Summary
As a prequel toStar Trek: The Original Series, Paramount Plus’Star Trek: Strange New Worldsis capable of course-correct elements that used to give fans pause, including a question concerning Khan.
First meeting Captain Kirk (William Shatner) inStar Trek:The Original Series, Khan (Ricardo Montalban) was an unrepentant believer in eugenics and subjugated the world because of it. The character went on to bring about The Eugenics War, which was established to occur in the 1990s. But in a recent episode ofStrange New Worlds, the time of the war changed. When La’an (Christina Chong) traveled to contemporary Toronto with young Kirk (Paul Wesley), she learned that her ancestor lived there as a young boy. This means thatThe Eugenics War wouldn’t happen for some time. Later in the episode, a time-traveling Romulan explained that all the tampering with time has pushed off the inevitable for another few decades. But in addition to making this creative change that makes a lot of sense,Strange New Worldsalso didThe Original Seriesa service.
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WhileStar Trekalum Wil Wheaton was interviewing Chong forThe Ready Room, he noted thatStrange New Worldsmakes following events in canon more relevant or significant. In particular, he theorized that the romantic sparks between La’an and Kirk might have some repercussions. “I re-watchedThe Original Seriesepisode,Space Seed, and I remember making a joke to my wife at the end of the episode that Kirk is like: ‘Well, I mean, listen, [Khan’s] a eugenicist and killed like untold numbers of people, but listen. I’m gonna drop him off on Ceti Alpha V it’s gonna be totally fine. This is absolutely not gonna come back and be a problem for us in the ‘80s,'" Wheaton remarked.
Fans can never forget that thebestStar Trekfilm,TheWrath of Khan, saw the return of Khan, which Kirk could have ultimately prevented. But Wheaton also had an interesting idea while watching the episode. He theorized further, “Could it possibly be that Kirk’s connection to La’an [would] affect his decision to give her ancestor that opportunity at some sort of redemption in exile?”
Chong immediately hopped on board and agreed with Wheaton’s take. During the episode, La’an forms romantic feelings for Kirk, which was even more devastating when he sacrificed himself for the greater good. La’an had to process her feelings, which were even more difficult because that was an alternative version of Kirk. When she returned to the Enterprise, she saw Kirk Prime and had to deal with those feelings. But love finds a way, and the two could have a future as one of thebestStar Trekromances.
Strange New Worldscreatives know what they’re doing, and if this isn’t something they’ve thought of at first, it should be a factor in future episodes. They already clarified they are interested in recontextualizingStar Trekcanon to make it emotionally resonant. The reason that they pushed the timeline of The Eugenics War forward was to make the series aspirational. It is hard to look forward to when the worst war occurred 30 years ago. The same goes for Kirk’s relationship with La’an. There is no point in bringing back Wesley to portray one ofStar Trek’s most iconic rolesof all time if the creators are not going to do something different with it.
Star Trek: Strange New Worldsseasons 1 and 2 are currently streaming on Paramount Plus.
