Why did Kirk let Khan go at the end of Space Seed?

[The Rock]

Basically Kirk lets Khan live on Ceti Alpha V because he says it would be a "waste" to put Khan in a penal colony.

BUT WAIT! Khan had just tried to murder Kirk and his entire crew earlier in the episode! What?!

Considering what happened in ST II: TWOK, it was a very unwise and poor decision to let Khan go free.

What was Kirk thinking?! He should have made Khan answer for his crimes in Space Seed, and the many other crimes he committed as a war criminal back in the Eugenics Wars!

What Kirk did would've been no different than Adolf Hitler surviving WW II somehow and the world finding him years later and just letting him go live on some island somewhere.

 

[Smoked Salmon]

I think the "waste" comes about due to the advanced intellectual and physical abilities of the augments - and stranding them on a planet to fend for themselves was pretty much the same as a penal colony given that they were from the 20th Century and likely didn't know how to build modern technology. Having to survive on their own was probably a harsher punishment than a managed penal colony.

 

[The Rock]

I think the "waste" comes about due to the advanced intellectual and physical abilities of the augments - and stranding them on a planet to fend for themselves was pretty much the same as a penal colony given that they were from the 20th Century and likely didn't know how to build modern technology. Having to survive on their own was probably a harsher punishment than a managed penal colony.

I see what you mean, but Kirk still should've turned him in to the Federation authorities. He was a war criminal, after all.

 

[Timo]

No, he's not.

After discovering Khan's identity, the senior officers gather to discuss the situation. They have access to all the data in their computers, and they seem to know a thing or two themselves. Their unanimous opinion is that Khan was a veritable Gandhi as far as leaders go.

If Khan were guilty of war crimes, this would have come up in the discussion. Unless said war crimes were of the sort that our heroes approved of, and personally considered the accusers the worse criminals. Which is an option we have to ponder only because of additional evidence from outside the scope of the episode.

Namely, in an alternate timeline, our heroes are told by a war criminal and enemy of Khan that Khan is guilty of war crimes. They have no time to check the facts on this. Khan himself laments that his kind were condemned as criminals, but this lying scumbag doesn't specify war crimes.

So we can choose between
a) condemned in absentia for war crimes, and Kirk laughs derisively at the now-dead judges and considers Khan a great leader
b) never condemned for war crimes

Either way, Khan is Kirk's hero. Moreover, out of Kirk's opponents, he's the one who never kills anybody. Compared to the likes of Lenore Karidian, he's a saint, and Karidian goes to a funny farm, of the sort that in "Dagger of the Mind" gives Kirk no good memories. It would be odd for Kirk to fail to show mercy befitting two "men of the universe" patting each other on the back, and marooning Khan is as good a way as any.

Timo Saloniemi

 

[Iamnotspock]

Moreover, out of Kirk's opponents, he's the one who never kills anybody. Compared to the likes of Lenore Karidian, he's a saint

Except when he tries to suffocate Kirk to death.

 

[Timo]

His kill rate still remains a flat zero.

And Kirk returns the courtesy readily enough, with that futuro-crowbar. That appears to suffice for two manly men settling their score, after which cooler heads can prevail.

Really, if Kirk went apeshit every time an opponent tried to kill him, there'd be no end to it. He's a soldier by profession - killing is part of the job.

Timo Saloniemi

 

[9gs]

Maybe Kirk thought sending Khan to a Penal Colony would just give him another opportunity to escape. Marooning him on a uninhabited planet was a humane way of "getting rid" of him where he could no longer pose a threat to anyone.

 

[2takesfrakes]

Kirk was -- more than once -- accused of being a "Romantic." His dispelling of justice to Khan is but one example of this. Other examples include when a Starfleet Officer who's made a crucial mistake, or gone nuts because of factors beyond his control, are allowed their dignity, because of Kirk's stamp on the matter. Matt Decker's a Hero to the Federation, thanks to Kirk's Captain's Logs. Gary Mitchell and Captain Garth are allowed to keep their former reputations intact, because of Kirk's spin on these matters. I love that aspect of James T. Kirk. It may not be "appropriate" in a strict sense of the word ... but it's the Human thing to do.

 

[Spock's Barber]

Kirk suffered a brain fart.

 

[Timo]

Kirk also mistakenly thinks that settling on a planet is what Khan wants to do. Without consulting the superman, he assumes that the mission of the Botany Bay was to escape from Earth and then land somewhere else.

The actual events may not support the interpretation. The Botany Bay has no apparent destination. Khan isn't indicated to have been set to thaw at a destination, but at contact with other vessels. The sleeper ship sends an explicit SOS, indicating it wants to be found. And when it is found, Khan uses this event for hijacking the ship of his rescuers and abandoning his original vessel and supposedly also most of its cargo.

A flying mousetrap scenario where Khan has every intent of returning to a conquest spree is IMHO much likelier. For his return, the passage of time since his last appearance would be crucial - "Have they forgotten me yet?"; for reaching exile, this would not be the first question on Khan's lips. The facts can be made to fit other scenarios as well, though. And if Khan is one thing, it's smooth: he reads people and makes them do his bidding even without coercion. A single line of missed dialogue between the two men could have made Kirk decide on a course of action in fact suggested to him by Khan.

Timo Saloniemi

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

How could Kirk have arrested and confined Khan and his group? They have superhuman strength, speed and endurance. There's no way you can restrain beings like that. Hell, I'm still wondering how Kirk managed to beat Khan in hand-to-hand combat...

 

[mos6507]

The story, by virtue of the ship being called the Botany Bay, needs to end with Khan and company being banished ala the founding of Australia. It is, depending on your point of view, a prison. It's a prison by virtue of isolating them in a way that keeps them from doing harm, but is seen as humane by virtue of giving them a degree of self-determination and not just executing them. The galaxy is a huge place and it's quite easy to exact this sort of punishment.

This may seem rather light for a villain such as Khan, but consider the attempt at rehabilitation of a mass-killer like Garth of Izar. This was the late 60s after all and Star Trek was not going to advocate capital punishment. Consider that, for better or worse, even Charles Manson was never put to death and is still with us.

 

[Mr Awe]

Agree, Kirk should have turned Khan over to Starfleet authorities. It seems likely, although not guaranteed, that Khan is a war criminal. Even if not a war criminal, he definitely tried to hijack the Enterprise and kill Kirk, which is a crime by itself. The authorities would have had the time and resources to compile all of the available facts, come to a consensus, have a trial if necessary, etc. However, that doesn't make as "romantic" of an ending.

Mr Awe

 

[Timo]

But Kirk is the Starfleet authority. And in all of Star Trek, we learn of no Federation law enforcement authority other than Starfleet, and we suffer from a decisive lack of references to courts and judges as well (save for Starfleet-internal disciplinary mechanisms, which is where our one and only lawyer also makes his appearance). Moreover, crime is not being met with punishment in the TOS era at all - it is considered an illness that can be cured, without any punitive element to it.

So where would Kirk send Khan? To a medical board that judges that he should be brainwashed of his superhuman ambition? To a military trial even though Khan is no soldier in the one and only military? If Khan is a war criminal, then there's no need for a trial there - his charges would have been read and his sentence passed already, and Kirk could then observe that it's no longer valid in the current, sentence-devoid system of criminal management.

Punishing Khan in a formal court would be the expected thing to do. It would not be consistent with Star Trek, though.

Timo Saloniemi

 

[BK613]

Just an FYI; there is no SOS distress call in this episode. Or any distress call at all. The Botany Bay is sending out CQ, which is the wireless/ham radio signal for "Is there anyone there? If so, please respond on this frequency." You can see young Ellie Arroway using the same call to preface her transmissions in Contact.

 

[UssGlenn]

Maybe Kirk thought sending Khan to a Penal Colony would just give him another opportunity to escape. Marooning him on a uninhabited planet was a humane way of "getting rid" of him where he could no longer pose a threat to anyone.

Indeed, anywhere he has access to people and ships, no matter how secure, allows the possibility of escape. Without going into spoilers, the last episode of Sherlock deals with a senerio like this.

 

[J.T.B.]

Agree, Kirk should have turned Khan over to Starfleet authorities. It seems likely, although not guaranteed, that Khan is a war criminal. Even if not a war criminal, he definitely tried to hijack the Enterprise and kill Kirk, which is a crime by itself. The authorities would have had the time and resources to compile all of the available facts, come to a consensus, have a trial if necessary, etc. However, that doesn't make as "romantic" of an ending.

The whole hearing, dropping charges, banishing and quoting Milton makes for a nifty dramatic-license ending but isn't really credible. Unless you want to believe, for one thing, that Starfleet ignores basic conflicts of interest in its legal proceedings, Kirk himself being a victim of and witness against the accused.

 

[Mr Awe]

^ Precisely. Best to have an independent panel do this.

 

[Ronald Held]

In an ideal universe, Kirk would have informed Starfleet about where Khan was and the system might be quarantined or at least had a ship monitoring the system from a distance.
Who could have Forseen the reliant in the Ceti alpha system without the Captain briefed on who lived there?

 

[Galileo7]

Why did Kirk let Khan go at the end of Space Seed? So WOK could be made.

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