That's what Memory Alpha says, anyway. Apparently the character of Mark Jameson was originally going to be Kirk, facing the results of what he did in 'A Private Little War'. Shatner turned it down and the ep was rewritten. Is any of this true?
Was "Too Short A Season" to be a Kirk episode?
- Thread starter Mr. Laser Beam
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I've heard the rumor for years, but really don't know what the source of it is.
I hope it's true. I think the episode would have been a lot better that way. (Jameson was even more annoying than Kirk!)
^^ I kind of think it's an interesting idea, though you have a point. People like to bash "The Naked Now" for being clearly derived from "The Naked Time," and it's certainly flawed. But I think the premise might have worked, if it had been made later in the season. Part of the problem with recycling the premise is that it was only the second ep, and the characters hadn't been developed sufficiently for their inner sides to show.
You don't think "A Private Little War" might have had serious consequences like the events in this episode depicted??
"A Private Little War" did have serious consequences. But they were never shown to the audience. And that being the case, the way TOS handled continuity back then, the consequences of "A Private Little War" just did not hurt the heroic image of James T. Kirk in the general audience's perception.
True, but if they had, I can definitely see it going down like this episode showed.
Also true, but this *isn't* TOS. Kirk can still be a hero, but he isn't *only* that. I think it would have shown that Kirk - for all his heroism - is still only human, and can make mistakes. There were probably a lot of reasons why Shatner may have turned this down (not the least of which is that Kirk would certainly have had to die), but I would hope this isn't one of them.
^ As I said in my first post in the thread, "Too Short a Season" with Kirk in it would have made an interesting character study, I won't argue with you about that. I was just trying to reason why Shatner might have turned such an episode down if it was indeed offered too him. Personally, I would have liked to see such a consequence-episode.
Other considerations may have come into play; such as disdain or disinterest in the spinoff series.
Anyway, I'm one of the rare people who actually likes this episode and would have liked it even better with Shatner. It would have been a really interesting way to use Kirk; as opposed to how he was eventually incorporated into TNG by way of GEN.
Anyway, I'm one of the rare people who actually likes this episode and would have liked it even better with Shatner. It would have been a really interesting way to use Kirk; as opposed to how he was eventually incorporated into TNG by way of GEN.
Correction: "A Private Little War" was a second season ep.
As to the rumor, it's interesting. And it would've been a better ep if the Kirk clone that was Mark Jameson wasn't in it.
Red Ranger
Actually, I think guardian was refering to "Too Short a Season" being a TNG season 1 episode.
I've always thought that if Too Short A Season wasn't intended to be an actual Kirk episode, then it's certainly echoing his actions strongly in A Private Little War. The first time I ever saw the episode, it just had "Kirk" written all over it for me. If it had featured Shatner I think it would have been a brave and honest continuation for his character, having a real resonance to events of TOS.
I've always rated this episode highly myself. I'm in total agreement with you. Maybe I like this episode so much because I associate it so strongly with Kirk.
I've always rated this episode highly myself. I'm in total agreement with you. Maybe I like this episode so much because I associate it so strongly with Kirk.
If it is true, I agree it's better that it didn't happen that way. Jameson's response just does not seem like Kirk's style. As a commanding officer he made many decisions that cost people lives. This mistake may be more costly than most, but it is the same principle as other smaller scale decisions and I think he would be able to deal with it in a better manner.
As for the rumor, my guess is that this episode may have been inspired by A Private Little War but not intended to be a vehicle for a Kirk return. I mean, they were afraid to even mention Spock in Sarek, so I doubt GR would have approved the return of the most iconic character in ST history a full 2 years prior.
As for the rumor, my guess is that this episode may have been inspired by A Private Little War but not intended to be a vehicle for a Kirk return. I mean, they were afraid to even mention Spock in Sarek, so I doubt GR would have approved the return of the most iconic character in ST history a full 2 years prior.
I know it's fun to correct people but............
the 1st season dud I was talking about was 'Too Short a Season" itself.
Ooppss! Looks like I misunderstood. I stand corrected! -- RR
I think it would have been a great character study. A way to see how the crew reacts to having a living legend on board, then to see how they react to seeing that the legend was just that, a legend. Finding out that one of Starfleet's greatest heroes was just a man, who made mistakes, and made a big one could have been a way to really show us what this crew of the Enterprise D was. How they handled the disappointment would have been great.
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