Joachim : We’re all with you, sir. But, consider this. We are free. We have a ship, and the means to go where we will. We have escaped permanent exile on Ceti Alpha V. You have defeated the plans of Admiral Kirk. You do not need to defeat him again.
Khan : He tasks me. He tasks me and I shall have him! I’ll chase him 'round the moons of Nibia and 'round the Antares Maelstrom and 'round perdition’s flames before I give him up!
His obsession with Kirk was his own downfall. It’s actually an interesting parallel with Spock’s sacrifice. Spock sacrificed his life because he believed that the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few, or the one. Khan sacrificed his people and then his own life because he believed his own needs outweighed the needs of his people.
when Chekov is in the Botany Bay cargo carriers/shelters and looks at the bookshelf, there’s a very conspicuously-placed copy of Moby Dick sitting there.
As Kahn is activating the Genesis device he directly quotes Ahab from chapter 135, starting with “to the last…”
Towards thee I roll, thou all-destroying but unconquering whale; to the last I grapple with thee; from hell’s heart I stab at thee; for hate’s sake I spit my last breath at thee.
Hey man, tell it to Spock. He’s the one who called Khan “quite intelligent,” which is not exactly something he’d say about most of his fellow crew.
Of course, Khan then proved himself to be a complete idiot afterward, so maybe it’s just that Spock is a poor judge of these things. Maybe McCoy was the genius all along.
And when Khan had basically won and Kirk & Co. we’re trying to limp to safety he was all like:
“No, I must risk everything to kill Kirk!”
Khan and his crew could have gone off and found a Class M planet to settle on but he was too obsessive.
Khan’s first officer even tells him that exact plan and Khan doubles down on murder.
Yep.
His obsession with Kirk was his own downfall. It’s actually an interesting parallel with Spock’s sacrifice. Spock sacrificed his life because he believed that the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few, or the one. Khan sacrificed his people and then his own life because he believed his own needs outweighed the needs of his people.
At the risk of stating the well-known, Khan’s line references Moby Dick:
and:
I did not know that, thanks for posting!
when Chekov is in the Botany Bay cargo carriers/shelters and looks at the bookshelf, there’s a very conspicuously-placed copy of Moby Dick sitting there.
As Kahn is activating the Genesis device he directly quotes Ahab from chapter 135, starting with “to the last…”
Reading the text of Moby Dick? Okay, cool.
Hearing it performed by Ricardo Montalban? Some of the best goddamn poetic prose ever.
Exactly. Kirk is his white whale and his obsession with killing him ends up being his death.
And years later, Picard overcame his White Whale.
Kahn read Moby Dick, was in the habit of quoting it, completely missed the point of the book.
I’m laughing at the ‘superior intellect.’
Hey man, tell it to Spock. He’s the one who called Khan “quite intelligent,” which is not exactly something he’d say about most of his fellow crew.
Of course, Khan then proved himself to be a complete idiot afterward, so maybe it’s just that Spock is a poor judge of these things. Maybe McCoy was the genius all along.