# STII-Wrath of Khan: Did Khan have a legit gripe? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [August 28, 2015, 1:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stii-wrath-of-khan-did-khan-have-a-legit-gripe/729129 "2015-08-28T01:33:23Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 6
**Author:** ![Face\_Intentionally\_Left\_Blank](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/face_intentionally_left_blank/32/288_2.png) [@Face\_Intentionally\_Left\_Blank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Face_Intentionally_Left_Blank)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2015, 12:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stii-wrath-of-khan-did-khan-have-a-legit-gripe/729129/101 "2015-08-30T00:20:09Z")
> [@cochrane](#): > > Yeah, but George Takei was off filming _The Green Berets_, so Walter Koenig got Takei’s lines in _The Trouble With Tribbles_. But yeah, it made sense for Sulu to know about the quadrotriticale since he was a botanical expert. Wasn’t the joke that EVERYONE know about quadrotriticale but Kirk? As an aside, I only recently found out that triticale was a real thing. ---
**Author:** ![Chimera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Chimera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chimera)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2015, 12:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stii-wrath-of-khan-did-khan-have-a-legit-gripe/729129/102 "2015-08-30T00:23:20Z")
Ah, Khan. What a nutjob. I remember the time he kidnapped Victoria Jackson, put one of those brain slug things in her and we just sat around getting stoned and asking her the most innocuous questions possible. What her favorite color was. Whether she liked cats. That sort of thing. Drove her completely nuts. She couldn’t ever figure out why the whole brain slug thing for just that. Anyway, what was the question again? ---
**Author:** ![Gretchion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/8edcca/32.png) [@Gretchion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gretchion)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2015, 11:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stii-wrath-of-khan-did-khan-have-a-legit-gripe/729129/103 "2015-08-30T23:59:50Z")
> [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](#): > > If they were looking for a planet that was completely devoid of life, they probably should start with ones that don’t have atmospheres. Talk about lazy - Tyrell and Checkov couldn’t _wait_ to “transplant” whatever was living on the planet, rather than moving on. If they took their job a bit more seriously, Khan would still be stuck on his rock, and Spock and David would still be alive. But then where would Kirk and company be when the whale probe comes a knockin’? ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2015, 3:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stii-wrath-of-khan-did-khan-have-a-legit-gripe/729129/104 "2015-08-31T03:26:08Z")
> [@Gretchion](#): > > But then where would Kirk and company be when the whale probe comes a knockin’? They would be in earth orbit with a fully intact Enterprise. ---
**Author:** ![AncientHumanoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ancienthumanoid/32/278_2.png) [@AncientHumanoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AncientHumanoid)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2015, 3:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stii-wrath-of-khan-did-khan-have-a-legit-gripe/729129/105 "2015-08-31T03:38:11Z")
Kirk would put the moves on a ceti ET, and the planet would be doomed decades before Wolf359 ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2015, 5:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stii-wrath-of-khan-did-khan-have-a-legit-gripe/729129/106 "2015-08-31T05:15:02Z")
> [@Face\_Intentionally\_Left\_Blank](#): > > Wasn’t the joke that EVERYONE know about quadrotriticale but Kirk? Well, it _was_ a Russian invention. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Your\_Great\_Darsh\_Face](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/ac8455/32.png) [@Your\_Great\_Darsh\_Face](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Your_Great_Darsh_Face)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2015, 6:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stii-wrath-of-khan-did-khan-have-a-legit-gripe/729129/107 "2015-08-31T06:42:13Z")
> [@ExTank](#): > > @ the OP: > > I don’t think Khan had any reason to legitimately gripe about his and his people’s situation. > > Kirk basically said: “You wanna be a master race, with power over billions? Well, here you go: your very own world. It can sustain human life, here’s some starter supplies out of your ship, so go, be a leader of your people, and build the kind of society you want.” > Khan and his people faced the same perils of natural disasters that the rest of humanity did in our “primitive” state. Indeed. His vast superhuman intelligence comprehended the benefits of living as a peaceful, productive member of Federation society, and all he did was quote Milton: “Better to rule in Hell than serve in Heaven”. Then he throws his toys out of the pram because Hell turns out to actually be Hell instead of the Garden of Eden, through no-one’s fault, least of all Kirk’s. @ **cochrane** : that’s “inwention”, surely? 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Gretchion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/8edcca/32.png) [@Gretchion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gretchion)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2015, 8:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stii-wrath-of-khan-did-khan-have-a-legit-gripe/729129/108 "2015-08-31T08:07:52Z")
> [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](#): > > They would be in earth orbit with a fully intact Enterprise. They would have been caught off guard just like everyone else. Their saving grace in the movie was that they were en route home and got the message to watch out. ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2015, 11:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stii-wrath-of-khan-did-khan-have-a-legit-gripe/729129/109 "2015-08-31T11:29:21Z")
> [@Gretchion](#): > > They would have been caught off guard just like everyone else. Their saving grace in the movie was that they were en route home and got the message to watch out. This.several months pass between Treks II-III and IV; the training mission would have been long over by then. ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2015, 2:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stii-wrath-of-khan-did-khan-have-a-legit-gripe/729129/110 "2015-08-31T14:53:20Z")
> [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](#): > > This.several months pass between Treks II-III and IV; the training mission would have been long over by then. I’ll let this hijack go, but with one more comment - why don’t you think they could have been on _another_ training cruise when the whale talkin’ probe showed up? When the plot demands it, there will be one! (Of course, I think the first thing the two whales would have told their alien overlords that humans had killed them all, and then the probe would have killed all human life on the planet. But then, I hate that movie. 🙂 ) ---
**Author:** ![Dale\_Sams](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/779978/32.png) [@Dale\_Sams](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dale_Sams)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2015, 7:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stii-wrath-of-khan-did-khan-have-a-legit-gripe/729129/111 "2015-08-31T19:03:28Z")
Kirk: “Mr. Spock, can you make sure our next Ship’s Historian is a frail old man?” ---
**Author:** ![AncientHumanoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ancienthumanoid/32/278_2.png) [@AncientHumanoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AncientHumanoid)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2015, 7:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stii-wrath-of-khan-did-khan-have-a-legit-gripe/729129/112 "2015-08-31T19:49:10Z")
What does God need with a Star Gate? ---
**Author:** ![msmith537](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@msmith537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/msmith537)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2015, 11:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stii-wrath-of-khan-did-khan-have-a-legit-gripe/729129/113 "2015-08-31T23:35:47Z")
[QUOTE=wevets] I thought they knew that one of the planets in the system exploded, but just thought that it was the wrong one - just a mix-up between which one was Ceti Alpha V and which one was Ceti Alpha VI… and presumably a mix-up on which one had Khan on it. [/quote] They are literally there to survey the planet to test the Genesis device on. Seems to me that “mixing up” which planet is which is pretty incompetent. Not to mention, did Kirk just dump Kahn and his gang of criminals there and not tell anyone? I mean wouldn’t the ships computer chime in with some sort of travel advisory that they were approaching a makeshift Federation penal colony? Or did Kirk just say “fuck this dude”? ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2015, 12:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stii-wrath-of-khan-did-khan-have-a-legit-gripe/729129/114 "2015-09-01T00:19:52Z")
> [@msmith537](#): > > They are literally there to survey the planet to test the Genesis device on. Seems to me that “mixing up” which planet is which is pretty incompetent. > > Not to mention, did Kirk just dump Kahn and his gang of criminals there and not tell anyone? I mean wouldn’t the ships computer chime in with some sort of travel advisory that they were approaching a makeshift Federation penal colony? > > Or did Kirk just say “fuck this dude”? I like the Memory Alpha explanation given up thread ---
**Author:** ![Kamino\_Neko](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kamino_neko/32/34_2.png) [@Kamino\_Neko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kamino_Neko)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2015, 1:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stii-wrath-of-khan-did-khan-have-a-legit-gripe/729129/115 "2015-09-01T01:12:56Z")
> [@cochrane](#): > > Well, it _was_ a Russian invention. 😉 Say whatever else you will about the new movies, but divesting Chekov of that habit makes the whole exercise worthwhile. ---
**Author:** ![Gretchion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/8edcca/32.png) [@Gretchion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gretchion)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2015, 3:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stii-wrath-of-khan-did-khan-have-a-legit-gripe/729129/116 "2015-09-01T03:40:50Z")
> [@msmith537](#): > > Or did Kirk just say “fuck this dude”? Yes. And Marla McGivers followed orders. ---
**Author:** ![AncientHumanoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ancienthumanoid/32/278_2.png) [@AncientHumanoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AncientHumanoid)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2015, 3:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stii-wrath-of-khan-did-khan-have-a-legit-gripe/729129/117 "2015-09-01T03:49:07Z")
Captain, I sense… Sexiness. Rich, Corinthian sexiness. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stii-wrath-of-khan-did-khan-have-a-legit-gripe/729129.md?page=5)