What Happened To Kirks Body In Current TrekLit??

[Jakks]

I read some of the William Shatner / Reeves-Stevenses books, so I know what they did with Kirk.

But since I've gotten back into the current TrekLit I'm curious, was there ever any mention of Starfleet/Federation relocating Kirk's body? If so where?

Or is it still under that pile of rocks on Veridian III?

 

[ryan123450]

Spoiler: an IDW comic

In Spock: Reflections, Spock returns from Romulus a year after Generations and moves Kirk's body to his existing memorial gravesite in Iowa.

Not Treklit strickly speaking or even in the modern continuity, but it's the only mention I know of.

 

[Admiral James Kirk]

Spoiler: an IDW comic

In Spock: Reflections, Spock returns from Romulus a year after Generations and moves Kirk's body to his existing memorial gravesite in Iowa.

Not Treklit strickly speaking or even in the modern continuity, but it's the only mention I know of.

There's also Rocket Man from SNW9 which is Treklit though not in the continuity. Kirk doesn't stay a dead body for long though.

 

[Kirks_Flying_Wig]

Spoiler: an IDW comic

In Spock: Reflections, Spock returns from Romulus a year after Generations and moves Kirk's body to his existing memorial gravesite in Iowa.

Not Treklit strickly speaking or even in the modern continuity, but it's the only mention I know of.

I always preferred the idea that a Starfleet legend wasn't just left under a pile of rocks on some distant planet.

Then again, it would be interesting to see in hundreds of years time, when the inhabitants of Veridian IV begin to colonise the rest of their system, a weird alien skeleton being unearthed on a mountain (along with a pile of Transformed Man 45s).

 

[Christopher]

I always preferred the idea that a Starfleet legend wasn't just left under a pile of rocks on some distant planet.

Plenty of Starfleet officers have been honorably interred the same way (Lt. D'Amato comes to mind). James Kirk would be the last person to think he deserved to be treated any differently than any ordinary crewman.

 

[SD70ACe]

As far as canon goes, he's still there. As far as "proper" lit canon goes...I'm not sure.

 

[DimesDan]

"proper" lit canon

 

[Trevacious]

I would think Starfleet has a duty to remove all trace of their presence from the planet, including Kirk's body.

 

[scotpens]

I don't know from TrekLit. All I know about Kirk's body is that he got fat.

 

[Christopher]

I would think Starfleet has a duty to remove all trace of their presence from the planet, including Kirk's body.

I dunno. Veridian III is unpopulated, and Veridian IV is preindustrial. It could be thousands of years before they colonized another planet, if ever (there's no guarantee that any given civilization will industrialize or have a space age, and "preindustrial" covers a wide span of developmental stages). I'm not sure what remains might be left after that span of time anyway. (I guess it's a pretty dry, barren region, so the remains might desiccate and mummify. Or they could crumble to dust.)

And I know Starfleet harps on warp technology as the standard, but does it really make much sense to try to "protect" a civilization that already has interplanetary travel from the knowledge that life exists elsewhere in the universe? Given the existence of a second habitable world in their own system, they'd probably take it for granted by that point that life can be found elsewhere.

 

[timothy]

well don't forget the crucible trilogy. or william shatner's ashes of eden.
all good thngs never come to an emd
long live star trek and star wars and zombies

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

I always preferred the idea that a Starfleet legend wasn't just left under a pile of rocks on some distant planet.

Plenty of Starfleet officers have been honorably interred the same way (Lt. D'Amato comes to mind).

You call that honorable? I'm not sure I do. Most people want to be buried as close to home as possible, don't they?

To put it another way: Why should these people be buried where no one will ever see their graves? Memorials are useless if no one sees them.

 

[Christopher]

^And yet we've been shown a number of times that it's standard practice for Starfleet officers who die in space to be buried in space, just as sailors are generally buried at sea. (Recall that Spock's torpedo tube was intended to burn up in Genesis's atmosphere, and only landed intact by a gravitational fluke.)

There are many, many different burial customs even among us landlubbers. Many people don't get buried or have grave markers at all. Many people choose to be cremated upon their death. My own father was one of them. So please don't assume that there's only one "honorable" way to put the dead to rest.

 

[Scout101]

Since he'd already been killed once on the Ent-B, presumably he had a memorial somewhere (Iowa, I'd asume, but perhaps San Fran). Legend, saved the planet a dozen times, universe a couple times, and died saving the Ent-B plus the refugee ship, etc.

Would have thought that they'd have made the effort to bury his body at the memorial site, if I had to guess. They were already removing all the traces of the Ent-D from the surface, not much more effort to grab the body and bring it back to Earth. Just died AGAIN to save a planet, after all...

We'll just ignore that it was a retarded plot contrivance that forced him to die in the first place. They can come out at ANY point in space or time, and they give themselves a deadline? They've literally got all the time in the world. Maybe come back 5 minutes earlier and get the jump on Soran or sabatoge things then? Understand the point was to kill off Kirk, but given the power/control they had, it's a silly plot device to kill him like that...

 

[shanejayell]

I think in the novel Crossover they mention that yes, there's a statue in Iowa. It happened before Generations, no idea if the body was moved....

 

[Therin of Andor]

I think in the novel Crossover they mention that yes, there's a statue in Iowa.

Have you never seen "Fanboys"?

 

[iguana_tonante]

Plenty of Starfleet officers have been honorably interred the same way (Lt. D'Amato comes to mind).

You call that honorable? I'm not sure I do. Most people want to be buried as close to home as possible, don't they?

Not in general. Some do. Some don't. Personally, I wouldn't want to.

In Starfleet, we have seen people's body buried on alien planets, or shot in stars. I suppose they are considered respectful ways to take care of the body, or they wouldn't do that.

 

[Jakks]

I agree with Christopher in that Jim Kirk wouldn't want anything special done for himself. However, given his importance to Earth, Starfleet and the Federation as a whole, and given that Starfleet had a massive salvage operation going on on the planet I would think they would have most likely brought him home.

 

[Captain Robert April]

I would think in light of the Shatner novels, this would be an "off limits" topic, with the closest anyone would be allowed to come is Kirk being dead for tax purposes.

 

[Christopher]

I agree with Christopher in that Jim Kirk wouldn't want anything special done for himself. However, given his importance to Earth, Starfleet and the Federation as a whole, and given that Starfleet had a massive salvage operation going on on the planet I would think they would have most likely brought him home.

What evidence do we have for such a "massive salvage operation?" I know the Shatnerverse novels postulated that all the wreckage was being cleared away out of Prime-Directive concerns, but all that Generations establishes is that "Three Starfleet vessels have arrived in orbit and have begun to beam up the Enterprise survivors." And I don't recall the mainstream Trek Lit continuity (which is distinct from the Shatnerverse) establishing anything about what was done with the wreckage.

I would think in light of the Shatner novels, this would be an "off limits" topic, with the closest anyone would be allowed to come is Kirk being dead for tax purposes.

Nope, because, again, the main novel continuity is distinct from the Shatner/Reeves-Stevens novels. They've freely contradicted one another on multiple occasions. (For instance, in the Shatnerverse, Janeway is still alive in 2382.)