Paul Wesley's incarnation of James T. Kirk

Now wash it down with some Romulan ale and some of these red pills that McCoy gave you last week.

 

I'm about to experience a five-year mission in just five minutes.

 

Just remember to not drink any of the coffee that is on the arm of your chair. Talk about speed!

 

Plus a new kidney.

 

Just give him one of those white pills. If he has any problems, just call me.

 

Dammit. I grew a second liver.

Guess I'll need it after the Romulan Ale.

 

If you're lucky, you'll get two of EVERYTHING... like a Klingon.

 

Yeah....... let's not. By most accounts, he's a great big pile of underage girl loving, garbage.

 

[*GLORY INTENSIFIES*]

 

Wesley's been doing the press round discussing Kirk in season 2.

See: https://ew.com/tv/paul-wesley-captain-kirk-star-trek-strange-new-worlds-finale/

Here's a snippet:

 

I don't understand why some folks are comparing Apple-Kirk to Orange-Kirk and wanting them to taste the same.

They never will.

 

Expectations and assumptions are difficult to challenge.

 

Because we are in the Orange-Kirk timeline.

 

And here I thought people were calling alt-Kirk a lemon.

 

Orange-Kirk? What, does this one spray tan too much?

 

He's just a bit more citrusy.

 

Bitter from the Tycho IV massacre. Gotcha.

 

well that was only two years ago from an in-universe stand point so makes sense he would still be a tad bitter about losing his commanding officer and 200 of his fellow officers. I wonder if it happened before or after the end of the Klingon War.

 

I think he looks close enough to Shatner and did a decent job. Obviously there are going to be differences. He is closer than Pine is.

I find it weird that people are complaining about his physique. Shatner did not have a very flattering physique. He could have hit the gym more and looked jacked, but instead he was just a normal dude. Wesley is certainly skinnier, but he might be more buff under the shirt.

 

I have to say that I liked Wesley as Kirk. I don't really need or want a rehash of Shatner's Kirk(s--he really had more than one of them over time). This version had plenty of Kirkesque qualities without feeling like an imitation. So many decades on, seeing the character reinvented is more interesting to me than seeing the character copied. I get a greater sense of vulnerability and cleverness in this iteration, and I like that.

I also find the comments about Wesley's physicality strange. He's athletic, and the Trek newbies I know find his Kirk attractive and charming. This seems good to me. I hope we aren't deciding whether an actor suits a character based on his body, which seems like a slide backwards.