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Admiral Kirk vs. Captain Kirk

Which title do you prefer: Captain or Admiral Kirk?


  • Total voters
    26
I like "Admiral," but the problem with it is that we never, ever saw Kirk doing anything to justify it. It was just a title. We never saw him commanding a fleet.
He does seem to have used his authority to appoint Sonak and Sulu to senior positions. Maybe he had a desk job in charge of promotions? After all, it's a repeated theme in the movies that promotion took him away from the action he loved. Top brass tend to be concerned with politics and paperwork, rather than taking to the field.

Ive always liked 'Captain' Spock over 'Mr' Spock as well..felt very 'movie' like. same for Scotty, although not so much Sulu. I think Sulu got abit too big headed with being Captain :D
Only Picard is allowed to drink tea, dammit!
 
I like "Admiral," but the problem with it is that we never, ever saw Kirk doing anything to justify it. It was just a title. We never saw him commanding a fleet.
He does seem to have used his authority to appoint Sonak and Sulu to senior positions. Maybe he had a desk job in charge of promotions? After all, it's a repeated theme in the movies that promotion took him away from the action he loved. Top brass tend to be concerned with politics and paperwork, rather than taking to the field.
The Phase II 'pilot episode' version of the TMP script does show us slightly more of what his job is, because there was a scene where Admiral Nogura consults Admiral Kirk about the positions of the various ships in the fleet, and determines that none of them are close enough to head-off V'Ger. This discussion seemingly happened off-screen in the movie itself, though. ;)
 
^There are those that think 'Head of Starfleet Operations' means his job was oversight of the refit of Enterprise. If that were the case, wouldn't he have known that turboshaft eight was "Back that way"?
 
^There are those that think 'Head of Starfleet Operations' means his job was oversight of the refit of Enterprise. If that were the case, wouldn't he have known that turboshaft eight was "Back that way"?

That doesn't necessarily mean he was good at the job. And with that said, I'd like to think that, since his promotion, he had a little toy model of the refit Enterprise and spent all day flying it around his office, hastily putting it back on the stand whenever his doorbell rang.
 
I should have been more specific: they think that was his only job.

I tend to think he knew little about the refit beyond the basics. Seems like that type of project would fall under Starfleet Research and Development.
 
I like "Admiral," but the problem with it is that we never, ever saw Kirk doing anything to justify it. It was just a title. We never saw him commanding a fleet. In the early films, he did the same sort of things we saw him do as a Captain.

Agreed.

He does seem to have used his authority to appoint Sonak and Sulu to senior positions. Maybe he had a desk job in charge of promotions? After all, it's a repeated theme in the movies that promotion took him away from the action he loved. Top brass tend to be concerned with politics and paperwork, rather than taking to the field.

Yes, that's how they chose to depict it, but there is no reason it had to be that way. Kirk could have commanded a task force whose captains or crews might include any combination of the other characters (an idea my friends and I came up with between TMP and TWOK when we heard that Kirk would be an admiral again in the next movie). Spock could be chief of staff and McCoy staff surgeon aboard the flagship, to keep that dynamic intact.

^There are those that think 'Head of Starfleet Operations' means his job was oversight of the refit of Enterprise. If that were the case, wouldn't he have known that turboshaft eight was "Back that way"?

It seems like an odd use of the word "operations," which historically refers to current deployments and movements and coordinating the information needed to direct them.
 
Definitely for the movies, I preferred "Admiral." It gave the impression of timing having passed and progression was made in Kirk's life and career. Once he went back to captain, it was an ill fit. It also put three people of specific "captain" rank on the ship.

Funny about the movies. As much as it's played up that they're the most amazing crew ever assembled, after a while, it felt like they were kept together to "keep the old dudes out of the way" after the whole "stealing the Enterprise" business. "Here's your reward for saving Earth: Kirk, you get your old rank and keep your crew and...now go on shore leave. Okay, next up, take the shittiest piece of crap starship we have - after slapping the name Enterprise on it - and go to a backwater planet to rescue some hostages that really aren't that important to anyone but their families. Oh and when you're done with that, we need a figurehead to show all the other old soldiers that peace with the Klingons isn't a bad idea. Take Spock and try not to f--k that up, okay?"
 
Crap, I've had the old TOS fight music stuck in my head since I set eyes on this thread title, dammit!

"Dundun dundun dundun-dundun, dundun dundun dundun-dundun, doo-doo dooo dooo dooo dooo dooo doo-doo doooo-doo, tor-rah! Tor-rah!"
 
Wasn't there a DC comic where movie Admiral Kirk met TOS Captain Kirk?

Yes before TNG the big crossover idea was the thought of the original crew meeting their younger TOS selves!
 
Wasn't there a DC comic where movie Admiral Kirk met TOS Captain Kirk?

Yes before TNG the big crossover idea was the thought of the original crew meeting their younger TOS selves!

DC Comics, first run issue #33.
 
Wasn't there a DC comic where movie Admiral Kirk met TOS Captain Kirk?

Yes before TNG the big crossover idea was the thought of the original crew meeting their younger TOS selves!

DC Comics, first run issue #33.

Oh yeah, I think I read that one. Wasn't it a follow-up story after the events of Tomorrow is Yesterday? They went back to their own time, only they went too far..or something like that.
 
Wasn't there a DC comic where movie Admiral Kirk met TOS Captain Kirk?

Yes before TNG the big crossover idea was the thought of the original crew meeting their younger TOS selves!

DC Comics, first run issue #33.

Oh yeah, I think I read that one. Wasn't it a follow-up story after the events of Tomorrow is Yesterday? They went back to their own time, only they went too far..or something like that.

Yep.
 
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