Warning! The Following Contains SPOILERS From Star Trek: Khan Episode 4, “Magical Thinking”
Khan Noonien Singh (Naveen Andrews) and Marla McGivers (Wrenn Schmidt) finally have the opportunity to enjoy a small victory as the pair fall deeper in love during the latest installment of the must-listen podcast. Star Trek: Khan episode 4 “Magical Thinking” does them this small favor before their neighboring planet explodes and turns the so-called paradise of Ceti Alpha V into a tragic wasteland. The audio drama gives Khan an opportunity to become even more a hero in his people’s minds as he and the Augments defeat the Ceti eel Queen in episode 4 with a little help — a lot, actually — from Marla and the phaser she smuggled onto the planet.
The idea of Khan being a “tragic hero” has always been at the crux of Nicholas Meyer’s (The Wrath of Khan, The Undiscovered Country) story reflecting this other side of the 20th century tyrant, which writers Kirsten Beyer and David Mack have transformed into the riveting audio drama Star Trek: Khan. In a recent interview, Beyer discussed the evolution of Khan’s heroic journey and how the podcast evolved from Meyer’s original narrative. Beyer said (via TrekMovie.com):
“So, there were nine scripts and kind of the full shape of the thing. And Nick [Meyer] had a very clear story he wanted to tell, which was essentially Khan as a tragic hero, which I thought was an interesting take. The challenge that was in front of us was that when Nick had made Wrath of Khan, there were 80 hours of Star Trek in existence or so. And now there are like over 900. And he wasn’t familiar with most of that. He really had no idea how much Khan and the Augments and that whole thing had begun to impact other areas of canon and knock up against other stories.”
Beyer and Mack do an excellent job of focusing on the 15 years that Khan, Marla, and the Augments were marooned on Ceti Alpha V, while flashing forward selectively to 2293 where Dr. Rosalind Lear (Sonya Cassidy) carefully listens to the log entries left behind by the former historian of the USS Enterprise. Sadly, as Trekkies already know, Ceti Alpha VI blowing up will galvanize Khan to do everything in his power to save his people — to become even more of a hero by assuring they survive the catastrophe. And rest assured, Beyer is well-versed with the “bigger picture” of Khan and the ones who survive to fight another day in Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan. Beyer continued by saying in the same interview:
“So, it was first very important to make sure that the story we were telling lined up with the much bigger picture. And then beyond that, we needed a reason to tell the story now. Like you can certainly just start this on day one on Ceti Alpha and take yourself all the way through however far you want to go to get to the end, right? But for me, for this thing to have a purpose, there needed to be characters who were sort of entering this from the audience’s point of view. People already know the history, they already know what’s going to happen. That’s not the big thing here. So why should they care? And a lot of that is where the framing story came from. What is the mystery at the heart of this thing? And it becomes the identity of Khan.”
What do you think of the latest episode? Which part was your favorite? Marla revealing she’s pregnant? The battle with the Ceti eel Queen? Khan finally marrying the woman he loves? Share your thoughts and comments on the Redshirts Always Die Facebook and X pages. And check out new episodes of Star Trek: Khan every Monday through Nov. 3, wherever you listen to your favorite podcasts.
Live long and prosper, Trekkies!