Warning: SPOILERS For Star Trek: Khan Episode 1 – “Paradise”Star Trek: Khan takes place in two different time periods after Star Trek: The Original Series and during the first six Star Trek movies. An original dramatic narrative podcast, Star Trek: Khan reveals what happened during Khan Noonien Singh’s (Naveen Andrews) exile on the doomed world of Ceti Alpha V.
Khan (Ricardo Montalban) was introduced in Star Trek: The Original Series season 1, episode 22, “Space Seed.” A genetically engineered warlord who once ruled much of Earth, Khan was awoken from his cryogenic sleep by Captain James T. Kirk (William Shatner) and the USS Enterprise.
Soon, Khan and his augment followers attempted to hijack the Starship Enterprise with the help of the infatuated Starfleet historian, Lt. Marla McGivers (Madlyn Rue). Kirk defeated Khan and exiled him, along with his 70 followers and McGivers, to the planet Ceti Alpha V.
Almost two decades later, Khan was able to hijack the USS Reliant to seek his revenge on Admiral Kirk in Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan. Kirk outwitted Khan once more, and the super villain detonated his stolen Genesis Device, killing himself in the process, although Kirk and the Enterprise managed to escape.
Star Trek: Khan reveals a new investigation into what really happened to Khan and his followers on Ceti Alpha V, taking audiences from one ‘present-day’ to the ‘past’ when Khan endured numerous tragedies on the world he hoped to conquer and make his own.
When Star Trek: Khan’s Present Day Takes Place
Star Trek: Khan utilizes a framing device via a Starfleet investigation that takes place in late 2293 or early 2294. Dr. Rosalind Lear (Sonya Cassidy) gains Starfleet’s permission to return to Ceti Alpha V to find the tapes Khan left behind documenting his ordeal.
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Khan Events Timeline |
Year |
|---|---|
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Star Trek: The Original Series “Space Seed” |
2267 |
|
Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan |
2285 |
|
Star Trek: Khan investigation into what happened on Ceti Alpha V |
2293 or 2294 |
2293 is a pivotal year in the 23rd century. Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country takes place that year, which enabled peace between the United Federation of Planets and the Klingon Empire.
Later in 2293, the USS Enterprise-B launched. Aboard the Federation’s new flagship was Captain Kirk, who seemingly died saving the Enterprise from the Nexus. In Star Trek: Khan, Captain Hikaru Sulu (George Takei) establishes that Kirk’s death was “three months ago.”
Star Trek: Voyager season 3, episode 2, “Flashback,” revealed that Tuvok (Tim Russ) was an Ensign serving aboard Captain Sulu’s USS Excelsior during the events of Star Trek VI.
Both Ensign Tuvok and Captain Sulu play key roles in Star Trek: Khan‘s framing timeline. Sulu commands the USS Excelsior to Ceti Alpha V, and Tuvok accompanies Dr. Lear to the planet to find Khan’s tapes, while serving as the researcher’s liaison to the starship.
When Star Trek: Khan’s Flashbacks Happen
The ‘meat’ of Star Trek: Khan‘s story is the pivotal events that took place on Ceti Alpha V. Khan’s awakening, attempted takeover of the USS Enterprise, and subsequent exile in Star Trek: The Original Series happen in 2267 after his Botany Bay vessel was intercepted in space by Kirk’s starship.
The Ceti Alpha V flashbacks in Star Trek: Khan episode 1, “Paradise,” begin over 70 days after Khan and his people arrive on what was originally a lush planet teeming with life. Khan’s people began developing Ceti Alpha V using their available resources and with the help of a medlab provided by Captain Kirk.
In Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, Khan reveals that six months after the augments came to Ceti Alpha V, the neighboring planet Ceti Alpha VI exploded. The destruction shifted Ceti Alpha V’s orbit, quickly turning what was a Class-M paradise into a hostile and barren desert wasteland.
Star Trek: Khan episode 1 gives the unsuspecting Khan and his people a mere four months before their optimistic lives are irrevocably devastated by Ceti Alpha VI. Until then, Khan has a bold vision to remake Ceti Alpha V, including building a coliseum.
Star Trek: Khan 2 Timelines Will Cover 18 Years Of The Villain’s Exile
Star Trek often simplifies Khan’s return in Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan as happening 20 years after his exile on Ceti Alpha V. However, Star Trek II takes place in 2285, and that is 18 years after the events of Star Trek: The Original Series‘ “Space Seed” in 2293.
Of course, 18 years of eking out a grim life of survival in the ruins of Ceti Alpha V, watching numerous members of his people die, including his wife, Marla McGivers, drove Khan mad. Khan fixated his hatred and thirst for vengeance on Captain Kirk.
Star Trek: Khan will also eventually reveal how Khan discovers the Ceti eels, the only indigenous lifeform that survived the transformation of Ceti Alpha V. The Ceti eels tortured many of Khan’s followers, leading to madness and death.
Star Trek: Khan‘s framing sequence taking place in 2293 or 2294, means Dr. Rosalind Lear’s investigation into what happened on Ceti Alpha V commences 8 or 9 years after Khan Noonien Singh perished from detonating the Genesis Device aboard the USS Reliant in 2295.
Where Was Captain Kirk During Khan’s 18 Year Exile On Ceti Alpha V
In the 18 years between Star Trek: The Original Series and Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, Captain Kirk completed his five-year mission leading the USS Enterprise. Kirk was promoted to Rear Admiral and became Chief of Starfleet Operations.
In the 2270s, Admiral Kirk took over command of the refitted USS Enterprise from Captain Will Decker (Stephen Collins) to intercept V’Ger, which was headed towards Earth in Star Trek: The Motion Picture. Kirk is believed to have then led a second five-year mission aboard the Enterprise.
As depicted in the Nexus scenes in Star Trek Generations, Admiral Kirk attempted to retire from Starfleet in the early 2280s and live a quiet country life in Idado with a woman named Antonia. However, Kirk couldn’t stay idle, and he chose to return to Starfleet. This brings Kirk up to the start of Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan.
While Kirk isn’t expected to appear or be heard from in Star Trek: Khan, the Captain of the Enterprise is an omnipresent specter in Khan’s life after their first meeting in Star Trek: The Original Series. Surprisingly, Khan is grateful to Kirk for his exile on Ceti Alpha V – at first. Khan will inevitably come to hate and blame Kirk before long.
Star Trek: The Original Series
8/10
- Release Date
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1966 – 1969-00-00
- Showrunner
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Gene Roddenberry
- Directors
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Marc Daniels, Joseph Pevney, Ralph Senensky, Vincent McEveety, Herb Wallerstein, Jud Taylor, Marvin J. Chomsky, David Alexander, Gerd Oswald, Herschel Daugherty, James Goldstone, Robert Butler, Anton Leader, Gene Nelson, Harvey Hart, Herbert Kenwith, James Komack, John Erman, John Newland, Joseph Sargent, Lawrence Dobkin, Leo Penn, Michael O’Herlihy, Murray Golden
- Writers
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D.C. Fontana, Jerome Bixby, Arthur Heinemann, David Gerrold, Jerry Sohl, Oliver Crawford, Robert Bloch, David P. Harmon, Don Ingalls, Paul Schneider, Shimon Wincelberg, Steven W. Carabatsos, Theodore Sturgeon, Jean Lisette Aroeste, Art Wallace, Adrian Spies, Barry Trivers, Don Mankiewicz, Edward J. Lakso, Fredric Brown, George Clayton Johnson, George F. Slavin, Gilbert Ralston, Harlan Ellison
