Star Trek II - Wrath of Khan picks up a nemesis from the from the original television series named Khan. Khan was an evil dictator on Earth who viewed himself as a prince of marvelous and noble deed. Captain Kirk put him in his place and sent him into exile on a far away planet called Ceti Alpha VI. (1967 TV episode: Space Seed)
The movie Wrath of Khan picks up years later. Khan has escaped the wastelands of Ceti Alpha VI by siezing control of the Federation ship Reliant. Khan is hell bent on finding Kirk and avenging his honor and his rampage leads him to the Rugula I Science Station where an old girlfriend of Kirk - Dr. Carol Marcus - and her son Dr. David Marcus are set to test the Genesis Device, part of the Genesis Project expected to bring new life to desolate spaces. Dr. Marcus has concerns that the device could be used as a weapon. Khan informs them that the Reliant has located the first test run area on Ceti Alpha VI and sets his sites on gaining control of the 'weapon'.
At this point James T. Kirk, a much older and less fit Admiral in the Federation Starfleet, who still dreams of adventures among the stars, has reluctantly accepted a new role as bureaucratic overseer. Dr. Marcus contacts Admiral Kirk with her complaint regarding Starfleet and Kirk soon finds himself back on board Enterprise - now under the command of his longtime friend Captain Spock - unknowingly headed in the direction orchastrated by Khan himself.
Khan is as barbarian as they come. A wildly angry man with intelligence far superior than one would expect. His intense hatred for Kirk is fiercely expressed and commands respect and action from those under his thumb who would dare not question his reasoning. Khan overtakes the Regula I science station with brutal and deadly force and then simply waits for the arrival of Kirk.
Kirk and Khan are like two in the same, both egotistical and extremely sure of themselves and their ability to win. Where Kirk stands on the side of good, Khan remains forever on the side of evil. This places Enterprise and the Reliant in a quite interesting and nasty game of 'cat and mouse' using the gaseous clouds of a nebula. Hide and seek. Life and death. Kirk and Khan. The victor finally realizes he must somehow outwit his opponent with superior intelligence and Enterprise is left without warp power and seemingly without escape.
Interspersed with this risky game is The Genesis Project. Here we find an instrument capable of recreating life on a once desolate planet. We see it create something wonderful where there once was nothing and we see a new cycle of a father who once did not exist become someone to admire. We soon realize however that where there is good there must also lurk evil and one can never assume the role of God without sacrifice. Nothing forces this issue more than the willing sacrifice one of Enterprise's own. Here we see great knowledge transferred from Spock to 'Bones' and human emotion that transcends beyond friendship. "The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few, or the one." Is the sentence spoken as through tear filled eyes we the Enterprise loss as our own. We are however reminded by Admiral Kirk that Mr. Spock once said: "there are always possibilities."
-Synopsis Courtesy of the Late Trek Pulse
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