Interesting stuff from the screenplay...

[Admiral Buzzkill]

This bit of dialogue, for example - George Jr to Jimmy before the car incident:

GEORGE JR.
She's gone for five more months, by then
I'll be in a different system.
(sees fear in Kirk)
You're gonna be okay. You always are.
Always doing everything right -- good
grades and obeying every stupid order...
(then)
I can't be a Kirk in this house. Show me
how to do that and I'll stay.​

Cleary the writers were aware of the "stack of books with legs" and offered an explanation for what happened to him, based upon the death of his father and the differing environment he grew up in.

 

[urbandk]

This bit of dialogue, for example - George Jr to Jimmy before the car incident:

GEORGE JR.
She's gone for five more months, by then
I'll be in a different system.
(sees fear in Kirk)
You're gonna be okay. You always are.
Always doing everything right -- good
grades and obeying every stupid order...
(then)
I can't be a Kirk in this house. Show me
how to do that and I'll stay.​

Cleary the writers were aware of the "stack of books with legs" and offered an explanation for what happened to him, based upon the death of his father and the differing environment he grew up in.

Wasn't there a brother Sam too? Yeah... maybe the 'vette theft was a pivotal moment for young JTK. I guess we'll never know.

 

[M'Sharak]

This bit of dialogue, for example - George Jr to Jimmy before the car incident:

GEORGE JR.
She's gone for five more months, by then
I'll be in a different system.
(sees fear in Kirk)
You're gonna be okay. You always are.
Always doing everything right -- good
grades and obeying every stupid order...
(then)
I can't be a Kirk in this house. Show me
how to do that and I'll stay.​

Cleary the writers were aware of the "stack of books with legs" and offered an explanation for what happened to him, based upon the death of his father and the differing environment he grew up in.

Wasn't there a brother Sam too? Yeah... maybe the 'vette theft was a pivotal moment for young JTK. I guess we'll never know.

Well, George, Jr. is Sam. Remember this, from "What Are Little Girls Made Of?":

KIRK: What about memory? Tell me about Sam.
KIRK2: George Samuel Kirk, your brother. Only you call him Sam.

I don't think we had exact dialogue, but I remember one of the writers talking months ago about Sam's running away from home and the Corvette joyride being a turning point for young Jim Kirk. Up to then, Jim had always been the good student and the straight arrow; Sam was the poor student and got into trouble a lot, which became a source of conflict between him and stepfather/drunk uncle (or whoever the character was in the earlier script.)

 

[OneBuckFilms]

This bit of dialogue, for example - George Jr to Jimmy before the car incident:

GEORGE JR.
She's gone for five more months, by then
I'll be in a different system.
(sees fear in Kirk)
You're gonna be okay. You always are.
Always doing everything right -- good
grades and obeying every stupid order...
(then)
I can't be a Kirk in this house. Show me
how to do that and I'll stay.​

Cleary the writers were aware of the "stack of books with legs" and offered an explanation for what happened to him, based upon the death of his father and the differing environment he grew up in.

Wasn't there a brother Sam too? Yeah... maybe the 'vette theft was a pivotal moment for young JTK. I guess we'll never know.

Yep. George Samuel Kirk Jr., nicknamed Sam, died on a Federation colony by parasites that hid from the light.

 

[JarodRussell]

Where did you get the screenplay?

 

[Nerys Myk]

Dennis knows people. He was even people once, but that was another life.

 

[LeahBoBo]

Dennis knows people. He was even people once, but that was another life.

 

[Admiral_Young]

The screenplay is available on a script reviewers blog if you do a google search you can probably find it. It's how I did. What's interesting about the screenplay is that at the end of it there is also the William Shatner cameo that was not filmed. It's intersting. Strange that it was intended that Young Spock views it and not Jim. It was to convince Spock of the friendship that would grow. It seems that the timeline of the cameo it's written after The Undiscovered Country and before the launch of the Enterprise B so it could have worked.

 

[Sharr Khan]

I like that at least in the screenplay they reference "Spock's World". Do sort of wish they kept that line in there as it sums Vulcan's up rather nicely.

Sharr

 

[Shatmandu]

Yep. George Samuel Kirk Jr., nicknamed Sam, died on a Federation colony by parasites that hid from the light.

He was killed by Scientologists?

Joe, clear

 

[Sabataage]

I like that at least in the screenplay they reference "Spock's World". Do sort of wish they kept that line in there as it sums Vulcan's up rather nicely.

Sharr

What line was that?

 

[Duane]

Scientologists...Now that's funny!

 

[Franklin]

That scene painted young Kirk as timid, weak, and a go-along-get-along kid. That's not a "stack of books with legs." That's a wimp. Kirk may have been an earnest stack a books with legs in one life, but Mitchell said he was also a taskmaster as a teacher. Kirk as a wimpy kid? Not in any life. Not for a minute.

Like all the other scenes they left out, far better that this one never shined on the silver screen. Man, they made some good editing and story-line choices.

Better that George went the way of Chuck from Happy Days than to add his baggage to this movie. Better to believe Kirk's life of rebellious trouble began with the death of his father, not the running away of his brother. It was far more poignant to have things happen on screen as they did.

 

[Michael Chris]

That scene painted young Kirk as timid, weak, and a go-along-get-along kid. That's not a "stack of books with legs." That's a wimp. Kirk may have been an earnest stack a books with legs in one life, but Mitchell said he was also a taskmaster as a teacher. Kirk as a wimpy kid? Not in any life. Not for a minute.

Certainly could have been. People change.

 

[Admiral Buzzkill]

That scene painted young Kirk as timid, weak, and a go-along-get-along kid. That's not a "stack of books with legs."

Yeah, whatever. The kid's the younger brother and he's, what, twelve?

I like human beings (not all of them). My interest in fantasy heroes has diminished further the more I've lived and met real people of accomplishment.

 

[Franklin]

That scene painted young Kirk as timid, weak, and a go-along-get-along kid. That's not a "stack of books with legs." That's a wimp. Kirk may have been an earnest stack a books with legs in one life, but Mitchell said he was also a taskmaster as a teacher. Kirk as a wimpy kid? Not in any life. Not for a minute.

Certainly could have been. People change.

I suppose. But "people change" can't be the only rationale for someone going from "the good kid" to "the bad kid."
Further, as it was written, not having Dad around apparenly just made Jim a wimp. His brother leaving turned him into the delinquent underachiever.

I'd think leaving that scene in would've opened up a can of worms. It would've meant the focus of Jim's early life shouldn't have been the death of his dad so much as his relationship with George afterwards. How are these two brothers coping without a dad? Why is Jim such rules-follower while George finally gets so fed up with it all that he's leaving? Does George care what that might do to his mother? Why is he abaondoning Jim? Why couldn't they tell their mother how things really were? What kind of mother was she? She couldn't have taken her kids to Africa with her? Hell, in the 23rd century, she couldn't have commuted from Iowa?

In a nutshell, if it's George's leaving and an unattentive mother that finally unmoor Jim's life, then his homelife would've had to have been more deeply developed. That would've made for a messier movie.

 

[Michael Chris]

I suppose. But "people change" can't be the only rationale for someone going from "the good kid" to "the bad kid."
Further, as it was written, not having Dad around apparenly just made Jim a wimp. His brother leaving turned him into the delinquent underachiever.

Yes?

 

[Franklin]

I suppose. But "people change" can't be the only rationale for someone going from "the good kid" to "the bad kid."
Further, as it was written, not having Dad around apparenly just made Jim a wimp. His brother leaving turned him into the delinquent underachiever.

Yes?

Yeah. I'm not arguing the point. I'm not even sure we're in any kind of disagreement. (I'm also not sure I'm even on topic, any more. )
I just think that adding George to the equation as Orci and Kurtzman did made George more important to direction of Kirk's life as the death of his father was. It also made George a bit of a loose-end in the movie.
Movie-goers now see there were two children whose lives were terribly altered by the death of their dad. So, what of George after this scene? His future became unimportant? Uninteresting? He storms off, never to be heard from again? Doe he get his life in order? Or, is his life the one truly ruined by what Nero did? Once the character is introduced, and we know he's facing the same things as Jim is, shouldn't the moviegoer care about him, too?

Just overthinking.

 

[Sector 7]

^While those are good points, how could we possibly fit everything into a two hour movie? Choices had to be made, thus scenes were cut or changed, as in any film.

 

[Sharr Khan]

I like that at least in the screenplay they reference "Spock's World". Do sort of wish they kept that line in there as it sums Vulcan's up rather nicely.

Sharr

What line was that?

My sig:

'Cthia' is the stricture that binds our emotions... but few of us are that perfectly Vulcan. - Spock Prime Star Trek screenplay

Its only in the screenplay and not the final film and takes place after the mind meld after Kirk says: "So you do feel..."

Sharr