22 – Space Seed

Grade: A

Summary

The Enterprise finds a “sleeper ship” from the late 1990s. They discover that most of the crew are still alive and have been in stasis for several hundred years. Detecting that someone is on board, the ship’s automatic processes begin to revive the ship’s commander.

Commentary

This is one of the very best Star Trek episodes of all time. There has never been a more formidable villain than Khan, and Ricardo Montalban steals every scene he is in. This episode works perfectly in every possible way. Personally, though, I’m not all that fond of this episode. I recognize its greatness, but it’s hard for me to watch someone psychologically and emotionally abuse other people. Montalban’s performance was perfect, and that’s what makes this an uncomfortable episode to watch.

Of Note

I’m sure that when this episode was created, the 1990s seemed to be a long way off. It was a pretty bold prediction in 1967 that in about 25 years, humanity would have the ability to send ships into space that could cryogenically freeze people and allow them to travel between planets.

When Ricardo Montalban signed to work on the Wrath of Khan, he re-watched this episode to help him get back into character. Speaking of which, in the movie, Khan says he never forgets a face as he recognizes Checkov. This is a bit of a goof, though, because Checkov didn’t join the crew of the Enterprise until the second season.