I know about James Kirk's brother George appearing in this season of "Strange New Worlds". But when I learn that Captain Kirk himself - a slightly younger Kirk - will be making his debut in Season 2 of the series, I found myself a little bewildered. I mean . . . why? Why introduced Kirk so soon into the series? Why not wait a few years, when the series is close to going off the air?
Because it lets everyone stop waiting for the other shoe to drop. As with STD, where Spock's eventual appearance was inevitable once they'd made so much of the story about him and his whereabouts. There's no real downside to introducing Kirk, and it will pique folks' curiosity going into season two. It's not like they're planning to replace Captain Pike with him.
I think it's too soon. Then again . . . I'm not really a fan of the show or Pike, so I guess it shouldn't matter to me.
In the mirror universe James Kirk killed Pike to take the ship, IIRC. It implies they were together on the ship for at least awhile in that reality, and things do tend to MIRROR events between the two universes.
Kirk can meet Pike any time he likes without violating SACRED CANON, as long as Pike has been "promoted to fleet captain." "Fleet captain" doesn't mean much of anything, and could be a temporary assignment if they decide that it is. That Kirk actually knew Pike fairly well by the time of "The Menagerie" and hadn't simply met him once or twice is suggested by his addressing Pike as "Chris" during the episode.
Pike gets a field promotion to Fleet Captain and meets Kirk. There's leeway in how the Menagerie line can be interpreted.
I never saw a need to see Kirk at all in this series, but if they are going to include Uhura, Chapel, and M'Benga, I suppose it was sort of inevitable. What we should not see is Kirk with a rank any higher than lieutenant or so. Has anyone ever seen a canon definition of what the 'Fleet Captain' title means? I've always assumed it was a title rather than an actual rank, that denoted which captain would assume overall command in a scenario with multiple ships but no one with actual flag rank. Garth would be a classic example, and Picard as well in the 24th Century. Another possible explanation would that it would be the equivalent of a U.S. Navy 'type commander.' In that case, a fleet captain would be something like an overall program manager for a class of ships- in Pike's case, the Constitution Class. I doubt this was meant to be the case, though. Type commanders and the navy's 'administrative chain of command' for ships is pretty esoteric and sometimes not well understood by people actually in the navy.
How Pike meets Kirk while promoting himself to Fleet Captain all in one day : [Farragut bridge] Kirk: Report! Conn officer: Main power is off-line. We've lost shields and our weapons have gone. Kirk: Perhaps today is a good day to die. Prepare for ramming speed! Conn officer: Sir, there's another starship coming in. ...It's the Enterprise! [Enterprise bridge] Number One: The Farragut's losing life support. Pike: Bridge to transporter room three. Beam the Farragut survivors aboard. Number One: Captain, Admiral April's ship has been destroyed. Pike: What is the status of the Abronath swarm ship? Spock: It has sustained heavy damage to its outer hull. I am reading fluctuations in their power grid. Pike: On screen. ...Ensign Christina, open a channel to the fleet. Christina: Channel open. Pike: This is Captain Pike of the Enterprise. I am taking command of the fleet. Target all of your weapons onto the following coordinates. ...Fire on my command. Spock: Sir, the coordinates you have indicated do not appear to be a vital system. Pike: Trust me Spock, we both know I'm not going to die today.
That's what leads me to believe that he's commanding a Scout or other smaller ship in the 4 or 5 years before he assumes command of the Enterprise. And I hope there is some line that Pike says, "Sam Kirk's little brother?" or something to that effect. Something that kind of shows that at this stage, he's James T. Kirk, not JAMES T. KIRK.
Heck...I thought 2009 was to soon to bring Trek back at all. They are gonna do what they want to do. You just wait. All the legacy characters will be recast for second time and we will get at least 20 adventures with them. Probably happen in about 4 years. Maybe sooner....
Except Kirk already has a claim to fame in his own right by this time that has nothing to do with his brother. Pike: The kid who cheated on the Kobayashi Maru? Yeah, no way I'm letting delusional Mr. "I don't believe in a no win situation" onto my ship. Spock: Speaking freely sir, someone who does not believe in a no win situation may be the only person capable of defeating your personal no win situation involving what you saw on Boreth. Pike:
There is a difference between getting a commendation in the Academy and what you do in real-life situations. He did some out-of-the-box thinking in the Academy, but in the real world, he's obviously not someone who's that highly regarded yet, or the Farragut incident or something else he may have done would have been mentioned by now in DSC or something. I still think we're going to meet him at the start of the career of the person who got the Karagite Order, etc.
Without spoiling this week's episode too much Pike is shown to keep tabs on who accomplishes what at the Academy and gives them a chance to shine.
Spoiler: Spoiler Yeah, only those whose lives he saved. He's not looking at everyone who was at the Academy. And at this point, Kirk is already on a ship.