khan did fall in love months into their exile on Ceti Alpha V. As she grew closer to Khan, and helped Khan’s population create a defense against the planets’ lethal Ceti eels, Marla was accepted by Khan’s followers.
At the end of Star Trek: Khan episode 4, Marla and Khan marry. At this point, no one on Ceti Alpha V suspects the hell that awaits them when Ceti Alpha VI explodes.
The second half of Star Trek: Khan will not only depict the tragedy to come for Khan, Marla, and the augments, but it should also finally answer the pivotal questions left behind by Star Trek: The Original Series and Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan.
- Release Date
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1966 – 1969-00-00
- Showrunner
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Gene Roddenberry
This story originally appeared on Screenrant
