While 1982’s Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan is, arguably, tied with The Empire Strikes Back and Aliens for best sci-fi sequel of all time, the origin and meaning of Khan’s titular wrath is somewhat vague. When Capt. Kirk (William Shatner) exiles Khan (Ricardo Montalban) at the end of the 1967 Star Trek episode “Space Seed,” no one is particularly upset. Sure, Khan tried to take over the Enterprise, but Kirk recognizes he’s not all bad and is simply a man out of time; thus, Khan and his people should have their own wild planet. But when Khan returns in The Wrath, 15 years later, he’s furious and blames Kirk for all his troubles.
But why? And what happened to Khan’s wife, the former Starfleet historian Marla McGivers, who agreed to live with Khan on Ceti Alpha V? And how come all of Khan’s minions in The Wrath are so much younger than the folks in “Space Seed”? In the new audio podcast series Star Trek: Khan, all of these questions are answered, and then some. The show has just dropped its first episode on podcast platforms everywhere, and hardcore Trekkies everywhere are in for a surprising journey. Nothing in this new series undoes Trek canon at all, but it certainly creates a new layer.
