James T. Kirk

James Tiberius Kirk is a fictional character in the Star Trek universe. He was the lead character in the original Star Trek television series and most of the films based on the series. The character was portrayed by Canadian actor William Shatner, who has reprised the role in the forty years since the character's inception.

Producer J. J. Abrams announced that actor Chris Pine had been cast in the role of Kirk in the upcoming 2009 Star Trek film, marking the first time that an actor other than Shatner will portray the character in an official production (though the character has been portrayed in various fan films).

Late Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry is said to have based the character on C. S. Forester's fictional hero Horatio Hornblower, noting in 1991 that "Captain Kirk is Capt. Hornblower of the sailing ships. [He] was a great hero, and Hemingway said [Hornblower] is the most exciting adventure fiction in the human language."

Fictional character history

Kirk was born and raised in Riverside, Iowa, the son of George Samuel Kirk, Sr. and Winona Kirk. His brother and sister-in-law, George Samuel Kirk, Jr. and Aurelan Kirk respectively, were introduced and killed off in the TOS episode "Operation: Annihilate!", leaving behind a son, Peter, and, according to the earlier episode "What Are Little Girls Made Of?", two other children as well. The novel Final Frontier, written by Diane Carey as a "prequel" novel to TOS, tells of the space adventures of James Kirk's father, Commander George Samuel Kirk, Sr.

Although born on Earth, Kirk apparently lived, at least for a time, on Tarsus IV, where he was one of nine surviving witnesses to the massacre of 4,000 colonists, a utilitarian extermination by Governor Kodos.

While Kirk apparently received help getting into Starfleet Academy, his career as a cadet in Starfleet was notable. He was the first person to beat the Kobayashi Maru combat simulation. Despite the simulator's overriding dictate that the cadet lose, Kirk rewrote the program to allow him to rescue the Kobayashi Maru's crew. For this, he received a commendation for original thinking. (Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan)

In 2251, while still a student at the Academy, Kirk was granted a field commission as an Ensign and posted to advanced training aboard the USS Republic. While there, Kirk reported fellow officer Ben Finney for carelessly leaving a switch to the atomic matter piles open which would have blown up the ship in a matter of minutes. This later would come back to haunt Kirk in the episode "Court Martial." In 2253, Kirk was promoted to Lieutenant junior grade and returned to Starfleet Academy as a student instructor. In regard to his teaching style, one of his students remarked that one could either "think or sink." ("Where No Man Has Gone Before")

Upon graduation in the top 5 percent of his class, Kirk was promoted to a full Lieutenant and served aboard the USS Farragut. While serving there, he commanded his first planet survey, and survived a deadly attack by a gas cloud alien, in which a large portion of the Farragut's crew, including Captain Garrovick, were killed. ("Obsession")

Having risen rapidly through the ranks after leaving the Academy, Kirk went on to receive his first command (the equivalent of a destroyer-class spaceship) while still quite young. This early phase of his career was not explored in either the television series or films, though it was explored in the 1986 novel Enterprise: The First Adventure, by Vonda N. McIntyre.

Kirk then became the youngest captain in Starfleet to that date at age 31, when he received command of the USS Enterprise, following the captaincies of Robert April and Christopher Pike.

Kirk's notable relationships amongst his crew in the television series consisted of his First Officer, the Human/Vulcan Spock who doubled as the Enterprise's science officer and would grow to be Kirk's closest friend, alongside Chief Medical Officer Dr. Leonard "Bones" McCoy.

During the original series, Kirk commanded the Enterprise for a five-year mission (though the series barely lasted three years in real time, with 80 episodes produced over three full seasons). In the first feature film Star Trek: The Motion Picture, it is determined that after that mission, he was promoted to Rear Admiral, and assigned as Chief of Starfleet Operations. In the novel Star Trek: The Lost Years by J.M. Dillard, it is stated that during this time period, Kirk was a diplomatic trouble-shooter for Starfleet, but Kirk felt unfulfilled in his administrative role. Spock later noted to his friend in The Wrath of Khan that "commanding a starship is your first, best destiny...anything else is a waste of material."

During The Motion Picture, Admiral Kirk temporarily took command of the Enterprise from Willard Decker, who objected, noting that Kirk, as the ship's former commander, was not as familiar with the Enterprise following its extensive refit while in drydock. Kirk noted the objection and re-assigned Decker as First Officer to advise him. After the incident with V'ger was resolved, Kirk retired from Starfleet, but returned shortly thereafter to oversee Starfleet Academy training.

File:KirkSTVI.jpg

Kirk aboard the Enterprise-A in 2293.

In Wrath of Khan, Kirk again took command of the Enterprise from newly promoted Captain Spock in order to pursue his old enemy, Khan Noonien Singh. He was later demoted to Captain after stealing and scuttling the Enterprise, and sabotaging the USS Excelsior in order to revive Spock, who died in the mission to stop Khan. Kirk was then given command of the USS Enterprise-A, which he commanded for several years until the vessel's decommissioning. (Star Trek III: The Search for Spock and Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home)

Kirk is a widower, having been married once before to Miramanee ("The Paradise Syndrome") who died carrying one of his two known children. He fathered a son, David Marcus, with Dr. Carol Marcus. David was killed by Klingons on the Genesis Planet in 2285. The death of his son enraged Kirk for years to come. While he had always been distrustful and wary of the Klingons, after David's death, Kirk held them collectively responsible for the death of his son. In The Undiscovered Country, when Spock, on behalf of his father Sarek, opened negotiations with the Klingon Empire after the Praxis incident and 'volunteered' Kirk to lead the mission, Kirk was furious. When Spock pointed out that the Klingons were dying, Kirk's sharp response was "Let them die!" It was only when the Klingon Chancellor Gorkon, on his deathbed, pleaded, "Don't let it end this way, Captain," that Kirk started to realize not all Klingons were alike, which brought about a softening of his hatred.

A Klingon court convicted Kirk and McCoy of murdering Gorkon; they were sentenced to a life term in the prison mines of Rura Penthe, but were subsequently rescued and cleared of guilt.

Encounters with future Starfleet officers

Kirk has also met with other characters from subsequent Star Trek television series. In the seventh film in the franchise, Star Trek: Generations, he interacted with Jean-Luc Picard, the captain of the USS Enterprise-D (featured in the second TV series, Star Trek: The Next Generation).

As well, Kirk unknowingly met Benjamin Sisko, Julian Bashir and Miles O'Brien (all from the third series Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, who prevented an assassination attempt on Kirk) in the DS9 episode, "Trials and Tribble-ations."

Death

In the film Star Trek Generations, Kirk was lost and presumed dead when the USS Enterprise-B was damaged by the Nexus, which he entered. In this alternate existence, he was persuaded by Jean-Luc Picard from the year 2371 to return to Veridian III and stop Tolian Soran from sacrificing 230 million lives in order for him to re-enter the Nexus. During the climax, Kirk was able to retrieve and de-activate a cloaking control device from a damaged construction span, enabling Picard to sabotage Soran's plans. However, the span collapsed, causing Kirk to fall. Picard managed to get to Kirk as he lay dying underneath the wreckage, and subsequently buried his predecessor on the plateau.

"Generations" conflicts with the TNG episode "Relics," where it is seemingly implied that Kirk was alive when the Scotty character became trapped in a transporter buffer until the TNG timeframe. The source of the conflict is the line uttered by Scotty just after his rematerialization, where he mentions Kirk by name, and is attributed to his being disoriented, according to the Official Star Trek Web Site, StarTrek.com.

In the original script of Generations, Soran killed Kirk by shooting him in the back. This filmed ending was changed after negative reactions from test audiences.

Mirror Universe

In the Mirror Universe, Kirk was a loyal officer in the Starfleet of the Terran Empire. He commanded the ISS Enterprise after assassinating the ship's previous captain, Christopher Pike. Kirk's first action for the Empire was the execution of 5,000 colonists on Vega IX, and his second action was the suppression of an alien uprising by simply destroying the rebels' homeworld. After briefly exchanging places with the regular universe's Kirk in the TOS episode "Mirror, Mirror," the mirror Kirk was quickly locked up in the brig by Spock. He attempted to bribe Spock with money and his own command, but Spock refused. Kirk was once again returned to the Mirror Universe at the end of the episode; it is unknown what happens to him afterward.

The regular universe's Kirk attempted to convince the mirror Spock to make the Empire more peaceful. In the DS9 episode "Crossover," it is revealed that the mirror Spock's reforms led to the Empire being attacked and defeated by the Klingons and the Cardassians.

Continuity

"James R. Kirk"

Kirk's middle initial was initially noted as "R." on a grave stone in the second commissioned pilot "Where No Man Has Gone Before." Subsequent episodes use "James T. Kirk", and Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country later made official the middle name "Tiberius" (used previously in "Bem", an episode from the animated series). Gene Roddenberry cited human error on the part of the character Gary Mitchell, who created the grave marker. Peter David's novel, Q-Squared, placed the events of this episode in a parallel universe in which, among other differences, Kirk's middle initial was indeed R.

"Shatnerverse"

In books written by William Shatner, beginning with Star Trek: The Return, Kirk is returned to life by the Romulans and the Borg, and goes on to have further adventures in the modern Star Trek universe.

In the "Shatnerverse" novels, the mirror Kirk is subsequently supported by the mirror Spock in a bid to take control of the Terran Empire, and becomes the most brutal dictator in history as the Emperor Tiberius. His Empire is eventually overthrown by Spock, as Deep Space Nine had confirmed with their Mirror Universe episodes, set many years after the events, starting with "Crossover." Tiberius found a way to form a joint Klingon/Cardassian alliance to invade and take over Earth and Vulcan, while he was put into suspended animation for the next 80 years, biding his time to return as Emperor in the novel Spectre.

In most other print sequels, such as The Sorrows of Empire by David Mack (part of the Glass Empires series), the mirror Kirk and Spock quickly become bitter enemies; eventually Kirk is assassinated by Spock, who takes sole control of the Empire.

References in other Trek media

• In the Star Trek: Voyager episode "Q2", Icheb writes an essay about Kirk and performs a speech about Kirk in front of Captain Kathryn Janeway. Q would later say that his speech wasn't very interesting.
• The character of Kirk is portrayed by fan James Cawley in his unofficial, Internet-distributed fan-produced episodes of Star Trek: New Voyages.

Viewer reception

With the advent of Star Trek: The Next Generation, many Trekkies often compare the leadership styles of Kirk and Jean-Luc Picard: Kirk is deemed to be very able to find ways "through unanticipated problems to reach [his] goals" and his leadership style is most "appropriate in a tight, geographically identical team with a culture of strong leadership."

Pop cultural references

• At least two Star Trek novels had material based in the real town of Riverside, Iowa. The Diane Carey novel, Best Destiny, serves as an immediate follow-up to the events of Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country, depicting Kirk's childhood in Riverside. The novel's opening chapter had a preteen Kirk playing with friends in fields near the English River. Because of this, the town of Riverside petitioned Gene Roddenberry and Paramount Pictures in 1985, requesting permission to "adopt" Kirk as their town's "Future Son." This promotion was similar to the town of Metropolis, Illinois adopting Superman as their mascot. Though reportedly Paramount Pictures never officially replied, Roddenberry sent an "official" response on his Norway Productions stationery, giving his blessing to their endeavor. The Riverside Area Community Club holds an annual "Trek Fest" in anticipation of Kirk's birth [1], and the Starfleet International Star Trek Fan Association has commissioned a chapter of its group in the town's name [2]. All materials associated with this "hometown" status are not considered part of the "official" biography of Kirk.
• Captain Kirk was the name of a very minor character in Vanity Fair, published in 1848 -- a surgeon who treated William Dobbin in Madras when Dobbin thought that Amelia was due to be married.

External links

• StarTrek.com: James T. Kirk
• BBC: Star Trek film names Kirk actor
• James T. Kirk at Memory Alpha