The showrunners had set the table for this film in the original series without even realizing it at the time. A perfect villain for the Star Trek Universe to face down Kirk and crew awaits as we see Jim Kirk having trouble adjusting to his new, more "desk-bound" position out of the captain's chair. This combined with his 50th birthday leave him questioning whether he is still of any use and what he must do to regain his youthful spirit that had served him so well. These subtle themes are hit at perfect moments in this movie with great effect while on the surface, we still get the most nail-biting, emotionally charged adversarial conflict in all of Star Trek. Khan has escaped the far off planet he'd been marooned on years earlier at the conclusion of the "Star Trek" Season 1 episode, 'Space Seed'. We learn that in those years, planetary catastrophes ended up killing most of his comrades and his wife while no effort was made in all that time to check on these people left there to die. Khan lays the blame for this squarely at Kirk's feet and soon steals his own Federation star-ship to pursue him and enact his vengeance if it's the last thing he does. Perfect Star Trek film, if a little stylistically contrasted from its predecessor's ideology and relative pacifism.
Review of Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan
