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No Love for Gary Mitchell

V

Vader47000

Lieutenant Junior Grade
Red Shirt
I guess the movie retconned Gary Mitchell out of existence. Remember in Where No Man Has Gone Before it was explained Mitchell was Kirk's best friend at the academy. Now it seems that role has been taken by McCoy.

I think this movie did a real disservice to the subtleties of the Trek universe.
 
Actually, Gary was a student when Kirk was a Lt. teaching classes.

With Kirk's life being messed with, it's not like we'd expect him to be viewed as a responsible guy allowed to teach cadets in the new timeline.

Mitchell may have been lost in time due to one or more parents dying on the Kelvin before he was conceived, or some similar reason, or may be out there somewhere, but have never crossed paths with Kirk at all.

He may also show up in some future film.

Never can tell.
 
Vader47000 said:
I guess the movie retconned Gary Mitchell out of existence. Remember in Where No Man Has Gone Before it was explained Mitchell was Kirk's best friend at the academy. Now it seems that role has been taken by McCoy.

I think this movie did a real disservice to the subtleties of the Trek universe.
Click to expand...

If by "subtlety" you mean a one-shot character, then yes, you're absolutely right. I'm not going to hold out hope on JJverse Lt. Hawk.

For all we know, Mitchell probably outranked Cadet Kirk by the time of the events of the new movie, and probably assigned to a different ship. The point of the movie, after all, was that due to the Narada, everyone's destinies had changed.
 
That one-shot character was the means to explaining a great number of things.

But I'm referring to the bigger picture. TNG, DS9, Voyager and Enterprise all contributed to established Trek history not just through the stories they told in their present realities, but also in explaining things that happened in the history of the Federation.

Abrams and his writers want to maintain some connection to the established continuity while giving themselves freedom to do their own thing. But the date they chose to diverge the timelines is 2233. That means all of Enterprise is still theoretically canon in the Abrams universe. And any references on the other shows to things that happened before 2233 should still have to apply.
 
Knowin' that Kirk and Mitchell met at some point while both were at the Academy (Kirk as an instructor, Mitchell as a cadet), I'm okay with Gary not bein' in the movie.

Kirk's personal timeline changed, from his birth onward, thanks to Nero. A delayed entry into the Academy was one of the many changes that happened to him, and so, he's no longer in a position to meet Gary Mitchell, or Carol Marcus, since Gary is the one who introduced 'em (yes, I know, Carol isn't mentioned by name, but its reasonable to assume she was the blonde Gary directed to Kirk to distract him).

But, it is still possible for Gary Mitchell to be a character in the new timeline of films, and could, quite possibly, be used in the sequel.
 
Gary Mitchell? Who? What? He's important why?

The majority of the audience cares zilch about him. Although it would have been a nice touch if



SPOILER





the boy teenage kirk waved at was called Gary, instead of Johnny
 
But the thing is, he COULD have been there. Thats what was cool about the movie. We saw SOME of the stuff at the academy, but not everything. Maybe Kirk is good buddies with Gary Mitchell, but we just never saw him.

Its like with Sybok from Trek V (please keep the "Star Trek V sucks!!!" stuff to a minimum...I personally liked it). We saw some of Spock's childhood, but did not see Sybok at all, and yet he could have very easily been there, but we just never saw him.

There's always a way to fit this stuff in and make it work. Thats part of the fun of being a fan.
 
Vader47000 said:
That one-shot character was the means to explaining a great number of things.
Click to expand...

To quote Pine-Kirk: Enlighten me. Mitchell wasn't referenced at all after his one and only episode. How could his appearance/disappearance explain anything relevant in the 11 movies or the spinoffs? If he pops up in the sequel, that's only because of the events of the current movie, with nothing to do with the primary timeline.

But I'm referring to the bigger picture. TNG, DS9, Voyager and Enterprise all contributed to established Trek history not just through the stories they told in their present realities, but also in explaining things that happened in the history of the Federation.

Abrams and his writers want to maintain some connection to the established continuity while giving themselves freedom to do their own thing. But the date they chose to diverge the timelines is 2233. That means all of Enterprise is still theoretically canon in the Abrams universe. And any references on the other shows to things that happened before 2233 should still have to apply.
Click to expand...
Uh huh, and did Gary Mitchell pop up on the Enterprise prior to 2233? Do we even know what he did prior to 2233? No. For that matter, was Gary Mitchell ever crucial to the history of the Federation in any universe?

I'm not really understanding your point here. There's a new history now, so things don't have to be explained retroactively, but rather as that timeline goes on, in future adventures.
 
Don't worry. As Orci and Kurtzman mentioned in a TrekMovie interview, Gary could still turn up. Nothing precludes his existence. Just like nothing precludes Finnegan. Just because they're not mentioned doesn't mean they don't exist. They'll turn up if they're useful for the story. I just watched WNMHGB last night and got to thinking, "man, Gary would make a great villain in a sequel."
 
Vader47000 said:
I guess the movie retconned Gary Mitchell out of existence. Remember in Where No Man Has Gone Before it was explained Mitchell was Kirk's best friend at the academy. Now it seems that role has been taken by McCoy.

I think this movie did a real disservice to the subtleties of the Trek universe.
Click to expand...

Amen, brother.
 
um and BTW. we've already had this conversation ad nauseum in this forum

http://trekbbs.com/showthread.php?t=86865

and Devon solved the problem for us

Devon said:
garymitchell.jpg
Click to expand...
 
Gary Mitchell died after one episode; he's a great character, but it's not a disservice.
 
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