Just what was so special about Marla McGivers?

[darkwing_duck1]

I was rewatching "Space Seed" the other day, and the question popped into my head: just what DID Khan see in Marla? He referred to her as a "superior woman", but she'd spent the entire ep before that point being anything BUT superior. She was whiny, weak willed, and changed loyalties at LEAST 3 times that I can count.

I know from a 60's tv writing perspective, the show couldn't have her be portrayed in any REAL sense of strength, but what we have we have, so just DID Khan see in her?

 

[Arlo]

She was superior *because* she was so weak-skinned to fall for him, thus making his teh eval plan work.

 

[Forbin]

She was hot as hell. That's enough for some guys.
Superior genetic breeding aside, Khan was as shallow as any man.

 

[Kryton]

So was Joachim their SON or what?

 

[AJBryant]

No, in the episode Joachim was a full-grown man about Khan's age. In the movie, they made him a young guy.


Tony

 

[Wingsley]

darkwing_duck1 said:
I was rewatching "Space Seed" the other day, and the question popped into my head: just what DID Khan see in Marla? He referred to her as a "superior woman", but she'd spent the entire ep before that point being anything BUT superior. She was whiny, weak willed, and changed loyalties at LEAST 3 times that I can count.

I know from a 60's tv writing perspective, the show couldn't have her be portrayed in any REAL sense of strength, but what we have we have, so just DID Khan see in her?

She was smart enough to recognize Khan from the start, ("Magnificent!") yet she confronted him privately. He appreciated that. Besides I can think of a couple of rather large reasons why he was attracted to her.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

AJBryant said:
No, in the episode Joachim was a full-grown man about Khan's age. In the movie, they made him a young guy.

Different characters.

In the episode, the character was JoaQUIN.

The film had a character named JoaCHIM.

Note the spellings.

(In Greg Cox's novels, Joachim is the son of Joaquin and another 'super' person, Ling.)

 

[A beaker full of death]

Babaganoosh said:

AJBryant said:
No, in the episode Joachim was a full-grown man about Khan's age. In the movie, they made him a young guy.

Different characters.

In the episode, the character was JoaQUIN.

The film had a character named JoaCHIM.

Note the spellings.

I don't buy it. I've always believed they're the same character.
After all, the credits for one movie claimed Nichelle Nichols played someone named "Uhuru."

 

[Sir Rhosis]

^^^My thought was always just that Bennett or Sowards or Meyer simply misheard the name and thus spelled it differently.

Sir Rhosis

 

[Nebusj]

darkwing_duck1 said:
I know from a 60's tv writing perspective, the show couldn't have her be portrayed in any REAL sense of strength, but what we have we have, so just DID Khan see in her?

Well, she did have an inner reserve of deep stupidity I doubt anyone else on the Enterprise at that time possessed.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

A beaker full of death said:

Babaganoosh said:

AJBryant said:
No, in the episode Joachim was a full-grown man about Khan's age. In the movie, they made him a young guy.

Different characters.

In the episode, the character was JoaQUIN.

The film had a character named JoaCHIM.

Note the spellings.

I don't buy it. I've always believed they're the same character.
After all, the credits for one movie claimed Nichelle Nichols played someone named "Uhuru."

It's not just the credits, this time. In both instances, Khan actually says the name out loud. And it's different.

 

[A beaker full of death]

Sounds the same to me. Somebody may have gotten it wrong in the script or whatever. It's the difference between an "n" and an "m". There's no way they came up with something so close by accident. It's the same guy.

 

[Therin of Andor]

AJBryant said:
No, in the episode Joachim was a full-grown man about Khan's age. In the movie, they made him a young guy.

Dark-haired Mark Tobin played Joaquin in "Space Seed". It's more likely that blond Joachim (Judson Scott) was Joaquin's son, born on Ceti Alpha V: an early-maturing 15 year old.

In the Pocket Books (non canonical) Khan novel duology, author Greg Cox even explains why all the Genesis kids are blond and blue-eyed.

According to Judson Scott at conventions, he and Montalban rehearsed their scenes as if the characters were father and son, but the toddler-at-the-porthole, cut from the film, and the same boy in the Khan/Marla/child painting that was made as set dressing, but again unseen in the final film, was Khan and Marla's son.

 

[Trekker4747]

I suspect that she was so submissive and adoring of Khan that made her "special." Not only was her adoration of him a nice stroke to his ego but her being so submissive also satisfied his domineering personality.

Sigh... (I found a can of worms!) sort of like so many men have such a Asian-woman fetish. They see Asian women as sexy, submissive, potential servants.

 

[doctorwho 03]

I don't know what Kahn saw in her, but I definately know what I see in her. She kinda looks like a girl I had a crush on back in high school. Everytime I watch this episode, it makes me think of her.

 

[A beaker full of death]

Khan's total mindfuck of McGivers - especially the whole "open your heart" scene - has been the model for my interaction with women since I was a teenager.

And it works.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

A beaker full of death said:
Sounds the same to me. Somebody may have gotten it wrong in the script or whatever. It's the difference between an "n" and an "m". There's no way they came up with something so close by accident. It's the same guy.

I doubt it. Joachim, in ST II, is obviously too young to be as old as Joaquin from "Space Seed" was.

And would it be that big of a deal for Joaquin to give his son a similar name?

 

[A beaker full of death]

^ but they're pretty much all too young to be the same people as in the episode, if we take it literally.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

They probably aren't the same people. Khan's original group might all be dead - killed after Ceti Alpha VI exploded - by the time ST II comes around. These people we see in the film are probably their children (and, being genetically 'super', would grow quicker and be stronger, so they wouldn't look so young).

 

[Jack Bauer]

Her smokin' hot body? And Khan could be her all hot and bothered with just a tiny stare.