although, had the USS Reliant detonated the Genesis device on Ceti Alpha V with Khan & The Gang still on the surface, would it had made a new Class M planet with a bunch of Khan-derived life-forms?
According to LD, any living thing caught up in the Genesis device’s explosion becomes part of its matrix.
Which should mean that the planet on ST III would have been partially Khan-derived. Maybe that’s why it was a mess.
Also the fancy CGI presentation suggested that the Genesis device was supposed to be delivered to a planet surface, it was actually detonated in a nebula. And it apparently created not only a planet but a star in a few hours.
According to LD, any living thing caught up in the Genesis device’s explosion becomes part of its matrix.
Which should mean that the planet on ST III would have been partially Khan-derived. Maybe that’s why it was a mess.
The in-universe explanation for that was because they used protmatter, according to David Marcus. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Also the fancy CGI presentation suggested that the Genesis device was supposed to be delivered to a planet surface, it was actually detonated in a nebula. And it apparently created not only a planet but a star in a few hours.
That was backed up in season 4 of LD. Apparently it can turn a nebula into a planet.
Also, somehow, that nebula is within close enough orbit of a star that it can support human life once it’s a planet.
🤷