Trek Thursdays: Trekking Towards Sixty #26 — “Space Seed” And “Scorpion”

On September 8th, 1966, an intrepid crew of explorers boldly went where no one had ever gone before on television. At that moment, Star Trek was born. A series that launched a franchise that has kept a firm grip on audiences for decades.

As the sixtieth anniversary approaches, we here at Comicon are ready to celebrate one of the greatest science fiction franchises. While Star Trek has graced the silver screen, most of its life has been on our television screens. So, that’s where our focus shall remain.

Every week through September 8th, we’ll be spotlighting two Star Trek episodes, from any and every iteration, that we feel are some of the greatest. At this point there are over 950 episodes of Trek, so it goes without saying some favorites won’t make the cut for this list of 60.

Exploring the universe allows for the discovery of great wonders and vast civilizations, beyond what human kind has ever seen. Boldly going where no one has gone before is exciting and a true privilege, but it’s also fraught with great danger. Some of the things you might poke while going boldly are ready to painfully poke back.

For all the hope and wonderment, Star Trek has also frequently delves into things that elicit danger, fear, horror, and much more. Action is very much part of the DNA and where there is action, more often than not there are great villains waiting to step in.

The most memorable of foes in all of Trek are the ones that present a unique challenge, a harsh look in the mirror, or tickle the flight or flight part of our brain. This week we’re looking at two iconic foes, one born of humanity’s own dark past and the other a horrifying hive of uniformity and body.

-Red Alert: Spoilers Follow-

“Space Seed”
Star Trek: The Original Series – Season 1, Episode 24 (02/16/1967)

Synopsis: The discovery of an ancient spaceship brings danger to the U.S.S. Enterprise. Contained within are genetically enhanced super humans exiled from 20^th century Earth, alongside their ruthless and enigmatic warlord leader.

It’s true, not many of the almost sixty entries in this column have come from the very first Trek to grace television screens. While I have feelings about how portions of that series did not age well at all, that isn’t why there is a lack of OG Trek here. No, the major reason is centered around the simple fact that I have not watched a ton of that series.

As an ’80s baby and a ’90s child, my Trek diet heavily consisted of watching Star Trek: The Next Generation with my family and seeing the original crew films on the big screen. So my first tastes of the original group are of them older and taking on cinematic level threats and adventures. Those films shaped my feelings about these characters, what they should be and how they are, most notably Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan.

That film is still in the very top of the list of my favorite Trek films. It wasn’t till much later in life that I finally watched the episode which birthed Khan Noonien Singh (Ricardo Montalban). There are things about the episode which fit my earlier sentiment of not aging well, such as Mexican-American Montalban playing a Sikh man or the whole thing of Lieutenant Marla McGivers (Madlyn Rhue) falling head over heels for Khan instantly.

Despite the flaws of the time period, the overall episode proves why it’s one of the series’ most beloved.

The premise is simple with the crew finding the ship of augments, reviving Khan, and the cat and mouse sort of game the augmented warlord plays with the crew. We can see the charisma and gravitas that Khan emanates, important for what happens here but also decades later in the film. Especially so for the dynamic that it sets up between Captain Kirk (William Shatner) and Khan.

Montalban and Shatner play off one another beyond naturally. Watching this episode, you can easily see why they are matched foes and why Khan would be so bitter in the future against the captain.

Having Khan be an enigma that radiates danger, only bringing more of the augments into the picture for the final act, was a master stroke. It gave time for the villain to really simmer and reach a controlled perfect boil, rather than jumping right into the villainy and cruelty. That’s what makes the more bitter and harsh version of Khan we meet later work so well. It was an earned bitterness that we got to see play out in this first appearance.

While the choice had future consequences, Kirk’s decision to allow the augments a planet of their own rather than forcing them back to sleep or imprisonment is an intriguing one. It’s a gentler decision after what they did and in a way showcases that Khan isn’t correct about humanity still being the same as it was in his time.

Spock’s (Leonard Nimoy) final line about returning in a hundred years to see “what crop will sprout from the seed they planted” hits harder when you know the eventual outcome. They didn’t even have to wait a hundred years to find out the seed was still a tainted one.

“Scorpion”
Star Trek: Voyager – Season #3 & 4, Episode 26 & 1 (05/21/1997 & 09/03/1997)

Synopsis: Upon entering Borg space, the crew of Voyager encounters an alien race that might be even more powerful than the Borg and bent on destroying all life in the universe. Leading the crew to a precarious position where their former enemies might be their best allies for survival.

I mean, how can you beat this opening?

The Borg were utilized in sparing ways through the years of TNG. While they seem a prolific enemy now, they were handled better for some time where they didn’t lose a lot of their bite or horror. Voyager eventually over-utilized them as a villain, but in this moment they were nailing it.

Watching numerous Borg Cubes appear on screen to open an episode elicits a feeling of extreme dread. We know what they are capable of doing, and in this moment it’s assumed we’re going to see them rip into some other poor group of beings. Instead, we see their ships ripped apart as something even more powerful than the Borg is about to make themselves known.

There is so much to love about this two-parter and what it did for the series. Honestly, season four is a banger of a season for Voyager as we get numerous of these big two-parters and some other episodes that just hit hard. We already covered “Year Of Hell” in a previous column, and that was part of this insane season.

Ending the third season with the crew begrudgingly allying themselves with the Borg and on the run was so good. It left things in a precarious state. We saw Captain Janeway (Kate Mulgrew) test her resolve to get the crew home and becoming more willing to cross lines she might otherwise have balked at earlier in the journey. This also allows her and Commander Chakotay (Robert Beltran) to butt heads, but not in an acrimonious way that happened a few times before and after in the series.

Here it’s more that one is being a voice of reason while the other is being a voice of reality. Neither is wrong about what they are saying, or ultimately in what they are doing, especially when Chakotay has to be in charge in the second part. They’re both acting on the best interest of the crew and the journey.

One of the biggest things that this episode did, and is more remembered for, is the introduction of Jeri Ryan as Seven of Nine. It was also the beginning of the end for Jennifer Lien’s time as Kes on the series. There was a whole thing about ratings and needing to axe someone from the cast, and it was set to be Garrett Wang and Ensign Harry Kim on the chopping block, which explains his state in these episodes. Luckily for Wang, he was named one of People’ Magazines 50 most beautiful people in the world that same year, so the cutting gaze turned to Lien instead.

A shame for Kes as there was more that could have been done with the character, especially since they had finally ended the really toxic relationship she had with Neelix (Ethan Phillips). At the same time, the lifespan hole they dug themselves into with the character would have begun to limit things soon enough so it also made the most sense.

There are a lot of things that were not great about how they utilized Seven of Nine at times, but Ryan was and continues to be a great addition to the Trek franchise. Her return as Seven in Star Trek: Picard series was magnificent and the actor is a very loud advocate for things, utilizing her voice and platform as much as possible.

Before I wrap this up, damn do I wish we got more of Species 8472. There were two more episodes down the line, with the Hirogen hunting one of them later in Season 4 and then their return in the following year pretending to be humans. That episode, “In The Flesh,” hinted at more depth to the aliens and could have led to something interesting, had any show picked up on it. Luckily, there was the recent Star Trek: Voyager — Homecoming comic series which did pick up on those dangling threads.

Come back next week as we dive into two more of Star Trek’s greatest episodes.