Should Chris Pine's Kirk been such a horndog?

[GhostFaceSaint]

I know that some of you were cringing with all the attention Chris Pine's Kirk paid to the ladies, but he was a young man after-all with a young man's libido it was funny and it fit the image of Kirk, although that is probably more of a stereotype of him than anything else, I believe that as his character ages and matures, especially now that he's captain of the USS Enterprise, he will control himself demonstrating the same class and restraint the old William Shatner's Kirk displayed in TOS.

Still was it really too much for many of you to have Kirk in the scene with the "Green Lady" cadet? I always took it as Kirk just being young and a little wild.

 

[startrekrcks]

why do you think he won't be fun and attractive anymore in the sequel as captain. Chris Pine's Kirk still has to have humour as well.

 

[KottenFutz]

I think we see a little bit different James T. Kirk in the new film. He never knows his real father, and seemed to have a rough upbringing, lost and unfocused, making him rebellious and an avid challenger of authority. The death of his father is the one factor that changes Kirk as the old series depicted him. His philandering is nothing new but in the film it's amped up, it's understandable considering his altered past... he sees life as a playground because he's not serious about anything, never growing up, no direction... he's a punk. Captain Pike began a process towards a change in Kirk, as the one "father figure" to really give him any honest attention, seeing young Kirk's potential, putting him on the right path towards a meaningful life. Not until he makes an effort to dramatically change his life do we see the transformation towards the Kirk we're familiar with. And I think we get to see his characters arc sped up and truncated in full view, oppossed to the the 30 years of character development we followed along with before this new film.

 

[GhostFaceSaint]

why do you think he won't be fun and attractive anymore in the sequel as captain. Chris Pine's Kirk still has to have humour as well.

Who says that maturing automatically translates into being less attractive or less fun? William Shatner's Kirk was a lot of fun he just didn't sleep with everyone he liked, one example is Yeoman Rand, another from "Dagger Of The Mind" would be Doctor Helen Noel. Showing some class and being particular with who you are with isn't boring at all.

 

[Nerys Myk]

The TOS Kirk seems to be a guy who falls in love too easy and too fast. And then the relationships end badly.(cue melancholy Kirk love theme) Of course Pine's Kirk might be masking this with bravado and humor. We didnt really see him "fall in love" this time around.

 

[Peter the Younger]

The TOS Kirk seems to be a guy who falls in love too easy and too fast. And then the relationships end badly.(cue melancholy Kirk love theme) Of course Pine's Kirk might be masking this with bravado and humor. We didnt really see him "fall in love" this time around.

True. You have to chalk some of that up to the time it was aired, though; being horny but not in love was simply not acceptable for an all-American protagonist like TOS Kirk. He wasn't the only one, either (I recently cringed at how quickly McCoy "fell in love" in For the World is Hollow and I Have Touched the Sky.)

Having said that, I don't think Kirk should be a womanizer in the style of say, James Bond. I see Kirk as a cavalier guy, but also a compassionate one - he doesn't want to hurt anybody, he's just got... ahem... a lot of affection to dish out. Hell, if Roddenberry were still around, he'd probably want to make the guy full-on polyamorous.

 

[Yeoman Randi]

^ Peter, you took the words right out of my mouth. i was going to say pretty much the same thing...that when TOS aired his 'escapades' were a sign of the times. I don't think they could pull that off in this day and age. Unless it was a situational thing....like when Kirk would put the moves on someone just to gain access to some way to save the ship.

It (Kirk's horndoggy behaviour) was appropriate for the first movie, but i don't know if it will be for the next....

 

[Nerys Myk]

I wonder if Shat ever suggested Kirk seduce the Romulan Commander and Spock steal the cloaking device?

 

[GhostFaceSaint]

I hope Kirk goes from the young, wild, untamed youth, to the classy, charming, and disciplined Captain he is supposed to be. I agree that his younger self without a father should have been a little out of control, but now he should grow into the cool sophisticated sexy starship Captain he is meant to be.

I think one element that could help him along would be for him to easily fall in love with a young Coral Marcus, come close to marry her and raising the son she would soon have but instead she turns down the marriage proposal, ends the relationship for some reason thus giving Kirk more wisdom before jumping into any future relationship too readily. A burned and hurt Kirk would make for a more interesting and fascinating character. You grow more attached to characters that change and learn, especially when you sympathize with them.

 

[startrekrcks]

what make Pine's Kirk more serious can he still like women and humour.

 

[Maxum]

I think Kirk goes from woman to woman because he's afraid of getting too close to anyone. If you thnk about it, Kirk has no family, at least none that we've seen that he's close with at this point. His mother left him for long periods of time, his stepfather was abusive, and apparently, his brother was also leaving him behind.

It makes sense that Kirk would get involved in pointless relationships. There's no danger of him getting hurt. Kirk masks his emotions with bravado and arrogance, but when someone says something about family, it strips Kirk of his mask. The younger Spock did it during the hearing, and we saw it again when Kirk was anxious to learn about his father from the elder Spock. Kirk is capable of falling in love, but not yet, not at this young age. He doesn't trust yet. That's my take on it, anyway.

 

[SilentP]

There is a certain mask of bravado that this Kirk seems to maintain, which we see slip a few times, such as the two examples Maxum pointed out, and also when he assumes command of the Enterprise. Remember this little exchange?

Uhura: I hope you know what you're doing.
Kirk: So do I/

I'm not sure what the word to describe his expression there is, but he certainly looked more unsure than he's even done during the movie, and he exposes this to someone who he's had a somewhat antagonistic realtionship with. I'm guessing there are some things he may not be ready for, but he is having to rapidly mature.

 

[Cyke101]

I don't see him being such a horndog in this film. He's attracted to two women in the film and that's it. One of whom he fails to get, whereas Shatner Kirk seemed to be able to romance just about anyone. Beyond that, it's a bunch of kids dorming away from their parents. Starfleet can be military or academic, but it's still a social center. Riker, Bashir, Paris, I'm sure those types have all kinds of stories (but I'm most proud of McCoy...).

I also don't think it's a stereotype for Shatner Kirk to be a Lothario with the ladies - Memory Alpha has an article for Kirk's romances that seems to be just as long as his article on tactics! nuTrek shows us one romance and one rejection, but TOS makes it clear that Kirk Prime had at least three serious girlfriends while at the Academy. And Lord knows what he did with those women!

(I hate to bring up Nemesis again, but I wonder if the same people who complained about Kirk and the Orion also complained about the disturbing and misplaced Troi rape scene)

 

[number6]

I don't see what the big deal is. Who wasn't a horndog in their early 20s??

When did Trekkies become Puritans?

 

[Photoman15]

Let's not forget this piece of info that we haven't seen, Kirk was with Gaila to gain access to the KM simulator to plant his subroutine.

 

[Newspaper Taxi]

Kirk's maturation would be an excellant character arc or focus point for a future movie. He still has a ways to go, obviously.

 

[davejames]

I think one thing a sequel could do is explore the Kirk/Yeoman Rand relationship a little more.

It never went anywhere on TOS (mostly because that Rand was really dull and had no personality), but I think a new, spunkier Rand who could banter with and challenge Kirk would be fun to see.

Of course in these PC times they'd probably have to give her more to do than serve coffee or lunch, but that would be ok.

 

[startrekrcks]

that would be interesting to see because Kirk was very strict with women in the original series.

 

[Broccoli]

Kirk was with Gaila to gain access to the KM simulator to plant his subroutine.

Okay, this is just too easy.

 

[Greg Cox]

Was he really a "horndog" in this movie? Think about it. We saw him hit on one woman in a bar. Then, three years later, we saw him fooling around with another girl in college.

That doesn't sound like womanizing to me. Just normal human behavior.

It's not like they implied that he spent his every waking hour chasing girls. We just happened to see two times when he did.