Star Trek fans have been arguing with each other over who is the best captain for as
long as we’ve had multiple captains to argue about.
But there is no argument over who was the first captain: No, no.
I love you, Scotty Baks, but even though your character exists earlier in the fictional
Star Trek timeline, in reality you weren’t introduced until 35 years after the debut
of the real first Star Trek captain: this guy!
No, not Pike!
I mean, yes, technically he was the first, but “The Cage” was an unaired pilot for
like over twenty years!
Nobody outside of the TV industry and some people who attended couple of Star Trek conventions
even knew it existed!
You know who I mean!
You know who I’m talking about when I say “the first Star Trek captain!”
Please, just– Thank you.
Why is this so difficult?
Captain James Kirk of the U.S.S.
Enterprise was Star Trek’s first and arguably most important protagonist.
He set the tone for everything that was to come.
But that doesn’t mean he was perfect.
He made mistakes, whether they were ever acknowledged onscreen or not.
I’m going to examine the costliest mistake we ever see Kirk make in this video, which
I’m calling
How the Wrath of Khan Is Actually Kirk’s Fault
Even after almost 40 years after its theatrical debut, with the numerous sequels and reboots
that followed, Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan is still generally considered to be the
best of the Star Trek films.
For me personally it’s as good as Star Trek gets.
Wrath of Khan is full of badass Kirk moments.
But Kirk is also responsible for the conflict in that film, and all the tragedy that befalls
our heroes as a result of it.
Before we can understand how the events of Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan are all Kirk’s
fault, we have to go back to the episode–
Sorry, folks.
I should explain.
It’s a few weeks before Christmas as I record this video, and my nephew Dustin, who is also
a huge Star Trek fan, is visiting us for a few days.
He’s in the next room, actually, and he promised to keep quiet while I’m shooting,
but apparently he thinks it’s cute to text me with his two cents.
So let me just send him a quick reply telling him how much I appreciate his input, then
we can get on with the video.
Now then.
As we all know, the conflict between Kirk and Khan doesn’t begin in Star Trek II.
It originates in an episode from the first season of Star Trek: The Original Series:
Space Seed.
The Enterprise encounters a centuries old Earth ship containing several dozen genetically
engineered superhumans in suspended animation.
Their leader is this guy, Khan.
When Khan finally shakes off the cryonic hangover, he threatens to cut Dr. McCoy’s throat,
then asks Kirk if he could get a look at the blueprints for the Enterprise.
And Kirk’s like, “Sure, buddy!
Anything you’d ever want to know about the ship is right here in this computer.
Oh, and if you need to check out any of the classified files, the PIN is 0-0-0-Classified-0.
Okay, have fun!”
It turns out Khan is a dictator from late 20th century Earth.
At first everybody is pretty blasé about the fact that they have a hyper-intelligent
super-Hitler with a professed interest in the technical schematics of their ship aboard.
Scotty and Kirk even confess to admiring Khan, which prompts Spock to remind them that he
was, you know, a ruthless despot who once subjugated the population of nearly a quarter
of the planet Earth.
And Kirk is like, “Yeah, but he wasn’t like those other loser despots.
He was, you know, a really cool despot.”
And Spock is like, “Why are we friends?
Is it just proximity?
If we weren’t assigned to this ship together, would I even talk to you?”
Anyway, long story short, Khan revives the other superhumans, they take over the Enterprise,
Lieutenant McGivers, who has become Khan’s girlfriend, betrays Khan in order to save
Kirk’s life, Kirk and Spock flood the ship with knockout gas to subdue Khan’s people,
Khan escapes to main engineering and tries to blow up the ship, Kirk shows up, Kirk and
Khan have a fight, Kirk wins by clubbing Khan unconscious with an enormous switch from a
control console – how’s that for intuitive design – and then the senior staff convene
a hearing to decide what to do with Khan and his allies.
And it’s here that Kirk makes his big mistake.
Okay, letting Khan access the computers was a big mistake, as it turns out, but Kirk did
that before he knew Khan was super-Hitler.
When they hold the hearing, Khan has not only been outed as super-Hitler, he’s also just
tried to commandeer and then destroy the Enterprise.
So, what does Kirk do?
Does he turn Khan and his people over to the Federation authorities?
Does he shove ‘em back in their cryo tubes and return them to suspended animation?
Nah!
He drops ‘em off on an uninhabited planet and flies off to his next adventure!
Problem solved!
Good job, Captain Kirk!
No way this decision is ever gonna come back to–
Oh.
The thing is, Space Seed is but one of many episodes that end with Kirk–
I apologize.
My nephew doesn’t seem to realize how disruptive it is for him to text me his scintillating
real-time commentary.
Let me just . . .
As I was saying: Space Seed is but one of many episodes that end with Kirk resolving
a conflict through some unilateral action, then leaving never to return.
This wasn’t necessarily intentional on the part of the–
[chuckles] Such an articulate lad.
So go outside and chase Pokemon, for Christ’s sake!
I know you have a phone!
Kirk solving the problem of the episode and riding off into the sunset never to return
was a function of the format of the original Star Trek.
Episodes were almost entirely self-contained.
The events of a show were rarely even mentioned again once it was over, much less shown to
affect future episodes.
There was no artistic purpose behind it.
It’s just the way TV shows worked back then.
Nevertheless, that rigidly episodic form of storytelling created a universe in which Captain
Kirk’s decisions never had lasting consequences.
And when you view the events of “Space Seed” and “Wrath of Khan” through that lens,
the question of how Kirk is responsible for what happens becomes a lot more interesting.
Of course, it’s obvious how Kirk is responsible in a literal sense.
Khan himself explains it after he is discovered by Chekov and Captain Terrell on what turns
out to be Ceti Alpha V: Kirk dropped Khan and company off on what was a habitable if
not terribly hospitable planet and never came back to check on them.
Shortly after they were dropped off, a natural disaster turned the planet into a lifeless
desert, Khan and his people had to struggle to survive, and many of them – including
Khan’s wife, presumably Lieutenant McGivers, who left the Enterprise to be with Khan at
the end of “Space Seed” – did not survive.
If Kirk had not left Khan and his crew on the planet, or if he had returned or made
sure someone else dropped in to make sure they were getting along all right, then Khan’s
suffering on Ceti Alpha V would never have happened, which would mean Khan would have
had no reason to seek vengeance against Kirk, which would mean no wrath of Khan, hence the
wrath of Khan is Kirk’s fault.
I said it was obvious!
Now I’m about to pivot away from the literal and address relevant themes and motifs, if
that’s all right with you, you smug speck of vomitus from the mouth of Nerd Hell!
One of the things that makes Star Trek II such a great movie is that it uses Kirk’s
abandonment of Khan at the end of “Space Seed” to set up more than the plot.
Kirk’s whole character arc in the film is driven by his having to belatedly face the
consequences of actions he took and walked away from.
It’s not just his handling of Khan; we learn he has a grown son, David, who he’s never
seen; and we learn he’s never had to face a no-win scenario, even having gone so far
as reprogramming a simulator at the academy so that it was possible to succeed in the
Kobayashi Maru test.
When Kirk is forced to face the consequences of these long deferred responsibilities, the
results are disasterous for him and his crew.
David, along with his mother Carol (Kirk’s old flame), has helped to create the Genesis
device, an incredibly powerful terraforming tool that Khan steals and eventually uses
as a weapon to threaten and very nearly destroy Kirk and everyone else on his ship.
At the film’s climax, when Khan triggers the Genesis device in the vicinity of a badly
damaged Enterprise, Kirk is finally confronted with a no-win scenario and, having cleverly
avoided the subject as a cadet, has no idea what to do.
It is not Kirk but Spock who finds a solution to the no-win scenario that saves the lives
of everyone aboard the Enterprise – everyone but Spock himself, who pays with his life
a debt Kirk incurred.
In fact, it’s almost always others – his crew, his friends – who suffer the consequences
of Kirk’s short-sighted decisions.
Chekov and Captain Terrell are tortured and compelled to serve Khan, Terrell ultimately
dies.
Scotty’s nephew, an eager young member of the Enterprise’s engineering team, is killed
during one of Khan’s attacks.
Most of the scientists aboard the Regula I space station are murdered by Khan when he
arrives to search for the Genesis device.
Add those to the people Khan lost on Ceti Alpha V after it became a wasteland, including
Lieutenant McGivers, who Kirk allowed to go with Khan.
Of course, it’s Spock’s death that is the most important – to Kirk and to us.
And that’s as it should be – Spock was, and to many people always will be, the most
beloved character in the entire franchise.
Even watching it now, knowing he returns to life in the very next movie, his death packs
an emotional wallop.
But Spock’s death works dramatically for reasons other than how it makes us feel – which
is fitting, I think, considering the character.
Remember that in “Space Seed” Spock is the only one of our heroes not to romanticize
and express admiration for Khan.
From the beginning Spock sees Khan plainly for what he is: a dangerous tyrant.
Likewise, in Wrath of Khan it is Spock and Spock alone who realizes what is necessary
to stop Khan from killing everyone.
If Kirk had taken Spock’s concerns about Khan more seriously during the events of “Space
Seed,” the events of Wrath of Khan, including the deaths of Spock and the others, would
never have happened.
It’s a far easier, less bloody job to stop a would-be tyrant from gaining power than
it is to defeat one who has power over you.
Just saying.
Something all of us can remember.
For the future.
If you’re fixin’ to text me some pro-Trump shit, you can get the hell outta my house,
Dustin!
The wrath of Khan was Kirk’s fault not just because of the specific decisions he made
regarding Khan, but because of Kirk’s short-sighted, self-congratulatory way of solving difficult
problems in general.
That became a part of his character originally as a result of the episodic format of Star
Trek, which necessitated that everything be resolved and reset in time for next week’s
show.
But the creators of Star Trek II, primarily producer Harve Bennett and director Nicholas
Meyer, both of whom also worked on the screenplay, transformed that character trait from incidental
to intentional, subverting expectations and turning Kirk’s universe upside down.
Suddenly his actions do have consequences.
Khan shows up to collect on an old bill with interest, dragging even more baggage along
behind him, and at the end of the movie Kirk hasn’t just beaten the bad guy – he’s
developed as a character, something that was never really allowed to happen on the TV series.
He confronts his shortcomings, pays for his past mistakes or has to watch while people
he loves pay for them, and changes and grows as a person.
So yeah, the Wrath of Khan is actually Kirk’s fault, and by acknowledging and meaningfully
engaging with that fact, Star Trek II transforms Kirk from a dashing, clever, but pretty static
pulp adventure hero, to a truly compelling, more fully realized character.
I would go so far as to say that of all the Kirks I have encountered on TV and in films,
this is the most . . . human.
That’s all I got!
Thanks for watching.
I got a better idea, how ‘bout I show your Mom that shit I found in my browser history
after I let you use my computer?
Huh?
Say something now.
Smartass little twerp.
Yeah, Merry Christmas to you, too, punk!