The Enterprise That Wasn't

[MAGolding]

Except when anyone ever watches the episode, they will not be thinking, “Oh, that was that time that Kirk used a different name,” but that it was simply before they chose the one they settled on. The episode, and all those after, didn’t want Kirk to have multiple middle names — just one. Just that the one they gave us changed...

You are being unreasonable. How many people do you know? What is the precentage of them that you are certain that you know the full names of?

How many people do you know that you are certain - instead of merely assuming - use their first name instead of using their middle name, if any?

How many people do you know who you are certain never changed their name in their life?

The other Tos episodes showed KIrk only using the name of James T. Kirk during those episodes. They never showed Kirk using only one name in his entire life. "Where No Man Has Gone Before" only showed Kirk using, or being described by, one name, James R. KirK, during the time of that episode. Where No Man Has Gone Before" naver said that Kirk never used another name in his life.

Taken together, "Where No Man Has Gone Before" and the other TOs episodes indicate that KIrk's name changed. Which is a very common and normal occurance.

 

[Arpy]

...

See what I mean? There can't ever be any finality for people who don't want it.

The name was always James T. Kirk. Deal with it.

 

[Dukhat]

I’m still trying to wrap my head around the logic that Mitchell got Kirk’s middle initial wrong (and that this ‘mistake’ was somehow proof that Mitchell was still human), when it was the very first episode of the show.

The audience would have no context that Kirk’s actual middle initial was T, unless Kirk pointed that out right then and there. But he didn’t. Why? Because in that second pilot episode, Kirk’s middle initial was in fact ‘R.’ It wasn’t a mistake made by Mitchell.

And it makes even less sense that in all the time Kirk and Mitchell knew each other, Mitchell never knew Kirk’s middle name. They were practically best friends. I sure know the middle names of all my best friends.

In the pilot episode of Seinfeld, the character of Kramer was called ‘Kessler’ by Jerry, despite the fact that Jerry and said Kessler had already been neighbors for quite some time. Was Jerry mistakenly calling Kramer Kessler all that time, and Kramer never bothered to correct him until episode 2? Of course not. It was just a changed premise from the pilot to the regular series. This kind of thing happens all the time, and it’s not ‘proof’ of anything. In this instance, Kramer’s name was always Kramer, and we just have to ignore what was stated in the pilot.

 

[fireproof78]

I’m still trying to wrap my head around the logic that Mitchell got Kirk’s middle initial wrong (and that this ‘mistake’ was somehow proof that Mitchell was still human), when it was the very first episode of the show.

The audience would have no context that Kirk’s actual middle initial was T, unless Kirk pointed that out right then and there. But he didn’t. Why? Because in that second pilot episode, Kirk’s middle initial was in fact ‘R.’ It wasn’t a mistake made by Mitchell.

And it makes even less sense that in all the time Kirk and Mitchell knew each other, Mitchell never knew Kirk’s middle name. They were practically best friends. I sure know the middle names of all my best friends.

In the pilot episode of Seinfeld, the character of Kramer was called ‘Kessler’ by Jerry, despite the fact that Jerry and said Kessler had already been neighbors for quite some time. Was Jerry mistakenly calling Kramer Kessler all that time, and Kramer never bothered to correct him until episode 2? Of course not. It was just a changed premise from the pilot to the regular series. This kind of thing happens all the time, and it’s not ‘proof’ of anything. In this instance, Kramer’s name was always Kramer, and we just have to ignore what was stated in the pilot.

Exactly.