There is something undeniably weird about the new Kirk that weā€™re seeing in Strange New Worlds. He doesnā€™t yet ā€œfeelā€ intuitively like Kirk to me, especially in the rom-com episode. But I do think his writing and, to a lesser extent, his performance show that the writers are thinking deeply about the character and what people have been missing about him. In a sense, SNW may be trying to counteract the phenomenon of Kirk drift, where pop culture stereotypes about the characterā€™s impulsive, womanizing ways makes it impossible to understand the person we actually see on screen.

What the first season finale shows us is a Kirk who is by the book, yet decisive and sure of himself. He does not disobey Pike, but he is not afraid to tell him heā€™s wrong ā€“ not based on gut feelings, but based on a sound tactical analysis that proves to be right. Compared to Picard, Kirk ā€“ especially the movie Kirk ā€“ may seem brash and prone to violate the rules, but TOS consistently shows us a captain who respects authority but is willing to push it up to the very limit to protect his crew and achieve his goals. Itā€™s interesting that the episode picks up on this aspect of the character as the one that creates an instant bond with Spock. Itā€™s not his emotional nature or his instincts or whatever else, itā€™s his respectful yet firm leadership style ā€“ a sharp contrast to Pikeā€™s tendency to leave his subordinates to their own devices.

In the romcom episode, the message is a little garbled by the fact that this is an alternate timeline Kirk, but I think it highlights the fact that (a) Kirk is not a compulsive womanizer by any means and (b) Kirk bonds sincerely with women who feel isolated by leadership or other burdens ā€“ not in a predatory way, but in an empathetic way. In contrast to Chris Pineā€™s layabout troublemaker who is constantly getting laid (at least in the first film), the Kirk from TOS is basically a lonely nerd. A charismatic one, to be sure, but still a lonely nerd. Even well into his second command, heā€™s haunted by the guy who bullied him at the Academy! He is, if anything, sexually thwarted by his sense of duty and his ā€œmarriageā€ to the ship. Hence when he meets a woman with a similar predicament, they are drawn to each other. Everyone has a type! Itā€™s just a sad coincidence that he wound up meeting someone of his type virtually every episode in season 3.

I donā€™t think itā€™s perfectly executed, at least in the pairing with Laā€™an, but I do like that theyā€™re trying to refresh our perspective on the character and that theyā€™re doing it in a way that reminds us of all the traits from TOS that the pop culture parody of ā€œCaptain Kirkā€ leaves out. But what do you think?

  • NVariable@startrek.website
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    1 year ago

    When a character endures for 60 years, as Kirk has, itā€™s going to need an update. Iā€™m not knocking Chris Pine, but I think what he was given to work with was shallow.

    Kirk had a lot of layers to him, but he was also developed in the 60s cultural context. Hugh Hefner was a sexual freedom icon. The culture up until then was incredibly puritanical. Kirk being so lascivious and women loving him for it was liberating.

    Now, weā€™re much more in touch with reality. Men in positions of power being sexually suggestive with women they employ is deplorable. We live in a different world now.

    To endure as an icon, Kirk has to change. Nice to see more thoughtful writers get a chance to bring the character to this generation. I sincerely hope that decades from now new writers will adapt Kirk to make him outgrow our archaic and comparatively barbarous values.