Khan Noonien Singh
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224209530
2008-07-07T20:33:56Z
70.74.68.53
{{ST-in-universe}}
{{Star Trek character|if=|Title = Khan Noonien Singh
|bgcolor = #ececec
|Image = Khan1.jpg
|Caption = Khan Noonien Singh as he appears in "[[Space Seed]]"
|Size = 200px
|Species = [[Human]]
|Gender = [[Male]]
|Planet = [[Earth]]
|Affiliation = [[Augment (Star Trek)|Augments]]
|Portrayed = [[Ricardo Montalbán]]
}}
'''Khan Noonien Singh''' is a [[villain]] in the [[fictional]] ''[[Star Trek]]'' universe. The character first appeared in the original ''[[Star Trek: The Original Series|Star Trek]]'' series episode "[[Space Seed]]", and then in the [[film]] ''[[Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan]]''. In both cases he was played by [[Ricardo Montalbán]], aged 46 in the original series and 61 in the film.<ref name=Adaptations>{{cite book|title=Adaptations: From Text to Screen, Screen to Text|author=Deborah Cartmell and Imelda Whelehan|pages=179|date=1999|publisher=Routledge|id=ISBN 0415167388}}</ref> He is generally referred to simply as '''Khan'''.
== Story ==
===Backstory===
In "[[Space Seed]]", Khan was one of a group of genetically engineered "supermen", a tyrant who was defeated in the Eugenics Wars of the 1990s.<ref name=Adaptations /> These supermen had been bred to be free of both mental and physical defects. Khan had been both the most successful conqueror and the most benign ruler of the group, ruling western Asia with a firm but peaceful hand until he was deposed.<ref name=Rand>{{cite book|title=The Age of Rand: Imagining an Objectivist Future World|author=Frederick Cookinham|chapter=Rules for Supermen|pages=154–155|date=2005|publisher=iUniverse|id=ISBN 0595351530}}</ref>
He possessed physical strength and analytical capabilities superior to ordinary humans. It is speculated that he is from "the [[North India|northern India area]]" and "probably a [[Sikh]]."<ref name=Episode>{{cite episode
| title = Space Seed
| episodelink = Space Seed
| series = Star Trek
| serieslink = Star Trek: The Original Series
| airdate = 1967-02-16
| season = 1
| number = 22}}</ref>
Scientists used a selective breeding program combined with genetic engineering to achieve their aims. They were roughly five times stronger than the average person, their [[lung]] efficiency was 50 percent greater than normal, and they had an increased capacity for learning. What the scientists failed to anticipate was that creating a superior race meant creating a superior ambition; the "supermen" felt that their advanced abilities gave them the right to rule the rest of humanity.<ref name=Episode />
Conflicts amongst the "supermen" led to the [[Eugenics Wars]], during which whole populations were bombed out of existence and the entire planet was threatened with a new Dark Age. Fortunately, by 1996 the tyrants were brought under control by a rebellious population.{{Fact|date=December 2007}} Most of the "supermen" died or were sentenced to death, but 84 of them, including Khan, escaped aboard the [[sleeper ship]] [[SS Botany Bay|SS ''Botany Bay'']].<ref name=Episode />
On board the ship, the crew were [[cryopreservation|cryonically]] frozen to allow them to remain in suspended animation. Khan was considered so dangerous that even two centuries later, genetic engineering was banned throughout the United Federation of Planets for fear of creating another tyrant like Khan.{{Fact|date=December 2007}}
==="Space Seed"===
Khan's ship was not discovered for about 270 years (although both "Space Seed" and "The Wrath of Khan" say 200 years), when it was found by the starship [[USS Enterprise (NCC-1701)|USS ''Enterprise'']] in the year 2267. A boarding party led by Captain [[James T. Kirk]] found Khan and several dozen others frozen in [[cryonic]] chambers.<ref name=Adaptations />
The ship's historian, Lieutenant [[Marla McGivers]], took particular fascination in Khan. Khan nearly died during the reanimation sequence when his chamber malfunctioned. Khan was beamed to the ''Enterprise'' and taken to sickbay, where his recuperative powers amazed Dr. [[Leonard McCoy]]. Upon awakening, Khan grabbed McCoy and put a knife to his [[carotid artery]], but did not kill him because he was impressed by McCoy's bluntness about the situation when he asked if Khan was going to choke him to death or just slit his throat. Khan did not divulge anything about himself beyond his name, claiming fatigue. He also mentioned that even though there have been a bit of technological advances over the years he was in stasis, the human race hasn't evolved much. Meanwhile, he began plotting how to take over the ''Enterprise''. Kirk readily granted Khan's request to study the ship's technical manuals, which gave him knowledge of how to take over and operate the ''Enterprise''. Later, he used Lt. McGivers's attraction to him in getting her to help him beam back to the ''Botany Bay'', where he revived the other supermen.
With the help of Marla and his revived crew, Khan took control of the ''Enterprise'''s engineering section and used what he had gleaned from the technical manuals to shut off life support to the bridge. Kirk found that Khan had anticipated every contingency for retaking control of the ship, and the bridge crew faced imminent suffocation. After passing out, they found themselves alive, though captives of Khan. Khan declared that humans had advanced technologically, but there had been little improvement in human evolution in the last 300 years. He still considered himself superior, and believed that it gave him the right to rule other men — only this time his target was not merely Earth, but the Universe.
But Khan still needed help in selecting a planet with a population that would be willing to be led by him. He decided that the best way to convince the ''Enterprise'' crew to cooperate would be to put Kirk in the ship's compression chamber and slowly reduce the pressure, forcing the crew to watch until they agreed to join Khan. Fortunately, Marla could not stand by and let her captain be killed, and she rescued him. Kirk then flooded the ship with neural gas, neutralizing Khan's men. Khan, however, escaped to engineering, and set the ship's engines to self-destruct. Kirk arrived on the scene and engaged Khan in hand-to-hand combat, a fight he was losing badly until he used a metal tool to knock Khan out.
Captain Kirk faced a dilemma. He felt it would be a waste to confine Khan and his followers to a rehabilitation colony, but they could not be allowed to go free. He therefore dropped all charges against them; mutiny and attempted murder against Khan and his people and mutiny against Lt. McGivers. Then he deposited them on [[Ceti Alpha V]], a rough but [[Planetary habitability|habitable planet]] where they could start a new life.
Kirk had offered Khan a world to conquer, believing such a challenge would keep the would-be [[despotism|despot]] from causing harm elsewhere. Spock, however, wondered at the "seed" his captain had planted, and what fruit it would bear.
===''Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan''===
{{Star Trek character|if=|Title =
|bgcolor = #fc0
|Size = 225px
|Image = Khan2.jpg
|Caption = Khan Noonien Singh as he appeared in ''[[Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan|The Wrath of Khan]]''.
}}
====Khan seeks vengeance====
For approximately six months, life on Ceti Alpha V was harsh but fruitful for Khan and his people, as they worked to tame the wild planet. But then [[Ceti Alpha VI]], the system's sixth planet, exploded. This shifted Ceti Alpha V's orbit to one similar to the now-missing sixth planet. The stresses of the gravimetric shockwave resulted in major climatic changes and [[earthquakes]].
Once the planet had stabilized, huge amounts of dust in the atmosphere caused surface heating, turning the planet into a desert wilderness. High winds made the air barely breathable, leaving only a limited atmosphere dominated by [[craylon gas]]. Some of the colonists managed to survive, but the greatest hazard to their existence proved to be not the unrelenting hostility of the environment, but the one other surviving species: the [[Ceti eel]]. Over the following 17 years, 20 of Khan's people, including his wife, Marla McGivers, were killed by these creatures, and most of the rest died from other causes. By the year 2285, fewer than 20 of the settlers (including Khan) had managed to survive.
<!-- Commented out because image was deleted: [[Image:Miranda USS Reliant01.jpg|thumbnail|left|300px|The Federation starship ''Reliant'', which Khan and his followers hijacked and used in a campaign of vengeance against Admiral Kirk and the ''Enterprise''.]] -->
In 2285, almost two decades after Khan and his people had arrived on Ceti Alpha V, the crew of the [[USS Reliant (Star Trek)|USS ''Reliant'']] conducted a close-range sensor scan of the planet as part of the top-secret [[Project Genesis]], mistaking it for Ceti Alpha VI. Khan, angry and vengeful that Kirk never checked up on their settlement, abducted the ''Reliant'''s captain [[Clark Terrell]] and first officer [[Pavel Chekov]] when they went down to the surface, and implanted [[Ceti eel]]s in their brains, rendering them vulnerable to his suggestions. Khan then seized control of the ''Reliant'', hell-bent on revenge.<ref name=Adaptations />
His second-in-command [[Joachim (Star Trek)|Joachim]] argued that there was no need to take on Kirk as they had a ship and could go anywhere they pleased, but Khan was obsessed with asserting his superiority.
Once Khan had learned of the [[Genesis device]], he had Chekov contact its creators and instruct them to hand over the device on Kirk's orders. Khan counted on their contacting Kirk to confirm the order, which would bring his enemy to him.
When the ''Enterprise'' reached [[Regula I]], Khan was able to launch a surprise attack, as Kirk was slow to follow standard procedures requiring a defensive posture when the ''Reliant'' refused to visually respond to hails (claiming on voice communication that the ship's Chambers Coil was overloading its communications system). This hesitancy on Kirk's part allowed the Reliant to close range sufficiently to inflict substantial damage on the ship's engineering section, knocking the main energizers down and making it impossible to raise the ship's defensive shields. Within a few minutes, the ''Enterprise'' was crippled. Khan hailed the vessel, so that Kirk would know his adversary's identity before he destroyed them. Fortunately, Kirk was able to buy time by promising to beam himself over to Khan's ship with all the information regarding Project Genesis. This gave Kirk the chance to tap into ''Reliant'''s command console, using the ship's prefix code to lower its shields before he gave the order to fire on the ship. The effective gunnery of the Enterprise crew resulted in sufficient damage to the Reliant's weapons systems that Khan was persuaded to withdraw and repair--operating on the assumption that the Enterprise was no longer a tactical threat and was so damaged that its escape was impossible for several hours--if at all.
====Endgame====
With both ships badly damaged, they were forced to withdraw to carry out repairs. By the time partial power had been restored on the ''Enterprise'', Khan had managed to get his hands on the Genesis Device. While Kirk and Spock tricked Khan into thinking that the ''Enterprise'' still required days of work to repair and was helpless, Khan's ship was still in far better condition than Kirk's. In order to even the odds, [[Spock|Mr. Spock]] recommended that they enter the nearby [[Mutara Nebula]] where static discharges would interfere with both ships' shields and sensors.
On board the ''Reliant'', [[Joachim (Star Trek)|Joachim]] was reluctant to follow the ''Enterprise'' into the nebula as he knew it would negate their advantage. However, Kirk contacted them and taunted Khan ("We tried it once your way, Khan, are you game for a rematch? Khan...I'm ''laughing'' at the superior intellect."). The genetically enhanced madman, frustrated at Kirk's ability to thwart his best efforts to defeat him, could not resist the opportunity to prove his superiority and ordered his ship to follow the ''Enterprise''.
Both ships scored direct hits on one another as they blindly maneuvered around each other, until Spock noted that Khan's tactics indicated only two-dimensional thinking, as for all his intelligence the great dictator lacked any real experience in space combat. Kirk ordered the ''Enterprise'' to move downward before coming up behind the ''Reliant'' and firing multiple torpedoes. The ''Reliant'' was completely disabled and all the crew were killed, except Khan, who refused to accept defeat. He was determined to take Kirk with him, and in a last desperate effort he activated the Genesis device.
"From Hell's heart, I stab at thee... For hate's sake, I spit my last breath at thee..." - Khan's last words, quoted from Captain Ahab in Herman Melville's Moby Dick.
Spitefully eloquent to the very end, Khan revelled in the idea that the Genesis Project would ultimately kill Kirk. He succumbed to his injuries before seeing the Enterprise warp away to safety, thwarted one last time by Kirk. However, Kirk's victory was not without its price. Spock had sacrificed his life to enter the damaged, radiation-contaminated engine room to repair the ''Enterprise'''s warp drive, enabling Kirk and the rest of the crew to narrowly escape the detonation of the Genesis device.
== Character analysis ==
The character of Khan is presented as having several good aspects. He is gracious, smiling, nodding, and giving praise when Kirk wins a debating point; fearless; and generous. He is not threatened by the success of others, and encourages their self-esteem. He is also ambitious, desiring a challenge commensurate with his abilities. However, this ambition is not tempered by any consideration of the rights of others.<ref name=Rand />
He is a mirror image of Kirk, sharing his aggressiveness, ambition, and even his womanizing tendencies, but possessing them in far greater degree. During the TV episode, several of the characters including Scotty and Kirk express their admiration for the man, whilst ambivalently opposing him at the same time.<ref name=Episode /><ref>{{cite book|title=Gilligan Unbound: Popular Culture in the Age of Globalization|author=Paul A. Cantor|pages=222–223|date=2001|publisher=Rowman & Littlefield|id=ISBN 0742507793}}</ref>
Choosing between Khan and VGER from ''[[Star Trek: The Motion Picture]]'' Iaccino chooses VGER over Khan, stating that "an entity that does evil because it is ignorant of the sanctity of human life is a much more ambivalent enemy than one that commits atrocities out of sheer egotism". He notes, however, that his choice is the opposite to that of the majority of moviegoers, who preferred the archetypical good-versus-evil struggle between Khan and Kirk to the more cerebral confrontation with VGER.<ref name=Iaccino>{{cite book|title=Jungian Reflections Within the Cinema: A Psychological Analysis of Sci-Fi and Fantasy Archetypes|author=James F. Iaccino|pages=18–21|date=1998|publisher=Praeger/Greenwood|id=ISBN 0275950484}}</ref>
The story casts Khan as a part-Latino/part-Indian mixture, resulting from eugenics, with a Latino accent and superhuman appearance (an oversized chest that is not concealed by the costume) that strongly differentiates him from most Star Trek characters.<ref>{{cite book|title=Star Trek and History: Race-Ing Toward a White Future|author=Daniel Bernardi|pages=84–85|date=1998|publisher=Rutgers University Press|id=ISBN 0813524660}}</ref>
==Other references==
Khan was mentioned in the [[Star Trek: Enterprise]] episode "[[The Augments]]" when Malik implores Dr. [[Arik Soong]] to consider the [[SS Botany Bay|Botany Bay]] and its crew of augments. Soong dismisses the ship and its cargo of augments as "a myth".
Khan was also mentioned in the [[DS9]] episode "[[Doctor Bashir, I Presume? (DS9 episode)|Doctor Bashir, I Presume?]]", where Admiral Bennett says "for every [[Julian Bashir]] that can be created, there's a Khan Singh waiting in the wings—a '[[superhuman]]' whose ambition and thirst for power have been enhanced along with his intellect. The law against [[genetic engineering]] provides a [[firewall]] against such men and it's my job to keep that firewall intact". This DS9 episode is also responsible for erroneously relocating the Eugenics wars to the late 21st century, a script blooper openly acknowledged by the scriptwriters.
Captain [[Jean-Luc Picard]] makes reference to Khan in the [[Star Trek: The Next Generation]] episode [[A Matter of Time (Star Trek: The Next Generation)|A Matter of Time]]. Picard asks an enigmatic time traveller to advise him on how to act when attempting to save the population of a [[United Federation of Planets|Federation]] colony which is undergoing an environmental catastrophe. When the time traveller refuses due to the implications his advice may have in altering history, Picard says "What if one of those lives I save down there is a child who grows up to be the next [[Adolf Hitler]] or Khan Singh? I am willing to take that risk".
According to [[Greg Cox]]'s non-canonical novels [[The Eugenics Wars: The Rise and Fall of Khan Noonien Singh]], Khan and his followers were placed aboard the Botany Bay by [[Gary Seven]] as part of a deal to stop Khan's machinations on Earth. Seven's agent Roberta Lincoln stole Botany Bay from [[Area 51]], where government agents were building top secret technology that was based on the Klingon communicator and phaser left behind by [[Pavel Chekov]] in the year [[1986]] in [[Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home]] and inspired by [[Ferengi]] technology studied as part of the [[Roswell UFO Incident]] in the [[Star Trek: Deep Space Nine]] episode "[[Little Green Men (DS9 episode)|Little Green Men]]." Cox also told Khan's story between Space Seed and Star Trek II in his novel: [[To Reign in Hell: The Exile of Khan Noonien Singh]].
A clip of Capt. Kirk screaming "Khaaan!" from Star Trek II was one of numerous pop culture appropriations that became a "popular fad" driving the success of the website [[YTMND]].<ref>{{cite news
|url=http://www.accessmylibrary.com/coms2/summary_0286-12625924_ITM
|title=Humorous Web site YTMND.com rising in popularity.
|author=Jeremy Turnage
|date=[[6 February]] [[2006]]
|publisher=[[Financial Times]]
|accessdate=2007-12-04
|quote=The site goes through quite a lot of fads, and many of them begin as a funny thought that later becomes a YTMND. Many make imitations or spin-offs out of popular YTMNDs. Darth Vader screaming "No!" from "Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith," Captain Kirk screaming "KHAN!" from "Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan" and Milton Waddams from "Office Space" saying "I believe you have my stapler" have all turned into popular fads for the site.}}</ref> The clip was also given its own website.<ref>{{cite web
|url=http://www.khaaan.com
|title=KHAAAN!
|accessdate=2007-12-04}}</ref>
Khan has been called "one of sci-fi's great villains."<ref>{{cite news
|url=http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/1039704049152_130/?hub=Entertainment
|title=Patrick Stewart envious of villain roles
|date=[[December 12]] [[2002]]
|publisher=[[CTV.ca]]
|accessdate=2007-12-04}}</ref> Critic [[Christopher Null]] notes that "It is nearly gospel now among Trekkies that ... Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan is the undisputed best of the series, and will likely never meet its equal," and calls Khan the "greatest role of <nowiki>[Montalban's]</nowiki> career".<ref>{{cite news
|url=http://www.filmcritic.com/misc/emporium.nsf/4a70265ecf80030388256e2500834f36/3f2427e0a8050d9b88256c05000e83e4?OpenDocument
|title=Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan
|author=[[Christopher Null]]
|date=2002
|publisher=[[Filmcritic.com]]
|accessdate=2007-12-04}}</ref> In 2002, the [[Online Film Critics Society]] voted Khan the 10th Greatest Screen Villain of All Time, the only Trek character to appear on the 100-long listing.<ref>{{cite web
|url=http://ofcs.rottentomatoes.com/pages/pr/top100villains
|title=The Online Film Critics Society Names the Greatest Screen Villain Of All Time: Darth Vader from [http://ofcs.rottentomatoes.com/movie-1020005 Star Wars]
|publisher=[[Rotten Tomatoes]]
|accessdate=2007-12-04}}</ref> In 2006, ''Emmy Magazine'' voted Khan "TV's Most Out-Of-This-World Character", with editors writing "Khan was so cool we would've bought a [[Chrysler Cordoba]] if he'd told us to," in reference to a famous series of commercials done by Montalban.<ref>{{cite news
|url=http://moreresults.factiva.com/results/index/index.aspx?ref=WENN000020060612e26b0001f
|title=MONTALBAN'S SINGH TOPS OUT-OF-THIS-WORLD POLL
|date=[[June 12]] [[2006]]
|publisher=[[World Entertainment News Network]]
|accessdate=2007-12-04}}</ref>
==Other Media==
* Khan Noonien Singh appeared in the ''[[Robot Chicken]]'' episode "The Deep End." In a segment called "Two Kirks, a Khan, and a Pizza Place," Khan gives a customer the money when he accidentally spills James T. Kirk's drink. James then screams "Khaaan" as the customers run out of the restaurant.
* Khan was one of the many fictional villains to appear in the ''[[South Park]]'' episode [[Imaginationland Episode II]].
==Notes==
At no point during ''The Wrath of Khan'' are William Shatner and Ricardo Montalban in the same room; they only speak to each other over communication links. In fact, the scenes in which Kirk and Khan speak to each other had to be filmed four months apart because the ''Enterprise'' and ''Reliant'' were redresses of the same set.
== References ==
{{reflist}}
== Further reading ==
* {{cite journal|journal=Leviathan: A Journal of Melville Studies|volume=8|issue=2|pages=101–106|date=June 2006|author=Wyn Kelley|title=All Astir|doi=10.1111/j.1750-1849.2006.01138.x}} — Kelley discusses parallels between Khan and Captain Ahab.
==See also==
* [[Space Seed]] - The original episode introducing Khan Noonien Singh.
==External links==
* {{imdb character|0001501}}
* {{memoryalpha}}
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[[Category:Fictional Indians]]
[[Category:Fictional dictators]]
[[Category:Fictional genetically engineered characters]]
[[Category:Fictional mass murderers]]]
[[Category:Fictional murderers]]
[[Category:Star Trek film characters]]
[[Category:Star Trek: The Original Series characters]]
[[Category:Fictional characters with mental illness]]
[[Category:Supervillains]]
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[[pt:Khan Noonien Singh (Star Trek)]]