Consider this about Kirk's promotion...

[Cakes488]

Did they actually indicate Kirk had a genius IQ? Didn't seem like, nor did he really show that in TOS either.

I don't think the actual word "genius" was used. Was it??? I'm sorry but I can't buy that Kirk is a genius...Spock yes...but Kirk no...is he very bright and is an excellent problem solver (etc) ...yes, but genius...LOL come on no way I don't care which time line it's in.

 

[Jeri]

Cakes, FailedLurker is correct; Pike used the term "genius." (two posts back)

I think it would be interesting to have the "quick rise" in ranks; to be an "issue" in the next film.

Maybe with a possible demotion, and then, a promotion back to Captain...?

I really like this scenario; someone else already proposed it. But it sounds good.

 

[Cakes488]

Thanks J, I don't even bother looking things up anymore...I just ask you LOL LOL.

I still don't buy that Pinekirk or Shatkirk are of genius caliber... Maybe if they made him just a little bit more of a thinker I could of run with it...but I just don't see it...they didn't sell me on that.

 

[Jeri]

Cakes, well, there are different kinds of genius. Spock himself said Kirk was "an extremely dynamic individual."

And that energy and motion shines so brightly that there's no time to appreciate the underlying intelligence -- which he definitely has.

His dynamism would come to naught without his intelligence making the decisions.

 

[Ryan Thomas Riddle]

Did they actually indicate Kirk had a genius IQ? Didn't seem like, nor did he really show that in TOS either.

I don't think the actual word "genius" was used. Was it??? I'm sorry but I can't buy that Kirk is a genius...Spock yes...but Kirk no...is he very bright and is an excellent problem solver (etc) ...yes, but genius...LOL come on no way I don't care which time line it's in.

Kirk, especially in TOS, demonstrated himself to be quite an intelligent, well-read and knowledgeable man. If anything, as seen in the new movie and the old show, Kirk is something of a generalist, knowing just enough about any given subject. Xenolinguistics, for example.

In TOS, Kirk often understood just enough of what Spock was takling about to implement an action or solution to the problem.

I'd say the man was a genius in his own right. Perhaps not on par with Spock's scientific and computer knowledge, but well enough on his own. Then again, Kirk did have the knowledge to reprogram the ship's computer (as stated by Shaw in "Court Martial") and the KM test (TWOK/nuTrek). And his technical expertise in ship operations may even be close to Scotty's ("The Doomsday Machine").

 

[Cyke101]

The one thing I was afraid the movie would ignore was that Kirk was called a walking stack of books in TOS, and that for all his bravado and sexuality he was really quite intelligent. So imagine my relief with Pike mentioned that Kirk's aptitude test scores were through the roof.

 

[Cakes488]

Well I agree with you all that Kirk is highly intelligent and perceptive to say the least...I just still never thought of him as a genius...and to be honest, I don't think I'm ever going to....

This is how I was/am defining genius:
extraordinary intellectual power especially as manifested in creative activity c: a person endowed with transcendent mental superiority

 

[Cyke101]

Well I agree with you all that Kirk is highly intelligent and perceptive to say the least...I just still never thought of him as a genius...and to be honest, I don't think I'm ever going to....

This is how I was/am defining genius:
extraordinary intellectual power especially as manifested in creative activity c: a person endowed with transcendent mental superiority

Kirk Prime used to make computers, robots, and androids explode with his trusty logical paradoxes. He's a genius

 

[Cakes488]

^^^ First LOL...but wasn't it Spock that was really the brain workhorse of the operation and then it was Kirk that took all the glory?

 

[Ryan Thomas Riddle]

^^^ First LOL...but wasn't it Spock that was really the brain workhorse of the operation and then it was Kirk that took all the glory?

Spock may have been able to do the "higher math" but it was always Kirk who found a way to implement anything Spock might've suggested. It's what made them such an indispensable team, both fed off each other and accomplished more together than apart.

 

[Praetor]

I'd argue that the fact that Kirk did well on aptitude tests (Starfleet SATs, no doubt) indicates that rather than being a walking encyclopedia like Spock, he is an intuitive genius, one of the types that sees patterns where others don't, can predict numbers in sequences, that kind of thing - stuff ideal for captaincy, IMO.

In other words, Spock would be the test-taker who studies, absorbs information, and actually answers the questions that are asked. Kirk would be the one who doesn't study, yet subconsciously understands the way test questions are asked and is able to interpolate the right answers intuitively - the quintessential "good test taker."

Both would do well (Spock would probably do better) but for different reasons.

 

[Cakes488]

^^^ First LOL...but wasn't it Spock that was really the brain workhorse of the operation and then it was Kirk that took all the glory?

Spock may have been able to do the "higher math" but it was always Kirk who found a way to implement anything Spock might've suggested. It's what made them such an indispensable team, both fed off each other and accomplished more together than apart.

True they were a great team...hence the show's and this movies success. And they each brought different things to the table. I always pegged Spock as the real brains behind the operation...no matter what. I always thought Kirk to be more intuitive and he's the one who had heart...so together they made an lethal combo...but no matter what I'll not consider the Kirk I know to be a mental genius...maybe using mental will help explain where I'm coming from more. So all your arguments are excellent and correct...but I just can't make that leap when I'm so used to thinking of Spock-o as the brains and Kirk....well he's more of the brawn.

 

[Cakes488]

I'd argue that the fact that Kirk did well on aptitude tests (Starfleet SATs, no doubt) indicates that rather than being a walking encyclopedia like Spock, he is an intuitive genius, one of the types that sees patterns where others don't, can predict numbers in sequences, that kind of thing - stuff ideal for captaincy, IMO.

In other words, Spock would be the test-taker who studies, absorbs information, and actually answers the questions that are asked. Kirk would be the one who doesn't study, yet subconsciously understands the way test questions are asked and is able to interpolate the right answers intuitively - the quintessential "good test taker."

Both would do well (Spock would probably do better) but for different reasons.

LOL an intuitive genius....I just typed something similar...so how horrified are you that we are like sharing brain waves right now...LOL.

 

[Bartay]

...And we thought that the current movie had a lot to prove...

The next one might have even higher expectations.

 

[David cgc]

The Kelvin initially reported the lightning storm in space. Then watched as the Narada flew out of it. Any trained and experienced crew would deduce that they are connected.

In the long and storied career of the Kelvin and her crew, being destroyed by a massive Romulan ship that emerged out of a lightning storm in space, would rank high on the remembering scale.

Chekov mentions the lightning storm in space while sitting no more than 5 feet in front of Pike.

After researching and writing a dissertation on a ship that was destroyed under extremely unusual circumstances, Pike remembers it years later (long enough to mention it to Kirk), remembers how long George was in command, and how many lives he saved, but completely forgets it three years later.

Well, "lightning storm" is a fairly generic description of a spatial anomaly. Kirk probably would've shrugged it off, too, if not for having overheard Uhura mention the routing of the klingon fleet. Pike heard "lightning storm." Kirk heard "lightning storm, one-sided space battle, klingon frontier." That's a bit more to go on. Even once he had Uhura confirm that the attacker was a single giant overpowered romulan ship, I still think it was a bit of a stretch to assume that it was related to the massive earthquake on Vulcan. I'd have probably just chalked it up to an odd coincidence that the Kelvin's attacker should make its return just before Vulcan had a natural disaster, but that's probably why Chris Pike and Jim Kirk are starship captains, and I'm not.

 

[Praetor]

I'd argue that the fact that Kirk did well on aptitude tests (Starfleet SATs, no doubt) indicates that rather than being a walking encyclopedia like Spock, he is an intuitive genius, one of the types that sees patterns where others don't, can predict numbers in sequences, that kind of thing - stuff ideal for captaincy, IMO.

In other words, Spock would be the test-taker who studies, absorbs information, and actually answers the questions that are asked. Kirk would be the one who doesn't study, yet subconsciously understands the way test questions are asked and is able to interpolate the right answers intuitively - the quintessential "good test taker."

Both would do well (Spock would probably do better) but for different reasons.

LOL an intuitive genius....I just typed something similar...so how horrified are you that we are like sharing brain waves right now...LOL.

I wept, a little.

Kidding. It just means: we're both right.

 

[Omega_Glory]

For the next film, maybe the ship gets destroyed with a large loss of crew showing Kirks immaturity and lack of experience.

That'll teach em' to promote a dang kid.

 

[seniorsleuth]

Kirk in TOS has saved the planet many times, and didn't get absolutely anything he wanted after any of those (indeed, in ST IV, he was *demoted*). So what makes this time any more special?

I can't say this enough times. I don't CARE what Kirk did - promoting him all the way to Captain in one go, cheapens the entire military command structure. If Kirk can skip all those lower ranks, it makes those ranks meaningless. It implies that officers who actually have those lower ranks, and earned them, don't matter - only Kirk does.

I agree, and for me this was the biggest flaw in an otherwise good film. If they wanted to have the Enterprise crew in their "proper" places at the end of the film, they could have simply skipped ahead a few years before showing Kirk being promoted to captain. Or, why not make Kirk first officer for awhile? It is an alternative timeline, and that might be interesting. Anyway, I didn't buy it, because Kirk's idea to go after Nero would not have been successful if he had not run into Spock Prime on the ice planet.

 

[Lt. Trull]

how do you know a year didn't go by between the time nero's ship was destroyed and the ceremony where kirk was presented the medal.... it was certainly after pike was made admiral... but I would say that pike kept kirk as first officer... it doesn't matter how much time goes by. After pike was promoted the first officer becomes captain. Kirk becomes captain.

 

[JediKnightButler]

Did anybody EVER expect the movie to end WITHOUT Kirk becoming Captain of the Enterprise? Would audiences (esp. the fans) have responded as favorably if he hadn't become Captain? The movie was supposed to be about all of the TOS characters coming together aboard the Enterprise. Is it really necessary to expend a lot of mental firepower trying to justify/explain why Kirk became Captain of the Enterprise? He's James- Freaking- Kirk? I mean, what more explanation does anybody want/need?