10 Best Star Trek The Original Series Episodes

3. Space Seed

Khan Noonien Singh may have gained a special place in the minds of Trekkies thanks to a stellar appearance in the second Star Trek film, but it was in Space Seed where Ricardo Montalbán first endeared himself to fans.

Written by Gene L. Coon and Carey Wilber, the story centres around the Enterprise uncovering a ship floating in deep space with a number of individuals stored in cryo-stasis. Commissioned during the 1990s, the ship belongs to one Khan Singh, a War Criminal who took part in the Eugenics Wars that ravaged the Earth some two centuries earlier. His origins, however, go undetected for the vast majority of the episode, with the tyrant's deception only made clear in the final act.

Perhaps the episode's best moment, however, occurs when the Enterprise finally discovers his true identity. Through a dialogue shared between Kirk, Spock and Scotty, Coon and Wilber's story highlights how humanity has too often glorified despots and conquerers, with Scotty in particular having confessed to a tacit admiration for Khan. Spock, failing to see the logic in this approval, admonishes his comrades, and it's a theme integral to Seed's wider story.

What follows would set-up one of the most iconic sci-fi rivalries of all time, with Kirk consigning Khan to what he thought would be a century on an inhospitable planet. A reunion would take place some years later (in what would become the greatest Star Trek film), but Space Seed was where it all began.