Sunday, November 12, 2017

Star Trek Movies and it's..maybe love for obscured characters...or not.

Warning!!! There will be spoilers.

After writing my previous entry about the DC Extended Universe using lesser-known characters as main villains in their recent films, I started to remember a Star Trek movie that came out a few years ago. Star Trek Into Darkness.




There was a villain named John Harrison.
However it was revealed that John Harrison was an alias to hide his true identity. He is the iconic villain known as Khan Noonien Singh.


It be funny if the upcoming Justice League movie has this scene.
"Steppenwolf was a fiction created the moment I was awoken by your Lex Luthor Jr to advance his cause. A smokescreen to hide my identity. My name is...Darkseid."
However Steppenwolf is an actual pre-existing character the DC lore. Sorry DC fans but your getting a lesser known villain.

Anyways, Khan's history is that he was a genetically engineered human who conquers a 3rd of the world in the mid-1990s. You guys remember when that happen, right? I guess back in the 60s, the writers didn't know the franchise be going on for decades.

Khan, along with other genetically engineered humans were captured and put in cryo freeze and thrown into space. The original series had the Enterprise crew found Khan and he try to take over the ship.

A decade and a half later, Star Trek started making movies and one had them fighting Khan again.

All the Star Trek movies from 2009 and onwards takes place in a alternate universe separate from the other Star Trek. Just like how Mortal Kombat 9 aka MK 2011 started with Raiden sending a message back in time created a different timeline. Star Trek Into Darkness was a sort of somewhat retelling of the classic movie, The Wrath of Khan. Even Spock's death got rehash with Kirk in his place.(He came back from the dead less than 10 minutes.)


There were rumors circling around about who the mysterious John Harrison was. Alot of people had a feeling that Harrison really was Khan long before the movie was out. When I heard the rumors that he was Khan, seeing he's a patsy white dude and not a white Mexican pretending to be Indian/an actual Indian. I figure he got surgery to hide his identity. The guy was the Hitler or Neapolitan of the 1990s and anyone can easily spot him. 

For the longest time, I honesty believe the main villain was going to be some dude named Gary Mitchell.
A quick search through Google showed me a generic Starfleet officer. Like I can remember him.

Farther research told me he was from the 2nd pilot episode.(The one with Kirk as captain of the ship, not Pike.) He was best buds with Kirk but the ship got hit by a force force that made him into a godlike being. He was becoming a major threat to the crew. It came to the point Kirk had to fight and kill him.

At the time that I believe he was the main baddie, it seems like a weird and obscured choice but then again, the original series didn't exactly have a large rogues gallery.

Another thing I should add is that there was a blond female on the episode and Gary turn her into his side. Look at her.
Yeah, they look alike. If you believe the rumors that Cumberbatch is playing Gary Mitchell, it wouldn't be hard to believe this blond girl is going to be same from the 2nd pilot episode.

However, it was reveal that the girl is Carol Marcus. She was in the other Khan movie and she was Kirk's baby mama.

Both Khan and Gary Mitchell were the top guesses for who is John Harrison. There were a few others.

One was Garth of Izar
He was a fallen starship captain that was sent to an asylum. He took over the place with his mental powers. He got defeated at the end of the episode.

Another one was Colonel Green.
There was a episode where aliens bring heroes and villains from different periods of time and make them combat each other. Some were actual people in history like Abraham Lincoln and Genghis Khan. The rest were made up that were given a vague descriptions of their histories. Surak and Kahless were introduced the very first time in this episode that became major figures in the Vulcan and Klingon mythos that the later series explored. One was guy called Colonel Green who led a genocidal war. He wasn't seen again in Star Trek until very very late in the show Enterprise where he killed off a butch of mutated humans to kept the world pure.

However all these theories of who John Harrison is some obscured choices. They should chose a well known villain, like Khan Noonian Singh. Which they did.

However, the thing about Khan is if you ignore the 1982 movie, Khan is obscured as any of the others. He was simply a villain of the week. In some sort of way, the 2nd movie chose an obscured villain.

If it wasn't for that movie, the chances of Khan being the main villain in the 12th film would be on even ground with the rest of the obscure choices. However Khan was one of the more popular villains. He was played a popular actor and he was his backstory did show some background on what happen to Earth before the events of Star Trek.


The original Star Trek show had a very small rouges gallery. They only had the Klingons and the Romulans. The only recurring villain as a single character that they have was some dude named Harry Mudd and he was a comical thief that keeps running into the Enterprise.

Star Trek back then and most of it's later shows normally had villains of the week. The later shows did had a bigger display of recurring villains in the later shows like Q, the Borg Queen, Lore, Sela, Gul Dukat, Female Changling. Heck, the Duras sisters(a family that tries to dishonor Worf's family) were actual villains in the 1st Next Generation film but they played 2nd fiddle the original made for movie villain, Soran.

However the thing is that Star Trek isn't like your typical film that's based on a comic that chooses from the line of the most popular villains the hero has faced. Most of the ST movies have villains that are original and even if Kirk is fighting the Klingons again, it's going to be a different one usually.

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