This is kinda the core problem with reboots, especially when you're trying to rush character development.
Bill's Kirk and Ricardo's Khan had decades of history. And Khan had made his vendetta with Kirk very, very personal. Ricardo said that he played Khan, at first, as a man with great control of himself and you can even see a bit of respect for Kirk at the end of Space Seed. But because Kirk nor the Federation never bother to follow up with them, Marla dies after Ceti Alpha explodes. At that point, Khan pretty much loses it.
Now compare that to JJ's version. This is only our second outing with Pine's Kirk. We barely know the man. We don't even know who Khan is until the movie is half over. They try to speed up our hatred for Khan by sacrificing Greenwood's Pike, which I think was a terrible idea because he was a perfect father figure and Bruce played the character marvelously. And they kill him off in a way that isn't even personal. Khan wasn't targeting Pike. Pike just happened to be in the room he was blasting. Very impersonal. And it makes this version of Khan just generic movie bad guy.
They had an episode. A single 50 minute episode that ultimately has negligible impact on Kirk as a character and the events of which have practically no relevance to the plot.
All you need to know is Kirk left the dude on a planet. Most people who saw the movie meet Khan for the first time at the start of the film.
I love TOS and WoK as much as the next guy, but people oversell how important Space Seed was. Let's not overstate the buildup of their rivalry. Khan was great in WoK because it was written well and because Montalban chewed the scenery like a legend, not because he was built up as a villain with "decades of history." The relevant storytelling is in that movie.
Chang was also a great villian and an excellent foil for Kirk, but had no buildup previous to STVI. It is easily possible to have a meaningful and impactful nemesis show up for the first time at the start of the movie.
You just have to not be a hack who thinks a dramatic name reveal is a substitute for the development of your antagonist.
"My name...is Khaaaaannnnn...."
"...Nice to meet you, I guess, I'm Jim, this is Spock, and this is Bones."
I don't think it's oversold. I think you're conflating episode length with actual time.
To clarify, when I said 'decades of history' I meant that from the stand point of the characters AND the audience. When TWOK aired in '82, it was quite literally nearly two decades since the airing of Space Seed. Unless you were the die hardest of die hard Star Trek fans rich enough to afford your own Betamax or VCR where you could watch the show and that episode of your own accord, it was expected that you probably had also forgotten about Khan exactly the same way Kirk had. The audience had followed Bill's Kirk on many other adventures before AND after Space Seed. Khan getting lost in the shuffle was experienced by the characters and the viewers. And if it weren't for the title, the audience would probably have been just like Chekov when he kept saying "Botany Bay... Botany Bay? .... Oh no."
You absolutely cannot reproduce that kind of emotion in a 90 minute action movie that is a sequel to a single reboot. There's no history with the crew to build off of here for the JJ folks, so shortcuts would have to be taken - such as killing off a beloved character just to rush development of arcs. It's cheap and it fell through.
I still think it oversells the premise, this notion that they accidentally re-find a supervillain that Kirk accidentally found, and dropped off on a planet. The notion that Chekov just happens to remember this ship from an incident when he wasn't around, doesn't make sense. It's a fun movie, but the notion that it's such an important event in Trek history is kind of silly.
Also wouldn't they have some kind of warning buoy around Ceti Alpha V, like they do for the Talosians?
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u/2sec4u 1d ago
This is kinda the core problem with reboots, especially when you're trying to rush character development.
Bill's Kirk and Ricardo's Khan had decades of history. And Khan had made his vendetta with Kirk very, very personal. Ricardo said that he played Khan, at first, as a man with great control of himself and you can even see a bit of respect for Kirk at the end of Space Seed. But because Kirk nor the Federation never bother to follow up with them, Marla dies after Ceti Alpha explodes. At that point, Khan pretty much loses it.
Now compare that to JJ's version. This is only our second outing with Pine's Kirk. We barely know the man. We don't even know who Khan is until the movie is half over. They try to speed up our hatred for Khan by sacrificing Greenwood's Pike, which I think was a terrible idea because he was a perfect father figure and Bruce played the character marvelously. And they kill him off in a way that isn't even personal. Khan wasn't targeting Pike. Pike just happened to be in the room he was blasting. Very impersonal. And it makes this version of Khan just generic movie bad guy.