20 Things You Didn't Know About Star Trek II: The Wrath Of Khan (1982)
2. A Baby Among Khan’s Followers Was Edited Out During Post-Production
If you’ve read the novelization or the shooting script for Star Trek II, you’ll know about an odd subplot involving a child who is found among Khan’s followers, which gives Chekov the opportunity for his signature scream. This is from scene 18 of the script, when Chekov and Terrell are outside the Botany Bay’s cargo carriers:
As Chekov looks at the porthole, a face suddenly looks back! It is the face of a CHILD! The Apparition scares the daylights out of Chekov -- and us. He screams.
At first Terrell doesn’t believe Chekov, telling him, “You’re crazy,” but when they enter Khan’s quarters, they find the child inside. Terrell leans down and asks, “Where’s your mommy and daddy?” Seconds later, Chekov notices a hanging seat belt with the name “SS Botany Bay” emblazoned on it, and he begins to panic. “What about the child?” asks Terrell. “Never mind! Hurry! Hurry!” Chekov shouts back. (When it was decided to excise the child from the movie, the scene was re-edited, and Terrell was dubbed with the somewhat unconvincing line, “What about the tricorder?” Pay attention and you can tell right where it happens. When Terrell kneels down to examine the Ceti Eel tank he is in the first compartment, and when next we see him he is kneeling just inside the second compartment facing the cropped-out child.
Per the shooting script, the child doesn’t appear again until scene 213A, when the Genesis torpedo has been activated in the Reliant transporter room, for this rather unsettling moment:
There sits the Genesis torpedo: lights start blinking in response. As we watch, the CHILD we met on Ceti Alpha walks to the torpedo and smiles at the lights.
Many sources claim this was supposed to be Khan’s baby, but nothing in the shooting script identifies the child’s parents.
When reviewing the script, Gene Roddenberry complained that, “[The] CHILD remains [an] isolated event. Is it a mirage? Is it KHAN'S BABY? Clarification and integration needed.” That clarification, however, never occurred, and it’s easy to see why the character was cut during post-production. After being discovered by Terrell and Chekov, the child is never seen or mentioned again, save for the final scene where it crawls up to the Genesis torpedo shortly before detonation.