When it became known that Khan would be the antagonist of Star Trek II, how was the fan reaction?

[Skipper]

Was it unexpected? Did it seem strange to have a direct sequel to an episode of the classic series? And how was Khan perceived before the film? A worthy adversary? Or did he owe all his success to the film, and before its release, fans were thinking, "Who, him?!"?

 

[BillJ]

Ricardo Montalban was pretty well known from Fantasy Island before TWOK. I can’t honestly remember what fan reaction was, if any.

 

[BillJ]

Feels like we should summon @Maurice and @Greg Cox, who were around.

 

[Nerys Myk]

Ricardo Montalban was pretty well known from Fantasy Island before TWOK. I can’t honestly remember what fan reaction was, if any.

Me neither. More of an "Oh, that guy from that episode" reaction. I'm not sure if Khan was even thought of as a top tier villain, back then. "Space Seed" was one of the better episodes.

 

[Skipper]

Me neither. More of an "Oh, that guy from that episode" reaction. I'm not sure if Khan was even thought of as a top tier villain, back then. "Space Seed" was one of the better episodes.

Maybe he was simply one of that very small group of villains who were still alive at the end of an episode?

 

[Nerys Myk]

Maybe he was simply one of that very small group of villains who were still alive at the end of an episode?

All the main Klingons were alive. Others too. Only a handful of baddies bought it, IIRC. I think Khan was chosen because he was a good opponent for Kirk and Montalban had name recognition from TV.

 

[BillJ]

Maybe he was simply one of that very small group of villains who were still alive at the end of an episode?

All the main Klingons were alive. Others too. Only a handful of baddies bought it, IIRC. I think Khan was chosen because he was a good opponent for Kirk and Montalban had name recognition from TV.

I think the driver for the story was Kirk wondering what would happen with Khan and his people at the end of "Space Seed".

 

[Maurice]

Feels like we should summon @Maurice and @Greg Cox, who were around.

Me neither. More of an "Oh, that guy from that episode" reaction. I'm not sure if Khan was even thought of as a top tier villain, back then. "Space Seed" was one of the better episodes.

I wasn't very plugged into fandom then, but I'd guess a scan of old issues of things like The Best of Trek or the fanzines would probably indicate Khan wasn't that popular prior to the movie. I think having him there promised more action, and post-TMP, that was what a lot of fans wanted.

 

[CoveTom]

We tend to think of Khan as a legendary villain now, but I believe that came from TWOK and not from "Space Seed." By the time of TWOK, Montalban was indeed a pretty well-known and well-respected actor, but not because of Khan. As I recall, Harve Bennett had the original idea to use Khan and came to it simply from his watching of the 79 TOS episodes and feeling like Khan was a good character but also that the episode ended with Kirk wondering what would happen to them in the years down the road and Bennett thought that was a good springboard for the movie.

 

[mkstewartesq]

I was there, about 14 years old at the time and an avid fan having started watching the show in the early 1970s in syndication.

You have to remember that we had been steeped on endless re-watching of 79 episodes that we knew in and out, back to front. When TMP came along, we were all greatly excited to finally see new Trek beyond those 79 episodes – while it was enjoyable, some people found TMP somewhat disconnected from the series (less action, no colorful uniforms, etc.). So my distinct personal recollection is being really excited when I heard they were bringing Khan back, because it was a direct tie back into those 79 episodes we had been marinating in for the past 10 years or more, and promised some sort of return to the feel of those episodes.

M