In Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, as Khan reappears and gets ready to unleash his fury, he
reminds Chekov of how he first appeared in the episode "Space Seed," claiming, "the
Enterprise picked up the Botany Bay, lost in space from the year 1996." And, as Spock noted in
"Space Seed," "In 1993, a group of these young supermen [Khan and his people] did seize
power simultaneously in over forty nations."
However, according to Strange New Worlds, Khan was a young child in the 2020s, indicating
that his ascent to power didn't occur until much later. Don't panic, but the Star Trek episode
"Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow" is revising a complex part of the franchise's history.
Although it doesn't actually affect anything, gives Star Trek a fresh strategy. Beware of spoilers.
The 23rd-century descendent of Khan, La'an Noonien-Singh (Christina Chong), finds herself at
the episode's climax having to stop a time-traveling Romulan Agent (Adelaide Kane) from killing
Khan (Desmond Sivan) as a kid and altering the Federation's history. The rebirth of humanity
and initial contact with the Vulcans in 2063 would not have been possible without the Eugenics
Wars that Khan started and the subsequent dark days for Earth. But how is Khan still a small
boy in a covert Toronto facility in the year 2020 if he departed Earth in 1996?
The Star Trek Time War and Strange New Worlds
The solution, which essentially involves a lot of time travel putting Khan's ascent back by three
decades, is provided by the Romulan agent Sarah, who is dissatisfied with humanity. She says
she been “trapped here for 30 years”.
She also notes that Khan is the subject of entire temporal warfare. Although the concept of
temporal warfare happening in the background of Trek has been for a while, Voyager and
Enterprise were the shows that most strongly established the concept. In Enterprise, Daniels, a
character who helps Captain Archer in the 2150s, makes the suggestion that there are multiple
groups engaged in centuries-long temporal battles. Discovery Season 2 revealed that the
Federation and Klingons were engaged in a race to achieve time travel because the Federation
was concerned that the Klingons would alter the course of history. Additionally, it was
established in Discovery Season 3 that time travel is forbidden in the 32nd century.
Although "Sarah"'s" century is unknown, the Original Series-inspired style of the Romulan ship
in her picture suggests that she, like La'an and Kirk, is from the 23rd century. In any case, her
speech demonstrates that more than one time travel intrusion has prevented Khan from
ascending to power in Earth's past.
Season 2 of Picard
The creator of the Picard television series, Terry Matalas, stated that it's plausible that Spock's
records in "Space Seed" were simply inaccurate back in 2022, when Jean-Luc and the gang
were hanging out in 2024. That WW3 had several EMP bursts that resulted in people being set
back decades, that records were wrong. In “Space Seed”, Spocks says that The Botany Bay,
Khan's ship, is completely undocumented. It makes sense that the Matalas explanation didn't
require the timeline to shift, but rather that Khan and Spock's understanding of "the nineties"
was off. How well do you recall every detail of events from several centuries ago?
Beyond inaccurate record-keeping, Strange New Worlds claims that the numerous temporal
wars from Enterprise and other Treks have had an impact on the Prime. Now that Khan takes
control later than before, the issue is resolved.
Strange New Worlds Timeline
Pike explains to the inhabitants of Kiley 279 the circumstances that brought about World War III
on Earth in the first episode of Strange New Worlds. Pike suggests in his speech that the
Eugenics Wars ultimately became known as World War III, which lampooned the canon rather
than altering it. Even though initial contact with the Vulcans occurred in 2063, we learned in
TNG's pilot, "Encounter at Farpoint," that some areas of Earth were still barbarous in 2079. But
in Picard Season 2, 2024 Los Angeles resembles today's city in many ways. In other words, the
Trek canon has always been open-minded about how it depicts this time period.
The timeline of the Star Trek world will need to be changed once again if the franchise is still
active in 2063. But now that Khan's narrative has advanced, any remaining discrepancies in
canon could only be explained by the effects of time travel. And when you consider how
frequently the different Trek crews have traveled through time, it's a marvel that the canon
makes any sense at all.
Does this explain anything? You decide!
News: several sources
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