Star Trek: How Roddenberry's Changes Saved Khan & Created Kirk's Greatest Villain
Khan (Ricardo Montalbán) is hailed as 's greatest villain but without Gene Roddenberry changing the original concept, the genetically engineered mastermind would have been very different and not as successful. The new book Star Trek: A Celebration by Ben Robinson and Ian Spelling contains a fascinating chapter on "Space Seed," the classic Star Trek: The Original Series episode that introduced Khan and became the basis for .
In Star Trek TOS, Khan and his genetically engineered followers were found cryogenically frozen by the Starship Enterprise. Captain James T. Kirk (William Shatner) soon learned his new passenger was a criminal warlord who fled Earth in the 1990s. Khan wasted little time trying to take over the Enterprise but Kirk defeated him. Kirk left Khan and his people on the planet Ceti Alpha V but years later, Star Trek II revealed that Ceti Alpha VI exploded, which turned Khan's neighboring world into a barren wasteland. Khan blamed Kirk and exacted a scheme to steal the USS Reliant to take his revenge. Ultimately, Kirk defeated Khan again but at a terrible cost as . Thanks to Star Trek II and Montalbán's scenery-chewing performance, Khan became the Star Trek villain all others are judged by.
However, Khan never would have achieved legendary status in Star Trek without Gene Roddenberry making sweeping improvements to the original character. In writer Carey Wilber's first draft of "Space Seed," Khan was an ordinary bad guy of Nordic descent named Harold Ericsson who was one of a hundred criminals sent to prison in space. Roddenberry felt that the idea of sending criminals to space was expensive and he proposed Ericsson become one of a group of genetically engineered "super-criminals" who escaped Earth when they were defeated. Roddenberry's idea spawned the Eugenics Wars of the 1990s and that are now pivotal parts of Star Trek's history. In his draft of "Space Seed," producer Gene Coon kept the Nordic theme when he renamed Ericsson Ragnar Thorwald but Roddenberry finally named the villain Khan (later, Khan Noonien Singh, named after a pilot Gene knew in World War II).
Gene Roddenberry making Khan of Indian, and possibly Sikh, descent instead of Caucasian made the character more exotic and allowed for the all-important casting of Ricardo Montalbán. But Roddenberry was also troubled by the character of Lt. Marla McGivers (Madlyn Rhue), who betrays the Enterprise to help Khan. Along with Gene Coon, Roddenberry made the crucial change to McGivers so that she became a historian who was fascinated by powerful men in the past, including Khan, who she was instantly attracted to. In turn, Khan was turned into a mesmerizing figure who seduced McGivers into helping him (), even though Khan is obviously a misogynistic tyrant who regarded Captain Kirk as his adversary.
Khan can also boast that his character menaced Captain Kirk in two different universes. Benedict Cumberbatch became Khan in J.J. Abrams' Star Trek Into Darkness but his version of Khan followed many of the beats Ricardo Montalbán originated. Further, has told several jokes referencing Khan and Ensign Beckett Mariner (Tawny Newsome) even became a Khan-like villain called Vindicta in her holodeck tribute to the Star Trek movies. Finally, will introduce a mysterious character named La'an (Christina Chong) whose surname, Noonien-Singh, curiously evokes Khan.
Khan's legacy as the greatest Star Trek villain endures and he is arguably rivaled only by the in Star Trek: First Contact. But Ricardo Montalbán's bare-chested, unhinged performance in Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan set the standard for all Star Trek baddies to follow, including Shinzon (Tom Hardy) in Star Trek: Nemesis, Nero (Eric Bana) in J.J. Abrams' Star Trek 2009, and Krall (Idris Elba) in Star Trek Beyond. But Khan's legend would not be possible without Gene Roddenberry seeing the flaws in Harold Ericsson and realizing the villain's Star Trek potential as Khan.
