Loved the movie for what it is...

[infinix]

As an action based Trek movie that pays homage to the TOS as well as disregarding/reinventing the entire Trek universe.

I am really curious though. What do people think about Kirk going from Academic Probation to Executive Office to Acting Captain to Actual Captain in a span of about half of a day?

It has probably been discussed to death, but since I'm new here... Is it really necessary for Kirk to be promoted in such a way? If it made sense to promote Kirk to captain, shouldn't all of the bridge crew be made commanders at the least?

 

[BlobVanDam]

I personally found it to be one of the most ridiculous and unbelievable parts of the entire movie.

He was a slacker at Starfleet academy, then snuck onto the Enterprise when he wasn't supposed to be there, then he got kicked off, but boarded yet again without permission, then he provokes Spock into punching him, then basically makes himself captain with no authority, then after all of this gets given the keys to the Enterprise anyway. It felt like a contrived way to make him the rebel badass who broke every rule, and still end up with everyone in the exact same position as they were in the Prime Universe.

One of the few major reasons I'm not a big fan of Trek XI.

 

[number6]

Hated the music.. Loved the trousers.

 

[The Wormhole]

Kirk's promotion to captain makes no sense at all. Does Starfleet have no other officers qualified to command a starship that they have to turn to a cadet who hasn't graduated the Academy?

 

[Quinton O'Connor]

They were all holed up in the Laurentian System.

 

[infinix]

So I take it that there are basically no Kirk promotion apologists here?

 

[number6]

I take it the film came out nearly two years ago. You are late to the party.

 

[The Mirrorball Man]

It's "Captain Kirk". We know him as "Captain Kirk", everyone knows him as "Captain Kirk". In a movie called "Star Trek", you don't want to have "Ensign Kirk" or "Cadet Kirk", even if it's an origin story, you want to see at least a glimpse of "Captain Kirk".

That's the meta-reason, I guess. It doesn't make a lot of sense in the movie except for two things, which are, let's be honest, actually addressed on screen:

- most Starfleet officers were killed in the Laurentian system, so they probably need new captains.
- Starfleet is an organization that values panache and excellence rather than experience and seniority.

 

[Admiral Buzzkill]

It's "Captain Kirk". We know him as "Captain Kirk", everyone knows him as "Captain Kirk". In a movie called "Star Trek", you don't want to have "Ensign Kirk" or "Cadet Kirk", even if it's an origin story, you want to see at least a glimpse of "Captain Kirk".

That's it, in a nutshell.

If you do a Superman movie, he has to put on the cape (and fuck Smallville anyway. ).

I really wish the Trek folks would hurry up and announce that they're casting Khan in the next movie so that we could move on to being upset about something new.

 

[infinix]

I take it the film came out nearly two years ago. You are late to the party.

Yeah, I"m very late to the party. Can't believe I just found out about this place.

 

[Ryan8bit]

It's "Captain Kirk". We know him as "Captain Kirk", everyone knows him as "Captain Kirk". In a movie called "Star Trek", you don't want to have "Ensign Kirk" or "Cadet Kirk", even if it's an origin story, you want to see at least a glimpse of "Captain Kirk".

That's probably part of why an origin story and Star Trek weren't meant to be in a logical sense. Save all that sensibility for novels.

- most Starfleet officers were killed in the Laurentian system, so they probably need new captains.
- Starfleet is an organization that values panache and excellence rather than experience and seniority.

Was anything even clarified on the Laurentian system? The only certain deaths were in the Vulcan system, which doesn't really change the available labor pool.

Also, if Starfleet valued excellence so much, Wesley Crusher probably should have been named Fleet Admiral right away.

 

[JarodRussell]

If you do a Superman movie, he has to put on the cape (and fuck Smallville anyway. ).

Good that we have the potentially best argument that it actually works out of the way.

 

[number6]

Wesley Crusher was serving on the Narada.

 

[Quinton O'Connor]

Wesley Crusher was serving on the Narada.

I'm not sure Nero would have been able to tolerate working alongside him for twenty-five years.

 

[6079SmithW]

Well, Pike did promote Kirk to XO, which means that the moment those words left Pike's mouth Kirk outranked everyone except for Spock. If you want to blame someone for for Kirk's ascendence to command, blame Pike. Also, if Spock were truly captain material, he would have been professional and in control enough to not assault a subordinate and have an emotional breakdown.

So, between Pike's decision and Spock's craziness, there really wasn't anyone left to take command of the ship.

As Dennis pointed out, everyone knows and loves Captain Kirk of the USS Enterprise. Captain is just as much part of Kirk's name as James T. is. It was inevitable that he'd be captain of the Enterprise by the end of the movie.

One more thing, Kirk was a full Lieutenant (O-3) and not just a cadet. So, its not like he started out a no rank college attendee and made Captain by the film's end, he only skipped two ranks to advance to Captain.

 

[JarodRussell]

Yeah, the movie would have totally bombed had the last 5 minutes been different. Like... Kirk getting a commendation with huge applause, and Pike still being Captain.

 

[Dukhat]

Yeah, the promotion to captain was the one thing that bugged me, especially since all they had to do was scrawl "Five Years Later..." across the screen like they did earlier in the movie with "Three Years Later," and change the scene from the Academy graduating class to an actual promotion ceremony for a five-year-older Commander Kirk, and it would have justified Pike's comment about Kirk getting his own command in eight years after enlisting. Now that I think about it, one wonders if that was the actual intention...

Re: Laurentian System: All that was established was that the bulk of Starfleet's forces were there, not what actually happened to them. For all we know, every ship came out just fine. It was just a plot device to get every ship that wasn't the Enterprise or the seven other cadet ships out of Dodge.

 

[6079SmithW]

^^It wouldn't have bombed, but it wouldn't have felt right either. Kirk was already Captain by the time they beamed over to the Narada, him wearing the Captain's stripes at the end was just a formality.

 

[F. King Daniel]

Kirk's promotion was incredibly unlikely, but c'mon - it's a movie! In the same universe where Kirk Prime and co are cleared of all wrongdoing and rewarded with a new Enterprise after disobeying orders, commiting treason, stealing and blowing up the old and Picard keeps being handed newer and more powerful ships after trashing his old ones, no less.

I also wouldn't call Kirk a "slacker" as was said upthread. He was a genius who was effortlessly acing the academy - after only three years he already held the rank of Lieutenant (see "Lt. J.T. Kirk" on the transporter panel when he and Sulu are beaming up). He was Pike's golden boy.

 

[Sharr Khan]

It's "Captain Kirk". We know him as "Captain Kirk", everyone knows him as "Captain Kirk". In a movie called "Star Trek", you don't want to have "Ensign Kirk" or "Cadet Kirk", even if it's an origin story, you want to see at least a glimpse of "Captain Kirk".

That's it, in a nutshell.

If you do a Superman movie, he has to put on the cape (and fuck Smallville anyway. ).

I really wish the Trek folks would hurry up and announce that they're casting Khan in the next movie so that we could move on to being upset about something new.

I think we two are the only one's convinced Khan's gonna be in it. In any event, when that happens I can't wait for the firestorm.