"Space Seed" is the twenty-second episode
of the first season of the American science
fiction television series Star Trek.
Written by Gene L. Coon and Carey Wilber and
directed by Marc Daniels, it first aired on
February 16, 1967.
In the episode, the Enterprise crew encounter
a sleeper ship holding selectively bred superpeople
from Earth's past.
Their leader, Khan Noonien Singh (Ricardo
Montalbán), attempts to take control of the
Enterprise.
"Space Seed" has been named one of the best
episodes of the series by Cinefantastique
and IGN.
The 1982 film Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan
serves as a sequel to this episode.
References to "Space Seed" appear in episodes
of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, Star Trek:
Enterprise, and the 2013 film Star Trek Into
Darkness.
== Plot ==
On stardate 3141.9, the Federation starship
USS Enterprise finds the derelict SS Botany
Bay adrift in space.
A landing party comprising Captain James T.
Kirk (William Shatner), Doctor Leonard McCoy
(DeForest Kelley), Chief Engineer Montgomery
Scott (James Doohan), and historian Lieutenant
Marla McGivers (Madlyn Rhue) beams over to
the freighter.
The landing party finds a cargo of 84 humans,
72 of whom are alive in suspended animation
after nearly 200 years.
McGivers identifies the group's leader who
begins to revive and is taken back to the
Enterprise for a medical examination.
Kirk has Botany Bay taken in tow by a tractor
beam, and Enterprise sets course for Starbase
12.
In sickbay, the group's leader awakens and
attacks McCoy but, impressed by McCoy's bravery,
releases the doctor and introduces himself
as "Khan" (Ricardo Montalbán).
Lt. McGivers marvels over Khan, a living relic
from the 20th century, her field of interest.
First Officer Spock (Leonard Nimoy) discovers
that their guest is Khan Noonien Singh who,
along with his people, are products of 20th-century
selective breeding designed to create perfect
humans.
The genetic superhumans instead became warlords
and conquered more than a third of the planet
during the Eugenics Wars.
Khan is placed under guard in quarters.
McGivers is sent to brief him on current events.
Taking advantage of McGivers' attraction towards
him, Khan tells her he means to rule mankind
again and needs her help to take over Enterprise.
Reluctantly, she agrees, beaming Khan to Botany
Bay, where he revives the rest of his people.
They return to Enterprise and assume control
of the ship.
Khan throws Kirk into a decompression tank,
and threatens to slowly suffocate him unless
Kirk's command crew agree to follow Khan.
Having a change of heart, McGivers frees Kirk
from the chamber.
Kirk and Spock vent anesthetic gas throughout
the entire ship to disable Khan and his cohorts.
Khan escapes the gas and heads to Engineering,
where he attempts to destroy Enterprise, but
Kirk confronts him; they fight and Kirk knocks
Khan unconscious.
Kirk holds a hearing to decide the fate of
Khan and his followers.
Kirk exiles them to Ceti Alpha V, a harsh
world that he believes would be a perfect
place for Khan to "tame".
Khan accepts, citing Milton's Paradise Lost.
Instead of a court-martial for Lt. McGivers,
Kirk allows her to go into exile with Khan.
Spock notes that it would be interesting to
see what Khan makes of Ceti Alpha V in 100
years.
== Production ==
=== 
Writing ===
Carey Wilber was hired to write a script for
an episode of Star Trek.
His idea was based on an episode he wrote
for the television series Captain Video and
His Video Rangers (1949–1955).
His work on that show featured Ancient-Greek-era
humans transported in suspended animation
through space, with the people of the future
finding that they have mythological powers.
For "Space Seed", Wilber replaced these mythological
powers with abilities that were enhanced due
to genetic engineering.
Wilber had briefly worked with Gene Roddenberry
on the television series Harbormaster.
His science fiction extended beyond Star Trek:
he also wrote scripts for Lost in Space and
The Time Tunnel around the same time.
The script changed numerous times during preproduction
as producer Bob Justman felt that it would
be too expensive to film.
Eventually Gene L. Coon and series creator
Gene Roddenberry also made alterations.
In Wilber's first proposal for the story that
became "Space Seed", dated August 29, 1966
(shortly before the first episode of Star
Trek aired) the villain was Harold Erickson,
an ordinary criminal exiled into space.
He sought to free his gang from Botany Bay,
seize Enterprise, and become a pirate.
Parts of the story were inspired by the use
of penal colonies in the 18th century, and
characterizations were based on descriptions
from the series' writer's bible.
As a result, several elements of the draft
differed from how the characters behaved in
the series; for example, the draft includes
a scene where Spock defeats Kirk at chess
by cheating.
Producer Gene L. Coon told Wilber that his
work was the best outline he had seen during
his time on Star Trek.
Fellow producer Bob Justman was less enthusiastic;
he compared it negatively to Flash Gordon
and Buck Rogers, and felt the concept would
be too expensive to film.
There were also concerns that an unsolicited
script submitted by science fiction author
Philip José Farmer resembled the proposed
plot which, as Roddenberry had corresponded
with Farmer, might lead to litigation.NBC
executives reviewed the plot for "Space Seed"
and approved it, but Justman reassessed the
outline, saying that it needed to be heavily
revised.
In September, Wilber was given a list of suggested
changes including asking him to remove any
mention of the setting, as the producers did
not want to say how far in the future Star
Trek was set, and to remove the chess scene.
Wilber submitted a second draft, but Roddenberry
still had problems with basic elements of
the script.
He did not believe common criminals would
be fired into space as a solution and strongly
disliked the notion of space pirates.
The second draft introduced the idea that
Kirk marooned Erickson and his crew on a new
planet; this remained in the final version.
Wilber was not asked for a third draft; Coon
was tasked with the re-write; he submitted
it on December 7 and updated it twice over
the following five days.
Wilber accepted Coon's re-writes, and left
the staff after the submission of his second
draft as his contractual obligations were
complete.Coon proposed that Erickson should
be a rival to Kirk, a genetic superman who
had once ruled part of Earth.
Roddenberry and Justman were still unhappy
with the script, and Roddenberry revised it
once more a week before filming was due to
begin, after Montalbán had been cast.
In this draft the blond Nordic character of
Erickson became closer to the version seen
on screen.
In Roddenberry and Coon's script, the character
was renamed Sibahl Khan Noonien.
The name Govin Bahadur Singh was suggested
by the DeForest Research company, who checked
scripts for potential errors on behalf of
the production company; the Singh name was
suggested in part because it was closer to
actual Sikh names.
Coon and Roddenberry settled on Khan Noonien
Singh; Roddenberry had an old Chinese friend
named Noonien Wang that he had lost touch
with, and hoped that Wang would see the episode
and contact him.
In the final draft, Roddenberry listed himself
as the primary writer, Coon as co-writer and
Wilber was absent, but the Writers Guild of
America turned down Roddenberry's request
to be credited; Coon received the main credit;
Wilber was given co-writer and "story-by"
credits.
Wilber did not often watch his own work, and
nearly thirty years later had never seen "Space
Seed".
Coon was later credited as Lee Cronin for
his part in production of the script.
=== Casting ===
Mexican actor Ricardo Montalbán was cast
as the genetic superman Khan Noonian Singh,
having been the first choice for the role.
He had been suggested by casting director
Joseph D'Agosta, who was not looking to cast
an actor of a particular ethnic background
due to Roddenberry's vision for the series;
Roddenberry wanted to show his perceived 23rd
century values by not requiring any specific
ethnicities when casting actors in guest roles.
Montalbán had previously appeared in a television
movie created by Roddenberry, The Secret Weapon
of 117 (also referred to as The Secret Defense
of 117), which was the writer's first attempt
to create science fiction on television and
aired more than ten years before Star Trek.
Montalbán called his role as Khan "wonderful",
saying that "it was well-written, it had an
interesting concept and I was delighted it
was offered to me".
The main cast were enthusiastic about working
with Montalbán; DeForest Kelley later said
"I enjoyed working with Ricardo the best.
I was privileged.
He is a marvelous actor."
Madlyn Rhue, who portrayed Lt. Marla McGivers,
had previously worked with Montalbán in an
episode of Bonanza in 1960 as his on-screen
wife; she later appeared with him in a 1982
episode of Fantasy Island.
Montalbán and Rhue also appeared in separate
episodes of Roddenberry's previous NBC television
series, The Lieutenant (1963–1964).
Main cast member George Takei did not appear
in "Space Seed"; the character of Hikaru Sulu
was replaced by Blaisdell Makee as Lt. Spinelli.
It was the first of two appearances in Star
Trek for Makee, who would return in the episode
"The Changeling" as Lt. Singh.
John Winston appeared for the second time
as Lt. Kyle, and would go on to make nine
further episodic appearances in that role.
Following positive feedback from the producers
and the network regarding James Doohan, "Space
Seed" was the first episode to feature a more
prominent role for his character, Chief Engineer
Montgomery Scott.
=== Filming, costumes and post production
===
Filming of "Space Seed" began December 15,
1966, and concluded on December 22 after six
days of shooting.
Roddenberry, Coon and Wilber's rewrites resulted
in a shooting script of nearly 60 pages and
120 scenes.
Marc Daniels was hired to direct the episode;
he had previously worked on The Lieutenant.
The first day's filming coincided with the
airing of the episode "Balance of Terror",
and Daniels allowed the cast and crew to go
home early to watch it.
The other five days ran to schedule, to the
extent that there was an early finish on the
final day of filming, allowing cast and crew
time to return home to watch a repeat of the
episode "What Are Little Girls Made Of?" which
had replaced "Arena" on that evening's schedule.
A scene filmed but later cut from the episode
depicted a discussion between McGivers and
Angela Martine (Barbara Baldavin), intended
to show that McGivers was looking for a forceful
man.
Further scenes were trimmed after filming
following input from NBC.
For example, scenes shot on the Botany Bay
were cut as executives felt the costumes worn
by the newly awakened crew were too revealing.The
character of Khan required five costumes,
more than any other guest star in the entire
series.
This meant that the staff working on costumes
had less time to devote to any one costume.
Montalbán's athletic physique was such that
when his measurements were passed to them,
staff thought there had been a mistake.
Costume designer William Ware Theiss found
it challenging to produce the outfits in the
time allotted, to make the materials seem
suitably futuristic and to fit his own preferences
in design.
Two of Khan's outfits re-used previous costumes,
while three were specifically created for
Montalbán.
The production built two new sets for the
episode: the decompression chamber in sickbay,
and the set on board Botany Bay.
A doorframe from that set was later reused
as an overhead unit in McCoy's research lab,
which appeared later in the series.Post production
on "Space Seed" began on December 23, 1966,
and ran through February 5 the following year.
The Westheimer Company produced the majority
of effects in the episode, but the scenes
of Enterprise and Botany Bay in space were
produced by Film Effects of Hollywood who
were not credited on screen for their work.
Botany Bay utilized a design Matt Jefferies
created prior to the USS Enterprise.
It had been previously labeled "antique space
freighter", and was built by Film Effects
of Hollywood.
The creation of the ship miniature caused
the episode to go over budget by more than
$12,000; "Space Seed" actually cost a total
of $197,262 against a budget of $180,000.
By this point, the series was nearly $80,000
over budget in total.
The Botany Bay model was later re-purposed
as a freighter for the episode "The Ultimate
Computer".The sound effects team borrowed
effects and manipulated them in order to achieve
the "painted sound" effect sought by Roddenberry.
Although a number of sources were used, they
attempted to avoid most science fiction television
series as they wanted an authentic sound.
The sound archive of the United States Air
Force was used, although the photon torpedo
sound was created from the 1953 film The War
of the Worlds.
"Space Seed" was awarded the Golden Reel for
sound editing on television by the Motion
Picture Sound Editors society.
== Reception ==
=== Broadcast ===
"Space Seed" was first broadcast in the United
States on February 16, 1967, on NBC.
A 12-city overnight Trendex report compiled
by Nielsen ratings showed that during the
first half-hour, it held second place in the
ratings behind Bewitched on ABC with 13.12
million viewers compared to Bewitched's 14.44
million.
The episode beat My Three Sons on CBS.
During the second half-hour it was pushed
into third place in the ratings by the start
of the Thursday Night Movie on CBS, the Western
film One-Eyed Jacks starring Marlon Brando,
which received 35.5 percent of the audience
share compared to 28 percent for "Space Seed".A
High Definition remastering of "Space Seed",
which introduced new special effects and starship
exteriors as well as enhanced music and audio,
was shown for the first time on November 18,
2006, in broadcast syndication.
It was the eleventh remastered episode to
be shown.
This meant that the episode was made available
to over 200 local stations across the United
States with the rights to broadcast Star Trek,
and depending on the station it was broadcast
either on November 18 or 19.
=== Critical reception ===
In 1967, The Indiana Gazette described "Space
Seed" as "a good piece of science fiction".
The Kokomo Tribune called it "imaginative",
and also said that the episode was "particularly
interesting" for "its commentary on the scientific
know-how of the late 1990s".
Later reviewers watched the episodes several
decades after broadcast.
Zack Handlen of The A.V.
Club gave the episode an 'A' rating, noting
its strong characters and the interplay between
Kirk and Spock that emphasizes their friendship.
Michelle Erica Green called the episode "legendary"
in her review for TrekNation.
She thought that Khan made the "perfect foil"
for the trio of Kirk, Spock and McCoy and
said that the episode was not dulled by later
episodes and films based on "Space Seed".
In Mark Pickavance's review at Den of Geek,
he said that it remained an "obvious choice
of great source material" to be followed up
in a film.The review by Eugene Myers and Torrie
Atkinson on Tor.com criticized the attraction
between McGivers and Khan, saying that it
was "really uncomfortable to watch her immediate
attraction to him and her easy acceptance
of his abusive and controlling behavior".
Both praised the episode, Myers giving it
a five out of six, and Atkinson a six out
of six rating.
Also at Tor.com, in Ryan Britt and Emily Asher-Perrin's
list of the ten most under-appreciated elements
of Star Trek, they placed "Space Seed" at
number three saying that "As an introductory
story to what old school Star Trek was all
about, 'Space Seed' is perfect.
It presents an original science fiction concept,
grapples with notions of human technology
and ingenuity creating a monster, and features
Captain Kirk beating the crap out of someone
with a piece of Styrofoam.
What more could you want?"The episode appears
in numerous publications’ top ten lists
of episodes, including Newsweek, Forbes, and
Entertainment Weekly . while IGN ranked "Space
Seed" as the fourth best, praising the fist
fight between Kirk and Khan.
It appeared in the top ten episodes listed
by Cinefantastique and was also included in
a list of ten "must see" episodes on The A.V.
Club.
Reviewer Zack Handlen said that it "features
a terrific performance from guest star Montalbán,
gives the franchise one of its greatest villains,
and sets the stage for one of best science-fiction
adventure movies ever made".
== Home media release and other adaptations
==
The first adaptation of "Space Seed" was as
a re-working into a short story by author
James Blish as part of the novelization Star
Trek 2.
This book contained seven short stories, each
based on an episode of The Original Series
and was published in 1968.
The adaptation of "Space Seed" appeared as
the final story in the book.
The first home media release of "Space Seed"
was on a single-episode VHS cassette in 1982
by Paramount Home Video.
It was one of the episodes of The Original
Series published on Capacitance Electronic
Disc, alongside "The Changeling", released
on November 1, 1982.
A LaserDisc of the episode, alongside "Return
of the Archons" was released in 1985.
Further releases of all episodes of the series
were made on VHS and Betamax.
These releases reverted to a single episode
tape as in the original 1982 version.The episode
was released on DVD paired with "A Taste of
Armageddon" as part of the general release
of the series in 2000.
There were no additional extras added to that
entire series of releases, except the DVD
containing "Turnabout Intruder".
"Space Seed" was later released within a DVD
box set of the first season in 2004; all three
seasons of The Original Series were released
as full-season box sets that year.
The episode was included in the remastered
season one release on DVD and Blu-ray in 2009.
This release featured CGI remodels of Enterprise
and other space scenes, including the Botany
Bay.
The most recent release is as part of the
Star Trek: Origins collection on Blu-ray,
which was released in 2013.
== Legacy ==
=== 
Khan ===
The events of "Space Seed" are followed up
in the 1982 film Star Trek II: The Wrath of
Khan.
Harve Bennett was hired to produce a sequel
to Star Trek: The Motion Picture having never
seen the television series; he watched every
episode in preparation and latched onto Khan
from "Space Seed" as the compelling villain
he considered to be lacking from the first
film.
In resuming the role of Khan, Montalbán worried
that fans would see him only as Mr. Roarke
from Fantasy Island but felt that he managed
to recapture the character after re-watching
"Space Seed".
The film set a record for the opening weekend
gross of $14.3 million, and went on to take
$78.9 million domestically within the United
States, making it the sixth best-selling film
of the year.The movie features errors in continuity
when compared to "Space Seed".
Because of re-casting, Khan's followers appear
not to have aged from their appearance in
the episode and Khan recognizes Pavel Chekov—the
character did not join Star Trek until season
two, after this episode took place.
This latter error was described in Deborah
Cartmell and Imelda Whelehan's book Adaptations:
From Text to Screen, Screen to Text as the
"gaffe notorious throughout Star Trek fandom".
An explanation was presented in the novelization
of The Wrath of Khan, which stated that Chekov
was working on the night shift at the time.A
non-canon novelization by Greg Cox was later
released in 2005 to fill in the timeframe
between "Space Seed" and the film, titled
To Reign in Hell: The Exile of Khan Noonien
Singh.
This book expanded on Khan's romance with
McGivers, and the author wanted to "give her
a spine" as he felt that she was not "the
pride of Starfleet, and even less of a feminist
role-model" in her appearance in "Space Seed".Events
of both "Space Seed" and The Wrath of Khan
were also directly referenced in 2013's Star
Trek Into Darkness, in which Benedict Cumberbatch
portrayed Khan.
The film took $70.1 million on the opening
weekend, and $467.3 million internationally
throughout the cinematic release.
As part of their line of licensed Star Trek
comic books, IDW Publishing launched a five-part
mini-series titled Star Trek: Khan which described
the early part of Khan's life and how the
events in Star Trek Into Darkness diverged
from those seen in "Space Seed".
One of the writers of the film, Roberto Orci,
was the story consultant on the comic series.
This series also explained how Khan changed
physically in order to be represented by Cumberbatch
in the film.
A retro-style film poster for "Space Seed"
was created by Juan Ortiz in 2013, released
around the same as Star Trek Into Darkness.The
television series Star Trek: Enterprise makes
several further references to the events first
described in "Space Seed".
In "Twilight", the survivors of the Xindi
attack on Earth eventually resettle on Ceti
Alpha–V. The development of Khan and his
followers were said to have been through selective
breeding in "Space Seed".
American sociologist William Sims Bainbridge
said that this method would have been unable
to create genetic supermen in such a short
space of time and that today the less implausible
method of genetic engineering (directly changing
the DNA code) would be used.
In fact, subsequent references to the creation
of Khan and the other supermen, such as in
the Star Trek: Deep Space Nine episode "Doctor
Bashir, I Presume", substituted genetic engineering.
=== Eugenics Wars ===
The Eugenics Wars, first mentioned in "Space
Seed", are stated in the Star Trek Chronology
by Michael and Denise Okuda as taking place
between 1992 and 1996.
They considered it fortunate that these events
did not come to pass in the real world, and
noted that the development of the Botany Bay
in 1996 as an instance of where "Star Trek's
technological predictions have missed by a
significant margin".
The war itself has been referenced elsewhere
in the Star Trek franchise.
The first mention of the wars following "Space
Seed" was in the Star Trek: The Animated Series
episode "The Infinite Vulcan", in which a
cloned version of Dr. Stavos Keniclius, a
scientist from that era, clones Spock.
Later, during the production of "Doctor Bashir,
I Presume?", writer René Echevarria, seeking
a secret past for Doctor Julian Bashir, noted
that coverage of the issue of eugenics in
Star Trek had been limited to Khan and his
followers.
Fellow writer Ronald D. Moore decided to link
the background of Bashir to genetic engineering.
"Encounter at Farpoint" and Star Trek First
Contact confused matters by saying World War
III (otherwise known as The Eugenics Wars)
had occurred in the 2050s.
When Echevarria wrote that the Eugenics Wars
took place 200 years before the Deep Space
Nine episode "Doctor Bashir, I Presume?",
he took the time interval directly from The
Wrath of Khan, failing to factor in the additional
century between the events of the original
series (and its associated films).Novelist
Gary Cox first mentioned the events of the
Eugenics Wars in his non-canon novel Assignment:
Eternity, which followed up on the events
of the episode "Assignment: Earth" and included
the characters of Gary Seven and Roberta Lincoln.
In it, he mentioned that Seven and Lincoln
were involved in overthrowing Khan during
the Eugenics Wars.
He had not intended to explore this any further,
but he was prompted to do so by his editor
at Pocket Books.
He wrote a story, split into two books, about
the specific events of the Eugenics Wars,
entitled Star Trek: The Eugenics Wars: The
Rise and Fall of Khan Noonien Singh.
As the Eugenics Wars were already meant to
have taken place, he decided to describe them
as being a massive conspiracy that was not
discovered until generations had passed.
He also felt that this approach would make
the books consistent with the Star Trek: Voyager
episode "Future's End" in which the crewmembers
travel in time to the same period of Earth's
history as the Eugenics Wars, but find no
such wars taking place.
A further version of the Eugenics Wars was
presented in the Star Trek: Khan comic book
mini-series.The Enterprise season four episodes
"Borderland", "Cold Station 12" and "The Augments"
showed a further group of genetic superpeople
produced from embryos produced in the same
era as Khan and his crew.
This was a deliberate link by the producers
of Enterprise to both "Space Seed" and The
Wrath of Khan, and was one of several plots
during the fourth season of the show to include
elements of Star Trek: The Original Series
in the hope that this would boost ratings.
== Annotations ==
== Notes
