Why should it matter there? This was Saavik's test, not Kirk's.Did it bug you in The Wrath of Khan?
How long before "The Man Trap" did McCoy know Kirk?
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Speaking of "The Man Trap" -- today marks 54 years since it first aired!
Agreed, Kirk must have been an instructor at a later time, probably at age 23-25 (my head canon is ~24) and after his service on the Farragut. I like to head-canonize in more exact ages/years. For Gary Mitchell to be an underclassman and probably a plebe to be getting warnings about Lt. Kirk, Mitchell would be around ~18 which makes him ~6 years younger than Kirk. WMNHGB is vague as to how many years it occurred before the series start, but I would put Kirk at 30-32 (my head canon is ~31), so, Kirk met Mitchell 15 years earlier or when Kirk was ~16 and Mitchell was ~10 years old. Because of both their young ages and a ~6 year gap, they must have been either family friends or in the Boy Scouts of the Federation (just made that up
).When Kirk was 22, he was serving either on the Republic or the Farragut, so, for McCoy to have meet him, then newly commissioned McCoy would have been serving on the same ship, probably McCoy's first ship assignment after McCoy's training in OCS (assuming McCoy was not in Starfleet, then enlisted into Starfleet and attended some sort of OCS after his divorce.) Odd that McCoy never hints that he served under Capt. Garrovick, too, so maybe they meet off ship on short leave.
I like how you tied JTB to Kirk becoming Captain. If we use Stardates as to a clue as to the time gap between TDY and JTB, it was about 3 months, so, Kirk is 3 months older than in the TDY age 34 statement. He could have had a 35th birthday in that period, so, he could have been 31 when he became captain of the Enterprise. YMMV
.FWIW, Kirk doesn't call his CMO "Bones" a single time during the introductory "Corbomite Maneuver", or the following "Mudd's Women", starts out cautiously with two counts in "Enemy Within", and then goes for eight in "Man Trap" (swap the latter two if you prefer stardates to production order). We could argue he's getting used to this affable stranger over the duration of 200-300 stardates...
In contrast, Piper is "Mark" to Kirk in the one and only appearance in "Where No Man", where Mitchell is "Gary" but the others only have ranks and surnames. (Okay, Spock is "Spock" to Kirk once, rather than "Mr Spock", and he's also "Spock" to Piper.)
Timo Saloniemi
In contrast, Piper is "Mark" to Kirk in the one and only appearance in "Where No Man", where Mitchell is "Gary" but the others only have ranks and surnames. (Okay, Spock is "Spock" to Kirk once, rather than "Mr Spock", and he's also "Spock" to Piper.)
Timo Saloniemi
According to the novels they were old friends.
Which generally makes the universe unattractively small. What's the point of the Butler-O'Hara romance if Rhett and Scarlett went to the same Sunday school as kids?
But there's no getting around the fact that Kirk's senior officers are his friends (even if a few try to murder him, and some even succeed). Kirk may inspire confidence, but his personality is unlikely to be an instant-befriending asset. So how come he's surrounded by folks who like his company? Is it what always happens in these hermetically sealed tin cans in deep space by necessity (or due to chemicals pumped in by Starfleet decree)? Does Kirk have a select few friends who bring along a troupe, much like Spock and Mitchell seemed closely coupled? Is the only way into high Starfleet rank through family connections, meaning everybody shared a sandbox or a high school flame with somebody else?
We haven't really seen contrasting evidence to help us out here. Even the command crew of the most recent ship of misfits, the Cerritos, is best buddies with each other, despite comical character failings. For all we care, we might listen to Khan and accept that they're all one big happy Fleet by default and profession!
Timo Saloniemi
But there's no getting around the fact that Kirk's senior officers are his friends (even if a few try to murder him, and some even succeed). Kirk may inspire confidence, but his personality is unlikely to be an instant-befriending asset. So how come he's surrounded by folks who like his company? Is it what always happens in these hermetically sealed tin cans in deep space by necessity (or due to chemicals pumped in by Starfleet decree)? Does Kirk have a select few friends who bring along a troupe, much like Spock and Mitchell seemed closely coupled? Is the only way into high Starfleet rank through family connections, meaning everybody shared a sandbox or a high school flame with somebody else?
We haven't really seen contrasting evidence to help us out here. Even the command crew of the most recent ship of misfits, the Cerritos, is best buddies with each other, despite comical character failings. For all we care, we might listen to Khan and accept that they're all one big happy Fleet by default and profession!
Timo Saloniemi
New series: Star Trek Babies
All of the regular crew's mothers were in the hospital going into labor at the same time (which is very odd, considering that they're all different ages, but canon has no value anyway). They all went to the same preschool, got into rascally adventures (Kirk always the ringleader), then started primary school together. Christopher Pike was their teacher.
Thank you, I enjoyed that!
If you liked that, then you'll love the new CBSTrek fall line-up, detailed in the link below. Now how much would you pay?
https://www.trekbbs.com/threads/whats-next.304503/
PAY?! Sorry, no, that's a deal-breaker.
You're not a RealFan (TM)! A RealFan would walk barefoot across broken glass for anything with the name Star Trek!
Just subjectively, from the tone of their talks in the earlier produced episodes, I get the the impression that Kirk and Bones knew each other before Enterprise but weren't super close. I don't think that overly shrinks the universe, since we've seen Kirk has acquaintances all across the service.
Pike: Your da-da was potty trained for 12 minutes and he saved the binkies of 800 babies. I dare you to do better.
I think so too. The nature of the dialogue in the first few episodes has a slightly formal quality in places. He often calls him Doctor, rather than Bones, for example.
*looks up at wall of Trek merch*
I won't pay for Star Trek!
Well, it may seem a contradiction, but I'd rather pay a one-time price for a season on DVD to own, than a regular monthly fee for a service.
I can see Starfleet giving Kirk teaching duties at the Academy during the Farragut Inquiry (oh yes, with 200+ deaths, there is going to be an investigation. As a weapons officer, he would be a key witness.)
It's worth remembering though that Kirk is having a lot of trouble with numbers in "The Deadly Years." So in my headcanon, Kirk's age of 34 is a misremembered age that his fellow crew were too polite to call him on. (I see 34 as the age he took command of the E.) It makes his backstory elements a bit easier to fit together.
edited out some pre-caffeine typing.
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An interesting approach and not too much of a stretch either!
An interesting approach and not too much of a stretch either!
The competency hearing ws called to determine that Kirk was no longer competent to command the Enterprise.
So I fail to see how someone would be too polite to point out that perticular error on Kirk's part if it happened.
For example:
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