Was Khan originally intended to be Gary Mitchell in reboot?

[EMCE Hammer]

This article is kind of a rehash, but I hadn't seen some of the screen cap comparisons. I think I would have liked the movie more if they'd gone with the Mitchell angle.

http://www.denofgeek.com/uk/movies/star-trek/42591/star-trek-was-cumberbatch-supposed-to-be-gary-mitchell

[Bruce Banner]

I've always found that theory fascinating. Would love to know if it was true.

[Spyweb007]

Benicio Del Toro was originally up for the part I believe, so even though I would have rather seen the Gary Mitchell Story play out, I don't think that was ever the plan. Using Gary Mitchell also would have worked better if his friendship with Kirk had been established in the 1st movie. I also think Khan's plan was always to take control of the new starship the admiral had built, hiding his crew in the torpedoes that were supposed to be onboard so he could revive them and take the ship. Not sure that his plan was ever made that clear in the movie.

[EMCE Hammer]

In TOS and the movie I felt the man from another time vibe with Khan. I didn't really feel it with Cumberbatch's version. I don't buy the Mitchell theory, but to me Cumberbatch's Khan was more like Mitchell than Montalban's Khan. The God complex was a lot stronger with Cumberbatch.

[SKotK]

An interesting theory, and I think I would have liked the film much better if they had gone that direction instead.

--SKot

[Majere]

Would've preferred Gary Mitchell as well, but what do you expect when JJ Abrams is at the helm? He can direct a nice looking film, but from a creative standpoint he is about on par with Hollywood as a whole at this point.

(Though I thought the pilot he did for Lost was flawless.)

[Earth 2 Chris]

I still like the theory that "God" in Star Trek V could have been Gary Mitchell. John Byrne did a great sequel with Mitchell in his first Trek photo comic.

Chris

[EMCE Hammer]

I still like the theory that "God" in Star Trek V could have been Gary Mitchell. John Byrne did a great sequel with Mitchell in his first Trek photo comic.

Chris

I forgot about that but would have liked it as a nice tie-in. I don't hate ST V like a lot of people but adding Mitchell in would have made it a lot better IMO.

[hedrap]

I've never doubted that it was Mitchell and it changed in late development.

There was a quote from Abrams very early in the reboot process where he said (paraphrasing) new Trek would have the same series of events but altered results.Then look at Abrams reasoning for casting Benedict. He denied Del Toro, then said he went with Cumber so people wouldn't instantly know he was Khan. At some point, he also implied it was about avoiding stereotypes.

But Abrams has a deep history of changing things based on what audience perconcieved knowledge. He did that continually on Lost, but also with Cloverfield, Cloverfield Lane, and even Star Wars. So IMO, people "knew" Khan was coming with Del Toro, so he went for Mitchell, then everyone guessed Mitchell so he jammed the two as they were too late into production.

I think it's also possible he wanted Del Toro as Khan as a surprise reveal for a future sequel, but then Star Wars came along so he mashed it all and took off.

[Mikey]

Would have like to see Of Gods and Men turned into a big budget movie in the current movie timeline.

Mitchell vs Charlie baby !!!

[Bruce Banner]

Revealing the god-like entity in STV as Mitchell would have been pretty cool.

I also kind of like the theory that the planet of living machines that found V'ger were somehow connected to the Borg.
(If I recall, that theory was also in a ST video game.)

[Earth 2 Chris]

^Yeah, I like the V'ger/Borg connection too.

Chris

[Hedji]

The Borg connection to V'Ger fits like a glove. V'Ger was sent to assimilate knowledge. The Borg could have twisted that when V'Ger merged with Decker.

Audiences would definitely have responded more favorably to ANYONE but Khan. Khan is sacred because of Montalban's untouchable performance, and WOK's status as the highest point for Trek ever.

And I won't complain if anyone else decides to post more Alice Eve photos.

[Bruce Banner]

Remembered that "Star Trek Legacy" was the game that postulated a cool link between V'ger and the Borg.

[hedrap]

Only big thing I remember about ST V was around the release Harve Bennet said in an interview that Shatner wanted to do a Mudd adventure, but Carmel had past a week before IV was released. Shatner may have mentioned it in one of his books. I don't know if he was supposed to be Sybok or if that storyline came about because Carmel was gone. I think it's the latter.