How far would Kirk go to meet his father?

[trampledamage]

I'm watching the movie on DVD, and one of the things I love are the small points that show that Kirk, for all that he acts like he doesn't care, really misses his father and wants to know him. His only question to Spock is Did you know my father and when he is trying to convince Pike that the apparent natural disaster on Vulcan is a trap he admits that he's read Pike's dissertation about the Kelvin.

So, that got me thinking. If Kirk found a way to either travel through time or somehow correct the break caused by the Narada, would he be tempted to use it in order to find his father?

How much would he risk? Do you think he would willingly destroy this timeline, in order for one chance to meet and save his father?

 

[Alrik]

Interesting question. But one correction. JTK didn't ask Spock if Spock knew George. He asked if the JTK where Spock prime came from had known his father. It's been over a week since I've seen it, but I believe the line was something like: "Yes, you spoke many times about how proud he was to see you take command of the Enterprise".

Now to your question. I don't see Kirk, from either timeline, as the type that would use time travel for his own personal benefit. To save whales to stop a probe and save earth? Sure. But not for his own gain. Remember, we're talking about James T. Kirk here.

 

[trampledamage]

We are, but we're talking about a Kirk whose father died as he was being born. I think it could be the fatal flaw for this character that the original Kirk didn't have. Because I think this Kirk would do anything for the chance to save his father.

(and yes, you're right - that is Kirk's question, I hadn't got that far into the movie again when I started thinking about the question )

 

[Alrik]

No worries.

Kirk? Only time will tell. But I'm guessing that this Kirk will go the way of Kirk prime. Would he have done anything at one time? Likely. But like Kirk prime, he has now met his first love (Enterprise) and found the family he never really had. I just don't get the feel that he'd be willing to trade that all in now. But we'll see.

 

[trampledamage]

Aye, good point. The Kirk at the end of the movie is more whole than the one at the beginning, but if a villain were to phrase the suggestion in just the right way... I think Kirk is still hot-headed enough to risk everything.

Until Spock and McCoy come and stop him anyway

 

[Aragorn]

The next Star Trek will have a lot of talk about destiny and fixing things and will end with Kirk's true love Carol Marcus at the bottom of a shaft trying to use a rock to detonate a nuke that didn't go off. And that will set up the next movie.

 

[DaveyNY]

So Trek-13 will start with a nuclear explosion, as Carol is getting her rocks off at the bottom of Kirks shaft??

Talk about true love...

Man, that'll bring in record breaking bucks the first weekend!

 

[Rush Limborg]

Well--if he thought he could repair the timeline (stopping Nero from blowing up Kelvin, etc.)--he would not only save his father, but all of Vulcan....

 

[T'Girl]

I think Kirk would definitely change the time line. If he could prevent the time travel of the Narada somehow, or destroy it immediately, he would:

- Save the population of Vulcan
- Save the rescue fleet in Vulcan orbit
- Save the USS Kelvin
- Save thousands of Klingons
- Save his father too

Kirk would create (again?) a new timeline, or prevent the altering of the original one. When I rewatched the scene between young Kirk and old Spock in the ice cave it got me thinking, how long did George Kirk live? According to Spock long enough to see Kirk become captain of the Enterprise. Did he live to see Kirk become admiral and chief of star fleet operations (TMP)? Maybe to hear the news that Kirk had died aboard the Enterprise B (GEN)? He only would of been one hundred or one hundred and ten years old.

 

[shapeshifter]

I doubt they'll allow Kirk to do that, but it does go to show the story potential available beyond rehashing old stories like "Khan"

 

[Rush Limborg]

Maybe the Supreme Court will do that when they decide to step down, and turn the keys to another group of Great Birds.

The final film of the JJ-verse...where Kirk repairs the timeline...or dies trying.

Hey--could happen.

 

[indranee]

I doubt they'll allow Kirk to do that, but it does go to show the story potential available beyond rehashing old stories like "Khan"

I would actually love something like this, except I'm so freaking tired of time travel stories.

 

[startrekrcks]

What bring Kirk's dad back from the dead wow that would involve time travel again not sure if anyone agrees on that.

 

[trampledamage]

I think Kirk would definitely change the time line. If he could prevent the time travel of the Narada somehow, or destroy it immediately, he would:

- Save the population of Vulcan
- Save the rescue fleet in Vulcan orbit
- Save the USS Kelvin
- Save thousands of Klingons
- Save his father too

And, it occurs to me, save Amanda. So maybe Spock won't be the one to stop him after all

Interesting, so many good reasons to set the timeline back - it's hard to see why it's a bad idea! Although in the original scenario in my head, I was assuming he'd either fail or create a new time line.

 

[M'Sharak]

I think Kirk would definitely change the time line. If he could prevent the time travel of the Narada somehow, or destroy it immediately, he would:

- Save the population of Vulcan
- Save the rescue fleet in Vulcan orbit
- Save the USS Kelvin
- Save thousands of Klingons
- Save his father too

And, it occurs to me, save Amanda. So maybe Spock won't be the one to stop him after all

Interesting, so many good reasons to set the timeline back - it's hard to see why it's a bad idea! Although in the original scenario in my head, I was assuming he'd either fail or create a new time line.

Given the number of variables involved, it seems far more likely that he'd fail or cause the generation of a new, different timeline than it would be to put everything back to "the way it's supposed to be", all those years of Trek showing us that very thing notwithstanding. I mean: yeah, it's a nice, happy ending when the good guys make everything come out all right but, even in the strictly linear, one-timeline-only universe we saw in TOS stories, putting it all back to exactly the way it was before ought to be so difficult to pull off as to be impossible, in practical terms; the exercise should be fiendishly complex for just the short six-item laundry list above (T'Girl's five plus your added Amanda) and to see it come off without a hitch would almost seem too pat.

Sure, and Kirk might try to risk it anyway; how many times before have we seen Kirk leap into something which looked impossible and pull everything out the other end intact? But I'd almost rather see an imperfect outcome to that sort of story--one in which some broken things remain broken, or in which some things were saved, but at an unforeseen cost--an outcome which emphasizes the magnitude of the risk taken and that success is not guaranteed. Trek has done that, too, but not nearly as often as it might have, and one of the biggest ones of all was taken back before the end of the next installment, retroactively lessening the impact.

 

[Search4]

I think Kirk would definitely change the time line. If he could prevent the time travel of the Narada somehow, or destroy it immediately, he would:

- Save the population of Vulcan
- Save the rescue fleet in Vulcan orbit
- Save the USS Kelvin
- Save thousands of Klingons
- Save his father too

And, it occurs to me, save Amanda. So maybe Spock won't be the one to stop him after all

Interesting, so many good reasons to set the timeline back - it's hard to see why it's a bad idea! Although in the original scenario in my head, I was assuming he'd either fail or create a new time line.

It wouldn't be hard to stop Nero - he's not even born yet. A little geneological research (and old Spock, who has lived on Romulus, probably knows how to hack the computers) and just manage to prevent his grandparents from meeting.

OR better yet, just stop the disaster / get the planet evacuated so that Nero has no issue to react to.

 

[Franklin]

I think this James T. Kirk is aware that this is his timeline, and he must live within it. It wouldn't be the same as going back to set something straight (as in City or Tomorrow is Yesterday).
That's because for all points and purposes, in this timeline, the Narada was supposed to destroy the Kelvin. The universe wouldn't exist without that event. If Kirk went back and prevented the Narada from coming through the black hole, then it's entirely possible the universe would vanish (because it was never created). Kirk would "end time" for his universe.

 

[Nerys Myk]

I think Kirk would definitely change the time line. If he could prevent the time travel of the Narada somehow, or destroy it immediately, he would:

- Save the population of Vulcan
- Save the rescue fleet in Vulcan orbit
- Save the USS Kelvin
- Save thousands of Klingons
- Save his father too

And, it occurs to me, save Amanda. So maybe Spock won't be the one to stop him after all

Interesting, so many good reasons to set the timeline back - it's hard to see why it's a bad idea! Although in the original scenario in my head, I was assuming he'd either fail or create a new time line.

It wouldn't be hard to stop Nero - he's not even born yet. A little geneological research (and old Spock, who has lived on Romulus, probably knows how to hack the computers) and just manage to prevent his grandparents from meeting.

OR better yet, just stop the disaster / get the planet evacuated so that Nero has no issue to react to.

Stopping Nero in the New Universe will have no effect since it was the Nero from the Prime Universe that did all the bad stuff.
Stopping Nero Prime would involve time travel and multiversal travel.

 

[Jeyl]

"How far would Kirk go to meet his father?"

What about his mother?

 

[Hartzilla2007]

"How far would Kirk go to meet his father?"

What about his mother?

Well for all we know she's still alive in 2259, so that might not be such a problem.