I guess that’s fair. And it’s certainly true that if Decker hadn’t been there, Kirk would have gotten them all killed in the wormhole (unless somebody else quickly pointed out the phaser redesign).
Was Kirk Really Essential in TMP?
- Thread starter SantaTom
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Of course he was essential. That's how they wrote the movie.
In all seriousness though....
The way the Decker character was written, yes, he would have failed to even get as close to the cloud as Kirk did, let alone enter V'Ger. But, as commented, Spock AND McCoy are both equally important. It is, as it often was in TOS, that maintain the balance of emotion, logic and dare that saves the day.
That, and some of the classic 'let's all gather on the bridge at the end of the episode and reminisce philosophically about what just transpired' is what makes this the most TOS of all the Star Trek movies for me personally.
Of course, your mileage may vary.
In all seriousness though....
The way the Decker character was written, yes, he would have failed to even get as close to the cloud as Kirk did, let alone enter V'Ger. But, as commented, Spock AND McCoy are both equally important. It is, as it often was in TOS, that maintain the balance of emotion, logic and dare that saves the day.
That, and some of the classic 'let's all gather on the bridge at the end of the episode and reminisce philosophically about what just transpired' is what makes this the most TOS of all the Star Trek movies for me personally.
Of course, your mileage may vary.
It's not like Shatner wrote the script. He and Nimoy had input the longer the shoot went on, but that stuff was all in place by Roddenberry and Livingston.
If you were talking about any of the last three films, I might agree.
I have to agree. At the end of the day, it did feel like TOS to me, albeit with better production values. Even though we never got to see that implied second 5YM, it exists in my head-canon.
To me, Star Trek V was the turning point where Shatner really stopped playing Kirk and started just playing William Shatner. By Generations, the transformation was 100% complete.
I would half and half agree with that. I feel TUC had a balance of Shatner and Kirk. But yes, you make a fair observation.
Talk about typecasting.
"Well... that's what we'll try to find out."
Keep in mind that "In Thy Image" was written under the assumption that after 13 episodes of "Phase II", Shatner had indicated that he would jump ship if offered a large role in a big budget (non-Trek) theatrical movie. Nimoy had declined and the others signed for five years, but Shatner would only commit to 13 episodes.
The creation of Willard Decker, son of the late Commodore Matthew Decker, was intended to provide a character that could be developed as the future captain of the Enterprise (and lead actor of the new series). So before "Phase II" morphed into TMP, Shatner and Kirk's possible departure was embedded in the concept.
The fact that it was Decker and Ilia who experienced the climactic transformation, it goes against the typical "hero's journey" format of such storytelling. Either Kirk or Spock/Xon should have been the one(s) expected to "learn better" by the audience at the end. Decker and Ilia was conceived as continuing characters.
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