The title of this post needs no explanation if you have even an ounce of cool in you (like me). Has a more famous word ever been uttered in a 20th century movie? I think not. Here is quick background on the movie Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan for you virgins:
Khan, a genetically engineered “superman” prone to megalomaniacal delusions, was exiled years ago to the barren planet Ceti Alpha 5. He blames Admiral Kirk for his hard fate, as well as for his son’s death, and vows revenge. When Commander Chekov mistakenly beams down to Khan’s lair, the villain finally has a means of escape. Using a parasitic creature that allows him to control the minds of his victims, Khan seizes command of the Starship Reliant. From there he hopes to lure Kirk to his death, using equipment stolen from an experimental research project. These devices allow him to trigger something known as the “Genesis Effect” — a means of generating new life from existing matter. Khan plans to use the creation machines as weapons, because the same fire of life that creates new worlds must destroy what existed before. Kirk and crew need all the courage and cunning they can muster in order to save their friend and silence Khan forever. [Link]
For those wanting a more detailed background (and you really should) please read here and here. One important detail I had not known (or more likely forgotten until Punjabi Boy reminded us this morning) is that the most brilliant villain in science fiction history was a Punjabi Sikh. You have to delve deep into Star Trek fiction literature to find the background on Khan. Luckily there happens to be an entire website (I shit you not) about Sikhs in Science Fiction.
The Eugenics Wars: The Rise and Fall of Khan Noonien Singh by Greg CoxAlthough Khan Noonien Singh is the title character of this novel, he is not mentioned by name until more than half-way through the book. The last third focuses primarily on Khan, who is explicitly identified as a Sikh character herein. Prior to the Khan scenes, there are scenes in India with Sikh guards. But the Sikh-related material that is most prominent is in a chapter set in 1984, when Khan is just fourteen years old and living in Delhi. The Indian military has brutally attacked Amritsar, at the command of Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, who has subsequently been assassinated by her Sikh guards. Khan gets caught in the middle of the resulting anti-Sikh violence, as he must flee an angry mob intent on killing him.
Yes, yes. Those who are immersed in violence at an early age often regrettably turn to violence. How popular a villain was Khan? There are poems about him, and you can also take a quiz to see how much you know about him. Also, for any girls (or boys) who had a crush on Khan (played by actor Ricardo Montalban) in the 80s, here is a fun fact: his breasts are fake, a prop. He ain’t really that cut. They ARE real.
I’ve done far worse than kill you. I’ve hurt you. And, I wish to go on hurting you. I shall leave you as you left me–as you left her [Khan’s wife]–marooned, for all eternity, in the center of a dead planet: buried alive… -Khan [Link]
Naren Shankar is of course very well known as one of the Hollywood geeks and for his involvement with many shows. But a lesser known name from CSI (Miami) is Sunil Nayar (maybe he’s well known in the States), but he’s worked on Oz, Smallville and such. I don’t know much about these fellas…to me they’re like the Indian chaps who worked on Photoshop. I automatically notice desi names where you don’t expect them. I’ve been proud of Naren Shankar, Sunil Nayar and Seetharaman Narayanan and Vinod Balakrishnan for many years, without really knowing a great deal about who they are.
Aw DD, you know I kid. Remember my enthusiasm for the dhamaka DVD? You know I’m a fan!
But don’t expect me to call you a foxy married minx. Jai, you’ve hit new levels of corny.
There’s a well-known story by one of my favorite writers, Sadat Hasan Manto, about Toba Tek Singh. Quite a darkly comic look at how Partition affected the Hindu, Muslim and Sikh inmates of Indian lunatic asylums. Here’s a nice translation.
Meet Seetharaman Narayanan.
Bong Breaker, I agree with you about how it’s good to see desi names doing well on such big-time hit shows. There’s a guy called Jay Chattaway who’s been significantly involved in Trekkie music (and elsewhere too), isn’t there.
Also agree with you about Shatner and Spader’s characters — the stuff they get away with saying is quite outrageous (especially Denny Crane who doesn’t give a damn about political correctness or “propriety in the workplace”.)
Back to Star Trek: I always thought that, in the absence of any major desi characters, Captain Sisko did well (he’s my favourite Trek captain) once he shaved his head, grew that goatee, and really threw himself into Amitabh Bachchan-style baritone-voiced machismo. Great stuff.
DesiDancer,
I think it was the “twitching hips” comment you made on one of the other threads that did it for me. wink Saucy transatlantic hottie….
There’s a Stephanie Sengupta who’s like a producer or somethng for Law & Order: criminal intent.
Klingon could be from ancient indian Kalinga kingdom…
Now, criminal intent is the one with Private Piles from Full Metal Jacket isn’t it? I like that one, he’s very good. And a Sengupta is producing? We’re probably related, I can link myself to almost all Senguptas and Dasguptas!
Yeah I remember seeing that Manish, cool link turbanhead posted…the Adobe offices are almost as cool as the Pixar offices. I HEART Adobe sooooo much. It’s the exact opposite of what I feel towards Microsoft. Premiere, Photoshop, Encore, Acrobat have been such integral parts of my life for the last few years. Is that sad? I don’t care!
Having been to all three, the Pixar and Macromedia campuses are/were way hipper than Adobe’s.
Bong Breaker,
It’s all in jest, buddy 😉 One shouldn’t make a habit of hitting on married ladies 10,000 miles away that one’s never even met….
Unless it’s Legha from Rouge, of course (not that you need me to tell you that wink).
Why have you been to all three (you lucky bastard)? Yay for Macromedia too, funny you mentioned them – as I looked in my Start Menu for any Adobe programmes I’d omitted, I saw how many Macromedia apps I have and thought to myself “Ah, I like them too.” That reminds me, I should start work on my blog some time soon!
I used to live next to Pixar and had biz meetings with Macromedia and Adobe.
Impressive stuff. I should be more impressed with someone saying they had business meetings with Goldmans or UBS or GM or GE or whatever, but those three offices strike me as really happy places to work at, unlike all my friends at Goldmans and UBS etc. Software engineering and animation combine creativity with a scientific brain…something I admire a lot.
What the? SHOULDN’T? Ah man! I’ve been doing that for ages.
Bong Breaker,
You’re right about techie firms, but I think that’s to do with the whole West Coast/Silicon Valley vibe compared to the more cut-throat and aggressive corporate cultures of the investment banking sector.
laughing I suspect you can get away with it. There’s always a danger of accidentally offending the other party without realising it, especially as there’s a lot of nutters out there and the ladies concerned would have no idea that one really is a good guy in real life. But hey, if the other party’s willing to play along lightheartedly, it’s all good fun; if not, then be a gentleman.
Now it’s my turn to say I’m kidding. I don’t hit on anyone over the Internet! And I certainly don’t hit on married women.
Much.
By “much”, I’m assuming you mean “in the last 5 minutes”.
lol
/bow
Wonder how many had turn down their speakers. 🙂
I believe that’s true! For DS9 fans, the Jem’Hadar = Jemedar = soldier
and for TNG fans, Data named his child Lal, after the Hindi word for ‘beloved’
Can I just hijack this space-related thread to say that my very own Tooting (birthplace: Naveen Andrews, home: several wannabe suicide bombers, heartland: south London communism, world capital: fried chicken) has landed on Mars! Yeah baby!
You guys are all such geeks!
It’s interesting that the original Star Trek had so many obviously ethnically marked enemies. Klingons, Khan, etc.
The Next Generation, by contrast, had white guys like “Q,” and the Borg. Q at least was too vanilla for my tastes (prefer Khaaaan). The Borg was aaiiight though. (Have often considered joining their organization)
Deep Space Nine seemed to go back to ethnics, with the prominence given to the Firangi… also the Naren Shankar episode mentioned by Deepa in Comment #30 of this thread.
My current favorite sci-fi show (other than “Lost”) is the new “Battlestar Galactica.” They’ve invented this whole religion, which actually doesn’t appear to be related to Sikhism at all. (Though I’m sure an alert SM commentor might be able to find a parallel… 😉
I think that’s why these are my favorite Trek series. (Accordingly, that’s probably why the Klingon-focused eps of TNG are by and large the only ones of that series which I think are really good.)
Amardeep,
Hehehehehehe!
Abhi, no need to worry about getting that REAL Khan chest, not with that hot post-Mutiny look you’re currently rocking. 🙂
laughing As far as I know, there’s no connection with Sikhism in BSG (so far, anyway). The religious angle is pretty clear-cut, though: Liberal Polytheists (Ancient Greeks, although some might say Hindus too, considering the title song of the show is the Gayatri Mantra — at least in the British version) versus fanatical, aggressive Monotheists (take a wild guess).
The new Battlestar Galactica show is very good indeed — totally different from Star Trek and obviously the original 70s series too. Someone described it as The West Wing in space. Definitely not suitable for children, though 😉
Not sure if I entirely agree with this; I thought the Klingon focus was huge, especially in the later seasons.
You’ve never met a … Singh Basra or a Iqbal Singh.
There is one its called the Jedi intergalatic Khalsa in da house, Putting the dastar into Star Vars
My Nanay looks like a sexed up Yoda (shivers)
Uncleji,
Nice to have you back Sir….I’m presuming you and Auntieji were away on one of your “Rrrromantic holidays” to re-stoke the fires of that ever-burning Punjabi lub, eh…
Plenty of north Indians look like Chewbacca on a bad hair day. Come on guys, admit it — excess hirsuteness — you know it’s a problem 😉
Klingons for Christ!
Best recent reference to “Khaaaaaaaaaaan!” was John Stewart’s impersonation on The Daily Show last summer when doing a story on ‘the father of Iraq’s nuclear program’ Abdul Qadeer Khan.
Would he count as a villian?
thanx to the Indian brains vinod balakrishnan, seetharaman narayanan for their contribute to develop adobe photoshop
Gene Roddenberry has used many Sikh characters in his sci-fi world
Star Trek had a Sikh Andromeda had a Sikh character called Vikram Singh Khalsa
The Klingons were modelled after Sikhs (not 100% as they over exaggerated the customs and values of the klingons)
Khan Noonien Singh was a Sikh, however this was never stressed enough in the 1960’s tv show or the movie! It simply says he was Khan Noonien Singh of the Punjab
Also since Sikhism is one of the only religions that cannot be broken down by science (sikhism actually emraces science), Gene Roddenberry was fascinated by Sikhism!
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