So, was it mysogyny that made the difference?

[Spock/Uhura Fan]

Someone pointed something out about the movie that I also wondered about when I watched the film:

When Kirk zaps Khan with his phaser, the guy drops like a stone. But, when Uhura zaps Khan with her phaser mulitple times, he's still standing. He doesn't fall until Spock takes him out. Why is that?

Do you think misogyny is to blame? I really can't think of anything else.

For a moment I thought maybe the difference is that Kirk has his phaser set to kill, and because Khan's blood is regenerative he just didn't die. Only, didn't Kirk already decide not to kill him? It would only make sense that his phaser was set to stun because Khan had been cooperating up to that point. So, really, I can't see why Uhura's phaser wouldn't have the same effect unless "the girl" couldn't drop the bad guy; her boyfriend had to.

 

[RoJoHen]

I think Khan was just full of crazy super adrenaline and willed himself to keep going.

Like when Boromir keeps fighting the Orcs even though his torso is riddled with giant arrows.

 

[The Doctor]

I think Khan was just full of crazy super adrenaline and willed himself to keep going.

Like when Boromir keeps fighting the Orcs even though his torso is riddled with giant arrows.

That, or as suggested below, Khan was simply pretending when Scotty shot him.

 

[Noname Given]

Or, when Kirk shot him, Kahn was just playing possum.

 

[RoJoHen]

Or, when Kirk shot him, Kahn was just playing possum.

This would certainly be consistent with when Scotty shot him later.

 

[Phily B]

I think Khan was playing possum, but it's possible when Uhura did it he was expecting it.

 

[CitizenjaQ]

Perhaps Khan had never been stunned before, so it took him by surprise? Later he knew what to expect.

 

[Spock/Uhura Fan]

If he was faking it, that was a quick reaction time. He fell fast, like he was instantly out. I would think that if he was playing possum that he'd have been shocked from being shot at first and then he'd fall to pretend that it actually did something. I don't know.

The adrenaline thing could be true, though. It still seemed kind of weird that she kept shooting an he kept standing until Spock punched him.

 

[F. King Daniel]

Someone pointed something out about the movie that I also wondered about when I watched the film:

When Kirk zaps Khan with his phaser, the guy drops like a stone. But, when Uhura zaps Khan with her phaser mulitple times, he's still standing. He doesn't fall until Spock takes him out. Why is that?

Do you think misogyny is to blame? I really can't think of anything else.

For a moment I thought maybe the difference is that Kirk has his phaser set to kill, and because Khan's blood is regenerative he just didn't die. Only, didn't Kirk already decide not to kill him? It would only make sense that his phaser was set to stun because Khan had been cooperating up to that point. So, really, I can't see why Uhura's phaser wouldn't have the same effect unless "the girl" couldn't drop the bad guy; her boyfriend had to.

It was Scotty, not Kirk, who shot Khan on the Vengeance. And Khan was pretending to be unconcious, you see his eye open immediately after he takes a dive. At the end, we see his real reaction to a phaser stun - nothing.

That you got misogyny from that is... bizarre, to say the least.

 

[Spock/Uhura Fan]

Call it bizarre if you like, but it seemed the way that it seemed, and I know I'm not the only one that wondered about it. I don't know, I thought it was Kirk that shot him, but I'm going off of seeing the film once, and it went at a break-neck speed, so I could be wrong. There's just something about how that all played out that seemed a little questionable to me. That's all.

 

[Malaika]

not misogyny (otherwise they wouldn't let Uhura be the one that saves the day because don't forget that she saves Spock and basically saves Kirk as well by stopping Spock from killing Khan), maybe a little contradictory and suspension of disbelief-y because they wanted to show out of control!rage!Spock trying to kill him. In short, if the intent was to show Spock trying to kill the guy with his bare hands Uhura or a male character wouldn't make a difference and neither would be able to stun Khan.
I also think Khan was pretending a bit with Scotty or it took him by surprise.

 

[Belz...]

If he was faking it, that was a quick reaction time.

That was my thought as well.

 

[Enterprise is Great]

Khan's a genetically engineered superman so his reaction time is a lot quicker than a normal human's so him faking it that fast makes sense. Khan is several times stronger and faster than the average person.

 

[Malaika]

honestly, and that's just my impression and speculation, I think he knew Kirk would "betray" him.

 

[Franklin]

Wow. We've gone from threads where folks are pissed that the writers have bumped McCoy out of "The Big Three" in favor of Uhura to a thread that says because Uhura needed several shots to stun Khan compared to Scotty's one hit that it's because the writers hate women?

For what it's worth, as others have pointed out, Khan flopped like a soccer player when Scotty shot him. His real abilities were seen in full force when Uhura tried to stun him. It wouldn't have mattered who was firing that phaser.

(By the way, if anything, the whole thing shows how bad the phasers are in this universe. Kill or stun. That's it. In TOS, a phaser had graduated settings, so if stun wasn't enough, it could be set to a heavy stun that may have actually stopped Khan in one or two shots.)

 

[RoJoHen]

If he was faking it, that was a quick reaction time.

That was my thought as well.

Well, the phaser may have knocked him on his ass, and then he decided to lay there for a minute to assess the situation before making his next move.

 

[Belz...]

Khan's a genetically engineered superman so his reaction time is a lot quicker than a normal human's so him faking it that fast makes sense.

I don't think the neural signals can really go much faster than they already do.

 

[Belz...]

Well, the phaser may have knocked him on his ass, and then he decided to lay there for a minute to assess the situation before making his next move.

This also makes sense.

 

[Pauln6]

The writers are blatantly guilty of misogyny - I mean seriously - but this wasn't one of those moments. Khan obviously knew that Uhura was too smart to be fooled by him playing possum, while Scotty is obviously a dunderhead.

 

[Spock/Uhura Fan]

not misogyny (otherwise they wouldn't let Uhura be the one that saves the day because don't forget that she saves Spock and basically saves Kirk as well by stopping Spock from killing Khan),

Yeah, and that brings up another plot point that's a little shaky. Didn't McCoy already have some of Khan's blood? I mean, did he use the entire vial on the tribble? And I still think one of the other enhanced humans in cryostasis could have worked. You could say time was of the essence, but couldn't they have put Kirk in the free cryostasis tube while he synthesized a treatment from one of the others?

I'm just not sure that she saved the day.

maybe a little contradictory and suspension of disbelief-y because they wanted to show out of control!rage!Spock trying to kill him. In short, if the intent was to show Spock trying to kill the guy with his bare hands Uhura or a male character wouldn't make a difference and neither would be able to stun Khan.
I also think Khan was pretending a bit with Scotty or it took him by surprise.

I don't know. I'll agree with not being able to suspend my disbelief, for a number of reasons.

If he was faking it, that was a quick reaction time.

That was my thought as well.

Thank you. Even with a fast reaction time it seemed off.

Wow. We've gone from threads where folks are pissed that the writers have bumped McCoy out of "The Big Three" in favor of Uhura to a thread that says because Uhura needed several shots to stun Khan compared to Scotty's one hit that it's because the writers hate women?

I don't think they consciously "hate women," just that it was interesting how those scenes played out, and maybe some latent mysogynistic programming contributed to that. You never know. FWIW, I think they handled Uhura well in the last film, so I think they are capable of having her be a real part of the action in an intelligent way.

In this film, both times her involvement fell flat for me.

For what it's worth, as others have pointed out, Khan flopped like a soccer player when Scotty shot him. His real abilities were seen in full force when Uhura tried to stun him. It wouldn't have mattered who was firing that phaser.

True, but it just happened to be her.

(By the way, if anything, the whole thing shows how bad the phasers are in this universe. Kill or stun. That's it. In TOS, a phaser had graduated settings, so if stun wasn't enough, it could be set to a heavy stun that may have actually stopped Khan in one or two shots.)

Maybe they learn to program settings to their stunners in future movies. You never know.