Summary
- "Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan" set the gold standard for every Star Trek movie villain to follow, with Ricardo Montalbán's menacing performance as Khan.
- The success of "The Wrath of Khan" led Paramount to demand that every Star Trek film have a villain like Khan, which limited the creativity of subsequent movies.
- Many Star Trek movie villains and storylines have been remade or modeled after Khan, demonstrating the lasting impact of the character on the franchise.
Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan is regarded as one of the best, if not the best, Star Trek movie of all, but Star Trek Generations and Star Trek: First Contact co-writer Ronald D. Moore also points out the "bad way" Star Trek II impacted the movie franchise. Ricardo Montalbán played the titular, genetically engineered villain, and his menacing, scenery-chewing performance set the gold standard for every Star Trek movie villain to follow. But as Moore assesses, Khan became a double-edged sword for the Star Trek movies.
In the oral history "The Center Seat: 55 Years of Star Trek" by Peter Holmstrom, Ronald D. Moore hailed Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan as "a classic" and "a fan's dream" that "works on every level." However, Moore also describes the negative impact Wrath of Khan made on every Star Trek movie that followed, as Paramount continually demanded that each film had a villain like Khan. Read his quote below:
It's the one that's referenced over and over again. In some ways, in a bad way. Because I could easily make the argument that what Wrath of Khan did was it permanently sent every Star Trek film down the same path. They all then, with the exception of IV, went, "We need a villain like Khan." I can't tell you how many times I heard that. "We need a Khan. Who's the Khan in this movie?" It all became about emulating that story.
As co-writers of Star Trek Generations and Star Trek: First Contact, Moore and Brannon Braga indeed had "Khans" for both films in Dr. Tolian Soran (Malcolm McDowell) and the Borg Queen (Alice Krige).
