Space Seed
- FIRST SHOWN (US)
- 16 February 1967
- ON
- NBC
- STARDATE
- 3141.9
- DIRECTED BY
- Marc Daniels
- PRODUCTION NO.
- 24
WRITTEN BYTeleplay by Gene L. Coon and Carey Wilber; story by Carey Wilber
The Enterprise finds an ancient sleeper ship drifting in space. Its sleeping passengers come from Earth's past, and their charismatic leader has plans of his own.
Red alert: the full plot, ending included. Haven't watched yet?REVEAL SYNOPSIS
The Enterprise discovers the SS Botany Bay, a 20th-century sleeper ship carrying dozens of people in suspended animation. Their leader, revived and taken aboard, is Khan Noonien Singh, one of the genetically engineered supermen who seized power during Earth's Eugenics Wars of the 1990s. Brilliant and magnetic, Khan charms historian Marla McGivers and studies the ship's technical manuals. With her help he revives his followers and takes over the Enterprise, threatening to kill Kirk in a decompression chamber unless the crew submits. McGivers cannot let Kirk die and frees him. Kirk and Spock flood the ship with gas, and Kirk defeats Khan in hand-to-hand combat in Engineering. Rather than imprison them, Kirk exiles Khan and his people to the untamed planet Ceti Alpha V, and McGivers chooses to go with Khan. Spock wonders what will have grown from this seed in a century.
- 01Producer Harve Bennett watched every episode while planning the second film, and chose Khan. Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan (1982) is a direct sequel.
- 02Khan needed five costumes, more than any other guest star in the series.
- 03Planned as an inexpensive episode, it went over budget by more than $12,000.