 Later reviewers watched the episodes several decades after broadcast . Zack Handlen of The A.V. Club gave the episode an ' A ' rating , noting its strong characters and the interplay between Kirk and Spock that emphasizes their friendship . Michelle Erica Green called the episode " legendary " in her review for TrekNation . She thought that Khan made the " perfect foil " for the trio of Kirk , Spock and McCoy and said that the episode was not dulled by later episodes and films based on " Space Seed " . In Mark Pickavance 's review at Den of Geek , he said that it remained an " obvious choice of great source material " to be followed up in a film . 
