Star Trek, the original series, season 1 episode 22: Space Seed

release year: 1967
genre: television sci-fi
viewing setting: home streaming 8/5/24 and home DVD 7/17/97

synopsis: The Enterprise stumbles upon an old ship full of 20th century Earth people...who turn out to be exiled superhumans bent on domination.

impressions: Not only was this one of the best episodes from the original series, but fifteen years later they made a movie to continue the story of Khan. He's easily one of the most dangerous (and yet most charismatic) villains from the series, and he wastes no time after being revived, quickly learning how the modern starship works and grooming an ally to help him take over. Frankly, Kirk and friends were lucky to have beaten Khan's people.

acting: Kirk is a real smart-ass in this one, with some early quips. He and the others also mess with Spock as they all discuss the merits and problems of Khan and his actions back in the 1990s. But this episode really belongs to Ricardo Montablan, whose villain has some positive attributes and at times is both smarter and more cultured than everyone around him.

final word: Excellent episode from the early days of the series.

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