Warning: SPOILERS for Star Trek: Prodigy Season 1, Episode 16 - "Preludes"Khan Noonien Singh (Ricardo Montalbán) has been dead for almost 200 years in Star Trek: Prodigy but Khan's legacy of evil sets up a tragedy for Dal R'El (Brett Gray). Khan was the most powerful and infamous of the genetically engineered tyrants who controlled much of Earth in the late 20th century. Khan and his followers fled Earth in 1996 and were discovered 300 years later by Captain James T. Kirk (William Shatner) and the USS Enterprise. Khan emerged as the most dangerous adversary Kirk ever fought, a distinction he holds both in Star Trek's Prime and Kelvin Timelines.
Dal's dream, which he shares with his friends who comprise the teenage alien crew of the USS Protostar, is to join Starfleet. However, Dal doesn't yet realize that his discovery that he's a genetically engineered Augment will prevent him from being accepted by Starfleet. In Star Trek: Prodigy episode 15, "Masquerade," Dal learned that he's the only one of his kind, bred by rogue geneticists inspired by Dr. Arik Soong (Brent Spiner) with the DNA of 26 different humanoid species. But as an Augment, Dal is actually persona non grata in the United Federation of Planets, which has hard line laws against eugenics. The Federation is a diverse and accepting society made up of hundreds of species, but Augments are one of the few people they rigidly ban. Because of what he is, Dal's dream of being part of Starfleet may never come true.
Khan Is The Reason The Federation Fears Genetic Engineering
The Federation fears all genetically engineered people because of the devastation they caused in Earth's history, but creating another Khan is what they dread most of all. Khan personifies and symbolizes the great danger of eugenics in Star Trek. At the height of Khan's power, he ruled one quarter of the world's population and a region of Earth spanning from Asia to the Middle East. Capable of great benevolence, Khan was considered "the best of the tyrants" but his people had little freedom under his dictatorship. The conflict that broke out among the genetically engineered supermen and the other nations who wanted to force them from power was called the Eugenics Wars. In 1996, Khan escaped Earth with 84 of his Augument followers, and they entered deep space cryosleep aboard the S.S. Botany Bay.
Khan's reawakening in the 23rd century, in turn, helped reawaken the Federation's fear of Augments. Genetic engineering was banned by the Federation before and after Khan returned in 2267 and later attacked the USS Enterprise commanded by Admiral Kirk in Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan. The Federation's eugenics ban is regularly referred to as a way to prevent the creation of another Khan. Starfleet has also wrestled with what to do about significant Starfleet Officers were revealed to be Augments like Lt. Commander Una Chin-Riley (Rebecca Romijn) in Star Trek: Strange New Worlds and Dr. Julian Bashir (Alexander Siddig) in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine.
Can Dal Use Dr. Bashir's DS9 Loophole To Join Starfleet?
A Star Trek: Deep Space Nine loophole may be Dal's only salvation so that he can join Starfleet. When Dr. Bashir was discovered to be an Augment on DS9, he was prepared to resign from Starfleet until his father, Richard (Brian George), took responsibility for his son's genetic manipulation. Julian had a learning disability and was hopelessly behind other children. Although they knew it was illegal, the Bashirs had Julian augmented as a boy to give him a chance at being normal; but Julian's enhancements made him superior. Yet because Julian was only a young boy, Starfleet ruled he wasn't responsible for his parents' actions.
The same technicality that saved Dr. Bashir's Starfleet career could be invoked to allow Dal to join Starfleet. Like Bashir, Dal didn't ask to be created via genetic engineering, and he shouldn't be held responsible for the actions of the rogue geneticists who made him. It's an argument that may not hold water with Starfleet, but for Dal, it's possibly his best shot at being accepted into Starfleet Academy in Star Trek: Prodigy.
Star Trek: Prodigy Season 1 streams Thursdays on Paramount+.