• Welcome! The TrekBBS is the number one place to chat about Star Trek with like-minded fans.
    If you are not already a member then please register an account and join in the discussion!

Kirk's execution of Nero/Optimus Prime "Any Last Words?" TF2

Narada had a shitload of ships docked inside. What if Nero got into one and flew through the black hole? Then he's somewhere and somewhen else, free do raise havok with a 24th century Romulan shuttlecraft.
 
[
Ironically, if there really were any doubts about the Narada surviving, it would appear the practical decision would have been to beam off Nero and Co, no questions asked. Guess they can't have been that concerned after all.

But can you transport through a black hole or singularity or whatever?
 
Kirk offers Nero help and it is refused and the villain suffers the consequence of that refusal.

Kirk is right because he cannot be sure that Nero won't survive the trip through the black hole and again cause chaos somewhere else in the timeline. Unlike Kruge, Nero no longer posed a threat to Kirk.


Yeah, that's what the Klingons said when Nero and his crew were biding their time waiting to escape from the Klingon prison. I know this didn't happen onscreen, but the results of it did when Uhura reports about the Klingon warships being destroyed.
 
As far as I am aware the only ones suggesting it are fans of STXI trying to find an excuse for something they know Prime Kirk would not have done.

This is the crux of the matter now isn't it? You didn't like the movie. That's fine.

But to imply that I know that Prime Kirk would never have done something like that and I am trying find some way to excuse NuKirk's behavior just because I like the movie is just not true.

Sorry. I will of course take your word on that.

We could could debate until the cows come home on whether or not prime Kirk would kill in this manner. I personally think he would if the situation called for it...but in all honesty this is one of my least problems with the movie and I do like the movie..it is my favorite Trek movie!

While I agree we can't be certain how an imagined Prime Kirk would always react, I am not uncomfortable drawing pretty strong conclusions from how he did react. As you have probably guessed, I think how he reacts is important to Trek. This is why I am interested in why you say:

... I actually had more problem with Spock's attitude in the situation.

I mean, Spock turned down the political rationale. Neither appears interested in humanitarianism, so isn't he more honourable in that sense than Kirk? In what negative way does he differ? You believe NuKirk had to do it, and if I agreed with you, I would have had no problem with Kirk's behaviour either, but his exchange with Spock and other factors mentioned in my previous post seem to argue against that justification, don't they?

Let's not forget, Spock was "emotionally compromised". His friggin' planet was just blown up, his mother was lost because of it. What would you do?
 
Your interpretation of the scene where Kirk shoots is not more or less valid than mine just because you pretend that your reading of it is objective.

Gee, in other words it's all a matter of opinion.

Imagine that.

Most people don't have a problem with Kirk's behavior in the "fire everything we've got" scene. Winning!
 
Most people claiming that the Earth is flat doesn't make her flat. You confuse majority and objectivity. The latter is of little relevance here as we talk about art. Naturally people read the respective scene differently.
If you wanna join the discussion, go ahead, if you wanna pathetically hide behind the majority opinion you contribute nothing.
 
Most people claiming that the Earth is flat doesn't make her flat.

There's a huge difference between subjective interpretation of a line in a film, and objective fact. Even when I was arguing with you, I was arguing that your interpretation was unsupported by the narrative, not that it's a violation of objective fact.
 
Let's take the mind rape scene from TUC. Everybody here know the scene, know the narrative, knows the stupid facts. The only thing worthwhile talking about would be different readings of this very scene.
For example A might claim that Spock enjoy the mind-rape whereas B might say that he struggles to hold back his anger. I think that B is closer to the text but I also think that A says something more interesting, something that makes you actually think more about the scene than the stuff B said.

I like loose readings of a text precisely because they don't stay at hyperzoom at the stupid facts; facts which, if we talk about something less singular that spans over several episodes like a Trek species, often contradict each other. In other words, you have to read and interpret when you talk about Romulans or Ferengi.

Back to the "fire everything we got" scene, as far as I overview the discussion side A sticks to the facts (Kirk had to make sure that the Narada survives the black hole, he doesn't break out in a joyful dance when he orders the destruction) whereas side B focuses on the subtext (Kirk's offer of help was insincere, he revels in being allowed by Spock to not play by the book).
The kind of metadiscussion is whether the subtext, the psyche of the characters, the vibe of the movie and so on are actual things you can talk about. My point is obviously yes, it should be as it is the only interesting thing to talk about. I mean, gee, if I chat with someone about Hamlet what's the point of discussion the plot? I wanna get to know his reading of the drama, his opinion, what he found beneath the surface.
 
^Correct.

IMO, mostly all Trek series after TOS over-coddled terrorists. Too politically correct compared to the Cowboy diplomacy Kirk exhibited. (The Sisko and Janeway excepted)

Kirk, just as Pine as Kirk did, gave the bad guy a chance to reconsider the error of his ways and change his path, but when they chose the wrong answer he, having exhausted all diplomatic options, blew them out out sky.

Kirk knows the enemy, knows when any plea for mercy will be ploys to buy time to eventually attack again. I love the "no more playing" attitude of Kirk. Both of them.

The kirk of the original series NEVER acted that way, where are you getting this from? Even in TWOK he was going to take khan as a prisoner and transfer him to a starbase for sentencing, but Khan himself chose suicide. It was Khan who activated the genesis device, not kirk. In the 2009 movie, imposter kirk did something real kirk would never do, destroy a sitting duck!
 
(the Vulcans have the role of a god or a father, it is embarassing for us if they see that we are not able to manage ourselves well)

No, they do not. The Vulcans are never, ever depicted as anything other than just people who are different. They're not depicted as "gods" or "fathers," or as a culture that is somehow "better" than Humanity's. Hell, throughout ENT, the Vulcans are depicted as a neo-imperial power that uses unofficial influence over less-powerful worlds' governments to dominate them, to the resentment of people who want equality and partnership rather than hegemony and domination. Vulcans aren't gods or fathers -- they're colonialists who have to be cast off and shown the error of their ways. They're not the Olympians to Earth's Athens; they're Britain to Earth's India. (Or, if you prefer a more modern comparson, the Vulcans are America to Earth's Brazil.)

The idea that Vulcans are some sort of superior culture against whom Humanity is found wanting is an idea you are projecting onto the text; it's utterly unsupported by any of TREK, which varies between depicting Vulcans' beliefs as right for them but nobody else to being just plain oppressive.

No more than 10 seconds and the deal is done. Anything would have been better than that conversation between Kirk and Spock involving details that were pulled right out of the writer's a**. Compassion? What compassion? You went onboard the Narada guns blazing with phasers set to kill. Peace with Romulus? What peace with Romulus? Isn't that what the Neutral Zone treaty was for? I do not get this sudden switch from "HUNTING NERO DOWN" to all of a sudden "Show them compassion" and back to "Arm phasers, fire everything we've got!".

Kirk's just an a-hole.

Indeed, he switched from "show them compassion" to "fire everything we got" and it is not hard to figure out whose of those two Kirks is authentic. He revels in not being forced anymore to play by the book.

The fact that he wanted to fire everything they had to ensure the Narada's destruction does not mean that he actually wanted to kill Nero rather than provide humanitarian aid. And even drawing some satisfaction from his death doesn't mean that he actually wanted Nero to die.

It's entirely possible to draw some satisfaction from a belief that justice is being served even if you would have preferred things to turn out a different way. You are, once again, projecting ideas onto the text that are simply not present in any way.
Wrong. This is not a character being created out of thin air, it is captain kirk. And he is way out of context in this 2009 thing. Mind you, not only in the end scene, but the entire film.

Kirk of TOS was a man who always strived to be a representative of the way humanity SHOULD be, not the way it IS NOW. That is the difference here, and I suggest people who defend the poor characterization of imposter 2009 kirk take this distinction into account.
 
In the 2009 movie, imposter kirk did something real kirk would never do, destroy a sitting duck!

"Imposter Kirk"? "Real Kirk?"

No, there's previous Kirk and current Kirk, or old Kirk and new Kirk. But one performance of a fictional character is not more authentic than another. And seniority doesn't count.

Is Daniel Craig an "imposter Bond"? Is Christian Bale an "imposter Batman"? Was Katee Sackhoff an "imposter Starbuck"?

New actor, new adaptation, new version of the character. That's how it works.
 
^ Then explain "I...have HAD...enough of YOU!!!!!!!!!"

They were hanging off a cliff. Much different scenario than firing on a sitting duck ship, like a bully and a coward would. There was no equity of danger involved in imposter 2009 kirks actions.
What about The Undiscovered Country? After the first hit, both Kirk and Sulu pounded Chang's ship until it was destroyed.
 
And he is way out of context in this 2009 thing. Mind you, not only in the end scene, but the entire film.

Kirk of TOS was a man who always strived to be a representative of the way humanity SHOULD be, not the way it IS NOW. That is the difference here, and I suggest people who defend the poor characterization of imposter 2009 kirk take this distinction into account.

The Kirk of TOS was ready to kill Gary Mitchell because of the threat he posed to the galaxy. The situation with Nero in STXI is not fundamentally different.
 
^ Then explain "I...have HAD...enough of YOU!!!!!!!!!"

They were hanging off a cliff. Much different scenario than firing on a sitting duck ship, like a bully and a coward would. There was no equity of danger involved in imposter 2009 kirks actions.

KRUGE was hanging off a cliff. Kirk was not.

And I might argue that the 'equity of danger' was much higher in ST XI. The worst that could have happened in ST III was Kruge pulls Kirk over the edge of the cliff and they both die. That would be it. But in ST XI, Nero could have gotten away (however unlikely), and thus done a LOT more damage. Why should Kirk take that chance?
 
And he is way out of context in this 2009 thing. Mind you, not only in the end scene, but the entire film.

Kirk of TOS was a man who always strived to be a representative of the way humanity SHOULD be, not the way it IS NOW. That is the difference here, and I suggest people who defend the poor characterization of imposter 2009 kirk take this distinction into account.
TOS Kirk is very much a product of the now rather than a representative of some future perfect humanity. The Kirk of TOS is always on a journey in those episodes. He usually arrives at the "right" solution in the final act, after using violence for the first three. :guffaw:

He fights the Gorn. He hunts the Horta. He fights the Klingons. He steals from the Romulans.
 
Kirk of TOS was a man who always strived to be a representative of the way humanity SHOULD be, not the way it IS NOW. That is the difference here, and I suggest people who defend the poor characterization of imposter 2009 kirk take this distinction into account.

I think you're confusing TOS and TNG. Kirk was never supposed to be some sort of paragon of enlightened future humanity. He was a flawed, flesh-and-blood mortal who sometimes wrestled with self-doubt and his own primitive instincts. He acted rashly at times, lost his temper occasionally, liked a good fistfight, had a weakness for pretty guest-stars, and thought of himself as a soldier, not a diplomat . . . .

As Carol Marcus famously put it, Jim Kirk was no Boy Scout. Heck, even Picard and Janeway regarded him as a cowboy who didn't always play by the rules. And the time police thought he was a menace!
 
Last edited:
If you are not already a member then please register an account and join in the discussion!

Sign up / Register


Back
Top