• Welcome! The TrekBBS is the number one place to chat about Star Trek with like-minded fans.
    If you are not already a member then please register an account and join in the discussion!

Khan and American Politics

BTW, here are the basics of WWIII/The Eugenics Wars, based upon what Spock & the other Enterprise crewmen tell us in "Space Seed" (I copied this from my personal TOS chronology, so it's directly derived from the episode's dialogue):

1992
Khan Noonien Singh is absolute ruler of more than a quarter of Earth, from Asia to the Middle East. There are no massacres or wars under his rule.

1993
A group of genetically enhanced supermen seize power simultaneously in over 40 nations.

1996
The Eugenics Wars end when the last of the tyrants is overthrown.

Khan goes into space with 83 of his followers on the DY-100 class sleeper ship SS Botany Bay. The fact that 80 or 90 supermen are still unaccounted for is kept secret from the general populace of Earth.
 
That timeline has always suggested that Khan was something of a special case among the supermen - and thus it seems inconceivable that Kirk would not recognize him by sight, the way a layman (from the western cultures) would spot Napoleon Bonaparte as long as he stuck to his trademark clothing, mannerisms and combing style as amply documented in visual media.

Sure, Kirk seems ignorant of pretty much everything that happened on Earth in the 20th century; he's more a 19th century aficionado. But we see in "Space Seed" that Khan on the Botany Bay looks the same as Khan in the old imagery from the time of his rule (say, the ponytail is not an attempt at camouflage!). Surely that imagery would be iconic?

If Khan were part of the group of supermen to "seize" power, he might be forgotten and his going missing pretty much shrugged off. But he's more than that: he was an "absolute ruler", and moreover he was that before the "seizing" already. Sure, he says that "We" offered order to the world, but it sounds more as if he were the leader of a group making that offer, and less as if he were but one bidder among many competing supermen. Did the "seizing" happen on Khan's behest, or against his will? Was that a rebellion against him, and the start of the Eugenics Wars?

It's always possible that our heroes get some details wrong, or that historians disagree on what the heck really happened. Perhaps the world had several "absolute rulers" at the time, and two of them actually had more turf than Khan ever did, explaining his strange obscurity? But that would mean that all of Earth was under tyrannical rule, which doesn't jibe with the business-as-usual aftermath we see in 1996.

Timo Saloniemi
 
Timo said:
That timeline has always suggested that Khan was something of a special case among the supermen - and thus it seems inconceivable that Kirk would not recognize him by sight, the way a layman (from the western cultures) would spot Napoleon Bonaparte as long as he stuck to his trademark clothing, mannerisms and combing style as amply documented in visual media.

[...]

It's always possible that our heroes get some details wrong, or that historians disagree on what the heck really happened. Perhaps the world had several "absolute rulers" at the time, and two of them actually had more turf than Khan ever did, explaining his strange obscurity? But that would mean that all of Earth was under tyrannical rule, which doesn't jibe with the business-as-usual aftermath we see in 1996.
Click to expand...

For me, this was covered pretty well by Spock's dialogue, "Records of that period are fragmentary."

Later on, Kirk says, "There are a great many unanswered questions about those years." And Spock soon replies, "Your Earth was on the verge of a dark ages. Whole populations were being bombed out of existence."

So I think a lot of what they know about the Eugenics Wars is not much beyond hearsay. I think it's very possible that Kirk & Co. couldn't find that historical picture of Khan until they knew what to look for.
 
1992
Khan Noonien Singh is absolute ruler of more than a quarter of Earth, from Asia to the Middle East. There are no massacres or wars under his rule.

1993
A group of genetically enhanced supermen seize power simultaneously in over 40 nations.

1996
The Eugenics Wars end when the last of the tyrants is overthrown.

Khan goes into space with 83 of his followers on the DY-100 class sleeper ship SS Botany Bay. The fact that 80 or 90 supermen are still unaccounted for is kept secret from the general populace of Earth.
Click to expand...

Looking over this basic timeline again, I'm thinking that 1993's "seizing of power in 40 nations" doesn't quite jibe with "there were no massacres or wars under his rule." So maybe Khan WASN'T one of the supermen who seized additional nations in that year. The Eugenics Wars were really all the other supermen rebelling against Khan.

Just a thought.
 
Why would there have been an election? Or even the reasonable facsimile that actually occurred?

Khan for Khangress....?
 
:vulcan::confused: Who said anything about an election?

EDIT: Oh, I'm sorry. I was forgetting the original question and thought you were talking about Khan being elected to office. Never mind.
 
T'Girl said:
Would the rise of Khan sometime in the year 1992, have resulted in the re-election of George H W Bush?
Click to expand...

Sorry, I read the OP and ignored the rest of the responses.

EDIT: Haha
 
In all honesty...I'd probably vote for him. His policy platforms are pretty transparent....transparency is a political buzzword these days. Khan doesn't just promise it, he delivers.
 
For me, this was covered pretty well by Spock's dialogue, "Records of that period are fragmentary."
Click to expand...

I very much doubt history writing from the 1990s is "fragmentary" in any practical sense, not in light of what we later learned of the era. Shipping records could well be incomplete, though, and that's what is holding Spock back from making further comment on the Botany Bay.

There are a whole lot of unanswered questions about the 1990s today, too. Or about 2014, for that matter. And whole populations were being bombed out of existence in our 1990s, but that didn't yet make historical records fragmentary.

OTOH, if there is uncertainty there, then Spock could well be saying "At some point between 1992 at the earliest and 1996 at the latest, Khan was the absolute ruler of one quarter of the world. My personal bet would be from August 1994 to February 1995, but I am not a betting sort of a person. What I know for certain is that Caesar Billy Bob Xian was the absolute ruler in 1993 and Augustus Red Bear held the throne in early 1996, and at one point Ma Ling Svensson the Very Great got two months of rule. (raises eyebrow) I did warn you, Sir, the records are somewhat fragmentary."
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
If you are not already a member then please register an account and join in the discussion!

Sign up / Register


Back
Top