Worst command decisions by Captain James T. Kirk

[Gary7]

^ I'm referring to the point where they're already on the planet, making assessments. Spock detects no readings of any battle whatsoever. That sends up an immediate "red flag". Something else is going on, something unknown... and Kirk should have turned to Anan immediately on that finding and said something like "You warned us not to come, but we were compelled by a Federation diplomatic order. We don't see any danger here, nothing detected. Is my ship in any danger at all?" Anan would then have broken it to him, and then the very next thing Kirk would have done is have the Enterprise move off to a safe distance.

 

[Phaser Two]

To me this discussion starts and ends with allowing Khan to look at the technical manuals, compounded by not putting him in the brig watched by six dudes.

 

[velour]

In "The Day of the Dove", Kirk goes into the crew lounge where Kang and his minions were being held. Kang and the other Klingons, as prisoners must have be demoralized and clueless about what was happening around them.

Yet, Kirk goes in there and blabs to Kang that the Enterprise was speeding out of control and that the bulk of the crew was trapped in the lower decks. With that info, Kirk just gave Kang hope, a fighting chance that he and his Klingons just might be able to overtake Kirk and crew.

In addition to that, Kirk literally put himself in a room where he was outnumbered and surrounded by Klingons. I think he only had a few red shirts with him. Other than that, it was all Klingons, some of them behind Kirk. How dumb was that.

 

[Spock's Barber]

In addition to that, Kirk literally put himself in a room where he was outnumbered and surrounded by Klingons. I think he only had a few red shirts with him. Other than that, it was all Klingons, some of them behind Kirk. How dumb was that.

Agreed. I posted a comment earlier where I said Kang and his buddies could have just bonked Kirk and the redshirts on their heads right there in the crewmens' lounge.

 

[johnnybear]

In "The Day of the Dove", Kirk goes into the crew lounge where Kang and his minions were being held. Kang and the other Klingons, as prisoners must have be demoralized and clueless about what was happening around them.

Yet, Kirk goes in there and blabs to Kang that the Enterprise was speeding out of control and that the bulk of the crew was trapped in the lower decks. With that info, Kirk just gave Kang hope, a fighting chance that he and his Klingons just might be able to overtake Kirk and crew.

In addition to that, Kirk literally put himself in a room where he was outnumbered and surrounded by Klingons. I think he only had a few red shirts with him. Other than that, it was all Klingons, some of them behind Kirk. How dumb was that.

Yes, I always thought it odd that Kirk would allow himself to be in the room surrounded by The Klingons and then strike Kang in the face afterwards! Did this guy have a deathwish or something? But seriously it was probably the entity that was controlling Kirk that put him in that danger to start with!
JB

 

[Timo]

...Indeed, we have every reason to think that the entity began controlling the characters even before the opening credits rolled. The "distress call" was of its own making, and I doubt it actually operated a subspace transceiver, or made the Klingons operate one. Rather, it was messing up with Kirk's (or Uhura's) mind from the get-go.

Timo Saloniemi

 

[Spock's Barber]

...Indeed, we have every reason to think that the entity began controlling the characters even before the opening credits rolled. The "distress call" was of its own making, and I doubt it actually operated a subspace transceiver, or made the Klingons operate one. Rather, it was messing up with Kirk's (or Uhura's) mind from the get-go.

Timo Saloniemi

To view this content we will need your consent to set third party cookies.
For more detailed information, see our cookies page.

Accept third party cookies

 

[Herbert]

I guess that is why so many red shirts bit the dust under Kirk's command.

The needs of the ship outweigh the needs of the Red Shirts

 

[Herbert]

To me this discussion starts and ends with allowing Khan to look at the technical manuals, compounded by not putting him in the brig watched by six dudes.

Yup. That was pretty dumb.
Actually you could back that up to reviving Khan to begin with. He could have towed the Botany Bay to a star base and let them deal with it.

 

[Herbert]

A Taste Of Armageddon they were warned to stay away. Granted he had his orders, but they didn't need to get involved.

Same thing happened with the Melkots in Spectre of the Gun
Although, it's more of a bad Star Fleet command decision than a Kirk decision. After all, he was following orders when he said "Our orders are very clear. We're to establish contact with the Melkotians at all costs." It seems odd that Star Fleet would so flagrantly disregard the wishes of the Melkots.

 

[Timo]

Actually you could back that up to reviving Khan to begin with. He could have towed the Botany Bay to a star base and let them deal with it.

Umm, no. Khan revived himself. Or at least his cryochamber started thawing itself, and McCoy's expert opinion was that this would kill the (at that point unidentified) occupant unless the heroes acted.

Timo Saloniemi

 

[Herbert]

Umm, no. Khan revived himself. Or at least his cryochamber started thawing itself, and McCoy's expert opinion was that this would kill the (at that point unidentified) occupant unless the heroes acted.

Timo Saloniemi

Which was triggered by them beaming over to that ship.
SCOTT: Beats me what's happening.
MCCOY: We've triggered something, all right. His heart beat's increasing. Now passing eight beats per minute. There are some signs of respiration beginning.
SCOTT: This one was probably programmed to be triggered first.

So yes, they had to get him out of the chamber or he would die. Still doesn't alter the fact that them beaming over there put into motion the events that would happen.

 

[Timo]

Not really. Kirk joining Starfleet put into motion those events; all the rest was just the inevitable happening.

That is, I can't see a scenario where Kirk the starship captain would not beam over to Khan's ship, and I certainly can't see any organization chiding let alone condemning him for the decision, be the organization real or fictional. It's ridiculous to expect him to just put the derelict in tow or blow it to smithereens without first examining it closely.

Timo Saloniemi

 

[Trekfan12]

To me this discussion starts and ends with allowing Khan to look at the technical manuals, compounded by not putting him in the brig watched by six dudes.

I had problems with that too, wouldn't certain files be classified and Khan should not have been able to access them?

 

[matthunter]

I wonder what the R stood for?

R-sole.

 

[matthunter]

This kind of stuff was rampant on Voyager. They had security breeches all the time. Tuvok had some 'splainin' to do.

Breaches.

Security breeches are specially designed for the elderly gentleman with built-in absorbancy.

 

[Laura Cynthia Chambers]

I had problems with that too, wouldn't certain files be classified and Khan should not have been able to access them?

Yeah, you'd think so. Protect the Prime Directive from people who can't understand what you're showing/telling them, but hand a genetically superior genius the keys to the flagship.

 

[GNDN18]

Breaches.

Security breeches are specially designed for the elderly gentleman with built-in absorbancy.

No kidding. In WOK, Admiral Kirk said that he "was caught with his breaches down."

 

[Mytran]

I had problems with that too, wouldn't certain files be classified and Khan should not have been able to access them?

Even if Khan was restricted to the basic engineering manuals (as opposed to the step by step Enterprise operator's instruction manual) I imagine his genetically engineered superior intellect would have been able to extrapolate the rest.

 

[Herbert]

Breaches.

Security breeches are specially designed for the elderly gentleman with built-in absorbancy.

I really need to proof read before hitting reply