Why Star Trek’s Greatest Fight Was Never Face To Face
Most Star Trek fans believe The Wrath of Khan is the greatest film in the franchise, largely because of the legendary battle between Kirk and the titular villain Khan. However, despite the epic nature of their conflict, these two never fought face to face, a fact made odder because of Kirk’s famous fistfights with various bad guys in The Original Series.
Recently, Wrath of Khan director Nicholas Meyer admitted why the greatest Star Trek fight was never face-to-face: he thought their fight looked “phony and stupid” on the old show and “Kirk wouldn’t stand a chance against him.”
A Better Way
In a recent interview, Meyer admitted that Paramount was interested in having “a mano a mano…fight between Kirk and Khan.” This made sense from a studio perspective: in a film focusing on a hero known (among other things) for his over-the-top fighting style, it would have made perfect sense to have Kirk and his foe physically duking it out by the end of the movie. However, Meyer felt that their original showdown in The Original Series episode “Space Seed” looked bad and didn’t want to recreate its goofiness on the big screen.
The First Fight Would Look Horrible In Theaters
Interestingly, The Wrath of Khan director also had no interest in showing such a battle because he knew that, narratively, there was no way that Kirk could beat Khan in a straight fight. Remember, Khan’s whole deal was that he was genetically enhanced and nearly took over the Earth: on paper, he and the rest of his fellow Augments each have the strength of five humans. In a face-to-face battle, Khan likely would have just knocked Kirk’s head off like Jason does to that one guy in Friday the 13th VIII: Jason Takes Manhattan.
Inspiration From Submarine Movies
Fortunately, Meyer had some special inspiration for The Wrath of Khan that he took from an earlier film. The director is a big fan of the old film The Enemy Below, a movie where (in his words) “a World War II duel between a destroyer and a U-boat, and Robert Mitchum, who’s the captain of the destroyer, and Curd Jürgens, who is the captain of the U-boat, they never meet.” However, that film proved to be a classic because even though the two enemies don’t physically meet, their weapons meet each other on the battlefield, just as with Kirk and Khan.
Kirk Outsmarts A Genetically Superior Opponent
Plus, while Meyer didn’t address this directly, the lack of a face-to-face battle between Kirk and Khan is perfect because the film has Kirk dealing with all the existential woes of getting older. The middle-aged Starfleet officer never would have beaten someone as tough as Khan, but Kirk turns the tables by instead outwitting his opponent. This is the film where Kirk realizes younger officers have much to learn from his experiences, and what drives that home better than him casually outsmarting a centuries-old tyrant who nearly conquered Earth?
One Of The Best Star Trek Stories Ever
Admittedly, the same part of us that loves to watch schlocky cinema would have enjoyed seeing an aging Shatner doing his silly Original Series style of fighting in The Wrath of Khan. But Meyer was right: an actual physical confrontation between Kirk and Khan would have looked too silly and made no real narrative sense. The director made the right call, re-energizing an entire franchise even as he proved there’s more than one way to deliver satisfying cinematic conflict.
Source: TrekMovie
