Star Trek: Blame Time Travel For Kirk's Scarred Psyche

News Type: Opinion — Seeded on Fri Nov 21, 2008 7:43 PM EST

Article Source: io9.com

entertainment, science-fiction, sci-fi, star-trek, scifi, kirk, spock, shatner, star-trek-movie

By now, you might have noticed that James Tiberius Kirk is, well... kind of a dirtbag in the new Star Trek movie. He trashes a gorgeous Corvette at age 11, and just gets more obnoxious from there on out. He's not just cocky like ShatnerKirk, he's actually irresponsible, where Shatner was sort of uptight. Is it just because he's young and immature? Or is there something else going on, which might actually make for a more interesting movie? Spoilers ahead.

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8.3

3.3

{"commentId":4161361,"authorDomain":"divbyzero"}

Division by Zero

I like the idea of an alternate timeline movie so Trek purists won't scream that Abrams screwed up canon. I'm ok with an alternate timeline where a good story can be told.

{"commentId":4161361,"threadId":"425432","contentId":"2137409","authorDomain":"divbyzero"}

5 votes

#1 - Fri Nov 21, 2008 7:46 PM EST

{"commentId":4194232,"authorDomain":"ProgrammerDude"}

Chris from MN

That had better be the reason for the apparent revisionism or I'm going to be very, very pissed off and will make it my life's mission to trash everything Abrams did or ever does again.

Got that JJ?

I've never really recovered from the revisionism of the Vulcans in Enterprise. They became jerks just like us, and I understand the idea was that they weren't fully evolved, but I never bought that. I have my own theory.

There's a tendency I perceive in the last couple decades to sully great things in the service of making them more "human". I think that as we decline as a nation, we try to drag down the finer things so they don't highlight how low we've become. The idea of "noble" seems almost lost these days.

I think there was a sub-conscious desire to make the Vulcans more human to hide the idea of noble and great for being so far above our current situation. (I'm not putting this well...long day.)

I prefer unobtainable goals. Our reach should exceed our grasp. That is how we grow.

{"commentId":4194232,"threadId":"425432","contentId":"2137409","authorDomain":"ProgrammerDude"}

3 votes

#2 - Tue Nov 25, 2008 12:53 AM EST

{"commentId":4194658,"authorDomain":"Tenurist"}

Lilithbytes

Or perhaps the Vulcans are just applying an elusive and more precise form of logic which they haven't invented yet? Vulcans are vegetarian, meditive, non combative and a peaceful race, they did act a little immature in Enterprise, perhaps it is because humans are so potent, they seem to attract omnipotent beings a juggle a few timelines, maybe it was making the Vulcans nervous.

Vulcans have long been coming to terms with the fact that their ears point upwards, in space, there is no real up, so it is confusing, humans have round ears, so there is probably something in that as well.

{"commentId":4194658,"threadId":"425432","contentId":"2137409","authorDomain":"Tenurist"}

3 votes

#3 - Tue Nov 25, 2008 2:20 AM EST

{"commentId":4198584,"authorDomain":"ProgrammerDude"}

Chris from MN

Well, then it's a good thing they had artificial gravity to help abate some of the confusion!

Yeah, in Enterprise the Vulcans were lying, spying, backstabbing jerks (remember how they defiled one of their sacred temples to monitor the Andorians?). It's a good point that we probably scared them senseless (even in Kirk's day). But they still clearly hadn't fully adopted the Path of Surak (who, according to canon, pre-dates Enterprise by 1,800 years!). So.... 1,800 years not enough, but another couple hundred are? Hmph.

And speaking of gravity, how is that a space-faring warrior race is completely discommoded when their artificial gravity fails? (cf. Star Trek: The Undiscovered Country) I guess Klingons really aren't all that.

{"commentId":4198584,"threadId":"425432","contentId":"2137409","authorDomain":"ProgrammerDude"}

2 votes

#3.1 - Tue Nov 25, 2008 12:18 PM EST

{"commentId":4208936,"authorDomain":"divbyzero"}

Division by Zero

According to the storyline set forth in Enterprise, the cult of Surak had been a small, secretive group, not part of the cultural mainstream, pretty much like how Christianity started out, meeting in caves and people's homes. Some event, I suppose perhaps the election of a cult of Surak member into high office, catapulted the philosophy into the mainstream and it became the dominant philosophy of Vulcan.

{"commentId":4208936,"threadId":"425432","contentId":"2137409","authorDomain":"divbyzero"}

1 vote

#3.2 - Wed Nov 26, 2008 10:39 AM EST

{"commentId":4198106,"authorDomain":"darkknightjrk"}

Jared Kardos

I had a feeling it was something like that when I first heard Nimoy being in this as Spock--an alternate time-line to restart the franchise, akin to what they did with the Terminator franchise and the Sarah Conner TV show.

{"commentId":4198106,"threadId":"425432","contentId":"2137409","authorDomain":"darkknightjrk"}

1 vote

#4 - Tue Nov 25, 2008 11:46 AM EST

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Star Trek: Blame Time Travel For Kirk's Scarred Psyche

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