What it’s mainly about
When the Enterprise finds a sleeper ship of twentieth-century “strong men,” almost everyone assumes that their leader, Khan, has left his dreams of domination back on planet Earth. But the ship’s historian, Lt. Marla McGivers, understands otherwise. A strongman (tyrant, dictator) never willingly gives up that approach to life. And she will help him in his renewal — but what of the rest of the crew? And what happens when Captain Kirk realizes that his “guest” means to take him and the rest of the crew prisoner on their own ship?
Khan, about to prove to McGivers that he can do anything — including re-arranging her hair.
Why it’s awesome
The age-old questions of politics are never far from the best Star Trek episodes, and this one in particular entertainingly explores them. Much of the crew, including McCoy and Scotty, and perhaps even (to a limited extent) Kirk himself find something grand and even admirable in Khan. Only Spock is entirely immune to Khan’s charm — and is prepared to state his arguments against Khan’s kind of rule. In reality, Kirk can only take a relaxed attitude when the idea of Khan’s power remains firmly in the past. Once it threatens the present and the future, Kirk takes off the kid gloves and goes full in for the fight…. Wonderful dialogue, great acting, and Khan was so good that we later got a splendid movie in his name (Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, 1982).