...is dead, obviously. But what if he wasn't? What if somehow he survived the fall from the bridge? What would he do next? Would he stay in the Nexus? Would he leave with Picard (assuming he doesn't have to due to his injuries)? If he did leave the Nexus, which I think is the most likely scenario (I can't see him being content to live a life which he now knows is a fantasy), what would he do with himself? At that time, biologically, he is younger than Picard - clearly age doesn't mean quite the same thing in the 24th Century as it does to us now (look at the 137-year-old Dr McCoy on the Ent-D!), and after the events of Generations Picard is put in command of the newest, most advanced ship in the fleet, the Ent-E, which he goes on to command into his 70s. So certainly Kirk is not too old to be in active service in Starfleet in the time he has just bamfed into. Would he choose to return to Starfleet? In his own time he had retired from the service - would he choose to do as Scotty did and go off exploring on his own, or would he maybe settle somewhere? He'd obviously go out to find Spock, Bones and his other surviving friends - it'd be interesting for him to see Scotty again especially as the two have shared the same fate (suspended in time for 80-ish years). That doesn't mean he might not want to return to Starfleet, though - he retired once before and came back. He'd be very behind the times, obviously, but he is a very clever man, a fast learner and I'm sure he could be trained up to speed in a reasonably short time - if he wanted to be, that is. So, that's the question - What Would Kirk Do? (This post brought to you by having just re-watched 'Relics'.)
Well, I think he'd try to find his friends first. I see him, Scotty, Spock and Admiral McCoy going somewhere to get reasonably plastered... Okay, maybe not Spock...
Um... he'd feature in eight best-selling hardcover novels, sequels to both "The Ashes of Eden" novel and "ST Generations", written by William Shatner with Garfield and Judith Reeves-Stevens. Known colloquially as "The Shatnerverse".
I dunno, I always liked this idea I came up with a few years ago. And it would certainly fit with Shatner's newfound gift for comedy. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ William Shatner, Malcolm McDowell, and Michael Keaton, starring in Star Trek XI: Beetlejuice 2. Kirk and Soran struggle with adjusting to the afterlife, and the fact that they're stuck in it together. They then get Betelgeuse to evict a bunch of Klingons from a rickety 90-year-old Bird of Prey, and the three of them spend the rest of eternity tooling around the galaxy, cruising for Orion slave girls and scaring the shit out of Pakleds. Hilarity ensues.
Guinan's echo said she couldn't leave because she was "already there". That is not the case for Kirk anymore.
Yep. Wasn't it originally put in as a way to reveal the source of Guinan's abilities? Until someone pointed out that this would mean Picard would have the same abilities after he left the Nexus.
Special powers as a side effect of the Nexus worked better than those who left getting uncontrollable gas instead.
^If they'd been fortunate enough to end up in the Nexxus, they'd have all been given the gift of gorgeous hair.
Guinan is still in the Nexus, and she was beamed away, yet still there. So if Guinan can do it, why not Kirk?
There-in lies the problem. I've always thought GEN is the best TNG film. However, that little plot device is the catalyst to the show's one real problem. If it weren't for that ginormous leap of faith the audience is expected to take at the end, I think the movie would have received a much more positive reaction from fans.