[JamesTKirk1701]

Not to mention that Kirk served on several ships before coming to the Enterprise. History that was conveniently overwritten for the sake of time in the movie and the public ate it up like it was USDA prime beef. One things for sure this movie wasn't exactly life changing for anyone who watched and if someone says it was life changing obviously they need to come back to reality. USS Enterprise 2009 on a first class trip to nowhere.

[chator]

Since the movie establishes NuKirk as a cheater, how do we know he's a genius? He might just be a really good cheater that never gets caught.

[NCC-73515]

McCoy took the KM test with him and he instantly served as a Lt. Cdr., right?

[martok2112]

Originally Posted by JamesTKirk1701

Not to mention that Kirk served on several ships before coming to the Enterprise. History that was conveniently overwritten for the sake of time in the movie and the public ate it up like it was USDA prime beef. One things for sure this movie wasn't exactly life changing for anyone who watched and if someone says it was life changing obviously they need to come back to reality. USS Enterprise 2009 on a first class trip to nowhere.

Except a major box office draw, the promise of a sequel, and the revival of Star Trek.

[kevin]

Originally Posted by chator

Since the movie establishes NuKirk as a cheater, how do we know he's a genius? He might just be a really good cheater that never gets caught.

He could be - but since we need to remember that Nicholas Meyer was the first man to make Kirk a clear cheater way, way back in TWOK (despite that having been noted by some as wholly inconsistent with his character depiction early in TOS) we could ask a similar question of him in the Prime.

Was he a cheater who got lucky through his career?

Or an individual just able to operate outside the normal 'box' when the situation called for it?




Answers on a postcard..................

[horatio]

Originally Posted by chator

Since the movie establishes NuKirk as a cheater, how do we know he's a genius? He might just be a really good cheater that never gets caught.

Because his tests say so, because Pike says so, because his quick Academy career says so ... but naahh, all bloody lies.

Seriously, I don't pretend that I wouldn't have prefered a more complex Kirk, one who is closer to the one described in early TOS. But that's just preferences and hardly a reason to question the sincerity of Kirk's characterization in this movie.
They say he is XYZ, so he is XYZ. Don't like it? Just say so.

[Dominus of Megadeus]

Agreed, Horatio! And Mr. Roddenberry did say that Kirk was suposed to be more like Captain Picard. And, yes, chator, my friend, even TOS Kirk had a rapid rise to Captain.

Kirk's Starfleet service through the late 2250s and early 2260s was rewarded with a rapid rise through the ranks. At 31 years of age in 2264, he was promoted to captain. Not only the youngest captain in the fleet's history at that time, Kirk was slated to command one of the twelve Constitution-class starships, the USS Enterprise (NCC-1701).

http://memory-alpha.org/en/wiki/James_T._Kirk

Be it TOS or the new branch in the movie franchise, Kirk was not just a ladies man. He could woo them with a sonet as well as a pec flex!

[Dominus of Megadeus]

And about Captain Picard, what the academy taught him was not to be "so cocky!"
How's this for a bad brutha!

Shortly upon graduation in 2327, Picard's promising career nearly ended abruptly during a layover at Starbase Earhart. During a bar brawl over a rigged game of dom-jot, he was stabbed through theheart by a Nausicaan, and had to undergo emergency surgery to replace his heart. He later related to Wesley Crusher that he laughed after looking down to see the knife protruding through his chest. This event helped him realize how fragile life could be, and thus made him more willing to take risks and make his mark on the universe, which he only realized when Q proposed him to change this event in 2369. (TNG: "Samaritan Snare", "Tapestry")

http://memory-alpha.org/en/wiki/Jean-Luc_Picard

Starfleet turned two cocky cadets and turned them into mature, thoughtful officers...Although both still refused to listen to their first officers and went on away missions! You can get the adventure lover out of the wilderness, but you can't get the wilderness out of the adventure lover!

[celticarchie]

Originally Posted by kevin

He could be - but since we need to remember that Nicholas Meyer was the first man to make Kirk a clear cheater way, way back in TWOK (despite that having been noted by some as wholly inconsistent with his character depiction early in TOS) we could ask a similar question of him in the Prime.

Was he a cheater who got lucky through his career?

Or an individual just able to operate outside the normal 'box' when the situation called for it?

Answers on a postcard..................

Is Kirk's character in TWOK really that inconsistent with TOS though?

Remember The Corbomite Maneuver. He beats a similar no-win situation in an unconventional way.

Is Kirk even a "cheater"? - we only think that because his son (who doesn't particularly like him) says "he cheated".

But Kirk says he "changed the conditions of the test" and got a "commendation for original thinking".

Which suggests to me that Kirk's actual "solution" to the no-win scenario was to think of a condition in the test that could happen, that the programmers hadn't considered.

Which is why I like the book version where...

Spoilder Possible

...he reprograms the Klingon commander to think that he is the famous Captain James T. Kirk, and he wins the battle on a "reputation" alone. That way he doesn't have to fire torpedoes or munch an apple. He just has to look cool.

[Dominus of Megadeus]

I Like It!!!