Customer Reviews

Star Trek - The Original Series, Episode 24: Space Seed [VHS]

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Khan Noonian Singh. One of my favorite villians of all time is introduced in this classic episode. A leader of the 20th century "genetic wars", Khan is banished to the SS Botany Bay which is adrift in space for over 200 years until the USS Enterprise finds it beaconing signal and beams over to investigate. Then the fun begins....
Khan is taken to the Enterprise where nobody knows who he is yet, except maybe a lovely archeologist. When Khan is finally figured out, let's just say that his brilliant "evil" plan is almost carried out. One of Capt. Kirk's best nemisis to say the least. Khan and his crew of "superior beings" are sent to live on Seti Alpha 5 to start a colony on their own without help from the federation. People forget he and his people exist...Until 15 years later...Thus begins the movie Star Trek II: The wrath of Khan. What a great episode this is. Highly recommended.

Remember what Khan says, "Revenge is a dish best serve cold!"

Ricardo Montalban turns in an extremely effective performance as Khan, a refugee from the Genetic Wars in the 1990s. Khan is stronger, more intelligent, and more charismatic than a typical human, but he is also more ambitious and egotistical.

The scenes where he seduces and later manipulates the historian, Lt. Givens, are unforgettable and chilling. His first scene with Dr. McCoy and the banquet are also top-notch, and very effective.

The story begins a little slowly, but as soon as Khan awakens, the episode becomes very engrossing, completely swallowing the viewer into the very well-written story.

One of the very best Star Trek episode in the series. A must-own for any Star Trek fan.

A piece of one of history's great puzzles falls into place when Kirk's crew comes across the S.S. Botany Bay. The old-style, pre-warp sleeper ship contains the bodies in stasis of Khan Noonian Singh, a genetically engineered strongman and one of the great leaders of Earth's Eugenics War. Although disappearing without a trace then, Kahn soon reveals the ambition, strength and that conquered a quarter of the Earth -- and Kirk is forced to depend for survival on the dictator's new lover, the adoring ship's historian and seeming traitor to the crew.

Probably no episode of Star Trek has gained more in prominence since the end of the show's original run than "Space Seed." Of course, this is due to the release of "Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan." Ricardo Montalban turns in a powerful performance as Khan Noonien Singh, a genetically bred superman from the late 20th century on Earth. The Enterprise discovers Khan and dozens of his followers in suspended animation when they find the Botany Bay adrift in space. The charismatic Khan seduces Marla McGivers (who may well be the only ship's historian ever seen on a starship) and with her help revives his crew, who immediately take over the Enterprise. You would think these people who be daunted by 200 years of scientific and technological advances, but Kirk lends a helping hand by giving Khan all the technical manuals he would need. Montalban's performance is what makes "Space Speed" a standout episode, proving that there is not much more impressive in the world than good diction and a neat accent. He might be having his biggest battles in this episode with Kirk, but the scene where Khan threatens McCoy provide one of the good doctor's finest moments. However, I have to think in the future the Enterprise will do without a ship's historian and just use the computer to find out about the past. Besides, there is nothing like a quote from Milton to lend a space opera a touch of class.

I've watched the entire Star Trek Original Series, and nothing compares to this. The Enterprise finds a sleeper ship, the Botany Bay, drifting in space. The crew beams aboard, and accidentally revives the leader, Kahn Noonien Snigh. His middle and last names are hard to pronounce. So then he comes awake, but is threatened by some rehabilition problem. Kirk breaks Kahn's sleeping chamber, and they take him to sickbay. Meannwhile, the crew beams more people over for treatment. And when the doctor is alone, examining Kahn, he goes to do some deskwork, and Kahn awakens. When he hears McCoy speaking, he quickly grabs a knife and attempts to injure the doctor. But the doctor is ready, and they settle down. There's too much else to say, and it's too good to spoil. So see the rest for yourself.

When I saw this episode when I was a kid, I was hooked. I then watched all the other episodes. I must say that when I watched the other 78, none of them topped Space Seed. This is clearly the best episode. You have Khan, the best villain of Star Trek, a cool story, great acting, and a great prelude to the greatest Star Trek movie, The Wrath of Khan.

It seems like they don't make them like they used to. (5 stars).

This episode has become such a classic that I can't withhold the 5-star rating. In the end, it earns its rating because of the well-matched, carefully balanced antagonism between the two main opponents, Khan (the irreplaceable Ricardo Montalban) and Kirk (Shatner, of course). This is a showdown between a genetically-enabled Might Makes Right philosophy and the democratic ideals of the Scientific Enlightenment. Best of all is the fact that the "bad guy" is not superficial or one-dimensional. He says things like "We offered the world order" and "Join me. I will treat you well." He is not easily defeated by any means.

From the moment he is picked up by the Enterprise, Khan schemes to take over the ship. Born as a result of 20th-century experiments in genetics, Khan is physically and mentally superior. He believes that he can easily master the technical advances of the 23rd century and defeat Kirk. To some extent, he is right.

What do Kirk, Spock, and company have on their side? Nothing much, except their humanity. Khan, for all his superiority, represents a kind of Nietzschean "Superman" ideal that (in the view of Kirk and Spock) should have died with Hitler. Humanity wins out. To gain control of the ship, Khan seduces a pretty Enterprise officer (Madlyn Rhue), but his shocking brutality turns her against him in the end. Although the philosopher Nietzsche is never mentioned by name, the term "Superman" is frequently used in Nietzsche's sense of the word.

The episode is most famous, of course, for setting up Star Trek II. (Caveat: don't look for Chekov in this TV episode. You won't find him.) In that film, they defeat him again, but not without cost, which is appropriate. Kirk alone couldn't twice defeat Khan. Only with the help of Spock could he do so. It is interesting that Spock is something of a Superman himself, but his Buddhist-like Vulcan philsophy rejects the Will to Power of which Khan is the embodiment.

Two things to look for: 1) The hand-to-hand fight between Kirk and Khan is unintentionally hilarious, because if you watch carefully it's obvious these are two stuntment who look nothing like the actors. 2) On the plus side, the Milton quote at the end is smart, almost highbrow. The quote is not even explained until Scotty asks later, so that those who have an English degree can congratulate themselves on being ahead of the rest of the TV audience.

Very fast shipping. Product quality was above description. Appreciated the communication initiated by the seller before the product arrived.
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It is impossible to review this episode without thinking of the subsequent movie, "Star Trek: The Wrath of Khan." I consider Ricardo Montalban to have been the best guest star to appear in the original series and in the sequence of movies extending the series. The Enterprise encounters an old Earth ship slowly making its' way through the stars. They board it and discover that it is a sleeper ship containing a group of people who left Earth in the late twentieth century. The leader of the group spontaneously awakens and is brought on board the Enterprise.
They discover that he is a human genetically engineered to have superior strength and mental ability. Eventually, they learn that he is Khan Singh, who was the absolute ruler of a large segment of Earth several centuries ago, when all leaders were genetically engineered tyrants. With the help of a traitorous female member of the Enterprise, Khan is able to get back to his sleeper ship, revive his comrades and take over the Enterprise. However, the female crewmember betrays Khan, rescuing Kirk and giving the Enterprise crew an opportunity to regain control of the ship. In one of the best endings in the original series, Kirk convenes a tribunal and gives Khan a choice. He and his group can either face charges or be marooned on a planet with a harsh climate. Khan's response is to refer to Milton, which Kirk immediately understands. Scotty then asks Kirk for the reference, which is "It is better to rule in hell than to serve in heaven."
Montalban is superb as Khan, arrogant yet compelling. He yields nothing to the crew of the Enterprise, having lost none of his confidence, despite being several centuries out of date. His personal power is clear, and his willingness to die rather than be defeated is consistent with his statement, "I have never been afraid." This is one of the best episodes in the original series, an excellent story, a powerful guest character and strong performances by all make it a joy to watch over and over again.

"Space Seed" is one of the more haunting episodes of Star Trek. Captain Kirk and the crew find some people that have been frozen for two centuries. The leader of the people is Khan (the villain who later starred in "Star Trek II - The Wrath of Khan"). Khan secretly plans to take over the Enterprise. Kirk suspects Khan might be of the mischievous type and must stop Khan before something happens.

What makes "Space Seed" one of the best episodes is the great performance from Ricardo Montalban as Khan. "Space Seed" has some of the best suspense of any of the episodes from the original series.

If you're a Star Trek fan, "Space Seed" is definitely one of the episodes you can't miss.