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2 Items for TOS Episode ‘Space Seed’

After not having seen it for some time, I watched the TOS episode ‘Space Seed’ again last night, and 2 items caught my attention, 1 during the episode, and 1 at the end after it was over:

When they go over to the SS Botany Bay for the first time, Marla McGivers informs everyone the ability to travel great distances through space between planets becomes possible in the year 2018 – therefore, we have something amazing to look forward to some time over the next 10 months!!!

The second item I thought of after the episode finished was how in ‘Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan’, in the initial scene down on Ceti Alpha V, Khan says to Chekov that he never forgets a face. But as far as I saw, Chekov never appeared in ‘Space Seed’, and so how is Khan remembering him?!?! Can someone please help me with this anomaly!

Comments

  • Data1001Data1001 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Irial wrote: »
    The second item I thought of after the episode finished was how in ‘Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan’, in the initial scene down on Ceti Alpha V, Khan says to Chekov that he never forgets a face. But as far as I saw, Chekov never appeared in ‘Space Seed’, and so how is Khan remembering him?!?! Can someone please help me with this anomaly!

    My theory: either they bumped into each other in an off-camera moment (using the Enterprise's public restrooms, perhaps?) or Khan looked up the crew contingent on the ship's computers to more thoroughly study his enemies. ;)


    Could you please continue the petty bickering? I find it most intriguing.
    ~ Data, ST:TNG "Haven"
  • Irial wrote: »
    But as far as I saw, Chekov never appeared in ‘Space Seed’, and so how is Khan remembering him?!?! Can someone please help me with this anomaly!

    According to Memory Alpha:

    "[TWoK] writer Jack B. Sowards acknowledged this inconsistency was not part of his final draft, but rather a change instituted by Nicholas Meyer. Sowards script originally had Chekov reviewing a library tape on Khan before his first encounter with him. The sequence was deleted, and the dialogue in subsequent scenes was slightly reworked, creating the plot hole. (Starlog #67, February 1983, p. 23)"

    Let's also remember that apparently Nicholas Meyer had not watched TOS before starting TWoK and would rather do his own thing rather than following canon - the way he completely rebooted the visual and tone of Trek speaks on itself.

    Of course people will try to come up with fanon explanations, but it doesn't remove the fact that this inconsistency exists, and is called an inconsistency by the producers of the movie, and it exists because Nicholas Meyer couldn't have cared less.
    "Dance with me. For science."
  • IrialIrial ✭✭✭✭
    edited March 2018
    @Astrometrics - I am not surprised to learn someone else already discovered this inconsistency before me ;)
    To be honest, I really did like Ricardo Montalbán in that scene, which probably explains why it stuck in my head, and came back to me the other night when I had finished watching the "Chekov-less" 'Space Seed' episode.
  • Irial wrote: »
    @Astrometrics - I am not surprised to learn someone else already discovered this inconsistency before me ;)

    Heh, we are a nit-picky bunch :-D
    "Dance with me. For science."
  • PallidynePallidyne ✭✭✭✭✭
    Is it truly an inconsistency if it could have happened off camera? I mean if Space Seed had occurred before Chekov had come onboard the ship at all I'd be more inclined to nit pick.
  • KaiteeKaitee ✭✭✭✭✭
    Data1001 wrote: »
    My theory: either they bumped into each other in an off-camera moment (using the Enterprise's public restrooms, perhaps?)

    I think that's a joke Walter Koenig's told at conventions - Chekov (then a lower-decks crewman) was taking a really long time in the bathroom while Khan was waiting outside.
  • Data1001Data1001 ✭✭✭✭✭
    edited March 2018
    Kaitee wrote: »
    Data1001 wrote: »
    My theory: either they bumped into each other in an off-camera moment (using the Enterprise's public restrooms, perhaps?)

    I think that's a joke Walter Koenig's told at conventions - Chekov (then a lower-decks crewman) was taking a really long time in the bathroom while Khan was waiting outside.
    KHAN:
    [through the door]
    "You task me, Ensign! What is taking so long? Did you fall in?"

    CHEKOV:
    [yelling back from the bathroom]
    "Apologies! I had bad borscht. I hope you do not 'rush in'! Get it...?"
    [giggles at his pun]

    KHAN:
    [sighs heavily]
    "Ugh. I grow fatigued at your abysmal wordplay, Ensign!"
    [to himself]
    "Trust me, you will rue the day, Mister Chekov..."


    Could you please continue the petty bickering? I find it most intriguing.
    ~ Data, ST:TNG "Haven"
  • PallidynePallidyne ✭✭✭✭✭
    After all toilets were inwented in Mother Russia and so I can take all the time I vant....
  • DralixDralix ✭✭✭✭✭
    Pallidyne wrote: »
    Is it truly an inconsistency if it could have happened off camera? I mean if Space Seed had occurred before Chekov had come onboard the ship at all I'd be more inclined to nit pick.

    If you're of the ilk that nothing that wasn't seen on screen actually happened, then it is. This mindset further invalidates the bathroom hypothesis because bathrooms clearly don't exist on Starships.
  • PallidynePallidyne ✭✭✭✭✭
    Dralix wrote: »
    Pallidyne wrote: »
    Is it truly an inconsistency if it could have happened off camera? I mean if Space Seed had occurred before Chekov had come onboard the ship at all I'd be more inclined to nit pick.

    If you're of the ilk that nothing that wasn't seen on screen actually happened, then it is. This mindset further invalidates the bathroom hypothesis because bathrooms clearly don't exist on Starships.

    You are making me want to watch Galaxy Quest with the deleted scenes....
  • To be fair, it's not just that Chekov wasn't in that episode, he wasn't in that season.
    While it had never been concretely stated that he came aboard between seasons one and two, it had been widely assumed.
    And even if he was aboard, he wasn't on the bridge so it seems odd that he made such an impression on Khan.

    But I'll agree that "odd", "assumed", "unseen", and maybe even "implied" does not add up to "error".
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