Early Jim Kirk: Why So Serious?
To the people who said that Paul Wesley's Captain Kirk was "too serious" or that it "wasn't our Jim Kirk":
Let's have a kiki, shall we? :)
A lot of folks seem to forget who Jim used to be before meeting him in TOS.
In an interview, Paul Wesley discussed how different Jim's early character and life was from TOS Kirk. Wesley's study of Jim and his early characterisation was in fact based on TOS descriptions and relevant lore surrounding it. I was not at all phased by the Jim we saw, as early Jim is described as quite a departure from our flirty, confident TOS Jim. Wesley did his homework.
From the chat that Kirk has with Gary Mitchell in TOS (Where No Man Has Gone Before 01x03) and Bones in Shore Leave (01x15) re: Finnegan, we learned in Jim's younger years, Kirk didn't always have that swagger. In fact, Jim used to be a rather serious nerd.
Kirk in the academy was described as "a stack of books with legs", "positively grim", and "watch out for Lieutenant Kirk. In his class, you either think or sink".
He also adhered to Starfleet rules far more in his early years a la Boimler. For example, he reported an error that older officer and very good friend of his Benjamin Finney made on the USS Republic, leading to Finney's demotion and later the events of Court Martial (01x20). He reported one of his own besties to HQ and got him demoted. Quite a departure from how often Kirk violates Starfleet orders and directives for Spock on TOS. Again, he is not the same Jim. Character growth.
I think folks get so wrapped up in Spock being the thinking guy and Kirk being the action guy that they forget: You kind of have to be a brilliant genius and thinker to even get a starship command, let alone the flagship. Jim is not dumb and never was; he is exceptionally smart. Spock is just a freaking GIGA GENIUS and anyone standing next to that might look less bright in contrast. But make no mistake, Jim is also brilliant as a military man and diplomat.
Jim is often stereotyped as a swaggering meathead when he is actually an intelligent and capable diplomat even from his earliest years with Starfleet. As a cadet, he was decorated by Starfleet with the Palm Leaf for his peace mission work on Axanar (Court Martial 01x20). As a Captain, Jim helped to complete just as many successful federation member recruitments as he did take names and kick ass.
Jim loves chess. He loves his dad's old books and classic literature. He memorizes quotes from those texts and references them constantly in TOS. How many jocks do you know out here memorizing classic literature to reference even now in our time? One of Jim's most precious, prized possessions is an old text copy of "A Tale of Two Cities" he got as a gift for his birthday from Spock.
There are still those glimpses of old Jim planted throughout TOS and the movies.
As you examine him and his past, every description of him as a young man in the original series was that he was a nerd. Kirk, as a character, shows how much we change as people from high school/uni to adulthood.
The early Jim Kirk is not the Kirk we knew and loved, and he often comes as a surprise to folks accustomed to the Jim he later becomes. He grows into his own over time and finds himself, like many of us. But Wesley's portrayal seemed surprisingly apt to me, considering early descriptions of James T. Kirk's character.
TLDR: Jim Kirk was described in his early years as "serious", "positively grim", "a stack of books with legs", top of his class, and would report you to HQ for a crumb. This is not the Captain Kirk you knew who took command of the Enterprise in 2265. Jim Kirk used to be a serious, passionate Starfleet nerd.
All in all, I thought Paul Wesley's character study with all this considered was
Anyway, thanks for coming to my Ted X Talk about baby James Tiberius Kirk.
I'd love to hear from you folks, feel free to chip in, add to this or correct any errors. :) LLAP.🖖
@departmentq Thank you so much for linking the "Kirk drift" info, it is exactly what I am talking about and that write up is spectacular! Reblogging to include your addition. :) Thanks again!
Edit 2: From the tags:
"Where is the glint in his eye?"
OOF! That's good. And true.
This is such a fantastic way of putting it!
I feel like we get a hint of why that is when Jim comes aboard the Enterprise; Sam promptly makes a comment about Jim being jealous about the ship.
It's no secret: Jim wanted the Enterprise. That was his dream. And in that incarnation, he didn't get it and was assigned the Farragut instead of the flagship for his Captaincy.
And on the Farragut, he doesn't have Spock. That team that comes up with inventive ideas and creates that spark that makes the job exciting. Mentally, Spock and Jim are a good pairing that brings out the best in each other. They're a great team that challenges and elevates one another. I guess we get to see what it is like when Jim doesn't have that.
It is kind of sad when you think about it, but Sam sums it up pretty well: Jim is jealous. He wanted the Enterprise. (And he's also down his chess buddy slash partner in crime). That Jim isn't living the dream that Kirk Prime got to have and I guess it shows.
It makes a world of sense the longer I wend on it; of course he doesn't have that spark. He doesn't have the Enterprise. He doesn't have the finest crew in the fleet. And he doesn't have Spock.
Adore this break down and analysis. It has made me re-evaluate the choices they made with the alternate history Kirk in the last ep of SNW. The only hold out I still have is that his stance against war is fundamental to who he is and I would argue, probably was from an early age. At a young age he saw famine and mass executions at the hands of Kodos and said no thank you. He like a tussle of course - but a fair one on one tussle. I still feel like even in this alternate timeline having him be one of those riding to attack the romulans left a bad taste in my mouth. However, he couldn’t agree with Pike for the story to work so I also accept that that might have just needed to have been different to service the plot. But yeah all in all this has made me re-evaluate my grimer outlook of the possibilities in Kirk.
kokorocala
