The 14 Dumbest Things In Star Trek II: The Wrath Of Khan

13. Two Step Food Chain

Kirk Wrath of Khan
Paramount

EDITOR'S NOTE: PLEASE CHANGE ENTRY TITLE TO: What's Eating You?

KHAN: Allow me to introduce you to Ceti Alpha Five's only remaining indigenous lifeform. ...What do you think? They've killed twenty of my people, including my beloved wife.

Yes, Ceti Alpha V's ecosystem was wrecked by the cataclysm which befell the planet, but is it really believable that only a single entry in the entire food chain survived? And if it did, how does that singular indigenous life form survive?

KHAN: You see, their young enter through the ears ...and wrap themselves around the cerebral cortex.

Presumably the eels only accounted for those 20 deaths in the early days of their stay on Ceti Alpha V, because such superior intellects would have figured out how to fashion earplugs pretty quickly.

Presumably the baby eels are sustained by nutrients from their hosts, whether that be tapping blood flow or nibbling on their brains. But once the adults emerge (however that happens) what do they eat? And speaking of eating...

KHAN: Never told you how Admiral Kirk sent seventy of us into exile on this barren sand heap with only the contents of these cargo bays to sustain us?

Did Kirk leave them with enough supplies to last 15 years, even if the original 73 marooned superhumans were whittled down by 80% over time? If not, what have Khan and company been eating? Some hardy plants (in Star Trek lingo only animals are "life forms")? If not, that leaves...what? The eels? Is that why there are two in the terrarium? Dinner? Are they effectively chickens, and their babies the eggs they lay every day or two?

Sooo…what? Khan’s people are eating the eels, who in term are eating their blood/brains?

A food chain of only two links is pretty dumb.

 
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Maurice is one of the founders of FACT TREK (www.facttrek.com), a project dedicated to untangling 50+ years of mythology about the original Star Trek and its place in TV history. He's also a screenwriter, writer, and videogame industry vet with scars to show for it. In that latter capacity he game designer/writer on the Sega Genesis/SNES "Star Trek: Deep Space Nine — Crossroads of Time" game, as well as Dreamcast "Ecco the Dolphin, Defender of the Future" where Tom Baker performed words he wrote.