False Facts About Star Trek You Always Thought Were True

Personal in-joke. The first time I tried super-8 stop-motion animation was with my Mego Spock doll and some Play-Doh. Guess what I named the short?

 

"Sisko is the first black captain"
"Janeway is the first female captain"
"Number One was dropped from the cast as the world wasn't yet ready for a woman in a command position"
"Spock is the first Vulcan in Starfleet"

 

As I've mentioned previously, Barbara Luna is of Italian, Hungarian, Spanish, Portuguese and Filipino heritage. When Americans think "interracial," it's almost always in terms of white/black or white/Asian.

It just shows how nebulous and indefinable the whole concept of "race" is anyway.

 

In a feature article from before TOS, Luna was described as Hungarian-Filipino. So that's how the public saw her at the time. Being a Eurasian ethnic mixture myself, I recall almost never seeing anyone like me on TV when I was little. I felt like we didn't exist... then in TOS reruns I saw Barbara Luna as Marlena.
And there was Kwai Chang Caine in "Kung Fu," but of course the actor was full Caucasian.

Kor

 

If a Arab kissed a Native American, that would be a "inter-racial" kiss.

Black/White isn't by far the only definition of inter-racial, I doubt most Americans consider it so.

 

I dunno, "only has romantic encounters in 25% of TOS episodes, plus a few in the movies" is hardly underperforming.

 

Who said it's 25%? That sounds like exactly the kind of exaggeration I'm referring to.

 

I think NuKirk represents the popular conception of ShatKirk. He's having a conversation, a girl walks by, and he's like "Dayyummn, lookit that ayzzz"

Shatkirk had a failed love life. He kept falling in love but always put his duty first. He had to leave and go on to the next mission. Shatkirk was also mostly a gentleman. I could never see him two-timing anyone. And he doesn't seem the type to ever "kiss & tell."

 

Yes. I like the KT Kirk, but in ST09 and STID, he really embodies the public misconception of Kirk rather than how Kirk actually behaved in TOS.

EDIT: But to be fair, KT Kirk is significantly younger and less experienced in general than his TOS counterpart.

 

NuKirk also has the virtue of being relate-able to today's audiences as a "troubled" and "damaged" young person, which could increase the tendency toward reckless behavior.

Kor

 

Which is why I found him so compelling.

 

Yes, I found that it made him more like a real person and less "larger than life."

Pike described him as "the only genius-level repeat offender in the mid-west." Some fans complained about that aspect of NuKirk's character, as if Kirk absolutely had to be the "stack of book with legs" described in WNMHGB instead of going around getting in trouble. But I personally knew guys just like that in school... absolutely brilliant, but didn't get the right opportunities for that brilliance to be expressed, as they had rough upbringings and fell into the wrong crowd and kept getting into trouble. NuKirk happened to finally get the right opportunity with Starfleet. I can only hope the guys I knew eventually found such positive opportunities instead of winding up in jail.

Kor

 

Remember young Picard? He was super reckless.

 

I don't watch a lot of TNG, so that example did not come to mind right away.

Kor

 

It's one of the reasons I find him so annoying.

 

It was in the video, I'm quoting directly, apparently that's what they call "not a horn dog"

To be fair, I'm not going to do a head count on the episodes.

 

I found him annoying too. My larger point is that I find him very real and identifiable as a person.

 

Sadly, it cost him his hair.

He's a hero who gets a second chance, instead of being given everything. That's what's appealing about him - gives him maybe more empathy for others who've messed up - makes it believable that he'd pay it forward.

 

Wouldn't you like to have someone who'll fight for you and believe in you when nobody else would? Yeah, eventually they have to let you fly and make your own mistakes and face the consequences, but a leg-up at the right time can make a big difference between languishing and soaring.

They received them afterwards or before; but the movie was about how Kirk got the Enterprise and surrounded himself with his crew family. It's the triumphant moment all were waiting for.