Still Ceti Alpha V

I was just watching Star Trek II, which I hadn’t seen in many years. It had been too long; I missed the contest between Ricardo Montalban and William Shatner as they try to outdo each other in over-the-top acting.

The opening and setup for the plot is a lot better than I remembered. Chekov and his new captain are looking for a planet completely devoid of life for a science experiment. After searching for weeks, they are growing weary of this chore. They find a planet, Ceti Alpha VI, which is almost lifeless- but they have to check it out to be sure.

They find Khan there with the remnants of his crew, abandoned there by Kirk in the 1967 Star Trek episode “Space Seed.” Khan being the villain in that episode played by Montalban.

Apparently their paradise world Ceti Alpha V was turned into a lifeless, waterless desert when its neighbor, Ceti Alpha VI, exploded- the planet Chekov believed to be Ceti Alpha VI is actually that ruined world, Ceti Alpha V.

However I realized something- planets are numbered from the inside out. If Ceti Alpha VI exploded in an unspecified catastrophe… its next-innermost sibling planet would still be called Ceti Alpha V. The next outermost planet, Ceti Alpha VII, might be mistaken for Ceti Alpha VI, but still Ceti Alpha V would remain #5.

I also noticed that Khan’s full name is Khan Noonien Singh – in the Next Generation series, the scientist who creates Data (Brent Spiner) is named Dr. Noonien Soong.

How about that.

KIRK: KHAAAAAAAAN!!!!!