The Real (Nerdy) Reason Why Chris Pine’s Captain Kirk Is So Different From William Shatner’s
When J.J. Abrams’ feature film “Star Trek” was released in theaters in 2009, there seemed to be a clear creative mandate at work. “Star Trek” was set prior to the events of the 1966 TV series on which it was based, telling an alternate timeline version of how the well-known “Trek” characters all first met. Kirk (Chris Pine), Spock (Zachary Quinto), and the rest of the crew were all depicted as younger, hotter versions of themselves, each one more youthful and impulsive than their adult counterparts from 1966.
Given the hot-headedness of the Enterprise crew and the entire 2009 film’s “action-packed” vibe, the mandate mentioned above seems to have demanded the filmmakers kick everything into OVERDRIVE. It’s as if they wanted critics to respond with the phrase, “This ain’t your grandpa’s ‘Star Trek.'”
It’s worth noting that the writers of “Star Trek” — Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman — were basing their characters not on how they appeared in “Star Trek,” but on a general, unfamiliar pop culture interpretation of them. Kirk, to cite the most obvious example of this, was depicted as a young, horny, arrogant ladies’ man who winks at danger and is generally rude and reckless. The “reckless cowboy” image of Capt. Kirk (William Shatner) perhaps originated from a mere handful of 1960s behavior examples, paired with a healthy comparison to the far more studious Capt. Picard on “Star Trek: The Next Generation.” In observation, Kirk was in fact a much more reasoned, restrained character than the pop image of him might have non-Trekkies believe. And yet, the cowboy was what a mass audience knew, so that’s what the 2009 filmmakers went with.
The real reason for Kirk’s behavioral change, however, may be something far nerdier that can fit handily into “Trek” canon.
The Real (Nerdy) Reason Why Chris Pine’s Captain Kirk Is So Different From William Shatner’s
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