Yeah. The movie had to end with him in the captain's chair. Period. The plausibility is problematic, and the practicality and reality can be (and has been) argued. But while it may have been a bit contrived, it wasn't so ridiculous under the circumstances. He got a heroic reward for a heroic deed. I'm sure it's hardly business as ususal for Starfleet to give the captaincy of a starship to a twenty-something, but besides doing what he did, Kirk is exceptional in almost every category. Spock Prime certainly seemed satisfied with what happened. Being in the captain's chair is his first, best destiny. He's a natural; an outlier. That's actually why I'm a little disappointed by the early part of STID.
It does feel a little bit like going back over ground already covered. But I'll wait and see how it's actually handled.
So while Scotty's being punished for beaming Porthos into oblivion, why was Keenser there? What had he done that required punishment? How much education a person has can influence what rank they star off as. My mother claimed that due to her university credits, she could have started off as a Captain (as in O-3 Captain) if she had joined the Army in her younger days.
The character was not sufficiently developed in the film nor in related materials to give us that information.
If you want to bring the comic into this, Keenser originally believed being assigned to Delta Vega was a great opportunity. At the time it was a functional Starfleet facility with a full staff of many officers, until eventually it just became him until Scotty arrived. So for some reason Starfleet reassigns the dozens officers serving at Delta Vega but keeps Keenser as a sort of lighthouse keeper and sends him a disgraced officer as company. Then again, Keenser's only real purpose in the movies is comic relief and I'm clearly overthinking his role with this post.
One man's hell is another man's heaven. The fact that it's a punishment assignment for Scotty doesn't mean it is so for anyone else.
The British Royal Navy does not have an Ensign rank, it starts at Lieutenant for officers.[/QUOTE] British Navy has Midshipsmen or Sub Lieutenant as O-1. I was offered full Lieutenant O-2, as Wormhole mentioned was down to education.
Besides, Keenser might have already been assigned to work with Scotty on his previous posting. After Scotty was posted to Delta Vega, Keenser might have volunteered to accompany him out of respect for his colleague. It's clear that Keenser likes Scotty and was sad to see him go... (which brings to mind, what is Keenser still doing at Delta Vega? They don't expect him to work there alone, do they?)
He's not. He's on the Enterprise at the end of the last film. "Get down!" The IDW comic featuring Keenser was a flashback story.
In the Royal Navy Officer Cadets hold the rank of midshipman or sub lieutenant and sometimes lieutenant. These ranks would be equal to USN ensign, lieutenant junior grade and lieutenant.
Everyone's back, it seems. Keenser, Cupcake, Pike - I even spotted Madeline in one of the trailers. About Kirk's promotion - I saw Battleship recently and couldn't help but see a resemblence to Star Trek, with the young lieutenant taking over in a crisis and saving the day. But at the end, they hand out the medals and tell him that if he plays his cards right, he may just become a captain for real in a few years time. He just saved the world from aliens, FFS! Proved himself under more extreme and dire circumstances than most navy captains will ever encounter! Perhaps more realistic, but not the most satisfying ending.
To be fair, we don't know Tryla Scott's age, and I always assumed she was in her mid twenties. I make that inference because she seemed younger than Riker, who wasn't offered captaincy until his late 20s. While it's pretty obvious that Kirk's rapid ascension is definitely the record for quickest captaincy, that's not the same as youngest captain, either. Although highly unlikely, Scott might have made captain at the same age as Kirk, considering that Kirk squandered his college years in the JJVerse and that we don't know Scott's birth year. In any case, I should think that Scott holds the record for fastest captaincy without cheating. A-hah