# Wrath of Khan--Kirk's cry of KHAAAN **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [June 21, 2015, 10:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wrath-of-khan-kirks-cry-of-khaaan/723102 "2015-06-21T22:56:24Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![YogSothoth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/8edcca/32.png) [@YogSothoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/YogSothoth)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2015, 5:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wrath-of-khan-kirks-cry-of-khaaan/723102/21 "2015-06-22T17:31:23Z")
Probably the reason why you can’t find threads talking about this is nobody can agree how many A’s to put in “KHAAAAAAAAAN!” ---
**Author:** ![Nonsuch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nonsuch/32/2922_2.png) [@Nonsuch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nonsuch)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2015, 5:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wrath-of-khan-kirks-cry-of-khaaan/723102/22 "2015-06-22T17:38:24Z")
Oh, for what it’s worth, I too don’t get why Kirk would be legitimately angry/upset when he’s just pulled a fast one on Khan (using the most obvious cypher in the history of movies, as I’ve [complained about before](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=18213818&postcount=13)). You’d think he’d be putting on a show, except with the music and the echoes and the wha-HEY glavin, you’re really supposed to take it on the nose that Kirk is past the boiling point. ---
**Author:** ![billfish678](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7bcc69/32.png) [@billfish678](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/billfish678)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2015, 5:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wrath-of-khan-kirks-cry-of-khaaan/723102/23 "2015-06-22T17:41:40Z")
Well, that’s because Kirk is such a good actor. The actor that plays Kirk, not so much. ---
**Author:** ![Tom\_Tildrum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e95f7d/32.png) [@Tom\_Tildrum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Tildrum)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2015, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wrath-of-khan-kirks-cry-of-khaaan/723102/24 "2015-06-22T19:48:55Z")
> [@tonyfop](#): > > True 3 Dimensional combat would have had the Enterprise, while dropping down below the path of Reliant, simultaneously rotate around her lateral axis to point the photon torpedo tubes straight up. But then the torpedoes would have fallen out of the tubes. And everything on the ship would have fallen off the shelves. The galley would have been a complete mess, for instance. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2015, 7:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wrath-of-khan-kirks-cry-of-khaaan/723102/25 "2015-06-22T19:58:52Z")
Can photon torpedoes change course? ---
**Author:** ![Unpronounceable](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/9de0a6/32.png) [@Unpronounceable](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Unpronounceable)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2015, 8:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wrath-of-khan-kirks-cry-of-khaaan/723102/26 "2015-06-22T20:16:34Z")
> [@carnivorousplant](#): > > Can photon torpedoes change course? Like all things _Trek_, it depends on the writer. The only instance I can think of where they definitively did was the “A New Country” movie, where the torpedo homed in on the ion trail of the stealthed Klingon BoP. ---
**Author:** ![Trinopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/2bfe46/32.png) [@Trinopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trinopus)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2015, 10:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wrath-of-khan-kirks-cry-of-khaaan/723102/27 "2015-06-22T22:48:42Z")
> [@tonyfop](#): > > . . . They comment on how Khan doesn’t understand 3 dimensional combat, and then demonstrate that since the writers themselves don’t understand 3 dimensional combat, it looks like Starfleet doesn’t either. True 3 Dimensional combat would have had the Enterprise, while dropping down below the path of Reliant, simultaneously rotate around her lateral axis to point the photon torpedo tubes straight up. Then as Reliant passed over her, Enterprise could fire a full spread through the underside of her saucer and nacelles, utterly destroying her. But no, Enterprise has to come back up to the same plane to fire. HHHHHAAAAARRRRVVVVEEEEE! (Bennett) the writer. YES YES YES! This struck me as really bad writing. Khan doesn’t understand three dimensional combat, but we do, because it’s such an advanced concept, our highly-trained Starfleet officers comprehend the direction we shall call “down.” By calling attention to it, they make it clear that it isn’t commonplace and ordinary. By making it “something special” they only highlight their own 2-D thinking! ---
**Author:** ![Nonsuch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nonsuch/32/2922_2.png) [@Nonsuch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nonsuch)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2015, 11:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wrath-of-khan-kirks-cry-of-khaaan/723102/28 "2015-06-22T23:12:20Z")
> [@Unpronounceable](#): > > Like all things _Trek_, it depends on the writer. The only instance I can think of where they definitively did was the “A New Country” movie, where the torpedo homed in on the ion trail of the stealthed Klingon BoP. And they made a big deal about modifying the torpedo on the fly to be able to do this. Why wouldn’t all torpedoes be built to do that? A torpedo could have a dozen different ways of tracking a target. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wrath-of-khan-kirks-cry-of-khaaan/723102.md?page=1)