God (or J.J. Abrams) Listened: No Khan in Star Trek 2
Mon, October 25, 2010 
Short version: Thank. God!
Long version: As much as fandom drooled over the prospects, they really don't want to see Khan tackled in Star Trek 2. Its way too soon into this rebooted franchise and there are so many directions Team Abrams can head to just settle on the safest route possible because "that's what fans want."
Hey, fans initially balked when the plot of J.J. Abrams' 2009 Trek reboot leaked and how they intended to restart the universe while adhering to continuity. It sounded hokey, and honestly, stupid. But damn, did it work spectacularly.
Badass Digest reports the genetically engineered tyrant won't be making an appearance in the untitled Trek follow-up for June 2012. Neither are Abrams and producers/screenwriters Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci centering on "a traditional 'villain'" adding:
"It's definitely a character that will make fans of TOS excited. Think along the lines of Harry Mudd or Trelane or Gary Mitchell or the Talosians or the Horta. Actually it's one of those that I named."
Of those characters, I'm only aware of the Talosians – was never religiously involved with any of the series, but I did watch the two-parter The Menagerie. Them I could see being trouble for Chris Pine's Captain Kirk, Zachary Quinto's Spock and the rest of the U.S.S. Enterprise.
I'm sure some won't be pleased with this development. But the man in glasses and K&O should be able to do whatever they so please with Trek 2 and we should just nod and say, "Thank you, Sir. May I have another?" because they’ve earned the benefit of the doubt.
Reader Comments (3)
Wouldn't mind those characters. I personally want klingons myself. But they could always do a new race to.
Thank the lord that it won't be Khan! That choice would have just set ridiculous high expectations for fans and would have been a too soon choice.
Jamie -
A quick rundown.
Harry Mudd is sort of a space pirate.
Trelane is an all-powerful being who can will anything into existence. But he's a spoiled brat and is therefore hell on wheels with his powers.
Gary Mitchell is an old buddy of Kirk's, who has a high ESP rating and as such gets singled out (along with a hot blonde doctor named Elizabeth Dehner) by an alien probe an ends up evolving into something ridiculously powerful - with silver eyes. They're so dangerous that the enterprise crew ends up marooning them at the Dilithium mining station on Delta Vega -- yeah, that ice world where Spock ditched KIrk in JJ Trek, and where Scotty and his sidekick were similarly marooned.
The Horta is an acid-secreting blob that looks like an enormous pile of puked-up pizza lives in caves. A bunch of miners dig into its habitat and piss it off, and start getting attacked by it. Kirk, Spock, and Bones discover that it's a mother and is protecting its young. So they give it its space and stop hunting it.
The Horta desn't fit at ALL with the rest of the list. But I can see JJ and company doing amazing things with Trelane, the Talosians, or Harcourt Fenton Mudd... or even Gary Mitchell. But Mitchell's only interesting if they turn that story on its ear. The Talosians, or Trelane can be used in a lot of badass ways. And Harry Mudd... is just Star Wars enough to appeal to JJ.