Kirk and Picard Switched Personalities

[CaptainJon]

I've been making my way through the Star Trek film series lately and just finished The Voyage Home. As I've been going along, I've been reviewing each movie and posting it on my blog. I recently posted by review for The Motion Picture here.

Though I've yet to reach the TNG movies, I've been struck by an interesting observation: Kirk and Picard switched personalities.

Obviously, not literally. Let me explain.

TOS: Kirk was a swashbuckling hero who was very action-oriented. Though he was good with diplomacy, a drinking game could be formed based upon the number of times Kirk swung his fist, ripped his short or got a bloody lip.

TNG: Picard was first and foremost the diplomat, always using words over action in the hopes of coming to a peaceful solution. A very thoughtful character who gave great consideration to his actions.

TOS Movies: Kirk is more mellow and more thoughtful, a benefit of age. Though not afraid to jump into action, he seemed much more restrained.

TNG Movies: Picard is more action-oriented, jumping into action more quickly than he would in the series. Though I think his actions in First Contact are warranted (after all, there's no negotiating with the Borg, not to mention his quest for vengeance), come Insurrection he seemed more like a swashbuckler. And not to mention Nemesis where he readily got into a jeep to go off-roading in the desert.

It struck me as to how both characters are different in their movies than they were in their series. Kirk, I believe, is well justified and more natural as age brings more experience and wisdom. Picard, on the other hand, was not a natural change. The writers (at the behest of Patrick Stewart) made a conscious effort to make Picard more of an action hero and I it's a change that didn't come as naturally to Picard as the change did to Kirk.

I know there's another thread that's discussing this change in Picard but I didn't see the change in Kirk either mentioned or discussed. Just thought I'd share my thoughts on the matter.

 

[C.E. Evans]

When given the chance, Kirk would often talk his way out of a tight jam or resort to shameless trickery. He showed less mercy to god-playing supercomputers though (those simply had to go).

The change in Picard started towards the final seasons of TNG, IIRC. He was starting to lead more and more away missions (usually over Riker's objections).

 

[Shat Happens]

an effect of the Nexus, probably

 

[enterprisecvn65]

The Shatner transition made sense because most people become of thoughtful and less reactive and aggressive as they mature. In part because of wisdom and experience and in part because the body physically can't kick ass like it could in it's youth. In 6 films he only had one real throw down with Kruge in TSFS and even that one was pretty tolerable. Considering he just lost his son and the Enterprise in a 5 minute span I think the old adrenline would be pumping to drop the hammer on a Klingon one more time.

And despite his attempt to turn back the clock 25 years in TFF in other ways, even Shatner seemed to have enough sense that an all out brawl with a heavy middle aged Kirk would be kind of silly.

In Generations Picard didn't really fight excessively. His first encounter with Soran he got beaten like a drum and his second Kirk did most of the punching. So it was in line with his TNG persona.

It was only after First Contact when he became a much more aggressive character and the film did well that they decided to go with the Rambo incarnation of Picard for the final two films, which was ridiculous that a man we saw fight sparingly for over a decade was now getting in full fledged donnybrooks. It was a stupid decision made in lieu of any creative way for him to overcome the villan he faced, and contributed heavily to the end of the film series.

 

[RoJoHen]

Well, in FC you can justify it because he was fueled by angry Borg rage. And he didn't even become overly action-heroy until the end, but in that instance it was either that or get melted by plasma coolant.

In INS, you can justify it because of the crazy Briar patch radiation that gave everybody more energy and made them feel younger.

Though, honestly, I really wish the TNG films had explored more of the themes that the TOS movies did. Kirk and Spock were constantly reminding us about how they were getting old, and I really enjoyed that aspect of their character arcs. The TNG movies didn't really do much with anybody's characters; they were more plot-driven than character-driven.

 

[Orphalesion]

I think this can be extended to more or less their respective TV shows and movie series.

TV TOS: Episodic, kind of weird/esoteric solely focused on three "main" characters at the expense of all others, lots of violence and random crew members dying, quickly to be forgotten for the "everybody laughs" ending.

Movie TOS: Overarching plot-lines, continuity, things have consequences, the stories are more grounded and all the characters gain some prominence in most of the movies, death is seriously, often being a driving force of the plot and leading to sober endings.
(of course TFF throws that all out and jumps right back into TV TOS)

TV TNG: Continuity, less esoteric/ more grounded storylines than in TOS most of the time, all characters have prominence. Death is rare and almost always treated as serious.

Movie TNG: 4 self-contained stories with little/no continuity or consequences between them, weird storylines an elements like the Nexus, the magical Baku planet and Picard's clone, except for Picard and Data everybody is shoved into the background, there's heaps of violence and crew deaths that are quickly forgotten for the "uplifting" ending.

So is it a wonder that I prefer TNG (the series) but the TOS movies?

 

[Kor]

TNG Movies: Picard is more action-oriented, jumping into action more quickly than he would in the series. Though I think his actions in First Contact are warranted (after all, there's no negotiating with the Borg, not to mention his quest for vengeance), come Insurrection he seemed more like a swashbuckler. And not to mention Nemesis where he readily got into a jeep to go off-roading in the desert.

Undoubtedly a result of his midlife crisis.

Kor