Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan is regarded as one of the best, if not the best, Star Trek movie of all, but Star Trek Generations and Star Trek: First Contact co-writer Ronald D. Moore also points out the “bad way” Star Trek II impacted the movie franchise. Ricardo Montalbán played the titular, genetically engineered villain, and his menacing, scenery-chewing performance set the gold standard for every Star Trek movie villain to follow. But as Moore assesses, Khan became a double-edged sword for the Star Trek movies.

In the oral history “The Center Seat: 55 Years of Star Trek” by Peter Holmstrom, Ronald D. Moore hailed Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan as “a classic” and “a fan’s dream” that “works on every level.” However, Moore also describes the negative impact Wrath of Khan made on every Star Trek movie that followed, as Paramount continually demanded that each film had a villain like Khan. Read his quote below:

It’s the one that’s referenced over and over again. In some ways, in a bad way. Because I could easily make the argument that what Wrath of Khan did was it permanently sent every Star Trek film down the same path. They all then, with the exception of IV, went, “We need a villain like Khan.” I can’t tell you how many times I heard that. “We need a Khan. Who’s the Khan in this movie?” It all became about emulating that story.