I lost something today which meant a lot to me. Something broke that I'm not sure can ever be fixed. And it stinks. When I was driving home tonight, my lady called me up to tell me the terrible news.

Khan is dead.

Ricardo Montalban was in many ways one of the icons of my childhood. I grew up on Fantasy Island. There was the greatness of seeing him wrestle a balloon version of Priscilla Presley in the first Naked Gun movie. And I still remember seeing one of the ten best science-fiction films ever made, Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, and how hard that film hit me even as a kid. Star Trek reruns were a way of life in the '80s. I knew these characters well. Spock dying was unthinkable. And when it happened, it was devastating. Khan was responsible. On the way out of the theater, it didn't matter that the poster for The Search for Spock was already hanging in the lobby. I just saw Spock die and he died at the hands of a evil god named Khan.

Montalban, like Shatner, will never be accused of subtlety. His portrayal of Khan has a Shakespearean (see: over-the-top) quality to it. His look, voice, story, super strength, intellect, dialogue and verbal spars with Kirk make him, undoubtedly, one of the greatest villains to ever grace the screen. He is great because he was -- and remains -- Kirk's greatest adversary.

This is immediately apparent in the film too, before you ever meet him and even if you didn't catch the Star Trek episode "Space Seed." In Wrath of Khan, when Chekov and Captain Terrell enter the abandoned cargo carriers and our Russian Starfleet officer reads "Botany Bay" on a buckle, we see his look of horror. Khan's ship! Kirk barely defeated him the first time before banishing the genetic freak and his clan. Chekov knows the kind of danger he and Terrell are in. However, before they can escape, it is too late. Khan is waiting and he is thirsty for vengeance. He's waited so long for this moment -- a chance to get back at Kirk. He's run this chess game in his head for almost two decades. And now Chekov and Terrell have fallen into his lap, the little pawns.

Moby Dick plays an integral role in at least two (of the best) Star Trek films. One of them is First Contact and the other is Wrath of Khan. It is not enough that Montalban's Khan is finally free from banishment, with a ship at his command, finally free to go where he wants. He must have his white whale, Kirk:

"He tasks me! He tasks me and I shall have him! I'll chase him 'round the moons of Nibia and 'round the Antares Maelstrom and 'round Perdition's flames before I give him up!"

The film is about aging heroes and aging villains and how both can die hard. Nobody died harder than Khan. He is vindictive to his last dying and desperate breath and it's really something to watch Montalban play this character to his final moments. Could you honestly think of another actor who would have nailed Khan so beautifully? I can't. I think of the look of disgust on his face when he learns Kirk is now an admiral. There's venom in Khan's voice when he repeats "Admiral? Admiral! Admiral ..." It's delicious work by an actor perfectly suited for the role. Immediately, Montalban presents Khan as dangerous and unpredictable.

We lose things. But we can cherish them while they last. And when they're gone, we can cherish our thoughts, our memories, and, in this case, the performance of a lifetime. Thanks Ricardo, for the memories.

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Dre writes two times a week for Film.com. Email him!

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