The success of Unusual New Worlds continued all through its second season, delivering high quality, episodic tales that “really feel” like Star Trek. Nevertheless, the present suffers the same “canon” drawback as most prequels. Maybe one of the evident is that for all of the instances James T. Kirk encountered Khan Noonien Singh he by no means mentions his descendant, La’an. Nonetheless, there could also be a wonderful motive for that.
After all, Kirk by no means mentions La’an as a result of she is a personality created particularly for Unusual New Worlds. Due to the sequence’ time-travel romance episode, La’an and “James” are nearer than followers could have predicted. On the one hand, making a romance between La’an and Kirk is an efficient solution to hold the character within the sequence. Due to Star Trek canon, Captain Pike and Kirk cannot be too shut. He might be paired with Spock, Uhura or different crew nonetheless on the Enterprise when he takes command. But, that might danger working afoul of canon, too. It is also a good critique for followers to surprise why nobody ever mentions Starfleet’s personal Noonien Singh when Kahn pops up in each The Unique Sequence and The Wrath of Khan. Nevertheless, why La’an fell for the alternate timeline Kirk, the nearer she will get to the real article helps get round this explicit canon drawback.
Why La’an Noonien Singh Is One among Unusual New Worlds’ Greatest Dangers
From the second La’an Noonien Singh was launched, she was a dangerous character within the sequence. That anybody with the identical identify as Star Trek‘s most well-known tyrant served in Starfleet appeared like a canon oversight. On condition that so lots of the Enterprise crew knew her, it does really feel unusual she by no means comes up. A part of it’s the “small universe” drawback with these franchises. With 1000’s of ships in Starfleet, it is nearly uncanny that so many acquainted characters have crossed paths already. Deliberately or not, Unusual New Worlds storytellers baked the answer to this explicit incongruity into her character.
From the beginning, La’an’s character has been affected by her infamous household historical past. When Quantity One comes out as an Illyrian, a species that genetically augments themselves, she’s essentially the most outraged. Her notorious ancestor has coloured her experiences with others in such a manner she’s reluctant to speak in confidence to folks. Exterior of her relationship with Kirk, La’an’s journey has been considered one of studying to let folks in by accepting all aspects of herself. Saving Khan’s life within the time-travel episode was a part of that, but extra necessary was her relationship with alternate-timeline Captain Kirk. She fell for him as a result of he’d by no means heard her final identify earlier than, that means he was the primary to take a look at her with no judgment.
After all, La’an’s absence from the longer term Star Trek canon means she may die at any time. Even when her destiny is to die heroically saving the ship from the Gorn, Unusual New Worlds will possible let her end her emotional journey first. Put one other manner, she’s going to totally extricate herself from her sophisticated household legacy. For this reason those that know her greatest do not even assume to say her after they lastly meet Khan face-to-face.
Kirk, Spock, Uhura and Others No Longer Consider La’an and Khan Collectively
Once more, canon prevents La’an from taking part in an important position in both Kirk’s future or his encounters together with her well-known ancestor. Maybe underplayed within the episode, La’an saves Kahn when permitting him to die meant everybody would see her the best way Alt-Kirk did. Saving him from the Romulan time agent was much less about righting the timelines and extra about her journey to acceptance. This enables her to maneuver previous folks’s judgment. It additionally permits those that know her greatest to grasp how necessary it’s for La’an to be seen on her personal phrases and never in distinction to Khan.
Regardless of his fame, James T. Kirk really sees folks, particularly these he is drawn to. Equally, Spock and Uhura perceive that La’an shares nothing with Khan in addition to a pair of final names. Figuring out how necessary it’s for her to be seen on her personal phrases, it is sensible they by no means point out her when Khan is round. Given their relationship with La’an, it is plausible they merely did not even consider her when going through Khan and the opposite augments. Even when they did, not mentioning her is a continued signal of their respect for her emotions.
Once more, the true motive they by no means point out her in the course of the Khan tales is that the character did not but exist. Nonetheless, it was necessary for La’an to maneuver from beneath the shadow of her household’s legacy. Regardless of the motivation, La’an’s absence from the Khan tales reveals how profitable she was. La’an wasn’t “a Noonien Singh” to those that knew her. She was merely a pal and colleague the characters beloved and one which (ultimately) beloved them again. Purists may say La’an “breaks canon.” She does not as a result of her character arc is all about carving out her personal legacy that has nothing to do with Kahn.
Star Trek: Unusual New Worlds is at the moment streaming on Paramount+.
