Why does Kirk retire?

[Timo]

Of course, Kirk being dead has rarely been an obstacle to him saving the day. How many times did he die in TOS already? "The Enterprise Incident", "Space Seed", "Tholian Web" and "Mark of Gideon" set something of a pattern already: half the time, the dead Captain triumphs all by himself, while the other half involves the dead Captain requiring some assistance to carry the day. Scotty just guessed wrong between the two possibilities in "Relics"...

Timo Saloniemi

 

[Ithekro]

If I recall the scenes on the Enterprise-B were written for it to be Kirk, Spock, and McCoy, rather than Kirk, Scott, and Chekov.

But Scott's loss might have been just months afterward and he could hope against hope that Kirk would come back to save him, dragging the old Enterprise out to do it. Why? Because that is something Kirk would do. And nearly all of them had been dead before, or thought dead before only to come back later, so perhaps Scott was a betting man and felt Kirk would be back (he was right, just not when).

 

[F. King Daniel]

But regardless of Scotty being delusional, or vague retirement, the death of Kirk on the Enterprise-B would have been huge.. not something Scotty would have been delusional about. Highly doubt he was conscious during his transporter residence.

It was a major continuity error not caught by the Generations writers.. sloppy IMHO lol

Both were written by the same guy, and he's on record somewhere (god knows where, it was years ago I read it) that he very knowingly ignored the bit he wrote in "Relics" because he thought it was cooler to have Scotty on board the Enterprise-B when Kirk's death happened (and as others have said, Scotty and Chekov were the Plan B after Nimoy declined and Kelley's health deteriorated)

 

[JonnyQuest037]

There's a ready-made explanation right there in "Relics" for Scotty's memory lapse about Kirk being alive. Here's some dialogue from the teaser:

LAFORGE: There's a pattern in the buffer still.
RIKER: It's completely intact. There's less than point zero zero three percent signal degradation. How is that possible?

The bit of signal that degraded affected the brain cells that remembered Kirk dying on the Enterprise-B. Simple.

 

[wayne66]

When the new series was announced and there were rumors that it was to take place in the 2290s after The Undiscovered Country, I was hoping that it would be a Captain Kirk series. Meaning the writers would have found a way to bring Captain Kirk back from death and have him command a new starship with a new crew. Trouble with rogue Klingons meant that Starfleet needed to bring Captain Kirk back. I would have loved that.

 

[Phoenix219]

When the new series was announced and there were rumors that it was to take place in the 2290s after The Undiscovered Country, I was hoping that it would be a Captain Kirk series. Meaning the writers would have found a way to bring Captain Kirk back from death and have him command a new starship with a new crew. Trouble with rogue Klingons meant that Starfleet needed to bring Captain Kirk back. I would have loved that.

Fan Films have shown me that I can totally buy a new Prime Kirk played by a new actor, as long as the history and characterization is intact. I don't like Pine's Kirk, but I'm sure its not the actor I have a problem with - if he was acting out a TOS scene verbatim, instead of having it be a brand new take AND an actor trying to reinterpret it in his own way, then I'm sure I would have been okay with him in the role. I am totally down for a new Captain Kirk series - whether post TUC , or even on the Farragut when he was a LT.

Of course, who am I to say anything - I still think Shatner could play Kirk in a series HIMSELF *without* any recasting involved.

 

[wayne66]

I could totally see Shatner doing a new series as Captain Kirk post TUC. In the series one of the crewmembers could be Ensign Garravick, the grandson or granddaughter of Captain Garravick, Kirks first captain, who was killed by the cloud creature in Obsession. Kirk would have known three generations of the Garravick family. Makes for a nice bit of continuity.
I could also see a new series set in the 2250s that show us the adventures of Lt. Kirk aboard the Farragut,, Spock and Scotty on board the Enterprise with Captain Pike and Dr. McCoy having his own adventures. Each week we would see rotating adventures. It would be like having two Star Trek series in one.

 

[Ronald Held]

Can anyone see Pine playing the Prime universe version of Kirk?

 

[Ithekro]

He is getting better at it as seen in Beyond.

 

[Nyotarules]

Can anyone see Pine playing the Prime universe version of Kirk?

I think he will play it better, no pauses etc

 

[Phoenix219]

I think he will play it better, no pauses etc

Your definition of "better" is entirely your opinion. A theatrical style of acting does not make one worse, and vocal mannerisms are part of PRIME Kirk's characterization. You can take influences without being a parody, as evidenced by Vic Mignogna.

 

[Nerys Myk]

Can anyone see Pine playing the Prime universe version of Kirk?

I can.

 

[F. King Daniel]

Actors should play the character of Kirk and do it their own way, not base their acting on William Shatner impressions. No awkward pauses etc, it comes across as parody.

I think Bruce Campbell would make a great STVI-era Kirk.

 

[Phoenix219]

Actors should play the character of Kirk and do it their own way, not base their acting on William Shatner impressions. No awkward pauses etc, it comes across as parody.

I think Bruce Campbell would make a great STVI-era Kirk.

I'd definitely watch that....

One last grand adventure for Kirk between VI and Generations would suit me just fine.

 

[Ghel]

I could easily see Pine playing Kirk even in the Prime Universe. He is quite good at the role and has made Kirk his own without falling into Shatners physical and vocal mannerisms.

Regarding Kirk's retirement and the idea of a post Undiscovered Country Kirk series, I for one, don't think it would work too well. Unlike Picard who is more of a delegator/negotiator (or at least can be--though this is somewhat belied in the films) Kirk's character strikes me as being more action oriented. He will be leading the away team, he will be fighting the enemy, and wherever the action is, Kirk will be in the thick of it. This really isn't visually believable for an 80+ year old actor. At some point, Kirks character would need to change into more of a TNG series-Picard style leader or he would probably need to recognize that he isn't physically capable of commanding a starship his way anymore. Perhaps given the choice between being a more "passive" commander or retirement, Kirk would choose to go out "on top."

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

I think Bruce Campbell would make a great STVI-era Kirk.

I would not be too terribly disappointed if Bruce Campbell stays as far away from Trek as is humanly possible. Has this guy ever played a serious role?

Besides, I doubt he's much of a fan of Trek anyway, since they did ask him to play Jack (from DS9's "Jack Pack") and he turned it down.

 

[JonnyQuest037]

I would not be too terribly disappointed if Bruce Campbell stays as far away from Trek as is humanly possible. Has this guy ever played a serious role?

Yes. He was quite good in a two-part episode of Homicide: Life On The Street in 1995. But yeah, Campbell brings a lot of baggage because he's done a lot of tongue-in-cheek roles.

 

[Commander Richard]

But regardless of Scotty being delusional, or vague retirement, the death of Kirk on the Enterprise-B would have been huge.. not something Scotty would have been delusional about. Highly doubt he was conscious during his transporter residence.

It was a major continuity error not caught by the Generations writers.. sloppy IMHO lol

Both were written by the same guy, and he's on record somewhere (god knows where, it was years ago I read it) that he very knowingly ignored the bit he wrote in "Relics" because he thought it was cooler to have Scotty on board the Enterprise-B when Kirk's death happened (and as others have said, Scotty and Chekov were the Plan B after Nimoy declined and Kelley's health deteriorated)

I read somehwere that he didn't think people would remember the line from "Relics".

 

[USS Firefly]

I would not be too terribly disappointed if Bruce Campbell stays as far away from Trek as is humanly possible. Has this guy ever played a serious role?

Besides, I doubt he's much of a fan of Trek anyway, since they did ask him to play Jack (from DS9's "Jack Pack") and he turned it down.

Never a serious role????? Have you never seen the evil dead trilogy????
Pure drama and horror

 

[Romulan Loyalist]

I read somehwere that he didn't think people would remember the line from "Relics".

Which is odd considering Star Trek is torn apart and analyzed.. I don't think Geordi performed a better diagnostic than Trekkers and Trekkies.. I would estimate it was simply sloppiness.