James T. Kirk

James Tiberius Kirk (2233 - 2293/2371), played by William Shatner, was the leading character in the original Star Trek series and the films based on it. Captain Kirk commanded the starship Enterprise (NCC-1701 and later NCC-1701-A).

Kirk's middle initial was R. in his first appearance (the second Star Trek pilot, "Where No Man Has Gone Before"), but T. in every appearance thereafter. The full middle name Tiberius first appeared in the episode Bem from the 1974 animated Star Trek series, and subsequently appeared in the introduction to the Star Trek: The Motion Picture novelization. It was explained that Kirk's grandfather Samuel was fascinated by the Roman emperor Tiberius. The name finally appeared canonically in Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country.

Kirk's adventures and tactics are legendary in the Alpha and Beta Quadrants and continue to be cited well into the 24th century. He had a relaxed and confident style of command, but didn't suffer fools gladly. As Captain Benjamin Sisko said later about the iconic commander he had "quite the reputation as a ladies' man". Kirk's record with Starfleet's Department of Temporal Investigations was unrivaled, with seventeen infractions. He ordered the Enterprise into multiple blatant violations of the Prime Directive.

Family

Given the name of Kirk's brother, "George Samuel Kirk, Jr." in Operation: Annihilate! it is reasonable to presume that Kirk's father's name may have been "George Samuel Kirk, Sr.," although this information is not canon. Several novels published by Pocket Books list Kirk's mother's name as "Winona." George Samuel Jr. and Aurelan Kirk, Kirk's older brother and sister-in-law, died during the invasion of neural parasites on Deneva in 2267. Kirk's nephew, Peter Kirk, survived.

James Kirk is known to have at least two children: David Marcus, and the child of Miramanee, a woman he married while suffering from amnesia, which died with her after she was stoned to death. In the "Shatnerverse" series of novels, he has a third child, a son named Joseph.

Biography

Early years

Virtually nothing regarding Kirk's birth has been established in on-screen canon. By strict rules of Star Trek canon his birthplace is unknown, except for a reference in Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home that "I'm from Iowa, I only work in outer space". However, the citizens of the eastern Iowa community of Riverside, in what is today the United States have declared their town the birthplace of James T. Kirk. Even though other real-life towns in the state have laid claim to the future Enterprise captain based on the reference to being from Iowa, Riverside is listed on the official Star Trek web site as Kirk's birthplace [1]. Gene Roddenberry had also given his consent to Riverside declaring itself Kirk's future birthplace, which would perhaps give greater weight to Riverside's claims. His birthdate has never been officially established, but both the official web site and fanon speculation suggest March 22, 2233, based upon the real-life birthdate and age of actor William Shatner.

Although born on Earth, he was apparently raised, at least for a time, on Tarsus IV, where he was one of only nine surviving witnesses to the massacre of 4,000 colonists because of utilitarian extermination by Kodos the Executioner so that the colony could survive a devastating famine.

Early career

Promo photo of the famous captain

He had a distinguished career in Starfleet Academy, becoming the first person to defeat the Kobayashi Maru test that stymied cadets for many decades, even until the 2370s. Whereas any situation would be met by the simulator's overriding dictate that the cadet lose, Kirk won by rewriting the program to allow him to rescue the Kobayashi Marus crew. For this he received a commendation for original thinking. (Computer hacking was a novel plot device in the early 1980s.)

However, Kirk was constantly taunted and tormented by an obnoxious upper classman named Finnegan, described by Kirk as the kind of person who would put cold soup in a person's bed or a bucket of water over a half open door. Kirk despised the cackling, maniacal Finnegan and wanted nothing more than to give his arrogant tormenter a thorough beating - years later while on the fantasy planet (in the episode Shore Leave), Kirk gained a certain degree of satisfaction when he was given the chance to whallop a replica of Finnegan, which proved key to discovering the secret of the planet ("I did enjoy it... the one thing I've wanted to do after all these years was to beat the tar out of Finnegan!").

Kirk began his Starfleet career as a Cadet in 2250. While still a student at the Academy, Kirk was granted a field commission as an Ensign and posted to advanced training aboard the USS Republic in the year 2251. He was promoted to Lieutenant Junior Grade in 2253 and returned to Starfleet Academy as a student instructor. Kirk developed a reputation as a "stack of books with legs" and it was said that in his class "you either think...or sink."

Upon his graduation from Starfleet Academy in 2254, Kirk was promoted to a full Lieutenant and served aboard the USS Farragut, NCC-1647. Kirk gained a tremendous amount of experience aboard the Farragut, commanding his first planet survey and also surviving a deadly attack by a gas cloud alien, in which a large portion of the Farraguts crew (including Captain Garrovick) were killed.

James Kirk's career between 2254 and 2263 has never been established in the Star Trek universe; however fanon has conjectured that he was promoted to Lieutenant Commander sometime around 2255. Further theories also hold that Kirk was promoted to Commander in 2260 and assigned as the Officer-in-Charge for the Enterprise Refit Overhaul, where the ship was completely redesigned and refitted following ten years of space duty under Captain Christopher Pike. Such duties would have made Kirk the ideal choice to become the next Commander of the Enterprise, which he was appointed in 2263 with a promotion to Captain upon Pike's promotion to Fleet Captain.

Captaincy and Admiralty

Kirk became the second official captain of the USS Enterprise, NCC-1701. According to Star Trek: The Animated Series which is not considered canonical, and the official Star Trek website, he was the third, following in the footsteps of Captain Robert April who predated Pike as captain of the vessel. Kirk commanded the Enterprises historic five year mission from 2264-2269. Alongside the Captain was his equally legendary First Officer Spock. His Human/Vulcan friend also doubled as the Enterprise's Science Officer. Filling out the crew were Chief Surgeon Dr. Leonard "Bones" McCoy, Chief Engineer Montgomery Scott, communications officer Uhura, helmsman Sulu and navigator Chekov. This group would find themselves in further adventure beyond their five year mission, even after separate assignments. The crew's dedication to Captain Kirk mirrored his own relentless loyalty to his ship.

Several years after the completion of the Enterprises mission, James Kirk achieved the rank of Rear Admiral and was assigned as Chief of Starfleet Operations. However, Kirk was unfulfilled in this administrative role. Spock later told his friend, "Commanding a starship is your first, best destiny... anything else is a waste of material."

In 2271, to combat the V'Ger Crisis, Admiral Kirk accepted (though "took" may be more accurate) temporary command of the Enterprise over Captain/Commander Willard Decker who oversaw its refit while in dry dock. After the subsequent disappearance of Decker, Kirk appeared to take command of the vessel. It has long been suggested that a second five-year mission of the Enterprise followed, however this has never been established in the canon. Nor has speculation that Kirk accepted a voluntary reduction to the permanent rank of Captain for this mission ever been made official. Between 2271 and 2284, therefore, the details of Kirk's career are officially unknown (these dates are, themselves, speculative). What is official is that Kirk retired from Starfleet sometime around 2282 (Star Trek: Generations) and returned to Starfleet, appointed as an Admiral, in 2284. (According to some sources, including the producers of the film, and costume designers, Kirk's rank is Vice Admiral, however as this has never been stated on screen, by strict guidelines of canon all we know officially is that his rank was Admiral).

By 2284, Kirk was in command of Starfleet Academy's training department and briefly took command of the Enterprise in order to pursue his old enemy, Khan Noonien Singh, and retained de facto command of the vessel following the death of Captain Spock. He was later demoted back to Captain after stealing the Enterprise and sabotaging the USS Excelsior NX-2000 in 2285 in order to revive Spock. Kirk was given control of a new USS Enterprise, NCC-1701-A, which he commanded for several years until the vessel was decommissioned ca. 2293.

With Dr. Carol Marcus, he had a son named David, who was killed by Klingons in 2285. He recorded in his log years later that he could never forgive them for the death of his son. This recording was used as evidence against him when a Klingon court convicted him of murdering Klingon Chancellor Gorkon in 2293; he was sentenced to a life term in the prison mines of Rura Penthe but was subsequently rescued and cleared of guilt.

Death and Shatnerverse

In 2293, he was lost (and presumed dead) when the newest USS Enterprise (NCC-1701-B) was damaged by the Nexus, which he entered. In this alternate plane of existence, he was persuaded by Captain Jean-Luc Picard from the year 2371 to return to planet Veridian III in the "real" universe and stop Tolian Soran from sacrificing 230 million lives in order for him to reenter the Nexus. During the final battle, Kirk was able to retrieve and activate a cloaking control device from a damaged construction span, enabling Picard to sabotage Soran's plans. However, the span collapsed, causing Kirk to fall to his death.

(In the original version of Star Trek: Generations, Soran killed Kirk by shooting him in the back. This ending was changed after negative reactions from test audiences. The revised death was still not widely received by fans, but nevertheless became canon.)

Shortly after Star Trek: Generations, William Shatner and co-writers Judith & Garfield Reeves-Stevens wrote a series of non-canon novels taking place after the events in the movie (nicknamed the "Shatnerverse"), bringing Kirk back from the dead, much like mainstream comic books.

In the novel Star Trek: The Return a Romulan ship transports the body of Captain Kirk from Veridian III shortly after the events in Star Trek: Generations. The Romulans, having a vendetta against Kirk, use an "ancient alien technology" (Acquired via an 'alliance' with the Borg) to bring him back, turning Kirk into a puppet for the Romulans. Kirk faces off against several characters from Star Trek: The Next Generation before being subdued, and is treated by Mr. Spock and Dr. McCoy, who are still alive in the 24th century, McCoy removing an implant that was killing him and Spock mind-melding with Kirk to remove the Romulans' conditioning from his brain. Kirk meets with Picard once more, and goes on to destroy the Borg homeworld located in the Delta Quadrant, disabling the Collective (albeit temporarily). He is presumed dead in the final explosion, but is transported away at the last second. At some point, it was explained that V'ger was Borg and Spock's mindmeld with V'ger prevented his assimilation.

Events in the Shatnerverse continue in "Avenger", then in a Mirror Universe trilogy ("Spectre", "Dark Victory", and "Preserver"), then in another trilogy set close to the events of Nemesis ("Captain's Peril", "Captain's Blood", and "Captain's Glory"). During the course of these novels, Kirk has a son named Joseph who he brings up single handedly after his wife gets killed in a ship explosion shortly after Joseph's birth. The latter novels tend to focus on the back story of Joseph and his impact especially shown in 'Captain's...' trilogy.

Enterprise TV series

In the summer of 2004, media reports began circulating that the producers of UPN's troubled Star Trek: Enterprise series were in negotiations with William Shatner to reprise the role of James T. Kirk for a special series of episodes. In the fall some newspapers reported that Shatner had been signed to appear, with others quoting Shatner as saying UPN had balked at his asking price. Complicating the issue was Shatner's popularity revival as the star of the hit series Boston Legal for competing network ABC, which occurred at about the same time rumors of a possible Enterprise appearance began to circulate. Shatner also stated during several talk-show appearances that he had written a story outline for an episode of the series. Ultimately, Paramount was not successful in signing Shatner and the series was cancelled at the end of its fourth season, ending speculation of a possible fifth season appearance (which Shatner himself had suggested). Enterprise executive producer Rick Berman, citing "franchise fatigue" on the part of Star Trek fans, later told TV Guide ... "that it was doubtful that an appearance by Shatner would have been enough to keep the franchise afloat." [2]

In March 2005, at the Grand Slam XIII science fiction convention, Enterprise producer Manny Coto revealed that the writers had intended to feature not the original James Kirk, but rather the Mirror Universe Kirk (from the original series episode, "Mirror, Mirror") in a time-travel related storyline. A Mirror Universe story was eventually produced ("In a Mirror, Darkly") but it is not known if this script originally featured Kirk.

Another rumored story idea revealed by Coto would have seen an ancestor of Kirk's serving aboard the Enterprise NX-01 as that ship's never-seen Chef, although it has been speculated that this latter idea might have been a joke.[3] The idea of the Mirror Universe Kirk being featured contradicts earlier statements by Coto that he intended for the original Kirk to appear, although at the time Coto could not say how such an appearance could be rectified with the character's death in Star Trek: Generations.

External links

* StarTrek.com: James T. Kirk