Khan's Botany Bay Ship In Star Trek Has A Grim Real-World Namesake

khan's botany bay ship in star trek has a grim real-world namesake

Ricardo Montalban, Star Trek: The Original Series

“Star Trek” has always loved a deep-cut starship name. In the original series, the U.S.S. Farragut borrowed a name from a Civil War-era Union Navy officer. In “Star Trek: Lower Decks,” every California Class ship is named after a different city in the West Coast state, from Redding to Riverside. Figures ranging from Ursula K. Le Guin to Thomas Edison to Elmer Fudd have all gotten the starship name treatment, but one of the earliest named starships in the series had a much less admirable origin story.

The S.S. Botany Bay made its first appearance in the “Star Trek: The Original Series” episode “Space Seed,” which introduced viewers to the infamous villain Khan Noonien Singh (Ricardo Montalban). Viewers with a keen sense of geography may have realized they were due to meet a baddie before Khan ever appeared, though, because Botany Bay holds a uniquely horrifying place in history.

The real-life Botany Bay is a place in Sydney, Australia, that has become representative of one of Imperial Britain’s most creatively terrible leadership decisions. Lieutenant James Cook landed at Botany Bay in 1770 and pretty much immediately decided it — and Australia at large — would make for a good penal colony. According to the Collaborative Organization for Virtual Education, over 160,000 convicted criminals were sent to the area from the time of its discovery to 1850. Many convicts were lost to sickness and poor conditions, while local Aboriginal populations also suffered greatly from the abhorrent actions of British colonialists.

Bad (Space) Seeds

khan's botany bay ship in star trek has a grim real-world namesake

Star Trek: The Original Series (remastered)

While Botany Bay wasn’t actually the central hub for criminals being relocated to Australia (that ended up being Sydney Cove), the name of Cook’s first choice is still synonymous with the penal colony in public imagination today. With this nasty bit of history in mind, it seems likely that series creator Gene Roddenberry and “Space Seed” writers Gene L. Coon and Carey Wilber wanted to give viewers a clue to Khan and his augment colleagues’ true natures before the episode itself revealed its twist. The Enterprise crew initially finds the Botany Bay floating in space and assumes whoever’s on board must need help. After beaming down, they find Earth villain Khan and other genetically modified individuals in stasis aboard the ship.

The S.S. Botany Bay, fans eventually learned, was launched in 1996 after Khan’s defeat in the Eugenics War. Ironically, at the end of “Space Seed,” Captain Kirk (William Shatner) chooses not to send Khan to a penal colony of his own. Instead, the Federation sends the tyrant to Ceti Alpha V, an uninhabited planet with rough survival conditions. This, too, seems like a nod to Australia’s Botany Bay, albeit one that doesn’t acknowledge the pre-existing Indigenous peoples who were disrupted by British rule. Of course, the Botany Bay would return once more down the line, this time in the franchise high point “Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan.”

Hilariously, footage of the Botany Bay also pops up in the season 2 episode “The Ultimate Computer,” though it’s meant to be standing in as the Starfleet freighter Woden the second time around. In “Star Trek” canon, the Botany Bay is now abandoned on Ceti Alpha V, a piece of refuse left behind by unruly visitors years ago.

Read the original article on /Film.

OTHER NEWS

19 minutes ago

Sitdown Sunday: A year after the Titan sub disaster, leaked details show the failings that caused it

19 minutes ago

Labour accused of watering down key housing pledges

19 minutes ago

Quiet vacationing may get you in trouble. Is it worth the risk?

19 minutes ago

Free-agent focus for the Minnesota Wild

21 minutes ago

Ohtani has second two-homer game of season, Dodgers blank Royals

21 minutes ago

Kieran Culkin realized he wanted to be an actor 'halfway through the first season' of “Succession”

21 minutes ago

Rory McIlroy criminally went back on his own word and it cost him US Open

21 minutes ago

Raye gets choked up at Capital's Summertime Ball as she gives an emotional speech about suffering sexual violence

21 minutes ago

Bridgerton fans left outraged over 'infuriating' twist in Season 3 finale: 'I am going to stop watching'

21 minutes ago

Camila Cabello wears a VERY daring cut out dress with thigh high split while out in Monaco... weeks before her album release

21 minutes ago

Alicia Keys “Had To Do Something Crazy” At The Tony Awards & Is Joined By Jay-Z For “Empire State Of Mind” Performance

23 minutes ago

Rare day of relative calm as Gaza sees ‘tactical pause’ for aid

26 minutes ago

Immigration minister 'looking into' push to grant Hobart international student Devarshi Deka residency after alleged assault left him paraplegic

26 minutes ago

United Airlines Boeing 777 Passengers Panic After Oxygen Mask Announcement

26 minutes ago

Triolo and Delay combine for 5 RBIs in the 6th as the Pirates beat the Rockies 8-2

26 minutes ago

Where is Bryson DeChambeau from? Hometown, college and more to know about California roots

26 minutes ago

Daily use of popular mouthwash brand 'could increase risk of cancer', claims scientist - who now warns that 'most people should not be using it'

26 minutes ago

I'm nearly 90, worth more than £200 million and still starting new businesses. Here's how I did it - and my eight tips for getting rich

26 minutes ago

Stanford University graduation chaos as HUNDREDS of students waving Palestinian flags and keffiyehs walk out during President Richard Saller's speech

29 minutes ago

Suzuki wants Swift to steal MG 3's crown as small car sales champion

30 minutes ago

Bryson DeChambeau wins 2nd U.S. Open, edging Rory McIlroy

31 minutes ago

Labour signals closer UK-EU trade ties as Sunak returns to campaign trail

31 minutes ago

Disaffection among young UK voters fuelling growth of smaller parties

31 minutes ago

Rory McIlroy leaves in a huff after costly misses at U.S. Open

31 minutes ago

Trump confuses name of the doctor who gave him his cognitive test

31 minutes ago

Donalds says he is prepared to serve as president if he becomes Trump’s VP

31 minutes ago

Given recent history, Steelers QB Kyle Allen could be called upon this season

31 minutes ago

Jay-Z performs at the Tony Awards with Alicia Keys but SKIPS appearing on stage as shocked fans react: 'This was not on my bingo card'

31 minutes ago

Over 400,000 Britons wait over a year for a builder to start work on their homes - amid crippling construction skills shortage

31 minutes ago

How a vape ban could lead to more young people smoking, as new study finds youngsters see vaping and cigarettes as 'interchangeable'

31 minutes ago

Will bungling Metropolitan Police reopen probe into murder of Stephen Lawerence? Force admits 'serious mistakes' are still being made in case

34 minutes ago

Battlestar Galactica's Katee Sackhoff Unknowingly Prompted Starbuck's Fate

34 minutes ago

Senate Democrat calls Supreme Court ‘brazenly corrupt’ as he blasts justices over recent scandals

34 minutes ago

Luka Doncic Gets Crucial Injury Update for NBA Finals Game 5 Vs. Celtics

34 minutes ago

Kraft recalls his first meeting with Tom Brady: 'I've never met anyone like him'

35 minutes ago

MailOnline reporter discovers Germany's quietest England fan zone

35 minutes ago

'Hazardous risk': Macron takes 'opponents by surprise', giving birth to left-wing Popular Front

35 minutes ago

Kristaps Porzingis Questionable for Game 5 of NBA Finals

36 minutes ago

Birmingham Stallions defeat San Antonio Brahmas in UFL championship game

37 minutes ago

Rep. Jack Auchincloss echoes Biden's attack on SCOTUS: 'Out of step with American public'