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Published Sep 25, 2023

Why Sam Kirk is the Best Kirk

Don't @- me; these are the facts.

StarTrek.com

While many parts of the web debate which iteration of James T. Kirk is the best Kirk, they all fail to recognize the George Kirks of the universe.

First, there's George Kirk, first officer of the U.S.S. Kelvin , under command of Captain Robau. As noted in " Lost in Translation ," he holds the distinction of the youngest Starfleet officer to hold the first officer position. And in the Kelvin Timeline, he's no short of a hero. As Captain Pike reminds a young James, "Your father was captain of a starship for 12 minutes. He saved 800 lives, including your mother's and yours," before challenging him with, "I dare you to do better."

However, we're here to make the case for George Kirk's first son — George Samuel Kirk .

A Memorable Mustache

Operation -- Annihilate!

Sam Kirk's first and only appearance on the Original Series was in "Operation -- Annihilate!" In that appearance, Kirk discovers his brother and Sam's family perished on a Deneva colony. Portrayed by William Shatner, the only distinction between James and Sam was a magnificent mustache.

Over five decades later, Star Trek: Strange New Worlds gives us a far better glimpse of James' older brother (portrayed by Dan Jeannotte), the first Kirk to serve on the U.S.S. Enterprise , under command of Captain Christopher Pike.

Speaking to StarTrek.com earlier this summer , Henry Alonso Myers, series' co-showrunner and executive producer, revealed, "James’ brother was initially just a one-shot of him being dead with a mustache on [in The Original Series]. We never knew anything more about them except some brief things, in some of the books. We wanted to take a moment, ‘Okay, he’s got a brother. What’s their relationship? Why is their relationship like this? What’s it like to be connected to the two of them?’”

His mustache is distinguished and captivating enough that Captain Pike praises him on it.

Close Friends with Christopher Pike

"A Quality of Mercy"

In the series' premiere, Captain Pike is pulled out of his self-imposed exile to command the U.S.S. Enterprise . His crew is complete with the arrival of Lt. George Samuel Kirk, a friend he elected as part of his crew.

Pike's a man who's a good judge of character. And if Sam's the Kirk he wants aboard the Enterprise , then that's reason enough that he's the Alpha Kirk.

Makes Spock More Human

"Charades"

If there's one surefire way to get Spock in touch with his more human side, it's to place him in the room with Sam Kirk.

One source of annoyance for the Vulcan science officer is bearing witness to Sam's crumbs during a sciences briefing. But can we blame the xenoanthropologist for being more preoccupied with the mission at hand rather than his empty plate?

Sam riles him up so much that his outburst prompts the other officers to hold him back as he attempts to lunge at him while firmly threatening, "Don't test me, Kirk! I will break you."

If you're questioning if Spock could really break Sam, just remember Pike's words to Dr. M'Benga in "All Those Who Wander," Sam is "stronger than he looks."

More than His Family Name

"Lost in Translation"

Not everyone is interested in the role of command, or following down a set path.

In addition to not using his father's name and going by "Sam," a fact that his younger brother refuses to believe, Sam dived full force into the sciences. "Old-fashioned ideas" about a successful career and fulfilling life, be damned.

When Jim visits him on the Enterprise , he can't help but mention how everything in the world of xenoanthropology is "new and exciting" while they catch up over drinks.

In fact, Sam thrives the most when he's in his research lab. When Uhura and Jim investigate what could be the source of her and a Farragut 's officer's mysterious visions, the first person they needed to speak to was the elder Kirk. Deeming it a fringe theory, Sam is completely in his element while explaining the possible behaviors of other species as they attempt to communicate. So much so, he plans to write a paper on their "deuterium friends."

No Thoughts, Just K-Pop Vibes

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds - Make Your Blood Scream (Garkog's Version)

After the Enterprise 's experiences a subspace anomaly that compels everyone to break out in song, Uhura believes she's found an end to the quantum improbability field. In that moment, they've discovered three K’t’inga -class battlecruisers in the area. Hailing the Klingons, they learn that the anomaly's musical effects have reached others outside of just their starship when the Klingons issue a pop-infused threat.

While others on the bridge are perplexed by the scenario, Sam Kirk is vibing, taking in and enjoying the Klingon pop performance. He's clearly a man of exquisite musical tastes.

Studying the Gorn with a Phaser

"Hegemony"

After one tragic run-in with the Gorn , it'd be understood if you never want to face the aggressive species again. However, that's not the case for the xenoanthropologist.

In " Hegemony ," Sam volunteers for a covert mission on Parnassus Beta following a Gorn attack. As the science officer states, he's ready to tackle his fears by “studying” the Gorn — with a phaser.

Unfortunately, Pike's landing party as well as hundreds of survivors on Parnassus Beta were taken and beamed aboard a Gorn destroyer.

Responsible for One of Star Trek 's Most Poignant Friendships

Fans eager to discover James T. Kirk and Spock's first meeting got their wish this summer in "Lost in Translation." What was the common ground that sparked one of the greatest friendships in the galaxy? Their mutual frustration with Sam, of course!

In the Enterprise 's mess, as James tries to explain Sam's outburst to an amused Uhura, Spock finishes the future captain's thought by simply stating that he's "frustrating." It's this mutual understanding that prompts James to invite Spock to join them at their table.

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Christine Dinh (she/her) is the managing editor for StarTrek.com. She’s traded the Multiverse for helming this Federation Starship.

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds streams exclusively on Paramount+ in the U.S., U.K., Australia, Latin America, Brazil, South Korea, France, Italy, Germany, Switzerland and Austria. In addition, the series airs on Bell Media’s CTV Sci-Fi Channel and streams on Crave in Canada and on SkyShowtime in the Nordics, the Netherlands, Spain, Portugal and Central and Eastern Europe. Star Trek: Strange New Worlds is distributed by Paramount Global Content Distribution.

Operation -- Annihilate! (episode)

• View history
• 1.2 Act One
• 1.3 Act Two
• 1.4 Act Three
• 1.5 Act Four
• 2 Log entries
• 3 Memorable quotes
• 4.1 Production timeline
• 4.2 Story and script
• 4.3 Effects
• 4.4 Sets, locations, and props
• 4.5 Costumes
• 4.6 Performers
• 4.7 Continuity
• 4.8 Video and DVD releases
• 5.1 Starring
• 5.2 Also starring
• 5.3 Co-star
• 5.4 Featuring
• 5.6 Uncredited co-stars
• 5.7 Stunt doubles and stand-in
• 5.8 References
• 5.9 External links

Summary [ ]

Flying parasites infest Deneva

The USS Enterprise approaches Deneva . Captain Kirk is concerned; Uhura has been unable to contact any transmitter on the planet , including a private transmitter code, GSK 783 , that Kirk suggests. Spock 's research has revealed that a pattern of mass insanity has been spreading in a straight line through this part of the galaxy , starting with Levinius V , then Theta Cygni XII , Ingraham B , and now Deneva is next, a planet on which Kirk's brother Sam is stationed with his family.

Lieutenant Sulu picks up a ship on sensors . The small craft of Denevan configuration is on course directly for the Denevan sun , and does not appear to be out of control. Kirk orders Sulu engage the Enterprise at warp 8 interception course. The Denevan vessel is out of range of the tractor beam ; the Enterprise pursues. Finally, they make contact: seconds before the ship burns up, the pilot cries out, " I did it! It's finally gone! I'm free! " After the vessel's destruction, Doctor McCoy walks up to Kirk and softly asks, " Jim, your brother Sam and his family – aren't they stationed on this planet? "

Act One [ ]

Spock and Montgomery Scott inform Kirk about Deneva's history and the fact that there has not been contact in a year. Uhura reports activity on the private transmitter channel, a woman speaking but does not respond to Kirk. Contact is abruptly cut; Kirk demands that Uhura get the channel open again, but she reports that it was shut off on the other end: the only thing she can do is keep hailing and hope they choose to answer back. Kirk identifies the woman as likely being his brother's wife Aurelan Kirk , to McCoy.

Once the Enterprise arrives at Deneva, Kirk forms a landing party consisting of him, Spock, McCoy, Scott, Yeoman Zahra , and Bobby . Spock says there are the expected number of Human life signs, but "strangely quiet." They beam directly into the capital city on Deneva. Once on the planet, they are struck by the curious lack of people; in a city of 100,000, no one is visible – until, a few minutes later, they are about to be attacked by four men who, even as they charge, scream " Go away! We don't want to hurt you! " But, with their clubs , they start to try anyway, forcing the landing party to stun them with their phasers , an attitude inconsistent with their actions. Then McCoy discovers with his medical tricorder that the nervous systems of the unconscious men are violently active – as if they are somehow still being stimulated.

A loud scream draws them next to the lab of Kirk's brother, Sam. They find Sam dead on the floor. Aurelan is hysterical, and their young son Peter is unconscious nearby. Kirk holds Aurelan close while McCoy sedates her. McCoy and Spock both give their condolences to Kirk. Evidence suggests something has been trying to force its way in through a ventilation shaft, despite the fact that the sensors showed nothing on Deneva that didn't belong there. McCoy recommends that Kirk returns to the ship with his relatives and the doctor so he can be present when Aurelan wakes. Spock is left in charge of the landing party.

In sickbay aboard the Enterprise , McCoy is waiting on lab results to identify the cause. In the meantime, the Kirks have been heavily sedated for the extreme pain they're experiencing, but Aurelan is surprisingly resistant to the tranquilizer and is still awake. Holding her hand, Kirk informs her that Sam is dead, but Peter is still alive. In terrible pain, she tells Kirk that " things " came, eight months prior, on a ship from Ingraham B as its crew had been forced to travel to Deneva. As she tries to answer Kirk's questions, she experiences more and more pain, until McCoy is forced to sedate her, which only blunts the pain. The creatures use the Denevans as their arms and legs, and are forcing them to build ships. They control their hosts with pain. Aurelan's last act is to implore Kirk not to let the things go any further; this effort costs her everything she has left, and with a pained scream she dies.

Kirk rejoins the landing party; he knows there is some sort of creature present, but the landing party has not yet discovered anything beyond a curious buzzing. Kirk orders their phasers to be set to force 3, on the kill setting as the creatures responsible have already shown a willingness to kill. Entering a building where they heard this sound, the landing party discovers strange creatures clinging to walls and the underside of an opening. Looking like little more than loathsome blobs of jelly, they emit an unwholesome buzzing, and employ a crude, wingless flight. Each armed party member fires at the creatures, but force 3 – sufficient to destroy most organisms – barely affects them, even after several seconds of exposure; one simply falls to the ground. And the creatures do not even register on Spock's tricorder .

" Spock, are you all right?! "

Thinking it may be a trap, Kirk orders the landing party out of the infested area; as they leave, the creature on the ground flies up and strikes Spock in the back, leaving a strange puncture wound. Kirk rips it off of Spock's back and asks the Vulcan if he is all right. Spock looks upward in pain.

Act Two [ ]

In sickbay, McCoy removes a small strand of tissue from Spock's back, and then, over Nurse Chapel 's objections, he closes the wound. The creatures attack by stinging; they leave behind a piece of this tissue that rapidly infiltrates the victim's entire nervous system, far too completely for conventional surgery to remove. McCoy explains this to Kirk on the bridge while showing him the piece of tissue and an identical piece removed from Aurelan's body in a container. He admits that he, the lab and the science department are all stumped on what to do next.

Spock recovers consciousness, rages past Chapel out of sickbay and storms the bridge . His goal: to take the ship out of orbit , throwing aside Sulu from the helm. Forewarned by Chapel, Sulu, Kirk, and two other officers grapple with Spock but his Vulcan strength proves troublesome and he nearly takes out Kirk with the Vulcan nerve pinch . With difficulty he is ultimately wrestled to the deck; Chapel arrives on the bridge with tranquilizer and McCoy sedates Spock as he's being held down. Kirk orders that he be returned to sickbay and security restraints employed, where McCoy makes another grim discovery. The K3 indicator , a measure of pain, is very, very high. The reason for the madness is confirmed: victims are in such agony that their minds eventually break under the stress. Spock, recovering consciousness, apologizes for his loss of control and now claims the ability to control the pain, noting that for Vulcans, "pain is a thing of the mind: the mind can be controlled". Referring to the creatures as the creature, only of thousands of parts, wants control of the ship which Spock is resisting. But after his visit to the bridge, and McCoy unsure if he could maintain control as time wears on, Kirk isn't sure and for the time being, has him continued to be confined to sickbay under observation. Kirk is intent on a cure for his nephew, but McCoy reminds him that the rest of the colonists deserve just as much consideration.

After they both leave, Spock, conquering the pain, breaks out of sickbay and getting back in uniform, plans to visit the planet's surface with a specimen case. Scotty, acting on Kirk's orders, refuses to transport him. A scuffle breaks out, including Spock nerve pinching Leslie . Scott holds Spock by threatening to stun him with a phaser and calls for Kirk to come down. Later, when Kirk appears, Spock explains that his plan is to retrieve a creature for study. He believes that since his nervous system is already infiltrated, there is little more the creatures can do to him. Kirk is convinced, and over McCoy's objections, Spock beams down to collect a creature for study, armed with Scotty's phaser.

Act Three [ ]

Spock is attacked by a colonist on Deneva almost immediately after being beamed down. The man knocks Spock's phaser out of his hand with his club. Spock is able to incapacitate the crazed man with a nerve pinch and, upon regaining his phaser, begins to struggle against fresh pain from the parasite, having failed to stop Spock through the colonist. Spock knocks down a creature with his phaser fire, returns to the ship and begins to study it. Immediately, in one of the Enterprise 's science labs , he realizes that the creature resembles, more than anything, an enormous brain cell . Kirk catches on immediately: these creatures are not separate animals, they are all parts of a single entity , connected together in some mysterious fashion. This is how it resists phaser fire: each part draws strength from the whole . Remembering how the colonist that flew into the sun cried out that he was 'free', Kirk feels that this is an angle they can work with. He orders an analysis of everything from the medical and life science departments in an hour.

McCoy's multiple efforts to find some method to kill the creatures fail. Not heat, not radiation – nothing can kill it. Kirk knows that if they cannot find a way to kill these creatures, he will be forced to destroy Deneva to prevent their spread. A million people will die if nothing can be done. Kirk cannot let the creatures spread and has absolutely no wish to kill the Denevans, including his nephew. He demands a third alternative.

Act Four [ ]

Spock and McCoy report to Kirk's quarters, having not gotten any breakthroughs. Knowing the kind of pain Peter will experience if he wakes up, and admitting he's not sure how much longer he can hold out against the pain, Spock requests beaming down to Deneva and taking Peter with him before the planet is destroyed, but Kirk flatly denies permission. Kirk posits that the key must lie in exploring the properties of the sun. The Denevan the Enterprise contacted earlier was free of the creature moments before he died; something in the sun killed it. As Spock lists off the physical properties of a sun, Kirk considers that if not radiation, nor heat – could it be light? After turning a computer, with its flashing light, in his quarters on and off, Kirk thinks that it may be the answer. McCoy protests that light isn't lethal, but Kirk points outs it's just not to Humans; the creatures hide indoors and in shadows on Deneva. What if it's because they're sensitive to light, and strong amounts of light are lethal to them? Spock agrees it's a possibility. McCoy points out that they can't bring the planet to the sun, but Spock agrees with Kirk that they can bring the equivalent to Deneva, through a string of satellites around the planet, burning tri-magnesite and trevium .

" I am free of it and the pain. And I am also… quite blind. An equitable trade, Doctor. Thank you. "

McCoy rigs a test cubicle in the biolab , and Chapel puts the sample creature inside. Spock has calculated that at the distance that the Denevan declared himself free, the sun's brightness would be measured at 1,000,000 candles per square inch , and with the satellite network set to that intensity, anything within a closed, darkened area will be affected. With everyone putting on safety goggles , they expose the creature for several seconds and confirm the theory: high-intensity light is fatal to the creatures. As it's necessary to see what will happen to tissue that has infiltrated a victim, Spock volunteers to enter the cubicle – McCoy, who would prefer his guinea pig be someone other than the man he regards as Starfleet's best first officer, attempts to dissuade him, but Spock insists. He also refuses goggles, as none of the colonists will have any (and it would likely be time prohibitive to outfit a million people anyway), despite knowing that the intensity will damage his optic nerves . This test does, in fact, succeed: the blinding light completely frees Spock of the creature and the pain – but at the cost of his eyesight. Spock, exiting the cubicle, assures McCoy that it was an equitable trade – the closest he comes to revealing how much pain he has been experiencing. Only then is the true tragedy revealed: the lab test results on the dead creature delivered by Chapel indicate that the creatures are vulnerable only to a specific subset of the light spectrum: ultraviolet radiation . McCoy is chagrined to realize that Spock need not have been blinded at all, but Spock reminds him that it was also his choice; what's done is done.

Nevertheless, the answer is at hand. Kirk orders satellite control to deploy a formation of 210 ultraviolet satellites at 72 miles altitude, in a permanent orbit. The satellites are turned on; the creatures begin to fail, to fall, to smoke and to die. Ground stations on Deneva quickly make contact; the creatures are dying everywhere. Kirk passes the good news down to sickbay and for McCoy to pass it on to Spock; he reminds McCoy that Spock's blindness wasn't his fault, but McCoy doesn't respond.

A little while later as Kirk has Zahra begin recording a mission update for Starfleet Command , she notices Spock returning to the bridge – he can once again see. An inner eyelid , a hereditary trait of Vulcans developed as a protection against the brightness of Vulcan 's sun , closed to shield his eyes on instinct. Spock explain it is normally ignored, much as a Human would ignore their own appendix . Kirk ponders that regaining one's sight would be an emotional experience for most, and assumes that Spock, as usual, had none, but Spock corrects him: he had a very strong reaction as the first thing he saw was McCoy's face as the doctor was bending over him. McCoy replies that it's a pity that Spock's brief blindness didn't increase his appreciation for beauty. Interrupting the two, Kirk has Spock lay in a course for Starbase 10 . Relieved beyond words, McCoy asks Kirk not to mention his previous "best first officer" statement – at which point Spock turns around from his science station and thanks the doctor for his compliment, and Kirk jokes that all the concern over Spock's eyes had led McCoy to forget about his Vulcan ears. Kirk has Sulu take the Enterprise to warp factor 1 and the ship leaves Deneva.

Log entries [ ]

• Captain's log, USS Enterprise (NCC-1701), 2267

Memorable quotes [ ]

" Pain is a thing of the mind. The mind can be controlled. "

" Freeze right there, Mr. Spock. Or I'll put you to sleep for sure. "

" Jim, that man is sick! And don't give me any damnable logic about him being the only man for the job. " "I don't have to, Bones. We both know he is. "

" I cannot let it spread beyond this colony even if it means destroying a million people down there. "

" I am free of it and the pain. And I'm also quite blind. An equitable trade, Doctor. Thank you. "

" My first sight was the face of Dr. McCoy bending over me. " " 'Tis a pity your brief blindness did not increase your appreciation for beauty, Mister Spock. "

" You've been so concerned about his Vulcan eyes, Doctor, you forgot about his Vulcan ears. "

Background information [ ]

Production timeline [ ].

• Story outline "Operation: Destroy!" by Steven W. Carabatsos : 15 December 1966
• First draft teleplay by Carabatsos: early- January 1967
• Second draft teleplay "Operation -- Annihilate!": 19 January 1967
• Final draft teleplay by D.C. Fontana : 24 January 1967
• Revised final draft teleplay by Gene L. Coon : 3 February 1967
• Second revised final draft teleplay by Gene Roddenberry : 13 February 1967
• Additional revisions by Coon: 14 February 1967 , 15 February 1967 , 22 February 1967
• Filmed: 14 February 1967 – 22 February 1967
• Day 1 – 14 February 1967 , Tuesday (Half Day) – Desilu Stage 9 : Int. Transporter room , Briefing room
• Day 2 – 15 February 1967 , Wednesday – TRW Space and Defense Park : Ext. Deneva colony
• Day 3 – 16 February 1967 , Thursday – Desilu Stage 9 : Int. Briefing room , Kirk's quarters , Bridge
• Day 4 – 17 February 1967 , Friday – Desilu Stage 9 : Int. Bridge
• Day 5 – 20 February 1967 , Monday – Desilu Stage 9 : Int. McCoy's office , Sickbay
• Day 6 – 21 February 1967 , Tuesday – Desilu Stage 9 : Int. Sickbay
• Day 7 – 22 February 1967 , Wednesday (half day) – Desilu Stage 9 : Int. Science laboratory
• Original airdate: 13 April 1967
• First UK airdate (on BBC1 ): 9 December 1970
• First UK airdate (on ITV ): 21 March 1982
• Remastered airdate: 23 February 2008

Story and script [ ]

• This is the only episode title of the Original Series that includes an exclamation point and, along with VOY : " Bride of Chaotica! ", is one of only two episodes in the entire Star Trek franchise to incorporate that particular punctuation mark. It is also the only episode of the Original Series to incorporate a dash in the title.
• In addition, it is one of only three Original Series episodes in which the word "damn" is used, with McCoy cursing the "damnable logic" behind the experiments designed to destroy the creatures. The only other uses of the word "damn" occur in " Journey to Babel ", wherein Kirk admits he can't "damn" Spock for his loyalty by taking command of the Enterprise at the cost of Sarek 's life, and in " Court Martial " where Kirk makes a log entry stating that the evidence against him is "damning."

Deleted scene with Peter Kirk in captain's chair

• A filmed scene cut from this episode featured dialogue between Kirk and his nephew Peter. The dialogue concerned Peter's returning to Deneva to live with Sam Kirk's partner. [1]
• Steven W. Carabatsos had an obligation in his contract, that he must deliver at least one script of his own while serving as story editor. Carabatsos left the series in late- 1966 , but still had to fulfill this task before departing. Having no idea of his own, Gene Roddenberry suggested him one, entitled Operation: Destroy! , which was the basis for this episode. ( These Are the Voyages: TOS Season One )
• The script, as originally conceived, did not envision the parasites being killed with light. Instead, the Enterprise leaves Deneva and destroys their home planet. By effectively annihilating the central "brain" that controls their operations, the ship renders the creatures harmless. Working from an early draft of the script, James Blish writes up this version in his adaptation of the episode in his volume Star Trek 2 .
• The first draft script, entitled "Operation: Destroy", did not feature Kirk's brother and his family. In that version, a Denevan woman named Aurelan was in love with a young man named Kartan, who flew his ship into the Sun to destroy the creatures. Aurelan and her father were not infected, and helped the Enterprise crew in their research. ( The Star Trek Compendium , p. 65)

Effects [ ]

• Deneva, as seen from space, was created by the Westheimer Company , only appearing in this color scheme for this episode. This planet was frequently reused in the second and third seasons, as Capella IV in " Friday's Child ", Pollux IV in " Who Mourns for Adonais? ", 892-IV in " Bread and Circuses ", Neural in " A Private Little War ", Triskelion in " The Gamesters of Triskelion ", an unnamed planet in " By Any Other Name ", Ekos in " Patterns of Force ", an unnamed planet in " The Ultimate Computer ", Elas in " Elaan of Troyius ", Amerind in " The Paradise Syndrome ", Triacus in " And the Children Shall Lead ", two unnamed planets in " Is There in Truth No Beauty? ", an unnamed planet in " Day of the Dove ", the Kalandan outpost in " That Which Survives ", Ariannus in " Let That Be Your Last Battlefield ", Elba II in " Whom Gods Destroy ", Eden in " The Way to Eden ", Sarpeidon in " All Our Yesterdays " and Camus II in " Turnabout Intruder ". Also, two color-enhanced versions of this planet appear in the series: a reddish one (also in the second/third season opening credits and as planet Vulcan ) and a purple one ( Halkan planet, Omega IV , etc.).
• The fly-by of the Enterprise that opens this episode was only seen one other time. It was re-used in " The Tholian Web " as the ship is thrown clear of the Tholian force field .

Sets, locations, and props [ ]

• The Deneva outdoor scenes were shot at the headquarters of TRW Space and Defense Park in Redondo Beach, California (currently the Northrop Grumman Space Technology headquarters). See here for the location in Google Earth. The establishing shot of Kirk's brother's lab was a building on the campus of UCLA, and the entrance of the building was the cafeteria at TRW. ( Star Trek Encyclopedia  (2nd ed., p. 112)) The scenes at TRW were filmed 15 February 1967 . [2]
• This is the first time McCoy's lab is seen. Inside the lab, the prop used previously as Balok 's lamp device in " The Corbomite Maneuver " can be seen sitting on a shelf. Different components of sickbay were added over the first season, such as the decompression chamber seen in " Space Seed ". McCoy's lab contains one of the life support canisters used on the Botany Bay .
• The chairs that were seen in Chief Vanderberg's office in "The Devil in the Dark" were recycled for Sam Kirk's office, albeit painted pink.
• The oversized plexiglas tongs that Spock uses to pick up the Denevan parasite would again be used to recover the phasered sample of tritanium in the teaser of " Obsession ".
• The starmap showing the progression of the space madness also shows up on station viewscreens in future episodes.
• Wah Chang designed and constructed the parasite creatures. In the Star Fleet Medical Reference Manual , it was called a "blastoneuron."
• The clubs used by the Denevans during their attack on the landing party appear to be thick Lucite rods. ( citation needed • edit ) Curiously, the gray, grooved clubs used by Spock during his fight with Kirk in " This Side of Paradise " and some of the miners on Janus VI in " The Devil in the Dark " were not recycled for this use.
• The white trombone mutes usually seen in the glass case of Enterprise 's Sickbay are seen in the back room of Sam Kirk's lab. They are later seen in McCoy's lab.

Costumes [ ]

• Unique to this episode, Uhura wears a black belt on the bridge, having worn one while on the landing party in the previous episode produced, " The City on the Edge of Forever ". In " The Gamesters of Triskelion ", she dons it when she joins the landing party and wears a communicator and phaser.
• Although the ubiquitous jumpsuit-type outfits worn by the four Denevans who attack the landing party crop up in a variety of colors, this is one of the few in which a green one appears. There is also a red variety, apparently the only one ever seen in The Original Series .

Performers [ ]

• The body of Sam Kirk was played by William Shatner , wearing a false mustache and a different hairstyle.
• Stock footage of Leslie's hands from " The Alternative Factor " is used to represent the personnel in the satellite control room. This shot was removed from the remastered version of the episode.
• William Blackburn , an extra on the show from " The Corbomite Maneuver " through the end of season three, can be seen in the background in at least three different uniforms in this episode.
• This was the final regular appearance of the unknown actor who played Bobby , or in the case of this episode's script notes, "Abrams". He made one further appearance, via recycled footage, in the following season's finale " Assignment: Earth ".
• There is a blooper from this episode in the first season blooper reel. The parasite creature that was supposed to hit Leonard Nimoy's back is seen hitting his backside instead, making Nimoy break up with laughter. Also appearing is a sequence showing the landing party with their phasers being used in tandem as electric shavers.

Continuity [ ]

• McCoy speaks about "getting the plates back" on Kirk's nephew to help with his medical treatment. This line references X-ray plates which were common in the 1960s but, in the 2260s, would have been extremely archaic and impractical compared to other medical advances of the time (such as DNA examination).
• The Vulcan inner eyelid is mentioned again in ENT : " The Forge ". In the Star Trek novel Spock's World , the inner eyelid was developed in one tribe of Vulcans who eventually took control over most of the planet.

Video and DVD releases [ ]

• Original US Betamax release: 1985
• UK VHS release (two-episode tapes, CIC Video ): Volume 16 , catalog number VHR 2328, release date unknown
• US VHS release: 15 April 1994
• UK re-release (three-episode tapes, CIC Video): Volume 1.10, 13 January 1997
• Original US DVD release (single-disc): Volume 15, 19 September 2000
• As part of the TOS Season 1 DVD collection
• As part of the TOS Season 1 HD DVD collection
• As part of the TOS Season 1 Blu-ray collection

Links and references [ ]

Starring [ ].

• William Shatner as James T. Kirk / Sam Kirk

Also starring [ ]

• Leonard Nimoy as "Mr. Spock "

Co-star [ ]

• DeForest Kelley as "Dr. McCoy "

Featuring [ ]

• James Doohan as " Scott "
• Joan Swift as " Aurelan "
• Maurishka as "Yeoman Zahra "
• Majel Barrett as " Christine Chapel "
• George Takei as " Sulu "
• Nichelle Nichols as " Uhura "
• Craig Hundley as " Peter "
• Fred Carson as " First Denevan "
• Jerry Catron as " Second Denevan "

Uncredited co-stars [ ]

• David Armstrong as Kartan
• William Blackburn as Hadley
• Robert Bralver as Denevan colonist
• Carey Foster as a Enterprise sciences crew woman
• Jeannie Malone as a Enterprise yeoman
• Eddie Paskey as Leslie
• Ron Veto as Harrison
• Bobby (scripted as " Abrams ")
• Third Denevan
• Denevan pilot (voice)
• Enterprise command lieutenant
• Enterprise lieutenant
• Enterprise operations crew woman 1
• Enterprise operations crew woman 2

Stunt doubles and stand-in [ ]

• Bill Catching as stunt double for Leonard Nimoy
• Gary Combs as stunt double for William Shatner
• Eddie Paskey as photo double for William Shatner

References [ ]

2067 ; 22nd century ; 2265 ; 2266 ; 40 Eridani A ; advisor ; affection ; alternative ; altitude ; amount ; answer ; appendix ; archaeologist ; area ; arm ; asteroid belt ; attitude ; audio ; autonomic system ; beauty ; bee ; Beta Portolan ; Beta Portolan system ; bio-bed ; biolab ; billion ; blindness ; Blood Q⁵ ; Blood T² ; body ; " Bones "; brain cell ; building ; call sign ; candlepower ; cargo ; capital city ; cell ; chance ; choice ; civilization ; club ; computer ; consciousness ; contact ; contact signal ; coordinates ; course ; creature ; curiosity ; deck ; degree ; delirium ; Deneva ; Deneva system ; Deneva capital city ; Deneva colony ; Deneva system's asteroid belt ; Denevan ; Denevan ship ; Denevan sun ; dog ; dozen ; ear ; electromagnetic spectrum ; energy ; engineering advisor ; engineering control ; environmental control ; eye ; eyesight ; face ; fact ; family ; Federation ; flying parasite ; force 3 ; freighting-line base ; goggles ; gravimetric pull ; gravity ; ground station ; GSK 783 ; heat ; hereditary trait ; hour ; host ; hull ; hull temperature ; Human ; idea ; inch ; information ; Ingraham B ; Ingraham B vessel ; inhabitant ; inner eyelid ; interception course ; K3 indicator ; laboratory ; landing party ; Large Magellanic Cloud ; leg ; Levinius V ; life sciences department ; light ; living matter (aka living tissue , tissue); logic ; mask ; mass ; mass insanity ; matter ; medical department ; mile ; Milky Way Galaxy ; million ; mind ; miner ; month ; nervous system ; nurse ; " on the hot seat "; opportunity ; optical nerve (aka optic nerve ); pain ; patient ; pattern ; permission ; phaser ; phaser power ; phaser weapon ; physical law ; physical property ; place ; plate ; planet development ; plot ; population ; power ; private transmitter ; progress ; puncture ; quality ; question ; radiation ; research biologist ; result ; risk ; satellite control ; science department ; science lab ; section ; security alert ; security restraint ; sedative ; seeding orbit ; sensor ; shadow ; ship's surgeon ; single-celled organism ; sleep ; sound ; specimen ; speculation ; spinal cord ; " stand by "; Starbase 10 ; Starfleet Academy ; straight line ; stinger ; street ; subspace frequency three ; subspace transmitter ; sub-warp speed ; surface ; surgery ; survivor ; temperature ; tentacle ; test cubicle ; theory ; Theta Cygni XII ; thing ; thousand ; tolerance level ; tractor beam ; tranquilizer ; transcript ; transmitting station ; trap ; trevium ; tricorder ; tri-magnesite ; ultraviolet light ; ultraviolet satellite ( satellite ); ventilator ; victim ; Vulcan ; Vulcan (planet) ; Vulcan nerve pinch ; wasp ; white

External links [ ]

• "Operation -- Annihilate!" at StarTrek.com
• " Operation -- Annihilate! " at Memory Beta , the wiki for licensed Star Trek works
• " Operation: Annihilate! " at Wikipedia
• " Operation -- Annihilate! " at MissionLogPodcast.com , a Roddenberry Star Trek podcast
• "Operation -- Annihilate!" original and remastered screencaps at TrekCore
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Klingons & Breen In Star Trek: Discovery Season 5?

Breaking – star trek: infinite ends development, multiple star trek movies in development, first look at star trek: section 31, star trek: prodigy season 2 has officially premiered, review – star trek: discovery season 5 episode one & two, review – star trek: defiant #13, review – star trek #18, new series – sons of star trek, review: star trek: picard ‘firewall’, religion in star trek.

STRANGE NEW WORLDS – Who is Samuel Kirk?

If there was one thing about Star Trek: Strange New Worlds premiere episode that left us a little shook, it was THAT reveal. And by THAT I mean the arrival of Dan Jeannotte’s ‘George Samuel Kirk’. The series has secretly added the set-to-be recurring character to the crew. Samuel Kirk revealed himself after a surprising ‘bait and switch’ style build-up. Fans will of course have known that James T isn’t the only Kirk, but who is Samuel Kirk?

An unexpected surprise…

The latest Star Trek series kicked off this week with its self-titled first episode ‘Strange New Worlds’. Lt. Samuel Kirk joins the Enterprise crew in the final moments, much to the shock of the audience. I’m sure the first question on many long-time fans’ minds was, does this conflict with canon? And what does it mean for Captain Pike’s crew going forward?

We already know that Strange New Worlds would be giving us Sam’s younger brother James T. Kirk for the second season. Actor Paul Wesley was announced for the role a few months ago after he was spotted filming in Toronto.

The secret of Sam Kirk almost made it to the premier completely unspoiled. That was until an interview with Akiva Goldsman went public the day before the premiere. Regardless, there were many more fans oblivious to the news. And it was quite the reveal, spoiled or not.

Who Is Samuel Kirk?

There’s not a huge amount laid down in on-screen canon for this Kirk brother. George Samuel Kirk only briefly appeared in Star Trek: The Original Series (as a corpse). As well as JJ Abram’s first big-screen Trek outing in 2009.

Samuel Kirk is the older brother of Jim Kirk, according to lore. And it was only Jim who called his brother Sam. However, in Strange New Worlds Pike also uses Sam, implying the pair are very familiar with each other. Pike seems to be an old, family friend and specifically requested this Lt. Kirk for the mission.

Additionally like his Captain, Samuel’s future holds a cruel fate. However, how is he going to work on-screen in Star Trek: Strange New Worlds.

Samuel Kirk’s Star Trek History

When Jim Kirk undertook a new five-year mission, commanding the USS Enterprise, George Samuel Kirk saw him off. It is noted that his wife Aurelan, and their three sons, were also present. Sam would then mention that he wished to be transferred to the Earth Colony II Research Station.

Sam Kirk is a Starfleet Scientist, specifically a research biologist. For Strange New Worlds Sam where’s the blue of the science department, fitting with established lore. How does this affect Spock’s position as a science officer onboard the USS Enterprise under Pike? As Pike says, ‘he’s your boss’.

However, as for Sam’s unfortunate ending? The Original Series episode “Operation — Annihilate! ” sees the death of Sam Kirk and his wife. Flying parasites attack Kirk and his fellow colonists in the colony on Deneva. While his wife, Aurelan Kirk managed to signal for help, Sam would perish. When the USS Enterprise eventually arrived at the colony, Sam Kirk is long dead. As are two of his child, with his wife Aurelan dying shortly thereafter. Only one nephew survived, Peter Kirk.

Behind The Scenes

George Samuel Kirk and his moustache are brought to life by actor Dan Jeannotte, best known for his role in The CW’s Reign and Hallmark’s Good Witch . The actor has done an impressive task of keeping his Strange New Worlds role top secret. Additionally, with the exclusion of Akiva Goldsman’s interview, there wasn’t so much as a hint this character would be included absolutely anywhere.

He’s not the Kirk you wanted — but maybe, if you give him a chance… he could be the Kirk you NEED. #samkirk #startrekstrangenewworlds @startrekonpplus #ohman https://t.co/oOxpUqmPg7 pic.twitter.com/YZuJTgFs4F — Dan Jeannotte (@dan_jeannotte) May 5, 2022

Co-showrunner Henry Alonso Myers recently spoke to Inverse about the character, and how he fits into Strange New Worlds .

“He is very much not his brother,” Myers says. “And that is important. He’s a different person. He comes from a different place. He and Jim Kirk have a complex relationship, that we will eventually learn more about. But, the intention wasn’t to come in and give us little ‘Kirk-lite’ flavor. Sam Kirk is his own man.” Henry Alonso Myers – via Inverse

Alonso’s comments definitely point to Sam Kirk’s inclusion as having a bigger part to play than initially suspected. If you watch the trailers for Star Trek: Strange New Worlds , you should be able to spot him in what we know is several episodes. He is present in what looks to be the away mission for Episode 2 ‘Children of the Comet’. Additionally, I’m almost certain we can hear Sam’s voice in the teaser for the “Ice World” scenes. According to some spoiler-laden reviews, this episode will see some form of action with the Gorn.

He wasn’t the Kirk we were expecting, however, he’s the Kirk we’ve got! For now, anyway, Jim Kirk will make his appearance in season 2. Samuel is now clearly firmly a part of Captain Pike’s crew on the Enterprise. This Kirk may well turn out to be a very interesting addition to the crew, but who Is Samuel Kirk? I guess we have plenty of time to find out in the season ahead!

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds  airs on Thursday, May 5 via Paramount+ in the USA, Australia, Latin America, and the Nordics. Additionally on the CTV Sci-Fi Channel and Crave Streaming in Canada. Plus Voot Select in India, TVNZ in New Zealand, and Cosmote TV in Greece. Additionally, the streaming service will also land in the UK & Ireland on June 22nd, 2022.

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Star Trek (1966–1969)

William shatner: captain james tiberius 'jim' kirk, samuel 'sam' kirk, sargon.

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[Opening narration] 

Capt. Kirk : Space, the final frontier. These are the voyages of the starship Enterprise. Its 5-year mission: to explore strange new worlds, to seek out new life and new civilizations, to boldly go where no man has gone before.

Capt. Kirk : All right, you mutinous, disloyal, computerized half-breed. We'll see about you deserting my ship.

Spock : The term "half-breed" is somewhat applicable, but "computerized" is inaccurate. A machine can be computerized, not a man.

Capt. Kirk : What makes you think you're a man? You're an overgrown jackrabbit. An elf with a hyperactive thyroid.

Spock : Jim, I don't understand...

Capt. Kirk : Of course you don't understand. You don't have the brains to understand. All you have is printed circuits.

Spock : Captain, if you will excuse me.

[Tries to activate the transporter] 

Capt. Kirk : [blocks Spock's way and interupts]  What can you expect from a simpering, devil-eared freak whose father was a computer and his mother an encyclopedia.

Spock : My mother was a teacher. My father an ambassador.

Capt. Kirk : Your father was a computer, like his son. An ambassador from a planet of traitors. The Vulcan never lived who had an ounce of integrity...

Spock : Captain, please don't...

Capt. Kirk : You're a traitor from a race of traitors. Disloyal to the core. Rotten! Like the rest of your subhuman race. And you've got the GALL... to make love to that girl!

Spock : That's enough.

Capt. Kirk : Does she know what she's getting, Spock? A carcass full of memory banks who should be squatting on a mushroom? Instead of passing himself off as a man? You belong in the circus, Spock, not a starship. Right next to the dog face boy!

[Spock begins beating the stew out of Kirk - he picks up a stool, ready to hit Kirk, then stops - the spore's influence is gone] 

Capt. Kirk : Had enough? I never realized what it took to get under that thick hide of yours. Anyhow, I don't know what you're so mad about. It isn't every first officer who gets to belt his captain... several times.

Spock : You did that to me deliberately.

Capt. Kirk : Believe me, Mr. Spock. It was painful. In more ways than one.

[Grabs his hurting arm] 

Spock : The spores. They're gone. I don't belong anymore.

Capt. Kirk : You said they were benevolent and peaceful. Violent emotions overwhelm them, destroy them. I had to make you angry enough to shake off their influence. That's the answer, Mr. Spock.

Spock : That may be correct, Captain, but trying to initiate a brawl with over 500 crewmen and colonists is hardly logical.

Capt. Kirk : I had something else in mind. Can you put together a subsonic transmitter? Something we can hook into the communication station and broadcast over the communicators?

Spock : It can be done.

Capt. Kirk : Good. Let's get to work.

Spock : Captain! Striking a fellow officer is a court-martial offense.

Capt. Kirk : Well, if we're both in the brig, who's gonna build the subsonic transmitter?

Spock : That is quite logical, Captain.

Capt. Kirk : You'd make a splendid computer, Mr Spock. Spock

Spock : [taken aback]  That is very kind of you, Captain!

[repeated line] 

James T. Kirk : Beam me up, Scotty. - This line was never actually spoken in the television series.

James T. Kirk : There seems to be no sign of intelligent life anywhere...

Capt. Kirk : There's no such thing as the unknown- only things temporarily hidden, temporarily not understood.

Uhura : Bridge to Captain Kirk!

Capt. Kirk : Kirk, here.

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Star Trek: Strange New Worlds – Who Is Sam Kirk?

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds has reintroduced many characters, including one of Star Trek's most obscure tragedies.

The Star Trek franchise has reintroduced a legion of fan favorite characters over the past few years, in movie reboots, prequel series and parallel timeline animated shows. Many of these characters are household names on their third or fourth iteration. But some, like the lesser known brother of Star Trek icon James T. Kirk, are practically brand new. George ‘Sam’ Kirk had a brief cameo as a dead body in Star Trek: The Original Series , but in the recently released Star Trek: Strange New Worlds , he’s given a new lease on life.

Sam Kirk had his origins in Star Trek: The Original Serie s, season 1, episode 29, “Operation — Annihilate!”, in which he was played by William Shatner in an unforgettable mustache. In 2009, the character appeared in the deleted scenes of J.J. Abrams’ Star Trek , deep in the throes of a teenage crisis. It’s undeniable, then, that his role as a healthy science officer in Star Trek: Strange New Worlds is his most distinguished one to date, and perhaps the only one that does him justice. In this series, Sam Kirk is given new purpose, allowing him to grow beyond the reputation of his surname alone.

RELATED: Gene Roddenberry's Son Says Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Would Make His Father Proud

In Star Trek: Strange New Worlds, the Enterprise voyages under the command of Christopher Pike, not James Kirk. Still, the bridge crew is familiar all the same. Spock, Uhura, Christine Chapel, and Doctor M’Benga are present, and Pike himself is an old name from very early in the original TV series. Even security chief La’an has a connection to Khan Noonien-Singh, a classic Star Trek villain. Sam Kirk is brought in by Pike as a xenoanthropologist. He's an enthusiastic recruit for the flagship of Starfleet, and an obvious hint that Captain Kirk is lurking somewhere down the timeline – in the season finale, in fact.

Yet Sam isn’t just a discount legend. By the events of Star Trek: The Original Series , Sam had become a civilian research biologist, a footnote on a colonized planet far away from his brother’s adventures. On Pike’s ship in Strange New Worlds , he’s a part of the action, often raising the stakes on a crew mission that involves infant Gorn or a comet-sized demigod.

There are certain story roles to be filled on a Federation spaceship. In this case, they include repressed aliens, traumatized fighters, wide-eyed cadets, and precognitive captains. Sam Kirk is none of these; rather, he is instead the classic everyman, best described as a redshirt who survives away missions – despite the universe’s best efforts. In Star Trek: Strange New Worlds season 1, episode 2 , “Children of the Comet,” Sam acts as the ticking time-bomb of the plot, his injuries due to misapplied curiosity encouraging Uhura to rise to the problem at hand. Later in the season, he has some banter with Uhura and La’an, and then returns in Star Trek: Strange New Worlds , season 1, episode 9, “All Those Who Wander,” to have a bit of a meltdown in a situation that recalls John Carpenter’s The Thing . In this show, Sam is not a traditional hero, but he’s almost certainly the person whom the audience will relate to the most.

Throughout the series, Sam displays many of the classic characteristics of a Starfleet officer , but he doesn’t exhibit the ambition that his brother is known for. He’s disturbed by Spock’s apparent lack of emotions after they witness the death of a crewmate, but doesn’t escalate the resulting confrontation beyond raised voices. He may have Kirk’s name, but his character isn’t under pressure to be the pride of Starfleet, or the foil to Spock’s logic. The show makes it clear that he has his own job to do, and his own identity to build, no matter what guest star he encounters.

Sam and Jim had a brief meeting in Star Trek: Strange New Worlds , season 1, episode 10, “A Quality of Mercy,” in an alternate timeline that was eventually erased by Pike. The brothers’ relationship in season 2 of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds will be explored in more depth, but from the glimpse audiences have already caught, they seem to be on good terms. In season 1, Sam describes Jim as “a pain in the ass,” but also “smart”, and “highly skilled.” He engages in some good-natured ribbing, but there’s an undercurrent of competitiveness as well.

Evidently, there is some tension in addition to affection in the Kirk family, and it could add some much-needed expansion for Sam’s character. They share a father in George Kirk, first portrayed in Star Trek (2009) by a Hemsworth, so there is considerable history to discuss. Spock has plenty of family drama showcased throughout the franchise – why not Captain Kirk too?

In this show, Sam Kirk has the potential to be more than an afterthought for both Star Trek fans and the original Captain Kirk. Just like Captain Pike, the character is on a trajectory with a definite end, but that doesn’t mean his arc can’t be impactful. When Dan Jeannotte’s Sam Kirk finally hangs up the science blues and heads off to get infected with flying parasites, the audience should be affected. There’s time to make him an integral part of the Enterprise crew , and consequently, a beloved tragedy.

MORE: Star Trek: How Kirk Used His Trauma & Pain To Become A Great Captain

Star Trek: The Original Series Timeline Explained

The timeline of "Star Trek" is a long and complicated one. It's been more than half a century since the first episode aired, and that was merely the first of ten TV series and counting, not to mention ten movies in the original continuity and three in a rebooted timeline. Within the "Star Trek" universe, the timeline is far longer than that, stretching from our own time (or long before if we start getting into ancient Vulcan history) to the 32nd century, where the later seasons of "Star Trek: Discovery" are set.

So for this recap, we'll limit ourselves to the in-universe timeline first "Star Trek" series that began airing in 1966, which most people now refer to by the retronym "Star Trek: The Original Series." What circumstances led to the events of that series, what were the major incidents during it, and what became of its ship and characters after it ended? Let's take a journey through it, piece by piece and year by year.

Long, long ago

The path that leads to Star Trek begins in 2063, when the eccentric scientist known as Zefram Cochrane creates Earth's first warp drive and proves that faster-than-light travel is possible. This is a major turning point for the human race, which was rebuilding from a long and bloody World War 3. There is still a long way to go, but Cochrane's invention marks a shift that leads to humanity not just getting back on its feet on Earth, but stepping out into the larger galaxy.

A nearby Vulcan ship detects the warp signature from Cochrane's test flight. The Vulcans figure that if Earth's people are now capable of traveling faster than light, it is time for them to meet people from other worlds. So the Vulcans land on Earth and introduce themselves to Cochrane and his contemporaries.

In time, Earth builds a variety of spacefaring ships utilizing Cochrane's warp technology, which comes in handy a century later when Earth and Vulcan join two other worlds, Tellar Prime and Andoria, in forming the United Federation of Planets . As interstellar diplomatic relations prove largely successful, the Federation expands to include more than 150 planets. Starfleet, which had already been formed on Earth to explore space and make contact with new worlds, is folded into the Federation upon its creation in 2161.

Not so long ago

The Constitution-class Starfleet ship commissioned as the USS Enterprise , bearing the registry number NCC-1701, is first launched in the mid-23rd Century, almost a hundred years after the formation of the Federation. Its first Captain is Robert April. From the very beginning, the Enterprise's primary mission is to explore the Galactic Frontier, seeking out previously undiscovered worlds and making contact where appropriate.

When April is promoted to commodore and steps down from command of the USS Enterprise, First Officer Christopher Pike is promoted to replace him. As captain of the Enterprise, Pike becomes one of the most decorated officers in Starfleet. During this time, Spock joins the crew as a science officer. This Enterprise crew visits the planet Talos, where Pike is briefly held captive by the highly evolved psychic beings who dwell there and has a brief romance with a woman named Vina (depicted in the original "Star Trek" pilot, "The Cage" ).

Later, Pike and the Enterprise come to the aid of the USS Discovery, whose crew includes Spock's adopted human sister, Michael Burnham (revealed in "Star Trek: Discovery" Season 2). The Enterprise plays a role in helping the Discovery and its crew travel to the far future (in the "Discovery" Season 2 finale, "Such Sweet Sorrow" ).

The five year mission begins

In 2265, Christopher Pike is promoted and Captain James T. Kirk is given command of the USS Enterprise. Commander Spock remains a science officer but also became Kirk's first officer. Chief engineer and second officer is Lt. Commander Montgomery Scott, affectionately known as Scotty. One of Kirk's oldest friends, Lieutenant Commander Gary Mitchell, initially serves as helmsman at Kirk's request. 

One of this crew's first missions sends them to the edge of the Milky Way Galaxy, where an encounter with a mysterious energy barrier imbues Mitchell with godlike psychic powers. Elizabeth Dehner, a doctor serving under Enterprise Chief Medical Officer Mark Piper, is also affected and later developed similar powers. Mitchell is driven insane by the experience and becomes a threat to the Enterprise and even the galaxy. Doctor Dehner sacrifices her life to stop him, and both perish. Captain Kirk keeps the circumstances of their deaths private, wanting Mitchell to be remembered positively. This all happens in the second "Star Trek" pilot, "Where No Man Has Gone Before."

Following this incident, Lt. Hikaru Sulu, who has been working in the science divison, becomes helmsman of the Enterprise. With Dehner's death and Piper's retirement, Doctor Leonard "Bones" McCoy became the chief medical officer. Around the same time, Lt. Nyota Uhura joins the bridge crew as a communications officer. With this crew in place, the Enterprise sets out on the five-year exploratory mission that is the focus of "Star Trek: The Original Series."

Although the time period is vague on the show, the original "Star Trek" is set three hundred years after it originally aired, so the first year of their mission, as depicted in Season 1 , runs from 2266 to 2267. During that year, the USS Enterprise has a run-in with the Romulans ( "Balance of Terror" ), who haven't been seen since their war with Earth a century earlier. They also deal with the fall-out of failed negotiations with the Klingons ( "Errand of Mercy" ). Captain Kirk fights a Gorn captain ( "Arena" ) and deals with the death of his brother, Sam Kirk ( "Operation — Annihilate!" ). The Enterprise crew also has their first encounter with the notorious con artist and pimp Harry Mudd ( "Mudd's Women" ).

Admiral Christopher Pike briefly returns to the Enterprise after an accident leaves him paralyzed and nonverbal. After a fiercely loyal Spock helps Captain Kirk understand the situation, they take Pike to Talos, where the Talosians can help him live out his life free of physical constraints, and where he is reunited with Vina ( "The Menagerie" ).

Perhaps most significantly, the USS Enterprise encounters a drifting derelict ship, the USS Botany Bay, which houses cryogenically frozen war criminals from the Eugenics Wars of the past. Their leader, Khan Noonien Singh, is revived and attempts to take control of the Enterprise. Kirk defeats Khan, leaving him and his allies marooned on the planet Ceti Alpha V. Starfleet historian Marla McGivers, who had fallen in love with Khan and betrayed the Enterprise for him, chose to join him in exile rather than stay on the ship and face court martial ( "Space Seed" ).

As the mission entered its second year in 2267 (corresponding with the fall 1967 debut of Season 2 ), the bridge crew of the USS Enterprise is joined by Ensign Pavel Chekov, a young man from Russia. He and Sulu become close friends, and in time he becomes a vital member of the ship's inner circle.

The Enterprise soon travels to Spock's home planet of Vulcan for his marriage to his betrothed, T'Pring. However, T'Pring had already chosen another lover in Spock's absence, and the visit became a fiasco in which Spock and Kirk are made to engage in ritual battle until Kirk fakes his own death. Freed from his betrothal, Spock returns to the ship a confirmed bachelor ( "Amok Time" ).

Later that year, the Enterprise crew is involved in an incident on Deep Space Station K-7 involving a poisoned shipment of grain, a Klingon spy, and the rapidly reproducing trilling fuzzballs known as tribbles, which are peddled by the shady Cyrano Jones ( "The Trouble with Tribbles" ). Although they didn't know it, they are also visited at this time by time travelers from the 24th Century, who infiltrate the Enterprise crew to avert an attempt to change history by the future version of the same Klingon spy (as seen in the "Star Trek: Deep Space Nine" episode "Trials and Tribble-ations" ).

Other incidents in year two included the return of Harry Mudd ( "I, Mudd" ), the discovery of a Mirror Universe ( "Mirror, Mirror" ), and a visit from Spock's parents ( "Journey to Babel" ).

The third year of the mission (and the 1968 TV season) kicks off with a bizarre incident in which an alien civilization steals Spock's brain from his body. Even weirder, Spock survives the incident long enough for his brain to be returned to his skull before he suffers any permanent effects ( "Spock's Brain" ). Spock's brain was also affected by an encounter with a Medusan ambassador, a member of a non-humanoid race whose appearance drives any humanoid who sees one mad. Fortunately, Spock is also able to recover from this incident ( "Is There in Truth No Beauty" ).

Another non-humanoid alien race, the Tholians, traps the Enterprise in an energy web for trespassing into their space. Spock is in command at the time and is unwilling to move the ship because Captain Kirk has shifted out of phase with the universe after an incident involving the USS Defiant, and they need to remain in the area to get him back safely ( "The Tholian Web" ).

The Enterprise command crew also takes part in an undercover mission aboard a Romulan ship, where Kirk is able to steal a Romulan cloaking device while Spock romances a female captain ( "The Enterprise Incident" ). As the third year draws to a close, the crew has a series of increasingly bizarre adventures. These include an encounter with Abraham Lincoln ( "The Savage Curtain" ), finding themselves trapped in the past of a doomed planet ( "All Our Yesterdays" ), and Kirk temporarily swapping bodies with a nefarious woman ( "The Turnabout Intruder" ).

The mission continues

Since "Star Trek: The Original Series" only ran for three seasons, it fell to other media to tell the stories of the last leg of the USS Enterprise's five-year mission. Countless comic books and novels have been published that recount other adventures of Captain Kirk and his crew. While they're not really considered part of the official canon of Star Trek continuity, they've still provided ample entertainment for fans nostalgic for the show, and some of the best ideas that originated in them have found their way into more widely-seen media.

In 1973, the USS Enterprise returned to TV screens on "Star Trek: The Animated Series." Whether this series counts as official canon has been the subject of much debate, but so much of it has been referenced in later TV and movies (including the second animated series in the franchise, "Star Trek: Lower Decks" ) that it seems safe to count. However, certain things, such as life support belts (a force field-based method of saving money by not redrawing the characters in space suits), have to be glossed over.

During the leg of the mission depicted on the animated series, Ensign Chekov is replaced by Lieutenant Arex, an orange alien with three arms and three legs. Lieutenant Uhura is sometimes replaced at the communications station by Lieutenant M'Ress, a catlike female alien.

On one memorable adventure, Spock goes back in time to his childhood on Vulcan ( "Yesteryear" ). Harry Mudd also returns to cause more trouble ( "Mudd's Passion" ), as do Cyrano Jones and his tribbles ( "More Tribbles, More Troubles" ).

The crew reunited

Fans pick back up with the crew after the end of the five-year mission in the first of the "Star Trek" feature films,  "Star Trek: The Motion Picture."  Jim Kirk has been promoted to Admiral and becomes Chief of Starfleet Operations, which is based at Starfleet Headquarters in San Francisco. Spock returns to Vulcan and begins training to purge himself of emotions and further devote himself to logic. Doctor McCoy leaves Starfleet to practice medicine on Earth. Three years later, in 2273, the USS Enterprise is being completely refitted under the supervision of Scotty and the ship's new captain, Willard Decker. 

When a massive, destructive anomaly was discovered heading for Earth, Admiral Kirk assumes command of the Enterprise on a mission to intercept it, to the annoyance of Decker, who is temporarily demoted to first officer. At Kirk's request, McCoy's Starfleet commission is reactivated, bringing him back to the Enterprise as well. After the new science officer is killed in a transporter accident, Spock soon rejoins the crew as well.

After the anomaly is revealed to be an ancient probe from Earth, Captain Decker joins with it so that it can fulfill its purpose of reuniting with its creator. Decker and the anomaly vanish, leaving Kirk in sole command of the USS Enterprise.

The death of Spock

In 2285, the Enterprise is on what is meant to be a short training voyage, but that changes when Khan Noonien Singh reappears, looking for Admiral Kirk. The planet where Kirk left Khan and his people more than fifteen years earlier has become a harsh desert after a catastrophic shift in orbit, and Marla McGivers, who had become Khan's wife, was killed. Khan and his remaining followers escape by commandeering the USS Reliant, but Khan can't be satisfied until he takes personal revenge on Kirk. Kirk barely manages to defeat Khan, but the Enterprise sustains heavy damage. Captain Spock saves the rest of the crew by manually repairing the ship's main reactor but receives a lethal dose of radiation in the process. Spock reassures Kirk that he would always be his friend, and then dies ( "Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan" ).

During his funeral service, Spock's body is launched from the Enterprise and falls to the surface of a planet that is in the process of being radically terraformed by the experimental Genesis Device. This creates a unique opportunity to restore Spock to life. Before he died, Spock infused Dr. McCoy with his psychic essence, which is soon found to have a deleterious effect on the doctor's mental state, which can only be cured by returning it to the correct body. 

The return to Earth

To reunite Spock's psychic essence with his body that is regenerating on the Genesis Planet, Kirk and his loyal crew (McCoy, Scotty, Uhura, Sulu, and Chekov) must defy Starfleet orders and steal the USS Enterprise from spacedock. In the course of rescuing Spock, the Enterprise has a deadly encounter with Klingons that results in the destruction of the Enterprise ( "Star Trek III: The Search for Spock" ). Escaping in a commandeered Klingon Bird of Prey, the crew travels to Vulcan, where Spock can heal. They stay there for three months, until early 2286.

As the crew travels back toward Earth on the Bird of Prey, facing court-martial for their actions, a mysterious alien probe is discovered heading toward Earth, leaving a path of destruction in its wake. When Spock realizes that the probe is attempting to contact humpback whales, an extinct species in the 23rd Century, the crew traveled back in time to 1986 and returns with a mated pair of whales, saving Earth from the probe. With their heroism taken into account, the charges are dropped at their court-martial. However, Kirk is demoted back to Captain for disobeying Starfleet orders and given command of the newly commissioned Enterprise NCC-1701-A ( "Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home" ).

The later years

In 2287, the new Enterprise and its crew are sent to deal with a diplomatic crisis when Federation, Klingon, and Romulan ambassadors on Nimbus III are taken hostage by a renegade Vulcan. The Vulcan, Sybok, is Spock's half-brother, who rejected Vulcan logic in favor of emotion and was exiled. He recruits a cult-like army by using his psychic abilities to help people conquer painful memories, inspiring gratitude and loyalty. Sybok, along with his followers, hijacks the Enterprise and travels to a mysterious planetoid in the center of the galaxy, where he believes he will find God. Kirk, Spock, and McCoy join Sybok on the planetoid, where they meet an entity claiming to be God, which turns out to be an incredibly powerful malevolent being who has been imprisoned there. Sybok is killed, and the entity is destroyed ( "Star Trek V: The Final Frontier" ).

In 2293, three months before the aging Enterprise crew is scheduled to stand down, they embark on a diplomatic mission to accompany the Klingon chancellor to Earth for peace negotiations. En route, the chancellor is assassinated, while Kirk and McCoy are framed for his death. After being tried by the Klingons, they are sentenced to a prison planet, leaving Spock to root out a conspiracy to escalate hostilities between the two civilizations. Ultimately, peace is established, Kirk and McCoy are freed, and the Enterprise crew is free to move on to the next phase of their lives ( "Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country" ).

A series of epilogues

Later in 2293, Kirk, Chekov, and Scotty are present as guests on the maiden voyage of the new Enterprise NCC-1701-B, where an incident involving a time nexus leads to James Kirk's disappearance. In 2371 he is discovered alive inside the nexus by Jean-Luc Picard, captain of the Enterprise NCC 1701-D, but Kirk dies helping Picard thwart the villainous Soran ( "Star Trek Generations" ).

After retiring from Starfleet, Spock becomes an ambassador. He is instrumental in achieving peace with the Romulans. He also encounters Captain Picard and his crew during a crucial part of that effort (in the "Star Trek: The Next Generation" two-parter "Unification" ). At the end of his life, Ambassador Spock travels back in time, finding himself in an alternate timeline alongside a younger version of himself and his friends, who led very different lives ("Star Trek" 2009).

Doctor Leonard McCoy, who has always been grumpy about being in Starfleet, ironically has the longest Starfleet career of the three. He becomes a branch admiral and Chief of Starfleet Medical. In 2371, as a very old man, Admiral McCoy tours the Enterprise-D during its first mission (in the "Star Trek: The Next Generation" premiere "Encounter at Farpoint" ).

In 2294, newly retired Captain Montgomery Scott is a passenger aboard the USS Jenolan when the ship crashes into a Dyson Sphere. Scotty manages to put himself into suspended animation using the Jenolan's transporter and is revived in 2369 by the crew of the Enterprise-D. After some time aboard the new Enterprise, he sets out aboard a shuttlecraft to enjoy his retirement ("Star Trek: The Next Generation" episode "Relics" ).

Hikaru Sulu becomes captain of the USS Excelsior and has his own illustrious career. Serving under him is a young Vulcan named Tuvok, who later becomes the chief tactical officer of the USS Voyager under Captain Kathryn Janeway (Tuvok remembers this time in the "Star Trek: Voyager" episode "Flashback" ).

Less is known about the post-Enterprise-A careers of Pavel Chekov and Nyota Uhura. Still, even if they retired to live quiet lives, they must have been remembered as Federation heroes for their many adventures serving under Captain Kirk. Even all these years, there are still many stories left to be told.

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Characters / Star Trek: The Original Series - James Tiberius Kirk

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Captain James T. Kirk

Played by: William Shatner

Dubbed in french by: yvon thiboutot (tos), sady rebbot (star trek i to vi), denis savignat (generations), dubbed in brazilian portuguese by: garcia junior (tos, redub), marco antônio costa (tos, 2:23, 2:24, 2:26 on, star trek 6), marcos miranda (star trek 1 to 3), waldyr sant'anna (star trek 4), appearances: star trek: the original series | star trek: the animated series | star trek: the motion picture | star trek ii: the wrath of khan | star trek iii: the search for spock | star trek iv: the voyage home | star trek v: the final frontier | star trek vi: the undiscovered country | star trek: generations | star trek: deep space nine note  archive footage | star trek beyond note  photograph.

"'All I ask is a tall ship, and a star to steer her by.' You could feel the wind at your back in those days, the sound of the sea beneath you. And even if you take away the wind and the water, it's still the same... The ship is yours, you can feel her. And the stars are still there, Bones." — Kirk , "The Ultimate Computer"

The Captain . James Tiberius Kirk leads his ship, the Enterprise , through the adventure of the week — hostile cultures, supercomputers, places which look suspiciously like Earth, time-travel shenanigans . A very talented and level-headed officer, Kirk always took his duty to Starfleet deeply seriously and his main concern in any crisis was always the safety of his ship and crew. He was notorious for his hollow seductions, and a few romances which ended tragically, but mostly those failed because he named the Enterprise herself as the woman in his life. Although he took the dangers to his crew very seriously, he also maintained a light-hearted attitude and bantered with the other two members of his Power Trio frequently.

• 10-Minute Retirement : In “Generations”, he acknowledges in the Nexus that the universe keeps fucking him over and he deserves to be selfish for once. Of course he goes back to reality because he needs the danger, and it helps that he had multiple Nexus realities, letting him fix everything.
• In "Where No Man Has Gone Before", he addresses Yeoman Smith as "Jones", and she corrects him in a manner that implies it's not the first time he's done that. (In the original script, he does it again in the ending scene, but this was cut.)
• In "Space Seed", Kirk mispronounces the ship's historian's name before Spock dryly corrects him with " McGivers ". He continues to stutter over the name in front of McGivers herself, who also dryly corrects the pronunciation.
• In "The Immunity Syndrome", Kirk consistently pronounces Lt. Kyle's name as "Cowell", something no other character ever does. Kyle himself makes no attempt to correct him.
• Accidental Pornomancer : Bones lampshades that even when Kirk is not actively manipulating someone, he still seems to get every alien species wanting to rail him.
• The Ace : Quite possibly the greatest Captain ever produced by Starfleet and humanity in general, despite all his competition, and even long after his day his many accomplishments and reputation lives on as an inspiration to later Starfleet officers, many of whom look up to him as a legend, and he is even considered this to various alien species he encountered.
• Agent Peacock : In “Where No Man”, the writers talked about how they wanted Kirk to be a man comfortable with being both masculine and feminine, willing to fight dirty and being in command, but memorising poetry, stopping to admire flowers, happy to joke about himself being a mother, uses his sexuality like a Femme Fatale or Heroic Seductress depending on how greyly ambiguous the episode wants to be, and is treated like a Lust Object .
• And in the early 80s Shatner did commercials for an early home computer, the Commodore Vic 20.
• Ain't Too Proud to Beg : Mostly refused, but if it’s Close to Home enough, like children ensuring their own destruction, Garth (a captain who he respected) forcing him or Trelane messing with his crew, he’ll beg, plead and kneel as a last resort.
• Captain Kirk's famous line to the alien impersonating the Greek god Apollo in "Who Mourns for Adonais?" is this: Kirk: Mankind has no need for gods. We find the one quite adequate.

• In another episode, Kirk and crew come upon a planet dominated by a Roman Empire but with 20th century technology, where a persecuted, pacifist new religion worships a sun god. At the end of the episode, Lieutenant Uhura discovers that this new religion does not worship the Sun but the Son, clearly referencing Jesus. Kirk even considers remaining at the planet for a number of years just so they can "watch it happen all over again."
• Ambiguous Situation : What Kirk considers to be the biggest regret of his life and the main source of his pain, refusing to allow Sybok to reveal it, as he did Spock's strained relationship with their father and McCoy 's regret over mercy killing his dying father from an illness that soon after was cured. Given all the tragedies he has suffered throughout his life, there are many possibilities.
• Anti-Hero : Sixties sex symbol or not, Kirk stumbled into Classical Anti-Hero in Star Trek: The Motion Picture The Motion Picture and The Wrath of Khan where his mid-life crisis wears heavy upon him and some poor choices cost the lives of many recruits, and later Knight in Sour Armor in The Undiscovered Country .
• Arch-Enemy : He has a special hatred of Klingons, called out for it in “Errand Of Mercy” and getting exploited in “Day Of The Dove”. And that’s before his son is killed by one of them.
• Badass Normal : Kirk is a good tactician who leagues of more powerful aliens respect, whose exploits include beating a bio-engineered superman with his bare fists. Did we mention he's a non-powered human?
• Because You Were Nice to Me : The suggested reason why he’s a Love Martyr and forgives so easily. He doesn’t ask for much (a few days on a real beach, knowing he made a difference), and any kindness shown seems to be good enough.
• Benevolent Boss : For the most part he’s a tough but fair captain to his crew and a genial father to his men (even if Spock lampshades that general orders don’t apply to his friends). If he starts to act like a brash asshole then something is usually very wrong.
• Beneath the Mask : Spock tells him early on that he has to look perfect as Captain to his crew, and it’s made clear that the swagger is partly affected, admitting to Bones he would like a long sea voyage where he can rest, and to Carol that he feels old and worn out. There’s more than a few episode endings where he’ll laugh along with Bones and Spock, and look regretful once they turn away. --wondering how in the hell he got a public reputation as an impulsive hothead. A lot of the time he felt more like Hamlet, agonizing over every decision. He just had the knack for not letting it show. Being a captain was sometimes more about looking decisive and convincing your crew that you knew what you were doing .
• Big Beautiful Man : Was always a cuddly-looking version of a Mr. Fanservice , even with many shirtless scenes (and Shatner apparently working out to unhealthy levels), and fills out when he hits middle age in the second movie, still being seen as attractive and charming even if his one not-resisting-a-seduction works against him in the sixth movie.
• Blood Knight : On several occasions (“Errand Of Mercy”, “Day Of The Dove”, “Spectre Of The Gun”, “Taste Of Armageddon”), he’s forced to admit that he wants to fight/is a barbarian, and that he’s been trained as a soldier. He settles for diplomat as he gets older, but traces remain, and the fact that he surrenders in the sixth movie proves a Spanner in the Works , everyone expecting him to be more than happy to knock up a few Klingon kills.
• Bold Explorer : Though it was just his job, Kirk's boldness makes him an iconic version of the trope.
• Boldly Coming : The Trope Codifier through Pop-Cultural Osmosis , although it's nowhere near as omnipresent as you might believe. Over 79 episodes, the number of alien women Kirk definitely sleeps with is... four. One of those was the result of being drugged by magic tears, and none of them were green (that was Pike, and she wasn't even really green. The green woman Kirk met was a mental patient who tried to seduce him , to his immense discomfort).
• Break the Cutie : Aside from his seduction as tactic, he gets victimised a lot as well, either Mind Rape , drugged or some other kind of coercion, and he’s never happy about it but he can mostly deal. Until “Requiem For Methuselah”, when he finds out he was used again by Flint (but still loves Reyna anyway), and sounds seconds away from sobbing. No wonder Spock makes him forget about the whole thing.
• Break the Haughty : The movies show what happens when all his flaws come back to bite him. Convinced he's the Captain who deserves command of the Enterprise ? Promote him and he'll become an Insane Admiral , not knowing how to deal with a remodelled ship. Be self-absorbed and convinced that you're on the right side of To Be Lawful or Good ? A Villain of the Week sets off a chain of events that end with Spock and Kirk's son being killed. Still think you can seduce to get your way? Get used instead, and nearly get murdered if your friends hadn't beamed you up. No wonder that for a while, he just wants to stay in the Nexus after being considered dead.
• Broken Ace : Pike started off the line of Starfleet captains who really could do with therapy, Kirk just continued it. He's a hero with many medals, saved the world more times than can be counted, and is a respected Captain, he's just hiding a lot of grief and trauma (around getting old, following orders, not following orders, feeling like he's worthless if not commanding a starship, Tarsus IV, the USS Farrugut, consent getting taken away, the people he's lost…), that he thinks he needs. James T Kirk, hero at large. You can save the galaxy from destruction, but you can’t get your own life in order.
• Bunny-Ears Lawyer : The things Kirk got away with... The Autobiography of James T. Kirk calls it a Self-Fulfilling Prophecy , as he's not happy towards the end of the five year mission, thinks he wants to be Admiral, and does more reckless shit to get attention, when he wouldn't have done before.
• His trip to the Mirror Universe. While there, Kirk single-handedly talks Mirror Spock into instigating an uprising against the Terran Empire. We're meant to think they'll eventually find their way to a Federation-like alliance, but in Deep Space 9 we find that Kirk's machinations left mankind ripe for an asskicking by a combined Klingon / Cardassian / Bajoran alliance, after which humans are enslaved. The top dogs of the Mirror Universe are on constant look-out for anyone coming over from the other universe to interfere again, redesigning their tech to make damn sure it wouldn't, and Kirk's name is legendary among them. For Kirk, and Starfleet, the Mirror universe incident was just a weirder-than-average day at the office.
• His encounter with Khan. Kirk meets one of the most famous tyrants on the 21st century, nearly gets killed by him, beats him up, sentences him to Ceti Alpha 5, and then forgot all about him until Khan came back pissed . Khan spent every night thinking of Kirk, while Kirk didn't give him a second thought.
• The Captain : Kirk is the Trope Maker . Spock: "If I may be so bold, it was a mistake for you to accept promotion. Commanding a starship is your first, best destiny; anything else is a waste of material."
• Captain Smooth and Sergeant Rough : He's far more genial and sociable with his crew than his aloof, coldly logical XO Spock.
• The Chains of Commanding : His Married to the Job deal was deconstructed as early as "The Naked Time", as his life is i Enterprise , and his own identity fades. He never gets over it, even as he calms down in his older age.
• He learns to chill and understand what’s really important as he gets older, from being an insufferable nervous Teacher's Pet at the academy, at least trying to be by the book in the series, to full on Screw the Rules, I'm Doing What's Right! in the movies.
• His conflicting loyalties about whether to be a soldier following orders or being a diplomat mostly end in Season 3. Of course the movies (and “The Cloud Minders”, as he trusts Vanna to listen to him and gets taken hostage, even if it ends up okay) show that confidence in your own rules don’t always work out, especially when it’s coupled with a mid life crisis.
• Definitely not enjoyed, but the movies force him to actually confront loss and pain, and not just shove things down like a Broken Hero who wants to Just Ignore It .
• He goes from stealing back command of the Enterprise from Captain Will Decker in The Motion Picture , overriding him similarly to the way his father Commodore Matt Decker tried to do to him in The Doomsday Machine , to refusing to do so when the chance to steal command of the Enterprise-B from Captain John Harriman occurs in Generations , despite the temptation.
• Characterisation Click Moment : Started being his own person and less like an Ideal Hero -slash-copy of Pike in “The Enemy Within”, both for the good and bad; compassionate, dutiful, determined, gentle father to his men, but thinks of himself of an extension of the ship, capable of brutality and manipulation, marked self loathing and an anxious tendency to ignore problems he doesn’t want to deal with.
• When trying to seduce someone, he always grabs a woman’s upper arms before kissing her. When he starts to do it to Spock, he’s told not in front of the Klingons, who are all looking on curiously .
• Does the rubbing his forehead version of a facepalm a lot. Lampshaded in “The Trouble With Tribbles” where he actually admits for once that he’s got a headache.
• Rubbing and clenching his hands together when he’s anxious. Spock notices him doing it in “And The Children Shall Lead”, and Kirk reassures him he’s not feeling as bad as he did in the turbolift.
• Chick Magnet : Numerous women of various species tend to be drawn to him, he is aware of it but mostly only takes advantage of it when necessary to see through his duties and protect the lives of his crew and ship.
• Chivalrous Pervert : May very well be the anti- Bond . A lot of the time he'll use his charms for a greater purpose, but he's gentlemanly when he is actually is in love, dissuades Charlie from Entitled to Have You , and most of his (less than ten) exes consider his main flaw to be Married to the Job . He also gives female crewmembers appreciative glanceovers note  does it with a few men as well , but that seems to be as far as he goes, telling other romances to chill and keep to duties, and defending women as crewmen.
• Combat Sadomasochist : Not for nothing did 70s fandom call him a masochist — one of his fantasies in “Shore Leave” is to have a fight with old school bully Finnegan with himself all sweaty and bloody and shirt ripped.
• A Running Gag in the movies is Kirk's loving relationship with his chair. He glumly sits in the rickety captain's chair aboard the Enterprise -A, declaring that it's just not the same. Generations repeated this gag on-board the Enterprise -B, this time complete with Male Gaze .
• Condescending Compassion : His paternalistic tendency to... change civilisations so that they’re assimilated under the Federation was called out early in “Errand Of Mercy”, him acting like the Organians are overly peaceful idiots and swiftly proven wrong, being more akin to the Klingons he hates than the Knight in Shining Armor .
• Conditioned to Accept Horror : Deela teasingly suggests between forcing kisses on him in “Wink Of An Eye” that he’s used to being kissed when he’s not aware of it, and Odona wonders how he can even look at her when she manipulated him in “The Mark Of Gideon”. It all explodes in “Requiem For Methuselah” when he falls for a robot woman who’s actually nice, and loses his mind a little when he finds out he was still used by Flint.
• Court-martialed : " Court Martial ": Kirk gets put on trial for (seemingly) causing the death of a crew member through negligence.
• Cunning People Play Poker : The Corbomite Maneuver " when faced with Balok's incomprehensible mothership threatening to destroy the Enterprise, Spock contextualises their situation as a game of chess and concludes Balok has declared checkmate. Captain Kirk changes the game to poker, and then bluffs that Enterprise has a defense feature that will ensure that if it's destroyed, Balok's ship will also get blown up.
• At some point before he got to command, Kirk was witness to the massacre on Tarsus IV, where thousands were killed in an attempt to hold off starvation that came to naught when the supply ships arrived note  the episode regarding the massacre doesn't state as much, but a reference to his age a later episode, which was subsequently formalized as canon, makes him no older than fourteen at the time of the massacre . During his time on the Farragut , Kirk blamed himself for an attack by a vampiric cloud creature that killed Captain Garrovick and 200 other crewmen.
• His mirror verse version has one too, raised in poverty by his Good Parents until his home was burned down and he was captured by the empire for “re-education”, making him brutal and sadistic .
• Death Seeker : He’s always played fast and loose with his own life, calling the ship so much more important to the point where Sulu is actually concerned, and in “Shore Leave '', Finnegan taunts him on being able to sleep forever if he wants. Gets worse in the movies, doing stupid stunts while his friends are around because they’ll keep him from dying, as he’s convinced he’ll die alone. Kirk : (to the Organians) I’m used to the idea of dying, but I have no desire to die for the likes of you.
• The Defroster : Despite his previous positive relationship with Captain Pike, Spock remains quite stoic and aloof, ashamed about his human heritage and determined to hide it. His friendship with Kirk becomes a chink in his emotionless armor almost immediately (the very first episode has Uhura calling Kirk the closest thing to a friend Spock has). Gradually, under his influence, Spock unbends into psychologically healthier state.
• Desperately Craves Affection : Word of Shatner is that Kirk really does want someone to talk to, to tell them that something is wrong with him, but can’t because as Captain you have to keep some distance.
• Determinator : When Kirk makes up his mind to do something, especially if the lives of his crew are at stake, no force in the universe can keep him down. Kirk: I don't believe in the no-win scenario.
• Did You Just Punch Out Cthulhu? : A specialty of Kirk's.
• Disappeared Dad : Though not by his own choice. He and Carol had a child and he was so focused on his career that she eventually asked him to stay away.
• The name James Kirk is spoken with great annoyance by the Temporal Investigations department. Seventeen different violations will do that for you. Agent Lucsly: The man was a menace.
• Back in his academy days, a then-Lieutenant Kirk was the bane of the underclassmen. Gary Mitchell: "Watch out for Lieutenant Kirk! In his class, you either think or sink."
• Dropped a Bridge on Him : His death in Generations is the Trope Namer .
• Dude, Where's My Reward? : In Generations , Picard's initial attempt to get him to help by appealing to his duty is brushed off by a bitter Kirk pointing out he'd been saving the galaxy for years, and all it's got him was an empty house. Of course, he soon comes around anyway.
• Dying Alone : Zig-zagged. He reveals in Final Frontier that this is his greatest fear, and he believes that it is his fate to die alone, without his best friends, Spock and McCoy , being near. Sadly, this comes to pass in Generations , but he is not entirely alone, with Captain Picard at his side reassuring him that he has made a difference one last time.
• Embarrassing Middle Name : "Tiberius."
• Endearingly Dorky : In decent episodes, he's... endearingly hammy as a character trait, and how seriously he takes having fun (see times like "A Piece Of The Action") is treated with affection by his crew.
• Even the Guys Want Him : Male Klingons check out his ass , big monsters throw him around like a ragdoll , and he has several ex-friends who end up a little obsessive over him.
• Even the Loving Hero Has Hated Ones : Kirk protects refugees and famously refuses to consider any casualty acceptable. He has even impressed multiple Sufficiently Advanced Alien species with his capacity for mercy and civility. However, he's much more of a Deadpan Snarker around Mudd and Baris, and the Klingons were an Arch-Enemy even before Kruge killed his son (not that previous Klingons hadn't nearly killed people he loved before).
• Throughout the series, he’s right on the Federation’s side, and is more likely to blame himself for following orders (like in “The Apple”) than be angry at them for actually giving said orders. The only exceptions are “The Trouble With Tribbles”, a priority one distress call for wheat even before the tribbles arrive, “The Galileo Seven” where it’s finding Spock vs a jerkass ambassador on board, and the movies where he’s wearier and chilled out.
• He’s willing to take the blame at first with Janice Lester, and dismisses it when Odona asks why he’s not angrier with her for all the deception and coercion.
• Exhausted Eyebags : Occasionally they’ll slather on a lot of eyeliner below Shatner’s eyes when Kirk is in a particularly bad state.
• Face Death with Dignity : He does this numerous times in the series and movies in the face of death, and lives up to his words to Saavik about the importance of how one deals with death at the end of his life, aboard the Enterprise-B when he believes he is sacrificing himself to save the ship, and again for real on Veridian III when he stops Soran from destroying the star system at the cost of his life.
• Fan of the Past : He embraced the culture and history of his homeland, especially western lore and the life of his hero Abraham Lincoln . Recognizing the document mirrored on the planet Omega IV, he could recite the preamble of the US Constitution from memory. His extensive knowledge of his ancestral background served him well on numerous occasions. In travels to Earth's past, or on planets mirroring Earth's development, Kirk was able to function and pass himself off as a native of the time or culture with (more or less) ease.
• Farm Boy : Kirk was born and raised on a farm in Riverside, Iowa. This only gets said out loud in the fourth movie, but according to Roddenberry, he had it in mind since the beginning, and it’s why Kirk so easily gets distracted by flowers and other growing things. Gillian: You're from outer space. Kirk: No, I'm from Iowa. I only work in outer space.
• His Inferiority Superiority Complex . He has a lot of self loathing, so it makes him crave attention to overcompensate and the need to prove himself. Getting glory and press goes to his head, and in turn makes him miserable because he feels he doesn’t deserve it. The biography has “The Enterprise Incident” as just a shade more acted than how he was actually feeling.
• He also likes repressing his problems. As willing as he to talk about his emotions, Bones despairs about how much he touts Misery Builds Character , getting out of the problem fast without thinking things through has far reaching consequences for Khan and the Mirror Universe , and expanded material has Spock’s death be the catalyst for being forced to think about all his other losses, like Gary, Sam and Edith. Star Trek: Ex Machina also has a Long List of civilizations that he dropped a bombshell on and ran away from, comparing it to his (admittedly biased) view of abandoning Carol and David.
• A Father to His Men : He has a breakdown when three men are killed in “The Apple”, saying it’s his fault because he’s allowed to modify rules (he’s a By-the-Book Cop a lot of the time, just comes off worse later because Starfleet is still writing the rules, as Janeway points out) as he sees fit, and the mission wasn’t that important. He is genuinely upset and enraged by pretty much the death of every crewman, blaming it on himself. One of his Nexus fantasies is saving every Red Shirt .
• Feeling Their Age : At the tender age of… thirty four, he’s taunted by the fantasy Finnegan about being too old, and he comes away from “The Deadly Years” thinking the lesson is he has to be young to be good at his job. No wonder he has a Hollywood Mid-Life Crisis in the movies.
• Former Teen Rebel : Inverted . Unlike his alternate universe counterpart , Cadet Kirk was something of a humorless swot as an underclassman, only later developing into the Military Maverick we see in the movies.
• Four-Star Badass : In the movies. And everyone knows it. Though as a Rear Admiral, technically he was only a Two-Star Badass. Until he gets demoted at the end of Star Trek IV . However, this is also largely subverted. Kirk's moments of badassery as an admiral are actually while he's in direct command of a starship and he's shown to be apathetic and uninterested towards his admiralty duties, such as when he almost immediately cuts the inspection of the Enterprise short in The Wrath of Khan .
• Four-Temperament Ensemble : Kirk is the Choleric, although by no means unsympathetic; he's just the most decisive and determined member of the trio. McCoy 's Id.-->
• Genocide Survivor : In "The Conscience of the King", Kirk is stated to be a survivor of a genocide on the planet Tarsus IV, where the Governor ordered thousands of citizens killed to ensure the rest could survive, using eugenics to decide who lived and died. It's only All There in the Manual that the actual circumstances are discussed; his mother moved to the planet for work, leaving her children and husband behind in Iowa. When Jim visits on a trip, things go very wrong, and between an Enterprise being the supply ship, the trauma itself, and his mom using him as a therapist, it hardens him and he ties himself to Starfleet.
• Gold-Colored Superiority : As The Captain , he wears a gold shirt.
• Good Is Not Soft : As Nice Guy Love Martyr as he is, Kirk — especially Gene Coon’s version, which carried on throughout the movies — often has to remind himself that while he was trained to be a soldier, and humans can be savage, mercy and peace is always the best option, and Vengeance Feels Empty .
• Go Out with a Smile : Despite his somewhat pathetic death, he’s happy knowing he made a difference after so much worry that he wouldn’t, and that he got closure in the Nexus for everything he feels went wrong in his life .
• Gunboat Diplomacy : One of his favorite diplomatic techniques seems to be threatening to blow up a planet that doesn't do what he wants. Somehow he gets away with this. He's Kirk. He even gives orbital bombardment a go as a persuading tool (with phasers on stun... sometimes ). Partially justified by the fact he was trained as a soldier, not a diplomat.
• Has a Type : Of the five women Kirk had long-term relationships with before the series, four out of five were blondes and/or scientists. (The exceptions being Janice Lester, a brunette scientist, and Areel Shaw from "Court Martial", a blonde Starfleet JAG officer.)
• Hates Being Alone : It’s the stated reason why he falls so hard for the first nice woman he sees and can spend some free time with in “Requiem For Methuselah”. Kirk : I had a whole universe to myself after the Defiant was thrown out. There was absolutely no one else in it. I must say I prefer a crowded universe much better.
• Heartbroken Badass : Let's see...with the losses of Edith Keeler, his brother Sam and his sister-in-law, his wife Miramanee and their unborn child, Rayna Kapec, his first BFF Gary Mitchell, his true BFF Spock, his son David, and the Enterprise herself, it's amazing that there's still anything approaching an intact heart by the time he retires. The book versions of the movies are well aware of all he’s lost, and while the angst is there in the films, they bring it to full-scale depression, going right to Death Seeker both when Spock dies and when he retires, as McCoy and Spock go back to their families and he has nothing.
• He Knows Too Much : Kirk is one of nine surviving eyewitnesses who can identify Kodos the Executioner, the man who ordered the deaths of four thousand people on colony planet Tarsus IV. Kodos's daughter Lenore tries to kill him by hiding an overloading phaser in his quarters. By the end of the episode, Kirk is one of only two surviving witnesses, since she succeeded in killing the other seven.
• The Hero : He is clearly the protagonist of the show (and the cause of some off-screen drama).
• The Hero Dies : Eventually meets his end performing a Heroic Sacrifice to save a star system during the events of Generations .
• Heroic Sacrifice : The end of his life involved two of these, one attempted and believed to be such by history, and the other one for real. The attempted one being his saving the crew of the Enterprise-B, ending up in the Nexus instead. The one that stuck happened after later choosing to leave the peace and happiness of the Nexus to stop Soran and save the millions of lives in the Veridian system, including the entire crew of the Enterprise-D, none of whom he had even ever met or knew anything about.
• Heroic Self-Deprecation : More pronounced in the movies, but even in the show, he'll find a reason to hate himself, whether it's feeling useless without command, Survivor's Guilt , losing men, having to kill Edith, being impulsive, and in one comic, worried if being a Heroic Seductress meant that he was nasty to women.
• Heroic Willpower : In "Dagger of the Mind," one of the bad guys notes that he hasn't given in when subjected to a force that reduced one of their scientists to screaming. Note that Kirk is still having a bad time, struggling and crying, but he still alerts his ship. In "Elaan of Troyius", he is even able to resist the intoxicating, hypnotic tears of Elaan and force himself to carry on.
• Hero with Bad Publicity : A common theme in Christopher L Bennett’s books is some strong Leaning on the Fourth Wall , with public perception of Kirk being an Ideal Hero who can do no wrong or a reckless bad boy who will sleep with anyone, with neither close to how he actually is.
• Honey Pot : A lot of the time his "getting some" labelled by pop culture is using his charm and good looks to try and save someone else. Still gets him a reputation as Really Gets Around even in-universe during the movies.
• Honor Before Reason : In "Arena" and "Spectre of the Gun", though in both cases "honor" was the right choice.
• I Can Still Fight! : Kirk doesn't like being shut up in medbay at all, much to McCoy's consternation.
• In the Season 2 episode "The Deadly Years", Kirk is stated to be 34-years-old. He had been Captain of the Enterprise for two years at that point, making him 32 at the time he got the promotion — or to put it another way, just a decade out of the Academy, an average of one promotion every two years. note  Commissioned as an Ensign, and then promoted through Lieutenant Junior Grade, Lieutenant, Lieutenant Commander, and Commander to the rank of Captain. Had he continued at that pace, he would have made full Admiral by age 40.
• Although Kirk's rise to the Captaincy was exceptionally rapid, it's clear that he's obviously an extreme outlier with regard to the average quality of Starfleet officers (even in TOS, most other Starship Captains we meet wind up dead or go insane). Contrast his reboot counterpart, who is field-promoted to Captain from Cadet before graduating from the Academy, which might generously be described as a bit farfetched.
• Curiously, his Mirror Universe counterpart, who is considerably less competent than the Prime Kirk, only reached the rank of Captain through plundered alien technology allowing him to remotely eliminate all of his superiors without putting himself in danger of retaliation.
• Improbable Weapon User : In hand-to-hand combat, he will sometimes grab whatever object is nearby, regardless of what it is. Twice, he has used pillows .
• Inferiority Superiority Complex : Throughout the show and the movies; arrogant, paternalistic, swaggering with a Knight in Shining Armor self image, but also massive Survivor's Guilt note  the novelization of the fourth movie has him yelling at Bones not to bring up the “old days” of the Enterprise , as he still remembers having to watch Edith die, as well as his brother, his sister-in-law, and Gary , is exhausted from The Chains of Command yet feels like he’s worth nothing if he’s not Captain, and worries there’s stains on his shining armor. The official show bible makes note that he has a god complex, and hates himself when he inevitably can’t measure up.
• Insane Admiral : Drifts perilously close to this early in Star Trek: The Motion Picture , especially when butting heads with the Enterprise 's new Captain. He gets over it to some extent, but his later actions lead to a "demotion" that puts him back in the captain's chair, which is exactly where he wants to be and resolves the problem.
• In Touch with His Feminine Side : Owns foundation beyond the out of universe putting all the male actors in eyeshadow and mascara, gets distracted by flowers easily, and is happy to joke about himself as a mother.
• It's All About Me : A Jerkass Has a Point moment in “The Ultimate Computer” calls out that it always has to be him who explores a planet or fights the enemy, and as much Heroic Self-Deprecation as he has, fame and glory have a tendency of going to his head.
• It's All My Fault : Of the “everything that happens under my command is my fault” variety (less so for further consequences, which the movies and DS9 will call him out hard on). McCoy and Spock have the “there’s no point in self recrimination” speech down perfectly.
• If he’s hurting about something (his age being a prime example, in both “The Deadly Years” and the movies) then he goes right into denial and Bones has to yell at him. He admits it himself at the end of Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan , saying he’s always managed to push the pain from death down until now.
• Less sympathetic is “The Enemy Within” where even the “good” version of himself is far more interested in pretending it never happened than listening to what Janice is saying.
• Kicked Upstairs : While the actual events differ, most books will have him accept being Admiral the first time, ask for a Captain rank between the first and second movie, quit for a while after, and eventually be kicked into Admiral again because Starfleet is sick of him not actually knowing what he wants and they’d rather keep him on a leash anyway.
• The Kirk : He's the Trope Namer , obviously. Whenever presented with a hard dilemma, he almost always tries to find the Third Option that allows for a morally acceptable solution without sacrificing any more crew or victims.
• And then revived in a Star Trek novel series written by...William Shatner!
• Knight in Sour Armor : Played with in the show, as he doesn't want to admit it, would rather be the Knight in Shining Armor , and it's thanks to the trauma of being one of the few surviving members of the Tarsus IV massacre that he does some terrible things in "The Conscience Of The King" (Lenore, a mentally ill 19-year-old girl who is killing other survivors for the sake of her father, calls him out on using her, and asks if there's stains on his armor). By the movies, he can admit that he feels exhausted, needs his pain, and that his impulsive It's All About Me has cost lives, but will still do the best he can. Kirk : We can admit that we're killers, but we're not going to kill today. That's all it takes. Knowing that we won't kill today.
• Lame Comeback : His being Endearingly Dorky continues as he gets older, having a Fun T-Shirt with the insult (“insult” in big air quotes) “go climb a rock” imprinted on it.
• He's played by William Shatner , after all. Star Trek: The Motion Picture suggests this is a character trait, as he's practically Dull Surprise until Spock comes back.
• “The Enemy Within” plays with it as well, having the good part of Kirk be sedate and softly anxious, while the evil version is just brimming with barely restrained pork, except for when he’s playing weak and charming.
• The Leader : Famously of the Levelheaded type. Come crisis or moral questions, Kirk's main approach was to let his officers have their say on the matter at hand and then try to find a way to successfully combine the various strengths of their advice into an effective solution. He also treated his responsibility to his crew with unwavering seriousness, often sticking his own neck out so they wouldn't have to.
• Legendary in the Sequel : Kirk is depicted as the Captain, against which all of his 24th-century successors are judged (well, eventually. Early TNG episodes treated Kirk's era like it was shrouded in myth, if they acknowledged it at all — even though Dr. McCoy shows up in the pilot episode). Of course, with The Next Generation being the first Star Trek TV series since the original, using an entirely new crew, this was intentional by the producers, who wanted the series to stand on its own. This even extends to the reboot continuity, where a bunch of Romulan space miners living over a century after his heyday immediately recognize James T. Kirk by name as having been Starfleet's greatest Captain.
• Living Legend : Even though the original series depicts his first command, it's clear that he's already becoming one of these. The movies take this trope and run with it.
• Logic Bomb : Known for pulling this move off successfully in just about any episode featuring A.I. Is a Crapshoot ... and then some.
• Lonely at the Top : According to “Where No Man”, Shatner apparently talked to the skippers of atomic submarines so he could get a sense of how lonely and desperate for affection Kirk would be in command.
• The Lost Lenore : The expanded canon books have Edith as someone he loved the most and lost, while also inspiring him to help even more people. Spock, “the noblest half of myself”, at least comes back.
• Love Martyr : The amount of times that someone has hurt him, drugged him, or mind-raped him, and he shoves the anger down. Nobody in-universe can figure out why either, compulsively getting into bad relationships was mentioned in the show bible, Bones and Mulhall treating his trust in Sargon in "Return To Tomorrow" as Stockholm Syndrome , and Odona in "The Mark Of Gideon" asking how he can look at her after what she did to him. He finally breaks in "Requiem For Methuselah", just as upset at getting used as losing someone he fell for.
• Lust Object : Mostly women, but other guys seemed to see it as well. Kirk is one of the few men in popular culture who will regularly use this status to save someone else, provide a distraction, or get information.
• Married to the Job : No matter what, his main commitment is always first and foremost to the safety of the Enterprise and her crew. This sense of duty in him is so overpowering he doesn't even need an antidote to a love potion . This is treated as ultimately unhealthy, as he feels completely lost without command, and the films have him muscle his way back in after getting Kicked Upstairs , not wanting to move on.
• Memetic Badass : In-Universe example. Kirk serves as one for all of Starfleet. When given with the chance of meeting him, Picard and Sisko both positively Squee . Considering that both Picard and Sisko are also examples of this within the Trekverse, that says something.
• The Men First : Being A Father to His Men , Kirk is always insistent on keeping them safe if possible. On a number of occasions note  "The Squire of Gothos", "The Immunity Syndrome", "The Empath" , he has wanted to pull a Heroic Sacrifice (or even tried to do so) to ensure the well-being of his crew, and torturing them is generally a better strategy than torturing him .
• Misery Builds Character : He of the “ I need my pain ” and “ pain can drive a man harder than pleasure ” mindset. Spock and Bones don’t quite agree, both taking turns with “there’s no point in self loathing” speech.
• Missing Mom : All There in the Manual has Kirk’s parents have an Awful Wedded Life , and she leaves to work on Tarsus IV, leaving baby Jim to feel abandoned. She does try later on when he lives with her (he got his rock climbing habit from her), but after the massacre, she uses him as a therapist and he has a complicated relationship with her. Not helped that he repeats her patterns with his own son.
• Mr. Fanservice : That uniform shirt of his will tear open at the touch of a twig. This was not actually intentional; it's just that the tailoring budget for the original show was less than impressive. More intentionally, the green wrap around shirt that’s mostly seen in Season 2, is affectionately called the “fatshirt”, as it’s very form-fitting and shows off everything, along with the much tighter pants Kirk wears than the rest of the crew. Not for nothing that one of Shatner’s nicknames on set was apparently “bubble butt”.
• Must Have Caffeine : Nothing from a super-powerful alien threatening to blow up his ship to a crew member vanishing into thin air on an inexplicably abandoned planet can come between Kirk and his cup of coffee. (When an infestation of tribbles do , then It's Personal !) Kirk: (regarding a cup of tribbles) This was my chicken sandwich and coffee! I want these things off the ship, I don't care if it takes every man we've got!
• Murderous Thighs : Rare Male Example in that one of the few times it’s Shatner in the “Space Seed” fight is when Kirk is trying to choke Khan out with his thighs.
• My God, What Have I Done? : His reaction to sacrificing the Enterprise in The Search for Spock . Understandable, given that for Kirk, it's the equivalent of sacrificing a lover all over again. Good thing Bones was there to remind him: McCoy : What you had to do. What you always do. Turn death into a fighting chance to live.
• My Greatest Failure : Kirk came to see his banishment of Khan as this, as not only did it leave him and his crew off-guard for Khan's Roaring Rampage of Revenge after the unexpected destruction of his world and the death of his wife, but it ended up initially coming at the expense of his best friend's life, something he continued to feel guilty of by The Search for Spock .
• Narcissist : The fragile narcissist, as he’s a good person with compassion, but is self-obsessed in a self-loathing way and overcompensates by swaggering. Lampshaded in the sixth movie, where Marta mocks him that kissing himself must have been his life-long ambition.
• Necessarily Evil : When Shanah in “Gamesters Of Triskelion” is a Woman Scorned because of how he coldly seduced her (and she’s definitely not the only one in the series to feel that way), he’s regretful but calls it necessary and what he had to do, the implication being that he knows he does this all the time.
• Nice Guy : He's more balanced and friendly compared to brash McCoy and aloof Spock.
• No Sense of Personal Space : He’s touchy-feely with everyone, especially Spock, even when he’s not trying to seduce anyone.
• "Not So Different" Remark : From the Romulan Commander in " Balance of Terror ." Also to Kor in “Errand Of Mercy”, as much as he denies it and is ashamed when the Organians finally point it out to him. It doesn’t exactly help his loathing of Klingons.
• For all his Screw the Rules, I'm Doing What's Right! , actively placing his command in danger is rare for him, the main two times being "The Conscience Of The King" and saving Spock in the movies.
• Overlapping with Shatner's in real life ham, in-universe his crew knows something is wrong when Kirk is being quiet . He walks out without a word when called "Captain Dunsel" in "The Ultimate Computer" and they're all worried, and according to the movie novels, has to be snapped back to reality multiple times when silently despairing over Spock's death.
• It doesn’t last long, as he needs some fear and danger, but Kirk gives up in the Nexus, eventually explaining that making his whole identity about the Enterprise has ruined his life, and wants to make up for the mistakes he’s made. ( All There in the Manual having him save every Red Shirt , save Edith, relive his youth etc).
• Officer and a Gentleman : In addition to judo-throwing aliens and romancing to get his way, he finds time to be well-versed in classical literature and offer aid to space-borne refugees.
• Kirk is positively notorious in Starfleet for his violations of the Prime Directive. However lost in the shuffle is that in most cases, Kirk arrives on the scene only after someone has already interfered, and he's now in a position where he must fix or mitigate the damage, or prevent others from interfering.
• In more of a personal example, he accidentally flirted with Helen Noel at a Christmas party, thinking she was a visitor instead of a crewmember (according to the script), and neither Bones or Spock let him live it down. He’s embarrassed and uncomfortable around her until she gives him Fake Memories .
• On the Rebound : In the books, he tries to get back with Carol after Spock dies (“because they’re both alone”) and she rejects him, as her lover was one of the casualties of Khan. He also wants to get with Gillian as a distraction for David’s death , but she’s too busy.
• Out-of-Character Moment : Most of the time, Kirk is a by-the-book guy but prone to impulsiveness and biases, and mostly had to fix messes (and make some more of his own) by violating the Prime Directive, essentially a mix of To Be Lawful or Good and I Did What I Had to Do . In “The Omega Glory”, he says without a shred of irony that a captain would give his life rather than violating the thing.
• Papa Wolf : Kirk is A Father to His Men who makes a habit of punching out any entity, super-powered or not, that messes with anyone in front of him. Hurting his people (or actual children) causes him much Angst and more anger. Do the math on whether messing with anyone under him is a good idea.
• Please, I Will Do Anything! : Word of actor is that he would willingly (if angrily) let himself be a Sex Slave if it meant protecting Spock.
• Guns of steel aside, Shatner at the time had a soft face with long lashes, a tendency to pout, and the camera objectified him as much as humanly possible. Lampshaded in “Wink Of An Eye”, when Deela wants to keep Kirk for a long time because he’s pretty.
• “Spock’s Brain” has one of the males be confused by Kirk specifically, calling him “small, like the others”. “Others” being women, “who give pain and delight”.
• Proud Beauty : Was a Clueless Chick-Magnet when he was younger, with Gary having to push girlfriends on him, but in series knows full well he’s hot, and uses his looks to get out of trouble (and in one officially published fic, free drinks). Lampshaded by Colbert in an interview with Shatner, asking him if he knew he was beautiful in the show, and of course he did.
• Puppy-Dog Eyes : Moreso as he gets older, especially when Spock is Not Himself and Jim wants their old friendship back.
• Rank Up : He gets promoted to rear admiral sometime prior to Star Trek: The Motion Picture . However, at the end of Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home , Starfleet busts him back down to captain for stealing the Enterprise in defiance of orders in The Search for Spock .
• Refusing Paradise : A recurring belief of his, in conjunction with Misery Builds Character , first shown in Who Mourns For Adonais? , turning his back on paradise under Apollo in favor of the real world, believing people must 'march to the sound of drums', as well as ending the 'paradise' in The Apple for the villagers so they could make their own way in reality and become something more. He does this again at the end of his life in Generations , recognizing the Nexus for what it was and finally refusing its eternal happiness and peace to go back to the real world and perform a Heroic Sacrifice , saving the Veridian System and crew of the Enterprise-D from an Omnicidal Maniac .
• Rude Hero, Nice Sidekick : Inverted , Captain Kirk is a charming Officer and a Gentleman . By contrast, his first officer, Spock, is more tactless and ruthlessly pragmatic. The fact that he's also The Stoic when he does these things probably doesn't do his image any favors.
• Samaritan Syndrome : “Let me help.” He takes every red shirt death as a personal failing, to the point that in Season 3 all he can do is tiredly and bitterly phase a grave for one of them.
• Sanity Slippage : It’s there in the movie and onwards, but more pronounced in the books that Kirk is losing it after Spock dies, not wanting to be alone, losing track of reality, and almost certain his reputation in Starfleet will be remembered as a poor, sad nutcase. He’s still not completely all there after Spock comes back either, sleeping around to distract from grief, having breakdowns about Edith, Sam, Gary and his sister in law, and verging on Death Seeker .
• Screw the Rules, I'm Doing What's Right! : Kirk does this quite a bit. Spock reminds him of "our prime directive of non-interference" and he rationalizes a way around it. Hell, if he were anyone else other than James T. Kirk , he'd have been toast long ago, but he is supposed to have unusually broad powers to make decisions affecting his crew, alien societies, and new worlds. Many times he doesn't violate it and instead he or the bridge crew find a clever way to solve the problem without doing so. In fact more often than not, Kirk is in the position of having to undo damage caused by others. Bones : Jim, ethics are one thing, but you’re crucifying yourself on yours.
• Sex for Solace : Attempted at least. The writer’s bible says that the stress from being Captain leads him to acting out compulsively off-duty, and getting himself into unhealthy romances that he can’t get out of. The novel for Star Trek V: The Final Frontier is more explicit about it, wanting to distract himself from grief over his son.
• Sex Slave : Several Season 3 episodes have him trying to get out of becoming breeding stock for one reason or another, or at least trying to get out of being drugged.
• Shirtless Scene : It's not quite to the level of Walking Shirtless Scene , but Kirk appears shirtless a lot in the original TV show. Most famously, it's caused by Clothing Damage during action sequences, but he also tends to just lounge around his quarters without a shirt and such.
• Smart People Play Chess : He's Spock's opponent of choice in chess games and is quite cunning, as a lot of foes have found out, to their regret.
• Sore Loser : Sympathetically, but in a Hard Truth Aesop kind of way. He doesn’t deal well with losing crewmembers, sinking into unhelpful levels of guilt each time, and he programmed the Kobayashi Maru test the third time because he can’t deal with failure. He goes right into self loathing when Spock dies, thinking he’s lost the better half of himself.
• Sudden Name Change : In the second pilot episode, Gary Mitchell, possessed of near-omnipotent alien powers, fights Kirk and creates an open grave with a tombstone reading "James R. Kirk." This would normally be a minor matter, but given how many times Kirk later introduces himself as "James T. Kirk," it's actually quite jarring. Michael Jan Friedman's books turned into a inside joke between Kirk and Mitchell from their Academy days. note  Lieutenant Kirk boasted that "Racquetball is my middle name" when challenegd to a game by Cadet Mitchell, then Gary would joke that the R stood for different things like "Rhinocerous" or "Resourceful" when Kirk got into a tight scrape.
• Survivor Guilt : A deleted scene in "The Conscience of the King" would have revealed that Kirk one of the people whom Kodos deemed worthy of saving in his eugenics program, which would further explain Kirk's hatred of him. Really, though, it would probably apply either way, since no matter whether he was chosen to live or whether he escaped execution, he survived when thousands of others didn't.
• Talking the Monster to Death : Far more often than he gets credit for these days. Kirk is good at talking monsters to death (AKA fast talking his way out of a jam). Since he routinely runs into Sufficiently Advanced Aliens who cannot be defeated with firepower, it's an important skill.
• Teacher's Pet : Was a humorless walking stack of books on legs when he was younger, and actually programmed the unwinnable Kobayashi Maru test on his third go because he saw failing as something he couldn’t live with.
• Thousand-Yard Stare : The worst ones come after Edith dies, after Spock dies and after admitting to Picard that being dutiful got him an empty house, but he’s prone to lesser ones generally.
• To Be Lawful or Good : One of the most frequent moral dilemmas faced by Kirk in quite a few stories. To his credit, he usually manages to come up with a way to actually be both lawful and good, but when his back is truly against the metaphorical wall, he will slightly lean towards the good option and be willing to bend the rules, though he never takes such a decision lightly.
• Took a Level in Cynic : There was always a bit of a stain on his shining armor in the series, but he’s much more weary by the time of the movies. The losses of Spock, his son, and the original Enterprise only make it worse, and he’s a hair’s close to just completely giving up in the Nexus.
• Trademark Favorite Food : Has a definite fondness for Saurian Brandy, with his evil half chugging it straight from the bottle in “The Enemy Within”.
• A Tragedy of Impulsiveness : Kirk isn’t reckless, but he is impulsive and can let his emotions and biases get the better of him (that’s why having Bones and Spock around helps him out). He admits this himself in the sixth movie, mourning that he was so clouded by the loss of his son (and never liking Klingons much anyway) that he was an easy scapegoat for the assassination plot.
• Tragic Hero : Originally a Broken Hero , the movies (and even more so for the book version of the movies) have him make a lot of mistakes that cost dear collateral damage, and he dies not in a blaze of glory like he wants, but suffocating and bleeding under a fallen bridge, just happy that he’s made a difference.
• Tragic Mistake : It’s a combination of being manipulated by a girlfriend in Starfleet, the trauma of season three making him think he needs another position, and Spock going back to Vulcan that makes Kirk accept being an Admiral. He makes even more mistakes trying to get his ship back, and even after he’s demoted like he wants it’s still a factor in his depression, telling Picard never to accept promotion.
• He worries everyone with how much he wants vengeance in “Arena” (even if he realises by the end) for what he thinks is a massacre/invasion, and he’s particularly upset with massacres that claim to be “clean”. He spends the last quarter of “Miri” sounding on the verge of a breakdown.
• The presence of Karidian / Kodos on the Enterprise brings up some bad memories of Tarsus IV, since he witnessed the massacre and watched a friend suffer permanent injuries.
• At the end of “Elaan Of Troyius”, having sex with her under the influence of being drugged, he tells Elaan that he has no choice remembering her. In the novel version of the sixth movie, it’s explicit that he doesn’t resist Martia kissing and spooning him due to wanting to get out of there, but still feels sick and guilty.
• Trauma Conga Line : A lot of it is self-imposed angst, but the movies do a number on him until he's broken down enough to want to stay in the Nexus. It's only the fact that there's no risk that gets him out of the funk, and he goes out Married to the Job as ever. Kirk : It was fun ...
• True Companions : with Spock and McCoy .
• Ultimate Job Security : Later crews even lampshade that Kirk shouldn't have been able to get away with so much. However, the times when he's reckless or rebellious have been exaggerated in popular culture's perception of the character; ordinarily, he's a pretty law-abiding guy. Furthermore, Starfleet looking the other way regarding his more wild exploits makes sense insofar as the Enterprise is continually getting mixed up in situations where one wrong decision could result in the destruction of humanity at the hands of alien forces, and Kirk is the only captain proven to have a talent for continually making the right call in those circumstances. Organizational discipline is one thing, but species survival trumps it.
• Urban Legend Love Life : Both in-universe and out. While quite charming and capable with women, Kirk was rather restrained and mature about it despite his reputation. Even Shatner and Nimoy around the time of Star Trek: The Motion Picture were getting annoyed with Kirk’s “love them and leave them” pop culture rep, and reminded people that sometimes Kirk went “ no no ” (though as the series bible and Shatner also points out, still a lot of Sex for Solace on shore leave because of the loneliness of the Enterprise ). In-universe he gets fucked over frequently, the assumption being the seduction tactics are just him wanting to sleep with everyone, and many years after his day even his biggest fans assume and believe this about him. Captain Sisko : "Kirk had quite the reputation as a ladies man."
• It should be noted that despite this being such an infamous trait of Kirk's, it's only Shatner 's Kirk who talks like this. Both Pine and Wesley consciously chose not to imitate it. Like the mysteriously disappearing and reappearing Klingon forehead ridges, this simply creates questions which are probably impossible to answer. Pine, for his part, proved he could do the "Kirk voice" when he appeared in one of the many Saturday Night Live parodies of Star Trek , in which he played the Kirk from TOS.
• In "Get a Life!" Shatner claims that it's a holdover from his D-list theatre days, when it was the only thing that kept the audience awake. Since his daughter thinks Kevin Pollack does a better Kirk than him, he also asks Pollack to help him punch up his Kirk.
• Wacky Parent, Serious Child : Deconstructed in the bio, as Kirk is more like his mother than he wants to be, but she regresses after the trauma of Tarsus and uses him as a therapist, while he suffers Innocence Lost . He also has to comfort his parents after the death of Sam, when he would like nothing more than to go home and be looked after.
• War Hero : Captain Kirk is openly stated to have been decorated many times for valor. Kirk doesn't talk about his awards or display them, preferring to keep them locked away in his quarters.
• What Beautiful Eyes! : The main reason for all the close ups of them with everything else in a darker light seems to be just for pointing out his big and luxuriously lashed bambi eyes.
• What the Hell, Hero? : Kirk gets his fair share, whether it’s from women upset that he’s pretended to love them as a means to whatever end, from Bones or Spock for being an impulsive martyr, or literally anyone for getting too much into a soldier mindset and acting like a dick as a captain.
• Worth It : Despite some not entirely undeserved grumbling about what a lifetime of service has gotten him, Kirk still helps Picard fight Soren in Generations . His last words? "It was fun."
• Worthy Opponent : Klingons, in particular, recognized Kirk as this. The legendary Kor, frustrated by Organian interference that made battle against Kirk impossible, wistfully surmised, "it would have been glorious" in 2267. Captain Klaa believed defeating Kirk would make him the greatest warrior in the galaxy in 2287. General Chang reveled in his attack on Kirk at the Battle of Khitomer, until he lost his advantage. Jadzia Dax would later relate Koloth telling Kurzon Dax about verbally sparring with Kirk on a space station, and lament he never had the opportunity to face Kirk in actual battle. The Romulan Commander of "Balance of Terror" also regards Kirk as a formidable opponent, acting as the Commander himself would in Kirk's place, calling him a sorcerer who "reads the thoughts in my head," and goes to his death telling Kirk "You and I are of a kind. In a different reality, I could have called you friend."
• Wounded Gazelle Gambit : The only time his evil half shows any intelligence, is when he’s playing charming and weak, lulling his good half into a false sense of security before slamming him against the wall and knocking him out. Kirk as a whole person will use nicer variations of the tactic with so many women, and a few men too.
• Wrestler in All of Us : You may have noticed Kirk isn’t actually good at fighting (the throwing himself at the three guys in “Tomorrow Is Yesterday” and the butt move in “Journey To Babel” are two good examples). This is because Shatner took it from wrestling he saw growing up, because he wanted to make it look like Kirk was always improvising.
• Wrong Genre Savvy : He really wants to believe he’s the shining knight when in reality, Lenore was right saying there was a stain on his armor, and he’s had to admit more than once that he wants blood. Wrath Of Khan finally dissuades him of the notion, telling his son morosely that he knows nothing, and part of his arc is having to deal with losses instead of trying to ignore them.

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds

Portrayed By: Paul Wesley

Appearances: star trek: strange new worlds.

In the setting of Strange New Worlds , Kirk is presently a lieutenant serving on the Farragut before being promoted to First Officer. In the Prime timeline, after two alterate variants of the character appeared before him, Lieutenant Kirk finally appears as the recently promoted first officer of the USS Farragut , which was collaborating with the USS Enterprise on a mission.

• The Ace : Top of his class at Starfleet Academy, and (will be) the youngest captain in the fleet. He's already become the fastest promoted First Officer in Starfleet, breaking the record previously held by his father.
• Jim's struggle with his father's legacy in the Prime Reality stems from the fact that the elder George Kirk was always away helping others, and famed for being the youngest officer in the fleet to be promoted to first officer. In the Kelvin Timeline, Jim struggled with the fact that George was revered for having sacrificed his life on the Kelvin to save its crew, including Jim and his mother.
• The circumstances behind Kirk meeting Pike and Uhura are also much different. In the Kelvin Timeline, he met both in a bar brawl trying to flirt with Uhura and getting into a fight with Starfleet cadets, with Pike daring him to do better than the late George Kirk did instead of wasting his life. He meets Uhura while nursing a drink after an argument with his brother, and has to make it clear he's not flirting with her (even when she decks him during a hallucination), with his first meeting with Pike being a result of his efforts to help Uhura.
• While later works in the franchise establish that Kirk has a reputation as a ladies man, it is established here that when in a relationship he will remain committed to his partner and his natural charm and outgoing personality are easily mistaken as him being a flirt.
• Annoying Younger Sibling : As far as Sam Kirk's concerned, Jim is this on account of the way he's advancing through the Starfleet ranks; Sam thinks he's just trying to one up him to please their father.
• Big Good : He's a bit of a maverick, but he's one of Starfleet's best officers and a paragon of their ideals.
• Call-Forward : He immediately takes notice of Spock's skill and insight, hinting at their eventual friendship.
• Chronic Hero Syndrome : La'an quickly calls him out for "helping every stranger in need". He gets it from his father.
• Commonality Connection : In his first meeting with Spock, both men feel that Sam is a huge pain in the ass.
• Doomed by Canon : He turns down a relationship with La'an because he's in an off-again/on-again relationship with a woman named Carol, and she's pregnant. She doesn't even give him a chance to be a father. His son fares no better.
• Exact Words : He mentioned that he first met Pike when he became Fleet Captain. Turns out that it wasn't the exact time he was promoted; Pike had been given a temporary promotion to Fleet Captain, and Kirk happened to be on that same assignment.
• Guile Hero : His defining trait. If there's even a slight chance to Take a Third Option , he'll do it. His brother Sam mentions that he doesn't like to lose, and will do whatever it takes to avoid that.
• No Hero to His Valet : His older brother Sam makes it clear that he's one of the best captains in Starfleet. He also freely acknowledges that his little brother is a massive pain in the ass. Later, it turns out his brother is The Resenter of Kirk's rapid success in Starfleet, making Sam feel inadequate compared to his equally-famous father. Sam Kirk: Look, I'm not gonna say that Jim isn't a pain in the ass . He is. He's a huge pain in the ass. But the truth is, he's as fine a Captain as Starfleet has.
• Rank Up : He's given a promotion to First Officer of the Farragut in his first "Prime" appearance, albeit that it's going to take a few weeks until they can train his replacement.
• Reasonable Authority Figure : As Uhura begins to suffer from mysterious complications related to the mining facility the ship is stationed at, and seems to be the only one experiencing them, Kirk is the one officer that takes the extra step to help her out, as the rest of the Enterprise crew think she's just suffering from over-exhaustion and a form of radiation poisoning, which he suspects is something more.
• Smart People Play Chess : Prime Kirk points out a mistake that Spock makes in a game against Christine Chapel and how it costs him an easy win.
• Vitriolic Best Buds : He loves his brother Sam and would go to any lengths to keep him safe, but Sam's jealous attitude about his brother's fast-advancing career makes things an annoyance for the younger Kirk.
• "Well Done, Son" Guy : Sam accuses Jim of this by trying to outdo their father's already impressive Starfleet career.
• When You Coming Home, Dad? : George Kirk, in contrast to being dead in the Kelvin Timeline, was rarely home to spend time with his sons, having vested himself to his Starfleet career. This left Jim wondering why his father was choosing to help total strangers instead of making an effort to be there with his family.

    A Quality of Mercy Kirk (spoilers)  

• Always Someone Better : To Pike, at least in the scenario of "Balance of Terror". The viewer gets the benefit of seeing that Kirk's handling of the Romulans would have indeed proven itself correct, as Kirk's more aggressive response discouraged the Romulans' belligerence, while Pike's attempt at diplomacy and negotiation in an alternate timeline was seen as weakness.
• Batman Gambit : He does these so frequently that he's able to identify one on sight. When the Romulans let their appearance leak, showing that they're similar to Vulcans, Kirk suspects they did it to sow discord amongst Federation officers.
• Birds of a Feather : We first meet this version of Kirk in an alternate timeline where he never captained the Enterprise , and thus he meets Spock much later than he did before. That aside, they both get on immediately due to their shared ability to think outside the box and to also be pragmatic when the occasion calls for it.
• Strange Minds Think Alike : Both he and Spock agree that showing weakness in front of the Romulans is bad, but for different reasons. Kirk doesn't want the Romulans to think the Federation won't defend themselves. Spock knows how vicious Vulcans were before they embraced logic, and if Romulans are an off-shoot of that martial philosophy, then he knows they should not be under-estimated.
• What the Hell, Hero? : Pike hesitating against the Romulans costs Kirk the Farragut , and he's not happy about that. Kirk doesn't want war, but he also isn't willing to hesitate against a violent enemy. "You flinched! You deliberated! And you lost! "

    Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow Kirk (spoilers)  

• Big Brother Instinct : Or rather, little brother instinct. He has no pretense of altering the timeline until La'an reveals Sam is still alive in her time, at which point he changes his tune.
• Dies Differently in Adaptation : Instead of having a bridge dropped on him after traveling into the future, he dies in the past with a point-blank disruptor shot to the chest.
• For Want Of A Nail : In this timeline, the Romulans assassinated a child named Khan Noonien Singh before he could become the infamous dictator of the Eugenics Wars. Without him, they never occurred, but it didn't give humanity the kick in the teeth it needed for losing billions of lives to it, and they became an isolationist government with a bleak, barely habitable Earth, and are stuck in a war with the Romulans that they're implied to be losing. For Kirk, he was born on the Iowa instead of Riverside, Iowa, his brother is dead (well, dead before he should be ), and his only contact with Spock is a message to tell him they can't help.
• In Spite of a Nail : He still becomes Captain of the Enterprise , albeit much earlier than he did in the Prime Reality.
• The Lost Lenore : For La'an, compounded by the presence of Prime Kirk as an eternal reminder. As of " Subspace Rhapsody ", she is still holding onto the watch he gave her .
• Smart People Play Chess : Not only does the alternate version of Kirk in season 2 defeat multiple 21st-century opponents at traditional chess, but he also dismisses it as "idiot's chess".

Tropes applying to the novelverse Kirk

    Novelverse Kirk 

• Antiquated Linguistics : How Bones got his nickname, according to "The Captain's Oath". Kirk called McCoy a 'sawbones' in one of their early meetings, and Bones was amused by the fact the younger man was using more outdated language than the self-professed country doctor.
• Break the Badass : He's initially talked into experimenting with time travel by Admiral Delgado on the grounds of "think of the potential". After what happens with Edith, Kirk's attitude is locked into " screw the potential". The events of "Yesteryear" do not help. At all.
• But for Me, It Was Tuesday : The events of The Motion Picture , specifically V'Ger's ascension. A mass freak out occurs across Federation space, with people debating what it means, some people seeing Kirk as a religious icon and some as a monster who kills AI. Kirk doesn't get what the big deal is.
• Cassandra Truth : Some of Jim's more... unusual exploits tend to get dismissed by 24th century characters as being implausible, or stuff he made up (such as that incident where someone supposedly stole Spock's brain). The Enterprise -E crew, on hearing the things about "Requiem for Methuselah", however, are more open-minded (run-ins with Q will do that).
• "The Captain's Oath" shows Kirk's transformation from the humorless terror of the Academy to the rules-lawyering man of the show proper, along with the start of his friendships with Bones and Spock.
• A flashback in "Forgotten History" shows the transitory Kirk at the end of the five year mission - he's gotten fed up of The Chains of Commanding , the lost red shirts, the various failed romances and chasing around the galaxy, and is looking to pack it all in and take a desk job, maybe just settle down with someone.
• "Ex Machina" has Kirk beginning to go from getting his fire back at the end of The Motion Picture to the man we see in Wrath of Khan , feeling his age and use diminishing in equal measure.
• Designated Villain : In-universe, even. The Department of Temporal Investigations calls Kirk one of the biggest menaces of time travel on record; a boogeyman held up as a cautionary example of exactly what not to do. Most of Kirk's seventeen violations were accidents, or things Starfleet got him into. Agent Lucsly even comes to realize this when an eighteenth violation brings him into contact with the man, and he sees the dreaded "Time Pirate" isn't so bad as all that. But for the sake of the Department, he still has to lie and maintain Kirk's image.
• Famous for Being First : Among other unsavory bits of his reputation, he's the first captain to be court-martialed thanks to that mess with Ben Finney.
• A Father to His Men : Used to justify why he keeps leading shore parties - he doesn't want to expose anyone to danger he wouldn't face himself.
• Improbable Age : As mentioned up above, he made Captain by his thirties, which gets mentioned in "The Captain's Oath", with one or two characters thinking poorly of him for it, figuring he didn't earn it on legitimate merit.
• Kicked Upstairs : Sort of... his being made admiral is a little more complicated. There was a court martial after Kirk decided to screw the Prime Directive again, this time when an Obstructive Bureaucrat was on-board (of the TNG-era style mindset of "the Prime Directive says they must die"). The bureaucrat had been put there by Admiral Delgado, who wanted Kirk out of the way so he could get his hands on the Enterprise engines, but Admiral Nogura actually did want Kirk as a Fleet Admiral because he thought he'd be good at it.
• Love at First Sight : No, not Spock. The Enterprise . Kirk fell in love with the old girl the first moment he saw the bridge. (Spock played Moment Killer .)
• His various meddlings with alien cultures. Related, his habit of destroying AIs , which even has pro-AI groups seeing him as some sort of demon.
• Apparently Spock taunted him about not recognising who Surak was that one time. Afterward, Kirk made time to study up on Vulcan history.
• His reputation as a seducer. One book in New Frontier has a member of the Excalibur crew decry this reputation Kirk has... only to seconds later state he did seduce her grandmother .
• A century onward, and Flint is still ticked off with him, and Starfleet types in general.
• Red Baron : The Department of Temporal Investigations brand Kirk "The Time Pirate".

Captain James T. Kirk (Kelvin Timeline)

Played by: Chris Pine

Dubbed in french by: emmanuel garijo, dubbed in brazilian portuguese by: marcelo garcia, appearances: star trek | star trek into darkness | star trek beyond.

• Abusive Parents : His unseen stepfather is heavily implied to have been abusive towards him and his brother. In the original script, his friend "Johnny" that young Kirk speaks to is his brother George Jr., who was running away from home due to this and learning their stepfather intended to sell their biological father's prized car. Kirk, meanwhile, decided to total it to spite him .
• Adaptational Angst Upgrade : Due to his father's death, this Kirk had a significantly rougher upbringing. He was essentially an aimless drifter before Pike encouraged him to step up while the original Kirk had wanted to join from a young age. Even by Beyond where he's mostly grown back into his original characterization, the loss of his father still weighs on him.
• Adaptational Dumbass : While far from stupid (Pike describes him as "the only genius-level repeat offender in the Midwest"), this version of Kirk is more prone to reckless overconfidence and impulsive action than the Prime universe version, though this can mostly be put down to inexperience ; the Prime Kirk was an experienced, seasoned officer when he became Captain of the Enterprise , whereas this one got the job while he was still a cadet. By Star Trek Beyond , he's closer to his original portrayal.
• Adaptational Dye-Job : A minor example; the original Kirk had hazel eyes, while this one's eyes are blue.
• Adaptational Personality Change : This Kirk is more laid back than the original .
• AM/FM Characterization : In his first scene, he's hanging up on his step-father in favor of blasting Beastie Boys ' "Sabotage" (a song that In-Universe is a 100-plus-years-old) over the radio, establishing his disregard for authority (and a certain degree of love for Good Old Ways , even if they clash with Federation standards) even before the character says a single word. The detail about "Sabotage" being so old it's considered "classic" (and Kirk loving it) gets a Call-Back gag on Star Trek Beyond .
• Amusing Injuries : A lot of them in the first movie. Gets shades of it in the first half-hour of the second, but after Admiral Pike dies, the joke stops being funny in a real hurry.
• Anti-Hero : He's a Chivalrous Pervert and Jerk with a Heart of Gold with some serious issues when it comes to authority. But at the end of the day, you can count on him to do what's right, even if it conflicts with protocol. By the end of Star Trek Into Darkness , he's becoming more of a Hero Classic.
• Arch-Enemy : No matter the universe or timeline, Kirk and Khan will always be bitter enemies.
• Badass Biker : Star Trek Beyond has Kirk show his amazing biker skills when he averts the attention of Krall's men.
• Badass Normal : No superpowers, but he'll go charging in anyway.
• Big Brother Mentor : To Chekov in Into Darkness and Beyond .
• Big Ol' Eyebrows : The character retains Chris Pine 's bushy eyebrows.
• Birthday Hater : He hates celebrating his birthday because it reminds him of his father's death. In Beyond , he hates it even more because he's now one year older than his father ever got to be.
• Boldly Coming : Zigzagged . So far, he's bedded an Orion woman and Caitian twins, but both those incidents took place on Earth. When he's on the Enterprise or otherwise away from his home planet, he avoids actually romancing anyone.
• Kirk is confident about himself, fearless, and absolutely believes there's no such thing as a no-win scenario, prompting him to cheat at the Kobayashi Maru test to prove his point. But then comes Star Trek Into Darkness where he gets demoted and lost the command of the Enterprise , lost his father-figure Pike, and almost led his entire ship to its demise because of his impulsiveness (good thing Scotty saved them) . Kirk: I'm sorry...
• At the beginning of Into Darkness , he bragged how no one in his crew was killed in the past six months of his command, then his mission to Kronos cost the lives of his escorts, many of the crewmen sucked into space at warp speed and fell into their deaths when the ship was crashing. Kirk was unable to do anything but watch. He tried to save one woman, but she slipped from his fingers.
• On the mission to infiltrate the Vengeance , he ordered Spock to stay and take command of the ship, admitting that he didn't know what to do. He realized Spock was the one needed while he's expendable.
• By the time he's dying, he's definitely broken . Kirk: I'm scared, Spock. Help me not be...
• Brilliant, but Lazy : Kirk has a brilliant tactical mind and is an outstanding leader, but only if you can pry him away from women and alcohol long enough. Pike even refers to him as the "only genius-level repeat-offender in the Midwest."
• Broken Ace : While Kirk Prime had shades of this, the premature loss of his father in this reality definitely has caused this Kirk to grow up a lot more rough around the edges. Many of his behaviors, such as excessive flirting and posturing, could be construed as coping mechanisms for his Dark and Troubled Past .
• He gets choked by Spock at one point and by a Romulan at another . Both times with some pretty good acting by Pine. It hurts as you try to catch your breath afterwards. Pine actually mentioned in an interview that he admires Harrison Ford for his ability to take a beating like it really hurts , and that he considered that an underrated skill.
• Kirk getting repeatedly owned in hand-to-hand combat with Spock and the Romulans is somewhat justifiable, considering they're meant to be three times stronger than humans.
• The second film is no different, although it's less humorous this time around: He accidentally shoots the ride that he and Bones were going to use to get back to the Enterprise , loses his ship (temporarily), watches his father figure Pike die , gets the snot beaten out of him by Harrison, and he even dies (albeit temporarily) a very painful death of radiation poisoning .
• By the third movie, his injuries aren't so amusing anymore.
• The Captain : Captain of the Enterprise , leading his Ragtag Bunch of Misfits across the stars.
• Cerebus Callback : Kirk's Heroic Sacrifice in into Darkness is a direct reference to Kirk and Spock's debate in the first film after Kirk cheated on the simulation.
• Character Development : Grows from a smart-ass drifter to a capable leader throughout the first film, and learns to abandon some of his Military Maverick and Leeroy Jenkins tendencies in the second. By the third, he is becoming jaded with never-ending exploration and considers taking a promotion to a desk job, though he later turns it down and loses his jadedness.
• The Charmer : Flaws aside, he's likable, friendly, and charming.
• Chick Magnet : Gaila was into him in the first movie and the sequel has him in bed with two Caitians.
• Chivalrous Pervert : Despite how much he flirts with women, we never see Kirk get pushy, and the only woman he ever (visibly) scores with is Uhura's roommate. Though in Into Darkness , he's in bed with two Caitians. As for the "chivalrous" part, it's worth noting that, despite chasing Uhura the entire first movie, he treats her as a professional and an officer worthy of respect and never makes a pass at her in the second movie. They even have a Friendship Moment bonding over their frustration with Spock.
• Dark and Troubled Past : Heavily alluded to. Kirk lost his father just minutes after his birth, was frequently abused by his stepfather while his mother was off-planet, his brother ran away when Jim was still young because he hated their stepfather so much, nearly killed himself by driving a car off a cliff when he was 12, and was already a repeat offender long before enlisting in Starfleet. It certainly explains a lot of the behavioral differences between him and Kirk Prime.
• Deadpan Snarker : Kirk often exhibits a dry wit. Kirk : The enemy of my enemy is my friend. Spock : An Arabic proverb attributed to a prince who was betrayed and decapitated by his own subjects.. Kirk : Well, still, it's a hell of a quote.
• Determinator : He doesn't believe in no-win scenarios and is certainly one stubborn fellow once he sets his mind to accomplishing something. He keeps fighting physically superior beings (Vulcans, Romulans, Klingons, Harrison), and either holds his own or keeps going despite taking beatings that others would collapse from.
• Did Not Get the Girl : Kirk hits on Uhura at the beginning of the first movie, but she turns him down. It is later revealed that she and Spock have an established relationship. In the Star Trek (IDW) comics and subsequent films, he's actually quite supportive of the relationship and gets worried about them when problems arise.
• Embarrassing Middle Name : To the point his father refused to let it be Kirk's first name. George Kirk: What, "Tiberius?" [chuckling] No, are you kidding me? That's the worst.
• Of Pete "Maverick" Mitchell . Both are Military Mavericks who are also Handsome Leches and eventually prove their mettle when faced with danger in an emergency situation. Both also served on the USS Enterprise and have fathers who were killed in action.
• To make things more interesting, he also has traits of Jason Nesmith from Galaxy Quest — who was himself an expy of Shatner's Kirk (bringing things full-circle). Both start out as arrogant jerks who go through major Break the Haughty plots and emerge humbler and more serious about leadership.
• Farm Boy : Kirk was raised on a farm in Iowa.
• A Father to His Men : Kirk loves his crew as if they were his family. Harrison notices this and presents his own love for his crew as a point of similarity between them. Towards the end of Into Darkness , Kirk provides an answer to the question posed by Harrison when he gives his life (temporarily) to save the Enterprise and her crew . Harrison : My crew is my family, Kirk. Is there anything you would not do for your family?
• Fight Magnet : He gets into no fewer than four fistfights during the first film and loses pretty much all of them.
• First-Name Basis : McCoy mostly is on this with Kirk, Spock, and Scotty as well, but not so much.
• Fire-Forged Friends : He and Spock had to be this first, though.
• Former Teen Rebel : In Pike's words, "The only genius-level repeat offender in the Midwest."
• Freudian Trio : The Military Maverick and Handsome Lech id to Spock's superego and McCoy 's ego .
• Genius Bruiser : According to Pike, "[his] aptitude tests are off the chart." And he's good in a scrap.
• Guile Hero : He loses most of the physical fights he gets involved in and has limited scientific expertise. Instead, Kirk relies on his wits to win.
• Hair of Gold, Heart of Gold : A bit jerkish , maybe, but Kirk still fits the archetype of a heroic blond protagonist. This trait also contrasts against Harrison and Admiral Marcus .
• Handsome Lech : Played by the attractive Chris Pine , but also eyeballs every woman in the vicinity (even while delirious from the vaccine McCoy gave him).
• The Hero : He is the lead protagonist of all three films.
• The Hero Dies : In Into Darkness . But only briefly . It helps that McCoy put him into cryostasis to preserve Kirk's body as soon as possible .
• Heroic Sacrifice : Goes into the radiation-filled warp reactor of the Enterprise during Star Trek Into Darkness to save his crew .
• He also has elements of this with McCoy , which is especially apparent in the first film. In this universe, if there's anyone who's going to stick by Kirk's side through thick and thin, it's the good doctor. And he's proven it plenty so far.
• I Am Not My Father : He does not enjoy constantly being compared to his deceased father.
• Iron Butt Monkey : Frequently gets his ass handed to him in fights, but makes up for it with guile and simply refusing to give up.
• It's Personal : In the sequel after Harrison murders Pike .
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold : Kirk can be a rather manipulative Guile Hero . However, Kirk is never out to hurt anyone just for his own ends and it's made clear he's only acting up because he lacks a challenge worthy of his smarts. Most importantly, he uses his cunning to save the universe.
• The Leader : Starts out as The Headstrong type, which gets brutally deconstructed as he leads the Enterprise into near-destruction. After coming back from being mostly dead , he grows into The Levelheaded type.
• Living Emotional Crutch : He and Uhura are this to Spock . He is Spock's closest friend (besides Uhura) and their bond is a crucial one in the franchise. Zoe Saldaña even describes how he and Uhura are emotional crutches to Spock in the documentary For the Love of Spock : Zoe: Every time he [Spock] goes into a negative place, or he starts being a little bit of a pessimist, he allows Uhura and Kirk to snap him out of it. And I really like that.
• Manly Tears : When he sees that Pike has died during Harrison's assault .
• Military Maverick : Regularly says Screw the Rules, I'm Doing What's Right! or straight-out leaps before he looks.
• Mr. Fanservice : Played by the attractive Chris Pine , and has a number of shirtless scenes .
• Not Quite Dead : McCoy revives him with Khan's enhanced blood, even lampshades it by saying "Oh, don't be so melodramatic. You were barely dead."
• Over Ranked Soldier : Gets an official promotion to Captain at the end of the first film. Note that he wasn't even technically a Cadet at the time. The expectable happens in the sequel when it shows he's as hot-headed as ever.
• Papa Wolf : Kirk will do anything to ensure the safety of his crew.
• Red Oni, Blue Oni : The brash, rule-breaking Red Oni to Spock's logical, task-orientated Blue Oni.
• Revenge Before Reason : He's dead-set on killing Harrison after Pike's death , to the point that he's nearly manipulated into provoking a war with the Klingons . His crew talks him out of it before it's too late .
• This actually gets him in trouble in the sequel, as Starfleet, for some reason , does not like him violating the Prime Directive. He's actually stripped of his command and Pike has to struggle to keep him as Commander .
• Seen It All : He has a different flavour of angst in Beyond than his original, Prime Kirk feeling like he's nothing without the Enterprise , Reboot Kirk tired of how "episodic" it all feels.
• During Spock and Uhura's conversation on Qo'noS, he was clearly on her side, commenting that she's right and Spock's response to Uhura's accusation is "not exactly a love song."
• Despite Spock's injuries, Kirk still allows him to join the mission into Krall's camp after Spock says it's for Uhura.
• Took a Level in Badass : Goes from a delinquent in Iowa to being a legendary captain who saved the Federation from total annihilation twice .
• Took a Level in Kindness : He starts out a Jerk with a Heart of Gold , but loses the jerk part by the third movie.
• Used to Be a Sweet Kid : A Deleted Scene reveals that Kirk, as a child, would get good grades and stay out of trouble. Things didn't stay that way. invoked
• Vitriolic Best Buds : With McCoy . And Spock, far more in the Abramsverse than the original series.
• Wrong Genre Savvy : While he's fully in the right not to trust Khan during their Enemy Mine , he might have ordered Scotty to knock him out a little too early, though admittedly they'd probably not have fared well owing to Khan's Chronic Back Stabbing Disorder .
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Screen Rant

I'm glad star trek into darkness deleted kirk lying in his captain's log.

Star Trek Into Darkness deleted a scene where Captain Kirk lies in his Captain's log that painted Jim in a truly terrible light.

• Deleting the scene of Captain Kirk lying in his log was a wise move by J.J. Abrams, as it painted Kirk in a poor light.
• Spock emerges as the true hero in Star Trek Into Darkness, adhering to Starfleet values while Kirk falters repeatedly.
• Kirk's actions in the film make him harder to root for, as Spock shines in his ability to effectively manage escalating crises.

Star Trek Into Darkness deleted a scene in which Captain James T. Kirk (Chris Pine) publicly lies in his Captain's log, which painted him in a terrible light. The second Star Trek reboot film directed by J.J. Abrams pits Kirk and the crew of the Starship Enterprise against two foes: the genetically engineered madman Khan Noonien Singh (Benedict Cumberbatch) and the diabolically corrupt Starfleet Admiral Alexander Marcus (Peter Weller). But in many ways, Captain Kirk's worst enemy in Star Trek Into Darkness is himself.

Before Captain Kirk tangled with Khan and Marcus to prevent all-out war the Klingons, Star Trek Into Darkness opened with the USS Enterprise's disastrous mission on the planet Nibiru. Ordered to simply survey the primitive world, Kirk allowed the natives to see the Starship Enterprise as he tried to rescue Commander Spock (Zachary Quinto) from a volcano. While Kirk's intentions to save Nirbiru from a planetary apocalypse were noble, Jim's reckless actions grossly violated Star Trek 's Prime Directive . Worse, Kirk lied about it.

Star Trek Into Darkness Ending & Problems Explained

Kirk lying in his captain's log in star trek into darkness' deleted scene makes him worse, falsifying a captain's log in front of his crew is indefensible..

A deleted scene from Star Trek Into Darkness posted by @AosdailyBTS on X shows Captain Kirk composing his Captain's log about the Nibiru mission on the bridge of the Starship Enterprise. Kirk blatantly lies about what transpired on Nibiru, claiming he "thought it wise to stay off the planet altogether" and calling the catastrophe "uneventful." Making matters worse, Captain Kirk spun his falsities and mockery of Starfleet's code of honor in full view of his appalled bridge crew . Check out the scene below:

J.J. Abrams was wise to leave this scene out of Star Trek Into Darkness' final cut. The arrogant way Kirk lies in his Captain's log is indefensible, and it casts James in a poor light. As it plays out in Star Trek Into Darkness , Kirk does lie in his log, and he's called out by Admiral Christopher Pike (Bruce Greenwood) immediately after Spock filed a truthful report in his log. But to actually see Kirk so flippantly lie in front of his crew is a blight on his character , and makes Kirk harder to root for in Star Trek Into Darkness.

Star Trek Into Darkness Made Spock A Better Enterprise Captain Than Kirk

Spock rose to the occasion in star trek into darkness.

In many ways, Chris Pine's young Captain Kirk is at his nadir in Star Trek Into Darkness, while Spock shines as the hero Kirk ought to be . Star Trek Into Darkness paints Spock as unable to "break a rule," but the Vulcan Science Officer acts honorably throughout the film, and maintains Starfleet's values while Captain Kirk repeatedly falters. It's Spock who told the truth about Nibiru because ethics demanded it, and Spock again successfully argued against the immorality of Kirk firing torpedoes to kill Khan instead of apprehending him for a trial.

Spock rose to the occasion and captured Khan with Lt. Nyota Uhura's (Zoe Saldana) help.

Kirk admitted to Spock that, "I have no idea what I'm supposed to do. I only know what I can do." Comparatively, the Vulcan didn't take a false step as he effectively managed Star Trek Into Darkness ' escalating crises. To Kirk's credit, he did align the Enterprise's warp core to save the ship , which led his (temporary) death by radiation poisoning. Without Kirk, Spock rose to the occasion and captured Khan with Lt. Nyota Uhura's (Zoe Saldana) help, bringing the madman to justice and resurrecting Kirk with Khan's "super blood." Vulcans cannot tell a lie, unlike Captain Kirk, and Star Trek Into Darkness was better for Spock doing what Kirk could not.

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Star Trek Into Darkness is streaming on Paramount+