"He’s awesome, he’s a great addition, and I think his 'Gary Mitchell' is going to be exemplary," said actor Karl Urban aka "Star Trek Into Darkness" character 'Bones', about fellow cast member, actor Benedict Cumberbatch ("Sherlock"), who plays villain 'John Harrison' in the upcoming film, that many believe is not based on 'Khan', the genetically engineered superhuman from North India, but the classic "Star Trek" TV series character 'Gary Mitchell'.
Director J.J. Abrams who cast his first "Star Trek" movie reboot with young look-alikes from the first "Star Trek" TV series, would never cast a guy with cosmic-blue eyes like Cumberbatch as 'Khan', with "Star Trek" performances from Mexican actor Ricardo Montalbán as 'Khan', indelibly etched in the minds of fans.
But Abrams would cast a guy like Cumberbatch as his villain who looks like a younger version of actor Gary Lockwood, who guest-starred as 'Gary Mitchell' on the first "Star Trek" TV series in the Season 1 episode "Where No Man Has Gone Before".
'Gary Mitchell', was a 'Star Fleet Academy' member and childhood friend of 'Jame T. Kirk'. backing up the official studio synopsis of "Star Trek Into Darkness" stating "...one of their own will rise against them".
Khan was never a member of Starfleet, but 'Gary Mitchell' was Kirk's good friend and fellow star fleet Academy officer, as evidenced in the trailer where both actors Chris Pine as 'Kirk' and Cumberbatch wear official 'Federation' uniforms.
"Where No Man Has Gone Before" was the second pilot episode of the classic "Star Trek" TV series, produced in 1965 after the first pilot, "The Cage", had been rejected by NBC. The episode was eventually broadcast third in sequence, September 22, 1966.
Written by Samuel A. Peeples and directed by James Goldstone, the episode was the first to introduce 'Captain James Kirk' and the starship 'USS Enterprise' on an exploratory mission to leave the galaxy. En route, the damaged ship's recorder of the 'SS Valiant', an Earth spaceship lost 200 years earlier, is found.
The transmission is incomplete, but reveals the Valiant had been swept from its path by a 'magnetic space storm'. The recording ends with the captain of the Valiant apparently giving a self-destruct order. Kirk decides that they need to know what happened to the Valiant and the Enterprise crosses the edge of the galaxy where it encounters a strange barrier damaging the ship's systems and warp drive, forcing a retreat.
At the same time, nine crew members on board are killed and both helmsman 'Gary Mitchell' and the ship's psychiatrist 'Dr. Elizabeth Dehner' are knocked unconscious by the barrier's effect. When he awakens, Mitchell's eyes glow silver and he begins to display superhuman 'psionic' powers.
Mitchell becomes increasingly arrogant and hostile toward the rest of the crew, declaring that he has become godlike, enforcing his desires with fearsome displays of telepathic and telekinetic power. Science Officer 'Spock' believes the Valiant crew members may have experienced the same phenomenon, deliberately destroying their ship to keep the power from spreading. Spock advises Kirk that logically Mitchell may have to be killed before his powers develop further, but Kirk emotionally disagrees.
Alarmed that Mitchell may take over the Enterprise, Kirk decides to maroon him on an unmanned 'lithium-cracking' facility on the remote planet of 'Delta Vega'. Once there, the landing party tries to confine Mitchell, but his powers become too great. Mitchell goes on a rampage, kills navigator 'Lt. Lee Kelso' and escapes, taking with him Dr. Dehner, who has now developed similar powers.
Kirk follows and appeals to Dr. Dehner's humanity to help him. Before Mitchell can kill Kirk, Dehner attacks and weakens him. Mitchell retaliates by killing Dehner, but before he can recover his powers again, Kirk uses a 'phaser' rifle to create a rock slide, supposedly killing Mitchell.
Back safely on the Enterprise, Kirk makes a log entry stating Dehner and Mitchell gave their lives 'in performance of duty', rationalizing that they did not ask for what happened to them.
Logical Spock also admits to feeling sympathy for Mitchell too.
So is 'Gary Marshall' aka 'John Harrison' the villain in "Star Trek Into Darkness" ?
Your guess is as good as mine...
Click the images to enlarge and Sneak Peek "Star Trek: Where No Man Has Gone Before" plus all the footage released to date from "Star Trek Into Darkness"...
