There is something undeniably weird about the new Kirk that weāre seeing in Strange New Worlds. He doesnāt yet āfeelā 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 characterās 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 heās 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. Itās interesting that the episode picks up on this aspect of the character as the one that creates an instant bond with Spock. Itās not his emotional nature or his instincts or whatever else, itās his respectful yet firm leadership style ā a sharp contrast to Pikeās 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 Pineās 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, heās haunted by the guy who bullied him at the Academy! He is, if anything, sexually thwarted by his sense of duty and his āmarriageā to the ship. Hence when he meets a woman with a similar predicament, they are drawn to each other. Everyone has a type! Itās just a sad coincidence that he wound up meeting someone of his type virtually every episode in season 3.
I donāt think itās perfectly executed, at least in the pairing with Laāan, but I do like that theyāre trying to refresh our perspective on the character and that theyāre doing it in a way that reminds us of all the traits from TOS that the pop culture parody of āCaptain Kirkā leaves out. But what do you think?
When a character endures for 60 years, as Kirk has, itās going to need an update. Iām 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, weāre 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.