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Khan Noonien Singh is a ''. In both cases he was played by Ricardo Montalbán . He is generally referred to simply as '''Khan'''. BACKSTORY Khan, one of many genetically engineered "supermen" produced by a group of scientists on Earth during the 20th century, possessed physical strength and analytical capabilities superior to ordinary humans. He is of Jatt heritage, from the Punjab Region of northern India . His name suggests the Sikh faith. Scientists used a selective breeding program combined with genetic engineering to achieve their aims, and in many ways they succeeded; the "supermen" were mentally and physically superior to ordinary men and women. They were roughly five times stronger than the average person, their Lung efficiency was 50 percent greater than normal, and they had an increased capacity for learning. What the scientists failed to anticipate was that creating a superior race meant creating a superior ambition; the "supermen" felt that their advanced abilities gave them the right to rule the rest of humanity. In 1993, a group of "supermen" seized power simultaneously in more than 40 nations. Khan was considered the most dangerous of the ambitious cadre. At his most powerful, he ruled more than a quarter of the entire planet—from Southeast Asia to the Middle East —but even this was not enough for him. He envisioned ruling the entire world, but so did the other genetically engineered leaders, and they ended up fighting among themselves. This led to the Eugenics Wars , during which whole populations were bombed out of existence and the entire planet was threatened with a new Dark Age. Fortunately, by 1996 the tyrants were brought under control by a rebellious population. Most of the "supermen" died or were sentenced to death, but 84 of them, including Khan, escaped aboard the Sleeper Ship SS ''Botany Bay'' . On board the ship, the crew were Cryonically frozen to allow them to remain in suspended animation. Khan was considered so dangerous that even two centuries later, genetic engineering was banned throughout the United Federation of Planets for fear of creating another tyrant like Khan. "SPACE SEED" Khan's ship was not discovered for almost 300 years (although both "Space Seed" and "The Wrath of Khan" say 200 years), when it was found by the starship USS ''Enterprise'' . A boarding party led by Captain James T. Kirk found Khan and several dozen others frozen in Cryonic chambers. The ship's historian, Lieutenant Marla McGivers , took particular fascination in Khan. Khan nearly died during the reanimation sequence when his chamber malfunctioned. Khan was beamed to the ''Enterprise'' and taken to sickbay, where his recuperative powers amazed Dr. Leonard McCoy . Upon awakening, Khan grabbed McCoy and put a knife to his Carotid Artery , but did not kill him because he was impressed by McCoy's blunt inquiry about the situation when he inquired if Khan was going to choke him to death or just slit his throat. Khan did not divulge anything about himself beyond his name, claiming fatigue. Meanwhile, he began plotting how to take over the ''Enterprise''. Kirk readily granted Khan's request to study the ship's technical manuals, which gave him knowledge of how to take over and operate the ''Enterprise''. Later, he used Lt. McGivers's attraction to him in getting her to help him beam back to the ''Botany Bay'', where he revived the other supermen. With the help of Marla and his revived crew, Khan took control of the ''Enterprise'''s engineering section and used what he had gleaned from the technical manuals to shut off life support to the bridge. Kirk found that Khan had anticipated every contingency for retaking control of the ship, and the bridge crew faced imminent suffocation. After passing out, they found themselves alive, though captives of Khan. Khan declared that humans had advanced technologically, but there had been little improvement in human evolution in the last 300 years. He still considered himself superior, and believed that it gave him the right to rule other men — only this time his target was not merely Earth, but the Universe. But Khan still needed help in selecting a planet with a population that would be willing to be led by him. He decided that the best way to convince the ''Enterprise'' crew to cooperate would be to put Kirk in the ship's compression chamber and slowly reduce the pressure, forcing the crew to watch until they agreed to join Khan. Fortunately, Marla could not stand by and let her captain be killed, and she rescued him. Kirk then flooded the ship with neural gas, neutralizing Khan's men. Khan, however, escaped to engineering, and set the ship's engines to Self-destruct . Kirk arrived on the scene and engaged Khan in hand-to-hand combat, a fight he was losing badly until he used a metal tool to knock Khan out. Captain Kirk faced a dilemma. He felt it would be a waste to confine Khan and his followers to a rehabilitation colony, but they could not be allowed to go free. He therefore dropped all charges against them, including against Lt. McGivers, and deposited them on Ceti Alpha V , a rough but Habitable Planet where they could start a new life. Kirk had offered Khan a world to conquer, believing such a challenge would keep the would-be Despot from causing harm elsewhere. Spock, however, wondered at the "seed" his captain had planted, and what fruit it would bear. ''STAR TREK II: THE WRATH OF KHAN''
Khan seeks vengeance For approximately six months, life on Ceti Alpha V was harsh but fruitful for Khan and his people, as they worked to tame the wild planet. But then Ceti Alpha VI , the system's sixth planet, exploded. This shifted Ceti Alpha V's orbit to one similar to the now-missing sixth planet. The stresses of the gravimetric shockwave resulted in major climatic changes and Earthquakes . Once the planet had stabilized, huge amounts of dust in the atmosphere caused surface heating, turning the planet into a desert wilderness. High winds made the air barely breathable, leaving only a limited atmosphere dominated by . Over the following 17 years, 20 of Khan's people, including his wife, Marla McGivers, were killed by these creatures, and most of the rest died from other causes. By the year 2285, fewer than 20 of the settlers (including Khan) had managed to survive. In 2285, almost two decades after Khan and his people had arrived on Ceti Alpha V, the crew of the USS ''Reliant'' conducted a close-range sensor scan of the planet as part of the top-secret Project Genesis , mistaking it for Ceti Alpha VI. Khan, angry and vengeful that Kirk never checked up on their settlement, abducted the ''Reliant'''s captain Clark Terrell and first officer Pavel Chekov when they went down to the surface, and implanted Ceti Eel s in their brains, rendering them vulnerable to his suggestions. Khan then seized control of the ''Reliant'', hell-bent on revenge. His second-in-command Joachim argued that there was no need to take on Kirk as they had a ship and could go anywhere they pleased, but Khan was obsessed with asserting his superiority. Once Khan had learned of the Genesis Device , he had Chekov contact its creators and instruct them to hand over the device on Kirk's orders. Khan counted on their contacting Kirk to confirm the order, which would bring his enemy to him. When the ''Enterprise'' reached Regula I , Khan was able to launch a surprise attack, as Kirk was slow to follow standard procedures requiring a defensive posture when the ''Reliant'' refused to visually respond to hails (claiming on voice communication that the ship's Chambers Coil was overloading its communications system). This hesitancy on Kirk's part allowed the Reliant to close range sufficiently to inflict substantial damage on the ship's engineering section, knocking the main energizers down and making it impossible to raise the ship's defensive shields. Within a few minutes, the ''Enterprise'' was crippled. Khan hailed the vessel, so that Kirk would know his adversary's identity before he destroyed them. Fortunately, Kirk was able to buy time by promising to beam himself over to Khan's ship with all the information regarding Project Genesis. This gave Kirk the chance to tap into ''Reliant'''s command console, using the ship's prefix code to lower its shields before he gave the order to fire on the ship. The effective gunnery of the Enterprise crew resulted in sufficient damage to the Reliant's weapons systems that Khan was persuaded to withdraw and repair--operating on the assumption that the Enterprise was no longer a tactical threat and was so damaged that its escape was impossible for several hours--if at all. Endgame With both ships badly damaged, they were forced to withdraw to carry out repairs. By the time partial power had been restored on the ''Enterprise'', Khan had managed to get his hands on the Genesis Device. While Kirk and Spock tricked Khan into thinking that the ''Enterprise'' still required days of work to repair and was helpless, Khan's ship was still in far better condition than Kirk's. In order to even the odds, Mr. Spock recommended that they enter the nearby Mutara Nebula where static discharges would interfere with both ships' shields and sensors. On board the ''Reliant'', Joachim was reluctant to follow the ''Enterprise'' into the nebula as he knew it would negate their advantage. However, Kirk contacted them and taunted Khan ("We tried it once your way, Khan, are you game for a rematch? Khan...I'm ''laughing'' at the superior intellect."). The genetically enhanced madman, frustrated at Kirk's ability to thwart his best efforts to defeat him, could not resist the opportunity to prove his superiority and ordered his ship to follow the ''Enterprise''. Both ships scored direct hits on one another as they blindly maneuvered around each other, until Spock noted that Khan's tactics indicated only two-dimensional thinking, as for all his intelligence the great dictator lacked any real experience in space combat. Kirk ordered the ''Enterprise'' to move downward before coming up behind the ''Reliant'' and firing multiple torpedoes. The ''Reliant'' was completely disabled and all the crew were killed, except Khan, who refused to accept defeat. He was determined to take Kirk with him, and in a last desperate effort he activated the Genesis device. "From Hell's heart, I stab at thee... For hate's sake, I spit my last breath at thee..." - Khan's last words, quoted from Captain Ahab in Herman Melville's Moby Dick. Spitefully eloquent to the very end, Khan revelled in the idea that the Genesis Project would ultimately kill Kirk. He succumbed to his injuries before seeing the Enterprise warp away to safety, thwarted one last time by Kirk. However, Kirk's victory was not without its price. Spock had sacrificed his life to enter the damaged, radiation-contaminated engine room to repair the ''Enterprise'''s warp drive, enabling Kirk and the rest of the crew to narrowly escape the detonation of the Genesis device. OTHER REFERENCES Khan was mentioned in the DS9 episode " Doctor Bashir, I Presume? ", where Admiral Bennett says "for every Julian Bashir that can be created, there's a Khan Singh waiting in the wings—a ' Superhuman ' whose ambition and thirst for power have been enhanced along with his intellect. The law against Genetic Engineering provides a Firewall against such men and it's my job to keep that firewall intact". This DS9 episode is also responsible for erroneously relocating the Eugenics wars to the late 21st century, a script blooper openly acknowledged by the scriptwriters. Captain ''. Picard asks an enigmatic time traveller to advise him on how to act when attempting to save the population of a Federation colony which is undergoing an environmental catastrophe. When the time traveller refuses due to the implications his advice may have in altering history, Picard says "What if one of those lives I save down there is a child who grows up to be the next Adolf Hitler or Khan Singh?, I am willing to take that risk". According to ''. NOTES Admiral Kirk and Khan were never physically in the same room at any point during ''The Wrath of Khan''. They only spoke to each other over communication links. In fact, the scenes in which Kirk and Khan spoke to each other were filmed four months apart; part of this was due to necessity, namely the fact that the bridges of the ''Enterprise'' and ''Reliant'' were redresses of the same set. SEE ALSO
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