 Writer Carey Wilber pitched " Space Seed " to Star Trek producers Roddenberry , Gene Coon , and Robert Justman with an 18 @-@ page outline dated August 29 , 1966 . In the outline , Wilber envisioned the crew of Botany Bay as criminals sent on a 1 @,@ 500 @-@ year journey to make room on Earth for others . Khan was represented as a Nordic criminal with a " magnificent " body , Harald Ericsson . The producers suggested changes to the outline in a series of memos ; in memos dated September 7 and 9 , Coon suggested significant changes to Ericsson . " I want to rather do more with him than you have indicated in the story outline , ” he wrote . Believing that Ericsson ( misspelled as Erickson in the memo ) could be a worthy adversary for Kirk , Coon suggested that the character be “ in fact very similar to James Kirk , our captain , except that our captain has made an adjustment to this world and this culture [ ... ] In other words , Carey , build us a giant of a man . " 
