I can’t update my post, but while ST2:TWOK was very good it was even better because the first movie was very disappointing.
To be fair, the first is a direct quote from Captain Ahab in “Moby Dick” and the second is a paraphrase from the same.
But agreed he nailed the delivery.
Also, Trek has had some literate writers.
I like Khan as a villain, but really, he is no where near as superior as he thinks he is. You’d think a superior being would learn from his first loss to Kirk, but nooooo. He makes the same mistakes again. And loses again. Spectacularly.
At least the Borg learned. that’s why they made the borg Queen for the second encounter. Still lost again, though.*
TWOK points:
When did Khan have the opportunity to read about Klingons, let alone their culture? And besides, it’s a Sicilian proverb.
He quotes Moby Dick like he wrote it (or that no one else has read it). Probably convinced himself he did.
Why do all of Khan’s followers look like Chippendale dancers in their 20s rather than the mixed bag of middle-aged (+ 20 years) we saw in Space Seed? Notice how no one other than Joaquin has lines. Gotta save money where you can! Talk about miscast!
*Speaking of Moby Dick, there were two Star Trek movies with a Moby Dick theme. Going to the well too many times.
That may be a deliberate character flaw.
He had to escape Earth after being deposed in the first place. So he’s lost even more bigly before to non-genetic super people.
And it’s not even an unrealistic flaw. Lots of folks around (including perhaps some of us) who have massive blind spots. And those “only” have above-average intelligence. Super intelligence can magnify the effect.
Good point!
eta: though, of course, [Checkov accented voice] it could be a bit of bad writing
When Checkov and Tyrell were exploring the dwelling on the Ceti Alpha planet, you could see they had a rather small bookshelf, with prominent copy of the Signet Classics edition of Moby Dick. The implication is pretty clear that this was one of the few pieces of literature they had while they were stranded there for all those years. It’s a fair bet that Khan re-read it a LOT, and probably had a lot of the choice quotes memorized, even without wanting to, or requiring a superhuman memory.
Good catch. But he still quotes it like Joaquin wouldn’t recognize it. 
Poor sad Joaquin. Second in command to an egomaniac, sworn to live and die at his command, yet knowing Khan is going to get them all killed from his obsession with Kaaaaark!
Were there not deleted scenes, or perhaps just indications in the script, that Joaquin was intended to be Khan’s son (presumably by the late Lt. McGivers)?
Well, clearly Kirk and Spock had superior message encoding skills - absolutely no-one could figure out what “if hours were like days” encoding meant! Hell, even Lt Saavik was suprised!
I seem to recall that Khan spent some of his time in sickbay recovering from the effects of his suspended animation studying various topics from the ship’s computer.
Or am I thnking of Gary MItchell in “Where No Man Has Gone Before”? Perhaps similar scenes in each?
No - Joaquin was one of the 72 on the Botany Bay - only two were named when Khan went over and revived them.
I always assumed that the young blond Joaquin in the movie was the son of the middle-aged, dark-haired Joaquin of the TV show
They both did. That’s where Khan learned the layout of the Enterprise and how to take it over.
Maybe Khan’s followers in WOK were such youngsters because his earlier crew had bred while marooned? (Did we ever found out if they were still around?)
When Kirk left them on Alpha Ceti III, I’m sure he supplied them with whatever they needed to survive. This probably included some books and at least one computer that would have been stocked with works on galactic history and all the world’s classic literature. I’m guessing the maroonees had plenty of time to read in the intervening 15 years or so.
Or, he could have been this guy 200 years down the road:
[Khan voice] THIS is Ceti Alpha Five!
He gets one that seems prosaic and on-the-nose obvious, but hear me out: Kirk is pleading with the guy, it’s me you want, beam me aboard and spare my crew; and Khan replies that he’ll agree to those terms if — if — in addition to yourself, you hand over to me all data and material regarding the project called Genesis.
Only he pauses before delivering that last word: not for dramatic effect, but to unconvincingly act like it takes a moment to recall something so trivial. And so Kirk replies in kind: unconvincingly acting like the name just doesn’t ring a bell.
KIRK: Genesis, what’s that?
KHAN: Don’t insult my intelligence, Kirk.
Which, again, is a blandly in-character line in itself. But in the context of just having done the same thing to Kirk one sentence prior? It retroactively makes that Shatnerian pause hilarious.
KHAN-N-N-nnnnnn!
(Sorry, some one had to do it, wish I could type Kirks face)
I’ve never figured that out. I know the planets switched orbits, which (according to the latest computer models) is quite possible. But Star Fleet had mapped the system earlier and presumably catalogued all of its constituents. I find it hard to believe Tyrell and Chekhov could so blithely beam onto a planet based solely on the position of its orbit. Everything in the system had been rearranged, fer chrissakes! The Grissom’s computers should have immediately sounded an alert saying “Something’s not right here, guys!”
My favorite:
“The young enter through the ear, and wrap themselves around the cerebral cortex. This has the effect of rendering the victim extremely susceptible to suggestion. Later, as they grow, follows madness…death.”
The pause after “madness” where he switches is gaze from Tyrell to Chekov is powerful.
I liked the moment when Khan suddenly realized they hadn’t come for him. He gives Chekhov a really quiet, sinister look and asks, “Why… are you here?” Then picks him up one-handed by the spacesuit and asks again almost politely, “Why?”