THE RISE OF KHAN — Fact Trek

[Firebird]

It's certainly not a hoax. The document is in a reputable film archive.

I can vouch for this. I've gotten enough copies from said archive for my research projects that I instantly recognized their anti-reproduction measures in the document scan.

 

[Timo]

I'm totally lacking in context here. How viable would it have been back then to create spinoffs featuring just famous antagonists and all-new hero casts? What other franchise did that? Did it work out?

In the modern franchise era, a movie dedicated to the female sidekick of Batman's arch-enemy and lacking both Batman and said arch-enemy is guaranteed to bring net income. I lived through the 1980s, but on the wrong side of the pond; was there ever a Harley Quinn type product in the US, successful or otherwise? Or even a Joker movie analogue?

Timo Saloniemi

 

[Saul]

Holy moly. What a find.

 

[Maurice]

This wasn’t about a franchise. It was just a spin-off, like making The Ropers out of Three’s Company.

The fact that people to this day think of Khan as some sort of great villain (when, in fact, it’s the writers giving Kirk the idiot ball in both the episode and the movie that makes Khan any sort of threat) makes it unsurprising that the studio would consider there might be an audience for a film about this character.

 

[Khan 2.0]

William Shatner on Twitter: "I think this may be the 2018 spinoff rumor for JJ’s movies that some SW’s fan decided to see if they could have some fun with."

@WilliamShatner
have you heard about this? apparently a Khan prequel/spin off movie was considered in 1983

 

[Indysolo]

That tweet should be fact checked!

 

[Maurice]

That tweet should be fact checked!

Oh, it's been replied to!

 

[Kor]

Somehow in my head I picture this story idea as more of a "TV movie of the week" than a theatrical feature. But the "recommended for T.V." box is not checked. So that's just my personal impression.

Kor

 

[Maurice]

Somehow in my head I picture this story idea as more of a "TV movie of the week" than a theatrical feature. But the "recommended for T.V." box is not checked. So that's just my personal impression.

Kor

TWOK made boffo opening weekend boxoffice so they were clearly thinking this might translate to a Khan feature.

 

[Lord Garth]

Oh, it's been replied to!

View attachment 21200

I've got a feeling he's either not going to respond or he'll come at you with some huge insult.

 

[Maurice]

I've got a feeling he's either not going to respond or he'll come at you with some huge insult.

I'm guessing the former.

 

[Maurice]

Quick update. Nicholas Meyer has been gracious enough to answer some questions we have, and he's confirmed he too had never heard of or seen the John Hughes penned prequel script. We've updated the blog post to include that tidbit.