Star Trek: 10 Things You Didn't Know About The Kobayashi Maru

2. Kobayashis Colloquial

Star Trek Prodigy Masquerade Jellico Janeway
CBS Media Ventures

Since its inception in The Wrath of Khan, 'Kobayashi Maru' has come to be used as a byword in Star Trek for, quite naturally, any kind of apparently unwinnable situation. On the supposedly inescapable hellhole of Rura Penthe in Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country, McCoy told Kirk, "One day, one night, Kobayashi Maru". Stuck outside the Romulan Neutral Zone in Star Trek: Prodigy's Masquerade, Admiral Janeway noted to Admiral Jellico, "We're facing our own Kobayashi Maru".

More than just terminology, several episodes have, by now, used the notorious test in the title. Prodigy had Kobayashi, Star Trek: Discovery had Kobayashi Maru, and Star Trek: Picard had No Win Scenario. Cadets must have had their own choice set of words about the exercise, all the way up to at least the end of the 32nd century (with a gap), it seems. By 2401, Admiral Jean-Luc Picard, Chancellor of Starfleet Academy, was also considering an unspecified update of the Kobayashi Maru.

For better and for much, much worse, 'Kobayashi Maru' as phrase has also crossed the boundaries of reality to enter common journalistic, political, and even academic parlance. 'Kobayashi Maru moments' and 'problems' abound. Or there's always the title of a 2011 article in IEEE Security & Privacy: "Embracing the Kobayashi Maru: Why You Should Teach Your Students to Cheat".

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Jack has been a content creator for TrekCulture since 2022, and a Star Trek fan for as long as he can remember. He has authored over 170 articles, including one of TrekCulture's longest, and has appeared several times on the TrekCulture podcast. He holds a first-class honours degree in French from the University of Sussex, a master's with distinction in Language, Culture and History: French and Francophone Studies and a PhD in French from University College London (UCL). He has previously worked in the field of translation. His interests extend to science-fiction television and film more widely. His favourite series is Star Trek: Voyager, followed closely by Stargate SG-1.