Joachim (Star Trek)

Did You Know?

• Joachim is a gold card in the Star Trek Customizable Card Game, meaning he is neutral rather than allied with the Federation, Klingons, or Romulans.
• FASA also produced a 25 mm lead figurine of Joachim.

Name and identity

The character's name appears as Joachin in the episode "Space Seed" and as Joaquin in that episode's end credits and on StarTrek.com, but he was accidentally renamed Joachim in the film Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan. In Greg Cox's non-canon novels The Eugenics Wars and To Reign in Hell: The Exile of Khan Noonien Singh, Joachim is depicted as the son of Joaquin and another SS Botany Bay survivor, Suzette Ling, and was born in exile on Ceti Alpha V. Paramount Pictures' official Star Trek website maintains separate entries for Joaquin and Joachim.

Portrayal

Judson Scott is best known in Star Trek circles for playing Joachim, the son of Khan, in the film Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan. Acting alongside Ricardo Montalbán, the two developed a lasting friendship; years later, Scott presented Montalbán with a lifetime achievement award. Scott also appeared as a Brekkan in the Star Trek: The Next Generation episode "Symbiosis" alongside his Star Trek II co-star Merritt Butrick, and as a Romulan in the Star Trek: Voyager episode "Message in a Bottle." As of 2003, Scott continued attending science fiction conventions and maintained a fan club made up mostly of Star Trek enthusiasts.

Joachim was born on Earth in the 20th century. In 1993, Khan was one of forty genetically enhanced "supermen" who took over the planet. Together with Joachim and his other followers, Khan ruled over Southeast Asia and half of the Middle East. As mentioned in the Star Trek: Enterprise episode "Borderland," the Eugenics Wars of the 1990s were a conflict between these genetic augments that resulted in 30 million deaths. After this turmoil, Khan, Joachim, and 82 other followers fled Earth aboard the SS Botany Bay, a modified freighter that kept them in suspended animation for nearly 300 years.

In the original Star Trek episode "Space Seed," the USS Enterprise crew finds the Botany Bay drifting. After being revived, Khan charms Lieutenant Marla McGivers, who helps him awaken Joachim and the rest of his surviving followers. Following a brief takeover of the Enterprise, Captain James T. Kirk exiles Khan, Joachim, McGivers, and the others to Ceti Alpha V. Fifteen years later, Khan and his people escape by seizing the USS Reliant, with Joachim at the helm.

Khan is determined to get revenge on Kirk, but Joachim tries to convince him that escaping exile and acquiring a ship already proves he has bested Kirk. Khan ignores this advice and presses on. Joachim later refuses to pilot the Reliant into the Mutara Nebula, where the ship's defenses and sensors would be useless, so Khan takes the helm himself. During the battle, an attack from the Enterprise causes a bulkhead to collapse on Joachim, fatally wounding him.

Khan lifts the bulkhead and holds Joachim, whose last words are "yours is superior." Khan then vows to avenge Joachim's death.