Paul Wesley's incarnation of James T. Kirk

There's really nothing that prevents Pike from being promoted to Fleet Captain while still retaining command of the Enterprise. So there's wiggle room there.

Hell, for all we know, Pike could already be a Fleet Captain - AFAIK, that's not a distinct rank, more like a Captain with additional responsibilities.

Remember, this is still the prime timeline. There haven't been any changes. So the Pike from "The Cage"/"The Menagerie" has the same knowledge of his future that Anson Mount's Pike has.

 

If Matt Decker could command the Constellation while holding the flag rank of Commodore then Pike could surely have been Fleet Captain for a while before he turned over command of the Enterprise.

 

I suspect we're going to see it. We might even see Pike be promoted to Fleet Captain in Season 2 as we know Paul is coming back for Season 2 and will apparently channel a touch of Shatner.

Part of the "background" to SNW is we're seeing the slow formation of what would eventually become the TOS crew, Kirk likely brings some of his own men with him (it's heavily implied by Ortega and Pike's relationship and banter helmsman and captain likely come as a sort of package deal at this point in Starfleet) as Fleet Captain Pike would also have some say on postings.

Fleet Captain appears to be as semi-nebulous as the real life example which was during the age of sail where, if an Admiral had command of more then ten ships in the Royal Navy he would subdivide the fleet into smaller units with fleet captains appointed to assist with the command structure.

Memory Alpha does seem to agree it's not a formal rank per se, despite being the most senior of the line officer's positions.

With thousands, if not tens of thousands of starships to command Fleet Captains existence makes a lot of sense, and will likely see them having command of more than a handful of ships. We already know Pike is a senior enough officer they trust them with the highly classified U.S.S Discovery for a short period of time. He'll probably be given the rank by Admiral Robin April as well as the annoying responsibilities which come with it.

 

I think Paul Wesley deserves a chance. He’s not William Shatner, that’s for sure.

 

I'll give him a chance.

However, the first impressions weren't good. His performance as Kirk in the SNW finale was just so dull and lifeless. It was generic guy playing Kirk in name-only. Heck, Ed Speelers on Picard S3 displays much better Kirk energy and mannerisms in his performance.

What's necessary for Kirk is energy, exuberance and a very Over the top charm/swagger, because you're playing against a stoic Vulcan and an angry curmudgeon Doctor as your co-leads.

Nimoy mentioned something along those lines when he contrasted playing Spock against the very internal and reserved Jeffrey Hunter performance, versus Shatner's more extroverted Jim Kirk.

 

He wasn't playing against either of those in the episode. Nonsensical comparison is Nonsensical.

 

So what? He will eventually if they plan to keep him as Kirk for future Nu Trek projects.

And thus far, he played a very dull and lifeless Jim Kirk. We'll see how he fares when playing against La'an next season.

 

In an alternate timeline. The comparison misses the point.

 

Which is why I said "thus far," we'll see how S2 plays out.

Jim Kirk shouldn't be that different through. Even if he commanded the Farragut instead of the Enterprise, all his experiences at the academy and his early days that forged his personality all still happened.

 

Maybe. We don't know.

 

I agree with what others have said. And I don't know if it's just me but there's something off about his face that I can't put my finger on. Like when I looked at older pic of him I could see someone 'normal' and decent looking but I've tried giving it a second watch I all I can see is something off with the lower half of his face. I'm honestly not trying to be mean. Maybe they don't have the best make up team?

 

I don't think it's fair to judge him after a single episode. He's going to be in Season 2, so maybe judge after that.

 

Like a stack of books with legs?

 

He was playing Alt-Kirk. Maybe the PU Kirk will be more like TOS Kirk?

 

The show is still set pre-TOS so probably not.

 

Kirk isn't even recognizable TOS Kirk in the first episode NBC ever broadcast so no, he won't be.

 

IMO In TOS S1 The Man Trap, Kirk and Spock are both out of character from the majority of the rest of how they portrayed the characters over the run of TOS.

I pray in S&W we never get a line with Ethan Peck yelling at the top of his lungs:

SPOCK: "It's killing the captain! Shoot, quick!"

 

What about, THE WOMEN?

 

If we're talking episodes in the order they were aired by NBC, that was from the The Menagerie, which was the 11th episode aired.

TOS S1 The Man Trap, was the first episode actually aired by NBC as the Star Trek premiere in 1966.

 

That episode is really odd watching it now.