Summary
- Chris Pine's Captain Kirk faces death early on, shaping his character and motivations differently than William Shatner's Kirk.
- In "Star Trek Into Darkness", it's Kirk who sacrifices himself, highlighting the impact of death on Pine's version of the character.
- Pine's Kirk is influenced by his father's death, pushing him to excel and uphold his father's legacy in a different way than Shatner's Kirk.
In J.J. Abrams' Kelvin Timeline Star Trek movies, Chris Pine's version of Captain James T. Kirk faces death long before William Shatner's Kirk does in the Prime Timeline. After Mr. Spock (Leonard Nimoy) gives his life to save others from Khan Noonien Singh (Ricardo Montalbán) in Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, Shatner's Kirk holds it together for the sake of the crew. Kirk's son, David Marcus (Merritt Butrick), comforts Kirk privately after Spock's memorial, and David points out, "You never have faced death." Kirk has to agree; despite the deaths of numerous red-shirted Enterprise crew members, Spock's death hits differently.
Star Trek Into Darkness explores the same themes as Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, asking what might happen if the USS Enterprise crew encountered Khan Noonien Singh (Benedict Cumberbatch) earlier in the Star Trek timeline, before the events of Star Trek: The Original Series season 1, episode 22, "Space Seed". Perhaps the biggest twist in Star Trek Into Darkness' flipped script is that it's Kirk, not Spock (Zachary Quinto), who dies for "the needs of the many", but this isn't just there to subvert audience expectations. There's a good reason that Pine's Kirk makes this call.
Chris Pine’s Captain Kirk Faced Death Long Before William Shatner’s Kirk In Star Trek
Chris Pine’s Kirk Was Born From Death
In J.J. Abrams' Star Trek movies, Chris Pine's Captain Kirk understands the toll of death at a far earlier age than William Shatner's Prime Timeline Kirk does. The birth of Pine's James Kirk coincides with the death of Jim's father, Lieutenant George Kirk (Chris Hemsworth), who saves 800 lives by going down with the USS Kelvin. Kirk's rebellious streak is only tempered into confidence after meeting Captain Christopher Pike (Bruce Greenwood), who pushes Kirk into joining Starfleet by urging Kirk to do better than George. Kirk faces death again when Pike dies before Kirk's eyes in Star Trek Into Darkness.
George Kirk's death changes the entire direction of James Kirk's life. In Star Trek's Prime Timeline, James Kirk grows up surrounded by Starfleet influences, following George's postings from base to base. Shatner's Kirk fulfills his potential easily; it's a given that Prime Kirk will do great things in his life. Without George's influence pushing Jim to excel, Pine's Kirk is rootless until Christopher Pike steps in. In both timelines, Kirk upholds his father's legacy by doing better than George: Prime Kirk beats his father's record as Starfleet's youngest first officer, and Kelvin Kirk is a martyr who saves more lives.
Even the outcome of Kirk beating the Kobayashi Maru changes whether George Kirk lives or dies. Alive, George's service record gives Shatner's Kirk the privilege of a long Starfleet legacy, so he's praised for creative thinking. Dead, George is only a captain for 12 minutes, so Pine's Kirk is seen as a brash upstart and reprimanded for cheating.
Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Showed Prime Kirk Understood Death
Spock's Wrath of Khan Death Becomes Even More Important
Star Trek: Strange New Worlds' younger Lieutenant James T. Kirk (Paul Wesley) shows a greater awareness of death in the Prime Timeline than Kirk ever showed trying to cheat death as a captain. In Star Trek: Strange New Worlds season 2, episode 6, "Lost in Translation", Ensign Nyota Uhura (Celia Rose Gooding) questions her fitness for Starfleet, since accepting the death of her mentor Lt. Hemmer (Bruce Horak) is so difficult. Kirk's frank response to Uhura is that being in Starfleet does have a greater risk of death, but it's better to acknowledge death and hold onto the memories of departed friends, otherwise death wins.
Chris Pine's Kirk has always been acutely aware of the impact one person's death can have.
Instead of negating established canon, Star Trek: Strange New Worlds recontextualizes how hard Spock's death was for Kirk. Wesley's Lieutenant Kirk has seen death and grieved others, and Kirk still believes the reward of helping others is worth the risk of losing loved ones. When David points out that Kirk has never faced death, Kirk emphasizes that it's, "Not like this." Chris Pine's Kirk has always been acutely aware of the impact one person's death can have, but Shatner's Kirk has a very different Star Trek journey, never truly facing death until Spock's sacrifice in Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan.
