Eugenics Wars 515635 220743048 2008-06-21T10:46:59Z DOI bot 6652755 Citation maintenance. You can [[WP:DOI|use this bot]] yourself! Please [[User:DOI_bot/bugs|report any bugs]]. {{ST-in-universe}} {{otheruses|Eugenics wars}} {{Infobox fictional conflict |conflict=Eugenics Wars |Image=Khan1.jpg |Caption= Khan Noonien Singh as he appears in "[[Space Seed]]" |depictions= Plot point in "[[Space Seed]]" of ''[[Star Trek: The Original Series|TOS]]'',<br> "[[Doctor Bashir, I Presume?]]" of ''[[Star Trek: Deep Space Nine]]'' and<br> "[[Borderland (Enterprise episode)|Borderland]]" of ''[[Star Trek: Enterprise]]'' |date=1990s |place=Earth (focused in [[Asia]]) |result="Supermen" defeated |combatant1=Governments of many world powers including the [[United States of America]] |combatant2=Genetically engineered "Supermen" |strength1=Unknown |strength2=Unknown |commanders1=Unknown |commanders2=[[Khan Noonien Singh]] and others |casualties1=37 million |casualties2=Near complete destruction excluding small group in [[suspended animation]] on the starship ''[[SS Botany Bay|Botany Bay]]'' }} The '''Eugenics Wars''' are a fictional [[backstory]] event in the [[Star Trek]] [[fictional universe]]. First mentioned in the ''[[Star Trek: The Original Series|TOS]]'' episode "[[Space Seed]]", in which it was stated that the [[Eugenics]] War was a global conflict that occurred during the mid-to-late 1990s.<ref name="ss">{{cite web|url=http://www.startrek.com/startrek/view/series/TOS/episode/68708.html|title=Episode: Space Seed|publisher=StarTrek.com|accessdate=2007-12-03}}</ref> The progeny of a [[human genetic engineering]] project established themselves as supermen and attempted world domination. The most notable of them, [[Khan Noonien Singh]], conquered a quarter of the planet, mostly [[Asia]]. They ended up fighting amongst themselves and were eventually overthrown due to their disunity. Khan, however, escaped into space with a group of his followers only to be encountered by the [[USS Enterprise (NCC-1701)|USS ''Enterprise'']] after spending centuries in suspended animation aboard the pre-warp starship ''[[SS Botany Bay|Botany Bay]]''.<ref name="ss"/> The Eugenics Wars are a narrative explanation within [[Star Trek]] continuity as to why humanity has not enhanced itself or otherwise achieved superhuman levels despite the story taking place in a time and setting where technology exists which should obviously be capable of doing so. ==Television episodes== {{Tone|date=April 2008}} In "Space Seed," [[Mr. Spock]] refers to the Eugenics Wars being Earth's [[World War III|third world war]]. It should be noted that Spock stated the Eugenics Wars as "the era of your last so-called world war." This could be interpreted that some optimistic contemporaries of the conflict thought it would be the last global war. Of course, if that were the case, Spock should have said "your so-called last world war" instead of "your last so-called global war." This statement has been quietly ignored, however, and in the ''Star Trek'' universe, World War III is said to have taken place in the mid [[21st century]], ending in 2053. Further, Spock's dialogue in the episode "[[Bread and Circuses]]" establishes a figure of "37 million killed" during Earth's "World War III." Clearly, however, we now know that this figure refers not to the death toll of the 2053 nuclear holocaust, but rather that of the Eugenics Wars; now differentiated from the mid-21st century conflict by the reconciliation with ''Enterprise'''s "Borderland" dialogue. Significant mention of the Eugenics Wars also drove the plot of ''[[Star Trek: Deep Space Nine]]'''s episode "[[Doctor Bashir, I Presume?]]".<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.startrek.com/startrek/view/library/episodes/DS9/detail/68990.html|title=Episode: Doctor Bashir, I Presume?|publisher=StarTrek.com|accessdate=2007-12-03}}</ref> A later episode, "[[Statistical Probabilities]]", also mentions the Eugenics Wars, where [[Julian Bashir]] uses the war as an example of why the Federation is wary of genetically engineered people.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.startrek.com/startrek/view/series/DS9/episode/71466.html|title=Episode: Statistical Probabilities|publisher=StarTrek.com|accessdate=2007-12-03}}</ref> In the two-part ''[[Star Trek: Voyager]]'' episode "[[Future's End (Voyager episode)|Future's End]]", the crew of [[USS Voyager (Star Trek)|USS ''Voyager'']] were transported to [[Earth]] in [[1996]] [[Los Angeles]]; there seems to be no indication that the Eugenics Wars had even taken place. However, the ''[[Star Trek: Enterprise]]'' episode "[[Borderland (Enterprise episode)|Borderland]]" reaffirmed in the filmed canon that 30 million people indeed perished in the conflict.<ref name="bl">{{cite web|url=http://www.treknation.com/reviews/enterprise/borderland.shtml|title=Borderland|first=Michelle Erica|last=Green|publisher=[[TrekNation]]|date=[[2004-10-30]]|accessdate=2007-12-03}}</ref> The ''TOS'' episode "[[The Savage Curtain]]" involves a [[Colonel Phillip Green|Colonel Green]], but he was not involved in the Eugenics Wars. In the original series, Green is only said to have "led a genocidal war in the 21st century".<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.startrek.com/startrek/view/series/TOS/episode/68814.html|title=Episode: The Savage Curtain|publisher=StarTrek.com|accessdate=2007-12-03}}</ref> Subsequent episodes of ''Enterprise'' made it clear that Green's heyday was in the dark times after World War III, when Green ordered the deaths of hundreds of thousands of radiation-scarred victims in an attempt to keep the human race "pure." Also, these ''Enterprise'' episodes (specifically "[[In a Mirror, Darkly]]") reveal that the 37 million deaths which Spock mentioned, are in fact attributed directly to Green himself: he was a leader of a radical faction of environmental terrorists whose genocidal operations resulted in the loss of 37 million lives. ==Novels== At the time "Space Seed" was written, the Eugenics Wars were implied to be large-scale global conflicts. However, after the very different reality of the actual 1990s, the Eugenics Wars have been [[retcon]]ned in some of the licensed ''Star Trek'' novels that describe them as much more covert conflicts, secret wars that occurred mostly in the shadows of the major conflicts and events of that decade, with [[Gary Seven]] and his assistant being Khan's principal opponents.<ref>{{cite book |last=Cox |first=Greg |authorlink=Greg Cox |title=The Rise and Fall of Khan Noonien Singh |date=[[2001-07-01]] |publisher=[[Pocket Books]] |location=New York |isbn=0671021273 }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Cox |first=Greg |authorlink=Greg Cox |title=The Eugenics Wars |date=[[2002-04-02]] |publisher=[[Pocket Books]] |location=New York |isbn=0671021273 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.treknation.com/reviews/books/eugenics_war_one.shtml|title=The Eugenics War, Volume One|first=Michelle Erica|last=Green|publisher=[[TrekNation]]|date=[[2001-06-18]]|accessdate=2007-12-03}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.treknation.com/reviews/books/books_190402.shtml|title=Spring Star Trek Books|first=Michelle Erica|last=Green|publisher=[[TrekNation]]|date=[[2002-04-20]]|accessdate=2007-12-03}}</ref> ==See also== *[[Transhumanism#Specter of coercive eugenicism (Eugenics Wars argument)|''Eugenics Wars'' argument]] - an argument against the contemporary or near-future [[human genetic engineering|genetic engineering of human beings]] based upon the fear that it may lead to the return of [[coercion|coercive]] state-sponsored [[genetic discrimination]] and [[Human rights violations#Violations of human rights|human rights violations]] such as [[compulsory sterilization]] of persons with genetic defects, the [[euthanasia|killing of the institutionalized]] and, specifically, [[racial segregation|segregation]] from, and [[genocide]] of, "[[Social interpretations of race|races]]" perceived as inferior. *''[[The Eugenics Wars: The Rise and Fall of Khan Noonien Singh]]'' - a two volume set of non-canon novels written by Greg Cox. ==References== {{reflist}} {{refbegin}} * {{cite book |last=Michael |first=Okuda |authorlink=Michael Okuda |coauthors=[[Denise Okuda]] |title= Star Trek Chronology: The History of the Future |edition=Paperback |series= |year=1993 |month= April |publisher=[[Pocket Books]] |location=New York |isbn=0671796119}} * {{cite book |last=Bernardi |first=Daniel |title= Star Trek and History: Race-Ing Toward a White Future|year=1998 |month= February |publisher=Rutgers University Press |isbn=0813524660}} * {{cite book|url=http://publikationen.ub.uni-frankfurt.de/volltexte/2005/1331/pdf/ha.pdf|title=Homo Artificialis: Androiden-und Cyborg-Konzepte Am Beispiel der Science Fiction Serie Star Trek|first=Hermann|last=Marcus Recht|publisher=Institut für Kunstpädagogik, Sophienstr|date=[[2002-12-18]]|accessdate=2007-12-03|language=German}} * {{cite journal |last=Geraghty |first=Lincoln |year=2002 |month=November |title='Carved from the rock experiences of our daily lives': Reality and Star Trek's Multiple Histories |journal=European Journal of American Culture |volume=21 |issue=3|pages=160|doi=10.1386/ejac.21.3.160 |issn=1466-0407 |id= |url= http://www.atypon-link.com/INT/doi/abs/10.1386/ejac.21.3.160?cookieSet=1&journalCode=ejac |accessdate= 2007-12-04 |quote= }} {{refend}} ==External links== {{memoryalpha}} * [http://startrek.wikia.com/wiki/Eugenics_Wars Eugenics Wars] article at [[Memory Beta]], a [[Star Trek]] [[wiki]] [[Category:Star Trek wars and battles]] [[Category:Eugenics in fiction]] [[it:Guerre eugenetiche]]