Space Seed

...till the Wrath of Khan that is. In a precursor to one of the finest Stark Trek films, this is the episode that introduces the 'superman' type of villain in specially-bred Khan, who came aboard the enterprise following a sort of 'dethawing' that awoke him from sleep since the 1990s. It's a fascinating episode just on the basis of how there is almost a game made out of power, of things that aren't said but intonated about who's in charge. And the title, to be sure, isn't just something suggestive. There's a power-ideal going on there too, a Darwin thing almost. Oh sure, there's the typical facet of the villain taking over the ship and making the crew choose the captain (death) or him (subservience to an Alexander-type figure).

Sure there's the defector in McGievens, who lit by the cameramen to look like she's in an impressionist painting, and how she loses sight of her professional interest in history for the magnetism of his will when he says (paraphrasing) "stay or go, but do as you truly decide". But it's all pulled off with the utmost attention to entertainment, as well as some of the usual bright food-for-though in the Trek cannon. It's also a riot just seeing Montelban and Shatner go head to head- a kind of battle of the bulge in over-acting and machismo-steel looks- and this goes without saying that this is only the first step before things *really* went overboard on the 1982 sequel. It's wonderful pop-iconic stuff, with dashes of humor and statements on tyranny.