James T. Kirk
James Tiberius "Jim" Kirk was amaleHumanStarfleetofficer who lived during the23rd century. His time in Starfleet made Kirk arguably one of the most famous and sometimes infamousstarshipcaptains in Starfleethistory. The highlydecorated Kirk served as thecommanding officer of theConstitution-classstarshipUSSEnterprise and theConstitution II-class starshipUSSEnterprise-A, where he servedFederation interests as anexplorer,soldier,diplomat, andtime traveler. (TOS: "Where No Man Has Gone Before", "Court Martial", "Errand of Mercy";Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home;Star Trek Generations;DS9: "Trials and Tribble-ations";VOY: "Q2", "Friendship One", et al.)
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Biography
Early history
Origins
Kirk (lower right) appearing as he did as a toddler
James Tiberius Kirk was born onMarch 22nd,2233 inRiverside,Iowa onEarth. (TOS: "The Deadly Years";Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home;Star Trek V: The Final Frontier;ENT: "In A Mirror, Darkly, Part II"production resource;SNW: "Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow") He was theson ofGeorge andWinona Kirk; their other son, hisbrother, wasGeorge Samuel. (Star Trek;TOS: "What Are Little Girls Made Of?", "Operation -- Annihilate!")
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Hisparentsnamed him after hismaternalgrandfather,James, and hispaternal grandfather,Tiberius. (TAS: "Bem";Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country;Star Trek) Furthermore, Kirk was adescendant of late19th centuryAmerican frontierpioneers. (TOS: "Spectre of the Gun") Kirk embraced the culture and history ofhis homeland, especially western lore and the life of his heroAbraham Lincoln, and later even recognized the document mirrored on the planetOmega IV, he could recite the preamble of theUnited States Constitution from memory. (TOS: "Spectre of the Gun", "The Savage Curtain", "The Omega Glory")
Childhood
Kirk, along with Winona and Sam, spent the majority of Kirk's childhood chasing George Kirk, Sr. from one posting to another, to the point that Kirk barely saw the man. When Kirk asked Winona why they never saw George Sr., she told James that "he's helping people who really need it." (SNW: "Lost in Translation")
Kirksang around acampfire sometimes was when he was a boy in Iowa, something he would later recall not having done since that time, as of2287. (Star Trek V: The Final Frontier)
At some point early in his life, Kirk contracted and nearly died fromVegan choriomeningitis. Although he wascured, the organisms of the disease continued to be carried in his blood. (TOS: "The Mark of Gideon")
Governor Kodos in 2246
By2246, he was living onTarsus IV, as his father George moved there. During his time on Tarsus IV, the planet was undergoing a food crisis that was starving thecolony, which consisted of eight thousand people.GovernorKodos, sympathetic to oldeugenicsphilosophies and unaware thatsupply ships were imminent, tried to save a portion of the colony by killingfour thousandcolonists he deemed least desirable or able to survive. The thirteen-year-old Jim Kirk was one of only nineeyewitnesses to the massacre. (TOS: "The Conscience of the King";SNW: "A Quality of Mercy")
Starfleet career
Academy years
In2252, Kirk entered Starfleet Academy, with help ofMallory,whose son later served under Kirk. (TOS: "Shore Leave", "The Apple") He also often spoke of his father as being his inspiration for joining Starfleet. (Star Trek)
Finnegan as he appeared in 2252
As aplebe, Kirk soon caught the attention of a boisterous andbullyingIrishman namedFinnegan. The upperclassman evidently hazed "Jimmy-boy" mercilessly throughout their shared time at the Academy.Fifteen years later, theShore Leave Planet sensed Kirk's antipathy for Finnegan and produceda simulacrum that Kirk could pummel for satisfaction. (TOS: "Shore Leave")
As acadet, Kirk participated ina successful peace mission toAxanar, for whichStarfleet Command awarded him with thePalm Leaf of Axanar Peace Mission. (TOS: "Court Martial", "Whom Gods Destroy")
When he was amidshipman, Kirk began a friendship with hisinstructor,LieutenantBenjamin Finney. Their relationship was so important to the two men that Finney named hisdaughter,Jame, after Kirk. (TOS: "Court Martial")
Kirk's physical training included tests he had to pass for working in anoxygen-deficientatmosphere, as well ashand-to-hand combat. (TOS: "Tomorrow is Yesterday";TAS: "The Pirates of Orion") He was also trained inhyper-power circuits. (TOS: "Dagger of the Mind")
His academic studies introduced him to several men that he encountered later in his career. Among them wasJohn Gill, a noted historyprofessor andcultural observer. (TOS: "Patterns of Force") Kirk studied the exploits ofGarth of Izar, a famous captain who joined Kirk's pantheon of heroes. (TOS: "Whom Gods Destroy") The "Pasteur ofarchaeological medicine",Dr.Roger Korby, became a man Kirk wanted to meet. (TOS: "What Are Little Girls Made Of?") Kirk also studied the military strategies ofKlingonGeneralKorrd. (Star Trek V: The Final Frontier) He also attendedlectures at the Academy on theNomad space probe. (TOS: "The Changeling")
During his time in theCommand Training Program, Kirk confronted theKobayashi Maru scenario. He refused to accept his first two defeats. Before making a third attempt, he secretly reprogrammed the simulationcomputer, consequently becoming the only cadet in Academy history to beat the "no-win" scenario and earning acommendation for original thinking. (Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan)
Kirk'sgraduating class was represented with such future officers asCorrigan,Mike,Teller, andTimothy. (TOS: "Court Martial") One of his former classmates,R.M. Merik, was dropped in his fifth year for failing thepsychosimulator test. (TOS: "Bread and Circuses")
Early postings and assignments
The personnel file for James T. Kirk, 2259
Kirk was commissioned as a Starfleet officer with therank ofensign and theserial number SC937-0176CEC. (TOS: "Court Martial")
Among his early missions was theVulcanian expedition, along with former classmate Timothy. (TOS: "Court Martial") He had also, at one point, visitedAlpha Majoris I, where he had personally witnessed the nativemellitus. (TOS: "Wolf in the Fold")
Also early in Kirk's career, he became quite familiar with the work of DoctorTristan Adams. He even had the opportunity to visitpenal colonies that had been revolutionized by Adams, later describing what he saw as "clean, decenthospitals for sick minds", even describing them as "resort colonies", as opposed to "cages". (TOS: "Dagger of the Mind")
Service aboard theRepublic
During the2250s, "some years" after being a midshipman, Ensign Kirk rejoined his friend and former instructor, Lieutenant Finney, aboard theUSSRepublic. After Finney made a mistake nearly catastrophic to the ship, Kirklogged the incident, which resulted in his friend beingreprimanded and put to the bottom of thepromotion list. (TOS: "Court Martial")
Academy instructor
During the same period, Kirk was promoted to Lieutenant and worked as an instructor at the Academy. It was around this time he first met CadetGary Mitchell, who was astudent in his class where, according to anupperclassman, "you either think or sink". Mitchell later remembered Kirk as "a stack ofbooks withlegs." In an attempt to divert his friend's attention and make the class easier to get through, Mitchell set Kirk up with a "little blonde lab technician" whom Kirk almostmarried. (TOS: "Where No Man Has Gone Before")
Kirk's early career included ayear alongsideJanice Lester, during which time the two became romantically involved. The perceived lack of opportunities for awoman to command a starship struck them both as unfair, but she became embittered by the supposed career barrier. Their relationship soured to a point where Kirk felt she punished and tortured him for her circumstances. Years later, Kirk said that he never stopped her from going on with her "space work", but ultimately felt that "we'd have killed each other" if they had stayed together. Lester recalled that Kirk walked out on her "when it became serious." (TOS: "Turnabout Intruder")
Service aboard theFarragut
Kirk served aboard the USSFarragut in the late 2250s.
Upongraduating from Starfleet Academy, Kirk began his service under CaptainGarrovick. His firstdeep space assignment was as a lieutenant aboard Garrovick'sUSSFarragut, as a member of thephaser gun crew, where he was assigned to aphaser station. (TOS: "The Corbomite Maneuver", "Obsession")
After joining the crew of theFarragut, Kirk quickly made a name for himself and "put in some legwork to beat" therecord of becoming both the youngest active and all-timefirst officer in all of Starfleet; a record previously held by his father. (SNW: "Lost in Translation")
Mission to Neural
Lt. Kirk visited Neural in 2255 on his first planetary survey.
In2255, the young lieutenant visitedNeural on his firstplanetary survey mission. He befriended one of the planet's natives, theHill manTyree. Kirk's report described a primitive but promisingculture, and Starfleet endorsed him recommending apolicy of non-interference. (TOS: "A Private Little War")
First encounter with the cloud creature
In2257, theFarragut engaged thedikironium cloud creature atTycho IV. Thecreature killed Garrovick and two hundred of the ship'screw.Farragut'srecord tapes of the event included Kirk insisting upon blaming himself for the disaster, citing his delay in firing the ship'sphaser banks at the creature as he lost consciousness. Theship's executive officer disagreed, stating, "Lieutenant Kirk is a fine young officer who performed with uncommon bravery." (TOS: "Obsession")
Pike's interest
In2259, CaptainChristopher Pike took an interest in Kirk and looked up his file after witnessing Kirk in action as the captain of theFarragut in analternate timeline, recognizing that Kirk had the potential to make a good captain for theUSSEnterprise and sensing that Kirk was meant to be in command during the comingNeutral Zone Incursion in2266. (SNW: "A Quality of Mercy")
Contact by La'An Noonien-Singh
Lieutenant Kirk, 2259
Later that year, Lieutenant Kirk was contacted byLa'An Noonien-Singh, on the pretense of confirming his brother's place of birth, after her adventures with another alternate timeline version of Kirk. He later invited her for drinks if they were ever to meet atstarbase. (SNW: "Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow")
First officer Kirk
Lt. Kirk meeting Fleet Captain Christopher Pike
Shortly after, Kirk was promoted to first officer of theFarragut, breaking his father's record as the youngest first officer in Starfleet history. However, Kirk had a few months before he would actually assume the post as Kirk needed to train his replacement for his current duties first. (SNW: "Lost in Translation")
During this time, underFleet Captain Pike, theEnterprise and theFarragut were assigned to bring a deuterium mining station online. During the mission, clashed with his brother Sam, the ship'sxenoanthropologist, several times over his promotion.
Kirk helpedNyota Uhura to figure out the signals that she was receiving from aliens in theBannon's Nebula. During his time with Uhura, he suffered a brokennose inflicted by her during one of herhallucinations, initially believed to be associated with lack of sleep anddeuterium poisoning. He admitted to her that he had previously gone days without sleep and experienced a case of deuterium poisoning himself, but that he had neverpunched asuperior officer before.
Nonetheless, Kirk continued to believe in Uhura, and helped her find the true cause of the hallucinations. With help of his brother Sam, they focused on the possibility that she was being contacted by anextradimensional lifeform that was located in the nebula. After figuring out what the lifeform was trying to communicate, Pike had theEnterprise destroy the mining station. Following the mission, Kirk attended a celebration on theEnterprise where he met his future first officer and best friendSpock for the first time. (SNW: "Lost in Translation")
Lt. Kirk spent some time on theEnterprise shadowing Lt. Cmdr. Chin-Riley prior to him assuming his position as first officer about theFarragut
Kirk later returned to theEnterprise on a short-term posting; hiscommanding officer felt Kirk would benefit from shadowingEnterprise's first officer,Una Chin-Riley before he assumed the same position on theFarragut. During this time, La'An revealed her history with his alternate self, but Kirk revealed to her he was in a relationship withCarol Marcus who was pregnant withtheir son. (SNW: "Subspace Rhapsody")
In2261, Kirk, now aLieutenant Commander, found himself struggling with CaptainV'Rel's by-the-book approach to command when theFarragut was caught in the destruction ofHelicon Gamma by theScavenger ship. With V'Rel injured and transferred to theEnterprise for treatment, Kirk was left asacting captain. With theEnterprise captured by the scavengers, Kirk enlisted Spock, Uhura,Christine Chapel andMontgomery Scott to help him in crewing theFarragut to save theEnterprise. Kirk found himself struggling with the pressures of being in command, causing him to suffer a crisis of confidence, but recovered with the help of an inspirational speech from Spock. Under Kirk's command, theFarragut was able to disable the enemy ship long enough for theEnterprise to escape and then destroyed it. To everyone's surprise, it was discovered that the mysterious scavengers were actuallyHumans on a pre-warp ship launched from Earth in the aftermath ofWorld War III. After the battle, theEnterprise towed theFarragut back to spacedock for repairs with V'Rel expected to make a full recovery. Kirk was upset that 7,000 Human lives were lost because of his decisions, but Pike offered him advice on being a first officer based on Pike's own experiences. (SNW: "The Sehlat Who Ate Its Tail")
Kirk visited theEnterprise to see Sam while theFarragut was nearby, telling Scott that the ship was still undergoing repairs and missing a nacelle. With Sam having already left the ship forshore leave onPurmantee III, Kirk instead spent time with Scott and inadvertently got caught up in the mess created by the temporary transformation of four of the crew intoVulcans. When La'An tried to take over the ship and start a war, Kirk and Scott worked together to subdue her. This teamwork laid the foundation for a great friendship between the two men. (SNW: "Four-and-a-Half Vulcans")
When theVezda threatened to escape from their prison, Kirk committed the fully repairedFarragut to helping theEnterprise stop them despite Starfleet's orders to observe and not interfere, explaining that V'Rel knew that she owed theEnterprise one for saving her life. In order to open the portal onSkygowan, the crews needed simultaneous fire from both ships which required two pilots operating together so Spock proposed he and Kirk use a Vulcanmind meld to share a consciousness to accomplish the task. Kirk accepted the proposal and had Spock begin referring to him as "Jim" instead of Commander. Working together, Kirk and Spock were able to fly theFarragut and theEnterprise in perfectsynchronicity, opening the portal for Pike andMarie Batel to defeat the Vezda.
After the mission, Kirk and Spock playedthree-dimensional chess, having each learned personal things about each other from the meld. The two agreed that they would continue to remain friends and play chess together, hoping that someday they would work on the same ship together. As Spock left for dance rehearsal with La'An, Kirk shared a drink with Sam. (SNW: "New Life and New Civilizations")
Commanding the USSEnterprise NCC-1701
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The USSEnterprise (NCC-1701)
By2265, at the age of thirty-two, Kirk assumed command of theConstitution-class USSEnterprise from Fleet Captain Pike. (TOS: "The Menagerie, Part I") Kirk's father lived long enough to see his son earn his first captaincy. (Star Trek)
Along with theEnterprise, Kirk also acquired a number of Pike's old crewmates as well asscience officer Spock, as his first officer. For his first command, he also requested to have Lieutenant Commander Gary Mitchell along with him. (TOS: "Where No Man Has Gone Before") Also under his command was his former instructor, Ben Finney. (TOS: "Court Martial")
Kirk was initiallyquartered onDeck 12 in2266, before moving to Deck 5, room "3F 121". (TOS: "Mudd's Women", "Journey to Babel")
Kirk and Spock graffiti
At some point during the 2260s, Kirk and "hispointy-eared pal" attempted to "crash" theCommand Conferenceafterparty onStarbase 25, butstruck out and settled to end the night in a nearby divebar.Over a century later, two other Starfleet officers –Beckett Mariner andBrad Boimler – also struck out, before ending up in the same bar.
In recollecting the incident, thealien bartender, who coincidentally was the same who served Kirk and Spock years before, added to her story that "[t]heblonde one did most of the drinking." Before they left, "Kirk + Spock" was left behind,scrawled into the bar's countertop. Likewise, before Mariner and Boimler left, they too scrawled their names alongside those of their heroes. (LD: "An Embarrassment Of Dooplers")
Year One
USSEnterprise in 2265
Forfive years, Kirk commanded theEnterprise, which made him a legend in space exploration. (Star Trek: The Motion Picture;VOY: "Q2") In addition to his primary mission statement – "to explore strange new worlds, to seek out new life, and new civilizations" – Kirk receivedstanding orders to investigate allquasars and quasar-like phenomena. (TOS: "The Corbomite Maneuver", "The Galileo Seven", "Return to Tomorrow")
On more than one occasion, Kirk and Mitchell took part in missions together, including one onDimorus, where they encounteredrodent-like creatures that shotpoisonousdarts. Mitchell took one of the darts meant for Kirk, saving Kirk's life but nearly dying himself. The two later visitedDeneb IV where, in at least three cases, Mitchell was capable of carrying long telepathic conversations with thenatives, scoring 80% or higher on comprehension. One night, a telepathic conversation with a female native had a deleterious effect on Mitchell. Kirk later stated that he'd been worried about Mitchell ever since that night. As a pun, Mitchell referred to the girl as anova. (TOS: "Where No Man Has Gone Before")
Kirk faces the unknown
Following a stopover at theAldebaron colony, theEnterprise attempted to determine the whereabouts of the missingSSValiant. After discovering theValiant'sdisaster recorder which described a catastrophic disaster following that early vessel's visit tothe galaxy's edge, Kirk pushed on and encountered thegalactic barrier for his first time. TheEnterprise failed to breach the barrier and barely escaped destruction. With itswarp engines badly damaged, theEnterprise limped underimpulse power towards theDelta Vegalithium cracking station.
The barrier triggered a transformation in Mitchell who began developingpsychic powers that progressed rapidly, with a commensurate loss of his Humanity. Ignoring Spock advising him to destroy Mitchell immediately, Kirk hesitated until after Mitchell killednavigatorLee Kelso. On the surface of Delta Vega, he hunted Mitchell and managed to kill him only with the help of another officer undergoing the same transformation as Mitchell, Dr.Elizabeth Dehner. (TOS: "Where No Man Has Gone Before")
Following the tragedy, Kirk shuffled theEnterprise's command crew. Lieutenant Commander Spock remainedscience officer and Kirk acknowledged him as first officer. A newchief medical officer, Dr.Leonard McCoy, replaced Dr.Mark Piper. Lieutenant CommanderMontgomery Scott remainedchief engineer. Lieutenant Nyota Uhura becamecommunications officer and LieutenantHikaru Sulu was transferred fromastrosciences to thehelm. Kirk did not settle on a regular navigator for another two years. (TOS: "The Corbomite Maneuver", "Catspaw", "Amok Time", "Who Mourns for Adonais?")
Year Two
Onstardate 1512.2, Kirk made first contact with theFirst Federation, when theEnterprise was detained by CaptainBalok and a massive spaceship under Balok's command, theFesarius. Both captainsbluffed ferociously, but Kirk'spoker face held. Balok proved to be quite friendly, eager to begin a cultural exchange. (TOS: "The Corbomite Maneuver")
The darker half of Kirk rages in frustration, 2266
Kirk learned something about his own nature after a transporter malfunction in 2266. Kirk was split into two physical duplicates, one intuitive and passive, the other violent and passionate. While separated, the survival of both personalities were threatened, and a way was eventually found to recombine the two.
After his personality was split due to a transporter accident in2266, Kirk was forcibly introduced to the competing elements in his personality, described most roughly as passive and aggressive. (TOS: "The Enemy Within")
McCoy curing Kirk of polywater intoxication
Succumbing to the effects ofpolywater intoxication in 2266, Kirk contemplated aloud the heavy responsibility of command, and the price theEnterprise exacted from his personal life: "this vessel... I give, she takes... She won't permit me my life; I've got to live hers." Ultimately, he gathered himself, speaking directly to theEnterprise, "Never lose you... never." (TOS: "The Naked Time")
On stardate 1533.6, Kirk and his crew made a brief first contact with theThasians, an uncanny group ofaliens. While interacting withCharlie Evans, a temporary visitor to theEnterprise, Kirk demonstrated prowess withjudo, and deep-rooted compassion when Charlie's "teachers" wanted to return him to an isolated existence. (TOS: "Charlie X")
The Romulan commander
Kirk repelled the firstRomulan incursion into Federation space in over a century, on stardate 1709.2. ARomulan Bird-of-Prey equipped with acloak and a powerfulplasma torpedo system destroyed fourEarth Outpost Stations along theRomulan Neutral Zone. Kirk engaged and pursued theRomulan ship in a drawn-out cat-and-mouse chase against aRomulan commander in whom Kirk found an instinctual rapport. Both captains used ruses that simulated more damage than actually received. Kirk was able to briefly track the Romulan, by mirroring its movements to simulate asensor ghost. Finally, emerging from the camouflage of acomet's tail, Kirk was able to disable the Romulan vessel. Before ordering his vessel'sself-destruction, the Romulan captain remarked that under different circumstances he and Kirk might have been allies. (TOS: "Balance of Terror")
Kirk encountering Miri
TheEnterprise reachedExo III on stardate 2712.4, where Dr.Roger Korby was found after years of silence, exploring and exploiting a sophisticatedandroid manufacturing technology – the legacy of a long-deadcivilization. Korby had replaced his own damaged body, transplanting his personality into an android replica, and built himself a beautiful companion,Andrea. Against Kirk's wishes, an android duplicate of Kirk was created too. However, the android Korby, after exhibitingmadness, destroyed himself. (TOS: "What Are Little Girls Made Of?")
Kirk is tortured in 2266
At theTantalus Penal Colony in 2266, Doctor Tristan Adams used hisneural neutralizer device as an instrument torture on Kirk. The device emptied a victims mind of thought, leaving it vulnerable to suggestion. Adams included conditioning that made him feel love for Dr.Helen Noel, including deep pain at the idea of her loss. Kirk was able to resist long-term damage from the device. (TOS: "Dagger of the Mind")
On stardate 2817.6, Kirk responded to a call from Dr.Thomas Leighton, a fellow survivor and witness to the horror of Tarsus IV. Leighton suspected the leader ofa traveling theater troupe,actorAnton Karidian, of being Kodos "the Executioner," a man long thought dead. After Leighton was murdered and other witnesses's deaths were revealed, Kirk convinced Anton Karidian's daughter,Lenore, to bring the acting troupe aboard theEnterprise. Attempted murders of Kirk andEnterprise crewmemberKevin Riley (another survivor) led Kirk to confront Karidian (who was indeed Kodos), discovering the recent killings were the acts of his mad daughter, trying to protect her tormented aging father. (TOS: "The Conscience of the King")
Year Three
Kirk's court martial proceedings
Kirk became the first Federation starship captain to ever face acourt martial, after he was accused of causing the death of Lt. Commander Benjamin Finney, theEnterpriserecords officer. Kirk employedDefense AttorneySamuel T. Cogley, and Kirk's former flameAreel Shaw acted asprosecutor at histrial, which was held onStarbase 11, convened byCommodoreStone. Kirk was exonerated after Finney was discovered alive, having faked his death and the evidence implicating Kirk. (TOS: "Court Martial")
When Spockkidnapped his former commander, Fleet Captain Christopher Pike, who had been horribly crippled, and commandeered theEnterprise in 2267, he inadvertently jeopardized Kirk's command. After Spock locked the ship on course toTalos IV, Kirk was a member of atribunal that tried Spock, the other members being Pike himself, and anillusion of CommodoreMendez. Spock's crimes were in violation ofGeneral Order 7 and werepunishable by death. Once it was revealed that Spock's ultimate goal was to allow Pike, a Starfleet hero, to live a semblance of normality underTalosian illusion, Starfleet declined to prosecute the matter. (TOS: "The Menagerie, Part I", "The Menagerie, Part II")
When theEnterprise passed through theOmicron Delta region, Kirk hoped to arrange for his crew (and himself) to take some badly neededshore leave. While Kirk and hislanding party investigated a candidate planet to determine its suitability for that purpose, they were beset with manifestations of hidden desires they had. In fact, they had discovered the Shore Leave Planet, and advanced technologies which an ancient, enigmatic species had left behind. (TOS: "Shore Leave")
On stardate 2124.5, aQ calling himself "GeneralTrelane (retired), theSquire ofGothos" waylaid theEnterprise. Though immensely powerful and troublesome, Trelane was revealed to be nothing more than a badly-behaved child of his species. Kirk was put on trial, albeit this time in an illusorycourt, by Trelane. (TOS: "The Squire of Gothos")
Kirk fighting the Gorn captain
Kirk made contact with theGorn Hegemony and theMetrons on stardate 3045.6. Finding a Federation base onCestus III destroyed andGorn forces lying in wait, Kirk ordered theEnterprise to give chase to aGorn starship that had been responsible for the attack, intending to destroy it. The pursuit took the two belligerents through Metron space. The Metrons, pacifistic but powerful, interrupted the engagement and declared both sides were savages.
Kirk and theGorn captain were removed from their respective ships by the Metrons and deposited on a desolateplanetoid, where the Metrons forced the two captains to fight each other, threatening to destroy the loser's vessel. Kirk was victorious, but refused to kill the Gorn. Kirk's act of mercy impressed the Metrons, who allowed both ships to go free. (TOS: "Arena")
On stardate 3192.1, theEnterprise was caught up ina "civilized" interplanetary war betweenEminiar VII andVendikar, whose engagements were fought only by computers, and marked "casualties" among the citizenry dutifully reported todeath chambers. After theEnterprise was declared a target and the crew ordered to die, Kirk destroyed the Eminiar computers, forcing them to finally treat with their enemy – or face a war that would destroy their civilization. (TOS: "A Taste of Armageddon")
Khan in 2267
TheEnterprise discovered theSSBotany Bay, an ancientsleeper ship, on stardate 3141.9. The vessel carried a group of eighty-fourgenetically-engineeredAugments from Earth'sEugenics Wars, kept alive incryogenic freeze; twelve of these had died when their stasis capsules failed. Their leader,Khan Noonien Singh, seducedEnterprisehistorian LieutenantMarla McGivers, revived his seventy-one surviving comrades, and attempted tosteal the starship – before Kirk stopped him. Somewhat respectful of Khan's integrity and abilities, Kirk exiled Khan and his people on planetCeti Alpha V, where the former tyrant would have a chance to "tame a world" without threatening others. (TOS: "Space Seed")
Under theeuphoric, enervating influence ofpod plants, the entireEnterprise crew mutinied, abandoning the ship for the planetOmicron Ceti III in 2267. Kirk was the last to fall under the influence, but his subconscious anger at the idea of leaving the ship rose to the surface, and broke the pod plant's effect. (TOS: "This Side of Paradise")
Accompanied by Spock and McCoy, Kirk discovered the first knownsilicon-based lifeform, a sentientHorta matriarch, on themining colonyJanus VI on stardate 3196.1. (TOS: "The Devil in the Dark")
At the start ofanother war between the Federation and theKlingon Empire, Kirk and Spock met with theOrganian Council of Elders personally and attempted to convince theOrganians, who were apparently primitive, to accept Federation protection. Shortly after the planetOrgania was subsequently occupied by Klingons, Kirk and Spock began conducting aguerrilla war against the Klingon occupation, but Organians abandoned their falsehumanoid forms and intervened, forcing an end to the interstellar war and imposing theTreaty of Organia. Organians predicted that, in time, the antagonistic powers would eventually become friends. In the end, Kor, frustrated by Organian interference that made battle against Kirk impossible, wistfully surmised, "it would have been glorious". (TOS: "Errand of Mercy")
Responding to theDeneva colony having recently gone silent, Kirk found that a hive-mind of maraudingflying parasites had killed hisbrother, George Samuel Kirk, and that the colony's remainingpopulation was under their influence, causingmass insanity. McCoy and Spock were able to develop a method of killing the exotic creatures. (TOS: "Operation -- Annihilate!")
By this time in 2267, Kirk had finally settled on EnsignPavel Chekov as theEnterprise's regular navigator. (TOS: "Catspaw")
Kirk, Spock, and McCoy discoveredZefram Cochrane, theinventor of thewarp drive, missing for 150 years, ona planetoid. Anenergy being Cochrane called "theCompanion" had kept him alive and young all those years. At Cochrane's request, Kirk did not log the encounter. (TOS: "Metamorphosis")
Kirk diverted theEnterprise from an assigned ceremonial mission onAltair IV toVulcan on stardate 3372.7, in order to save his first officer from the dangerous effects of hispon farr mating cycle. In the presence of theVulcan matriarch,T'Pau, Kirk was forced to participate in Spock's marriage ceremony. (TOS: "Amok Time")
Making repairs in 2267
Adistress call led theEnterprise to the crippledUSSConstellation after an ancient machine, deemed a "planet killer", had nearly destroyed that starship. While stranded aboard the nearly crippledConstellation, he and Chief Engineer Scott worked together to recover enough power and control functions to partially restore ship's functions. AfterMatt Decker, a Starfleet commodore who was now mentally unbalanced, made asuicide run with a stolenshuttlecraft, Kirk piloted theConstellation inside the machine, detonating the engines and destroying the device. (TOS: "The Doomsday Machine")
On the planetHalkan, atransporter malfunction swapped theEnterprise landing party with a corresponding landing party from aparallel "mirror universe" where a savage, oppressive,Terran Empire had replaced the United Federation of Planets.A sadistic alternate version of Captain Kirk captained theISSEnterprise, whose first officer was a ruthless,beardedSpock. (TOS: "Mirror, Mirror")
After beaming down to the planetGamma Hydra IV, Kirk, along with Spock, Dr. McCoy, and Scott were all exposed to a rare form ofradiation poisoning from arogue comet. The radiation caused the party to age very rapidly. Kirk's accelerated dotage forced CommodoreStocker, who was visiting theEnterprise, to relieve Kirk from command of the ship until Dr. McCoy discovered a cure. Standardhyronalin therapy, alone, was ineffective. It was not until Spock,NurseChapel, and Dr.Janet Wallace were able to concoct a new type of treatment based on an old-styleadrenaline radiation therapy that Kirk and his party could receive an antidote for the poisonous radiation, and just in time for the captain to regain his ability to command and save theEnterprise from a heavy Romulan attack into which Stocker, whom Kirk had earlier dismissed as a "chair-bound paper pusher" but who had relieved him after an extra-ordinary competency hearing, had unwisely led the ship. After Kirk was cured, he managed to maneuver theEnterprise out of the Neutral Zone and away from Romulan ships via abluff. (TOS: "The Deadly Years")
Year Four
On stardate 4523.6, theEnterprise was dispatched toDeep Space Station K-7,Koroth, Federationbureaucrats, and myriads of cuddly but prodigioustribbles tested Kirk's patience. (TOS: "The Trouble with Tribbles";DS9: "Trials and Tribble-ations") Unknown to Kirk,Benjamin Sisko and the crew of theUSSDefiant observed and facilitated his actions after aBajoranOrb: theOrb of Time brought them from the24th century; Sisko even got Kirk'sautograph (although Kirk thought he was signing ashipping order) and told Kirk that it had been anhonor to serve with him. During the same mission, Lieutenant CommanderJadzia Dax expressed her knowledge that Koloth always regretted not getting the chance to face Kirk in battle. (DS9: "Trials and Tribble-ations")
An Orion spy stabbing Kirk
While theEnterprise was transporting ambassadors to theBabel Conference of 2268, anOrionagent,Thelev, disguised as anAndorian, stabbed Kirk,puncturing his left lung. (TOS: "Journey to Babel")
On Neural in2268
Kirk returned to Neural, the site of his first Starfleet assignment, on stardate 4211.4. Klingons had begun supplying the primitive native villagers withfirearms, leading them to war on the neighboringHill People. Kirk decided to supply the Hill People with similarweaponry, escalating the conflict, but putting both sides on equal footing. (TOS: "A Private Little War")
Upon his second encounter with thedikironium cloud creature in 2267, Kirk re-experienced the feelings of guilt over his actions in a previous disastrous incident, aboard the USSFarragut. Exhibiting a single-minded fixation on the destruction of the creature, McCoy and Spock questioned Kirk's emotional condition. But as it proved, phasers were ineffective against the cloud creature; thus, Kirk learned that he could not have stopped it in their previous encounter, and hence that he had nothing to regret. With the help of his former captain's son, EnsignGarrovick, Kirk lured the creature to the planetTycho IV, destroying it with anantimatter bomb. (TOS: "Obsession")
Kirk found the contaminated society ofSigma Iotia II, based on1920sChicagogang culture, puzzling at first, but he quickly warmed to it. Uniting the world's "gangs" under one "boss", theIotians became a Federationprotectorate. (TOS: "A Piece of the Action")
Scouts from theKelvan Empire in theAndromeda Galaxyhijacked theEnterprise for their return voyage on stardate 4657.5. TheEnterprise, modified withKelvan technology, became the first Federation starship known to cross the galactic barrier, briefly leaving the boundary of the Milky Way Galaxy before Kirk and his senior officers overwhelmed theKelvans and returned to Federation space. (TOS: "By Any Other Name")
Kirk later had his mind displaced into a receptacle in 2268, briefly allowing the ancient beingSargon to live as a corporeal being. (TOS: "Return to Tomorrow")
Kirk holding John Gill as he dies
After John Gill failed to report in from a cultural observation mission toEkos, theEnterprise was assigned to investigate. Kirk found his old professor had developed an idealization of Utopianfascism and had abandoned observation for intervention, creating aNazi-like worldgovernment that overwhelmed Gill's best intentions. Kirk aroused the subverted Gill in time to avert Ekos' impending war with neighboringZeon, and heard Gill recant his philosophies before he died. (TOS: "Patterns of Force")
Kirk being threatened byKara with a phaser onSigma Draconis VI
On stardate 4842.6, theEnterprise discovered theAmerind planet, where an ancient race, the "Preservers", had transplanted elements ofNative American cultures that had been endangered in centuries past. When an accident separated Kirk from the landing party and caused him to sufferamnesia, Spock was forced to abandon the search and command theEnterprise in its mission, that of the interception of anasteroid on course to hit the planet. For several months, the inhabitants worshiped Kirk as agod called "Kirok". During that time, Kirk took awife. Upon theEnterprise's return and the restoration of his memories, Kirk was able to activate an ancient planetary defense mechanism the Preservers had left behind, and thereby divert the approaching asteroid. (TOS: "The Paradise Syndrome")
In Romulan disguise in 2268
Inexplicably to his crew, Kirk began exhibiting bizarre behavior on stardate 5027.3, and ordered theEnterprise across the Romulan Neutral Zone. Three Romulan starships detained theEnterprise, and Kirk and Spock metthe Romulan commander aboard her ship, where Kirk's death was faked. The ruse allowed Kirk,surgically altered to look Romulan, to infiltrate the Romulan vessel and steal its cloaking device. Using the device, theEnterprise cloaked and escaped to Federation space, taking along the captured Romulan commander. The entire operation had been designed to give the Federation plausible deniability in case of the mission's failure, and place the culpability on Kirk in that case. (TOS: "The Enterprise Incident")
NearTholian space, on stardate 5693.2, theEnterprise discovered theUSSDefiant adrift, its crew dead, trapped in aspatial interphase.Tholian commanderLoskene responded to the trespass of "recently annexed" Tholian space. Kirk was lost in the interphase and presumed dead. TheEnterprise exchanged fire with the Tholians, and the unstable region incited madness among the crew. A secondTholian ship joined the engagement, producing aweb to ensnare theEnterprise. After various crew members witnessed Kirk's spectral image, he was retrieved from interphase, and theEnterprise used the rift to escape Tholian entrapment. (TOS: "The Tholian Web") Many years later, in 2381, a framedphotograph of Kirk in anenvironmental suit during this mission was hanging on thewall of anold bar atStarbase 25. (LD: "An Embarrassment Of Dooplers")
Spock attempting to differentiate between two almost identical Kirks in 2269
TheEnterprise visited a Federationasylum onElba II on stardate 5718.3. Kirk's longtime hero, Fleet CaptainGarth of Izar, was committed as a patient. Garth, capable ofcellular metamorphosis, assumed Kirk's form in an attempt to escape and commandeer theEnterprise. Spock was able to determine which man was truly his captain, and Garth was returned torehabilitation. (TOS: "Whom Gods Destroy")
At the end of that year, the governing council of the planetGideon attempted to use the Vegan choriomeningitis organisms in Kirk's blood to control their planet's extreme over-population. (TOS: "The Mark of Gideon")
Year Five
A deadlyplague struck the crew of theEnterprise before stardate 5843.7. Seeking a cure onHolberg 917G, Kirk encounteredFlint, a near-immortal Human. Born asAkharin, during Earth's4th millennium BC inMesopotamia, Flint had later been known asSolomon,Alexander the Great, andLeonardo da Vinci, among other famous identities. Kirk fell in love withRayna Kapec, an android Flint had built to give him company in his final days of seclusion. (TOS: "Requiem for Methuselah") A century later, Captain Janeway of theUSSVoyager expressed some doubt about this encounter. (VOY: "Concerning Flight")
Kirk, with the Excalbian recreation of Abraham Lincoln, and Spock on Excalbia
An incredibly realisticsimulacrum of Kirk's hero, theAmericanPresidentAbraham Lincoln, greeted theEnterprise on stardate 5906.4. Following an invitation to the surface of the planetExcalbia, thesilicon-basedExcalbians re-created the historical figuresSurak,Genghis Khan,Phillip Green,Kahless, andZora. Kirk, Spock, Lincoln, and Surak were pitted against the others as means for the Excalbians to understand the nature and strength ofgood versusevil. During the battle, Kirk received perhaps on of his most meaningful compliments from the form of Lincoln, who was struck by Kirk's propensity to take the offensive when required, when his he asked of Kirk, "Do you drinkwhiskey?" After Kirk responded, "Occasionally; why?" Lincoln answered, "Because you have qualities very much like those of another man I admire greatly,GeneralGrant." (TOS: "The Savage Curtain")
James Kirk's mind, trapped inside Janice Lester's body
After responding to a distress call from his former lover, Janice Lester, onCamus II, Kirk arrived at her bedside, where she appeared to be near death. Not expecting danger, Kirk was easily ensnared. Lester activated the life-entity transfer device and was immediately thrilled by her possession of Kirk's body. The transfer would eventually return the exchanged persona to its original body, as long as both remained alive.Drugged and disoriented within Lester's body, Kirk was easy prey, but Lester's spontaneous gloating monologue prevented her fromstrangling Kirk before Dr.Leonard McCoy arrived.
Kirk was still a liability as long as he remained alive insickbay, but the exclusive care of Dr. Coleman kept Kirk isolated from thecrew, however, Spock discovered the truth of the situation through a briefmind meld with the imprisoned Kirk in Lester's body, but their attempted escape was halted bysecurity officers ignorant of the captain's strange new behavior.
During Lester's final attempt to kill Kirk, the two touched in a brief struggle, and the misplaced personalities returned to their proper bodies. Broken, incoherent, and sobbing in her complete failure, Kirk couldn't help but feel sorry for the poor, mentally unstable, twisted-minded woman, who was driven mad not only by her ambition of craving the power to command a starship, but also her hatred and jealousy of the captain she once loved, then wanted dead. Kirk felt her life could have been as rich as any woman's, "if only..." (TOS: "Turnabout Intruder")
In 2269, Kirk encountered Cyrano Jones and Koloth once again, saving Jones when his vessel, aFederation scout ship, was destroyed by theIKSDevisor. Koloth demanded that Kirk hand Jones over and Kirk defiantly told him that the first Klingon to board theEnterprise would be the last Klingon. (TAS: "More Tribbles, More Troubles")
Kirk, along with Spock, Sulu, and McCoy visited the planetPhylos, where he encountered aclone ofStavos Keniclius, ascientist from the Eugenics Wars. Spock was abducted by Swoopers and cloned, which became known asSpock Two. Kirk later lead a rescue mission to get Spock back, which was successful. Before leaving Phylos, Kirk told Stavos Keniclius 5 that Spock Two could stay with him and together they could attempt to bring thePhylosian civilization back from the dead. (TAS: "The Infinite Vulcan")
Kirk wearing apolarized conductorheadband
Late the same year, theEnterprise returned to thetime planet to once again visit the Guardian of Forever, when he, Spock, andhistorianErickson observe the dawn of theOrioncivilization. (TAS: "Yesteryear")
Kirk and his crew were instrumental in stopping a massivematter-energy cloud from consuming the planetMantilles. Kirk wrestled with the ethical implications of destroying the cloud once it was determined to be a living creature but fortunately, Spock was able to mind meld with it and convinced it to cease its movement toward Mantilles. (TAS: "One of Our Planets Is Missing")
Kirk lead a landing party that beamed down to inspectPlanet Two of theTaurean system. There, he became affected by the glandular secretion of thefemale members ofTheela's species who inhabited there, who were known for controlling the male mind. This drained Kirk of his "life force," causing him to age at a rate of ten years per day. After an all-female security detachment led by Lieutenant Uhura recovered him and the landing party. By using their molecular pattern stored in thetransporter system, Kirk and the others were returned to their previous ages. (TAS: "The Lorelei Signal")
Sord and Kirk working together
Kirk, together with Spock, were tasked by theVedala to recover theSoul of the Skorr, which had been stolen and had triggered a racial fury among theSkorr. As a result, they had prepared for war against the known galaxy. Kirk was specifically chosen for the mission for his leadership and adaptability skills. Together with a team consisting of Spock,Lara,Em/3/Green,Sord, andTchar, they were transported to a world simply named "mad planet" to recover the Soul of the Skorr. Kirk later determined that the thief was Tchar, and together with Spock, he was able to defeat him and get the Soul of the Skorr back usingnull-gravity combat exercises. (TAS: "The Jihad")
Kirk, shrunken down, assists an injured Sulu, along with Spock, Arex, and Kyle
Kirk and theEnterprise crew later discovered the long-lost Earth colonyTerratin after they had sent out a distress signal. However, the only way the colony believed they could get Kirk's attention was to shrink the crew of theEnterprise down to their size. Upon requesting that the colony's inhabitants be saved, Kirk, after being restored to full-size when he transported down toTerra 10's surface, had the miniature colony beamed aboard theEnterprise and later had it relocated to the planetVerdanis. (TAS: "The Terratin Incident")
Kirk attempting to be beamed up from Lactra VII
Kirk, together with Spock and McCoy, beamed down toLactra VII to locate Lieutenant CommanderTom Markel and other missing officers from the starshipUSSAriel after they had been missing for approximately sixweeks. While there, Kirk located the missingAriel officers and encountered theLactrans. While being held in their "zoo", Kirk faked being ill in order to regain his confiscated communicator and escape with his crewmembers. Unfortunately, it was taken away by a young Lactran and it was beamed up to theEnterprise instead. Upon witnessing this, the Lactrans tried to destroy Kirk's mind after their "child" had disappeared. After it returned to the surface with Montgomery Scott, it told its fellow Lactrans all it had learned about the Federation and the races it encompassed while on theEnterprise, which led them to free Kirk, Spock, McCoy and theAriel crew. The Lactrans later requested that Starfleet visit their planet again in about twenty or thirty centuries in their time. When Spock told Kirk that it would take some time to figure out long that would actually be, Kirk responded that, regardless, it would not be their problem. (TAS: "The Eye of the Beholder")
Kirk calling Scott after the gravity on the bridge cuts out
In2270, Kirk and the crew of theEnterprise fell victim to severalpractical jokes after the ship passed through anenergy field near the Romulan Neutral Zone. Passing through the field caused theEnterprise's main computer to malfunction and it began erratically playing jokes on the crew. Among the jokes that Kirk had played on him were the computer printing that he was a jerk on the back of his uniform, making him and Spock slip on ice in a corridor, and causing theartificial gravity on the bridge to cut out, making Kirk float to the top of the bridge. (TAS: "The Practical Joker")
Kirk in a briefing with Commodore Robert April
Later that year, Kirk welcomed aboard Commodore and FederationAmbassador-at-large, as well as former commanding officer of theEnterprise,Robert April, along with his wifeSarah, on its journey back to Babel, where April was due to be honored before his mandatoryretirement. While on the way there, theEnterprise encounteredKarla Five andher vessel while it was apparently headed for its destruction at the heart of Beta Niobe supernova. While attempting to save her and her ship, Kirk and his crew were drawn into areverse universe, where Karla Five was actually from and was intending to return to through the supernova remnant. Kirk, along with his entire crew, began to turn into children while in this universe. Thankfully, due to the efforts of a younger Commodore April taking command of theEnterprise from its captain, Kirk, along with his crew, were all restored to their normal ages when they returned to their own universe. (TAS: "The Counter-Clock Incident")
Further exploits of this time included saving thePelosians fromextinction, despite it being a violation of thePrime Directive, such as he had with theBaezians andChenari years earlier. (VOY: "Q2")
Reaching the end of its five-year deployment in 2270, Kirk ordered theEnterprise set on a course returning the ship to Earth. (Star Trek: The Motion Picture)
Chief of Starfleet operations
As a rear admiral in the mid-2270s
The USSEnterprise returned to Earth in 2270. Kirk's successful mission resulted in his promotion torear admiral and a posting asChief ofStarfleet Operations atStarfleet Headquarters inSan Francisco for the following two and a half years. With Spock leaving Starfleet to return to Vulcan to purge all emotion, Kirk recommendedWill Decker to replace him asEnterprise captain while the ship underwent an extensive refit at theSan Francisco Fleet Yards, but he told Decker how envious he was and how much he hoped to find a way to get a starship command again. (Star Trek: The Motion Picture)
The V'ger crisis
Kirk commanded theEnterprise during theV'ger crisis and its official shakedown cruise
In the mid-2270s,V'ger, an energy cloud assimilating information from (and destroying) objects in its path, threatened Earth. The only starship positioned to intercept it was theEnterprise, her refit nearly complete but still awaiting trial runs. After convincing AdmiralNogura that he was the best man to meet the threat, Kirk rushed theEnterprise into service, assuming the rank of captain for the duration of the mission. Decker regarded Kirk's command as an insult and a mistake and pointed to his recent desk service and unfamiliarity with the ship's new systems, but the younger man fulfilled his duty as first officer.
The entity proved to be the late 20th centuryNASAspace probeVoyager 6, having amassed great power and self-awareness in its travels. When Kirk and his party discovered the true nature ofV'ger and negotiated a visit to the actual probe itself, located at the heart of the 'V'ger' vessel, Decker used the opportunity, withV'ger's protection, to fulfill his wish to merge with theV'ger entity through the simulacrum of his loverIlia, thereby unitingV'ger's mechanical nature with its Human origins. The union resulted in the birth of a radically new, and benign, lifeform. (Star Trek: The Motion Picture)
Following the success of this mission, Kirk commanded theEnterprise in the mid-to-late 2270s. His quarters were on deck 5.
First retirement
Kirk briefly retired from Starfleet sometime before2284 to pursue a number of personal goals and affairs, namely his relationship with a woman namedAntonia. (Star Trek Generations)
Return to Starfleet
Inspection tour
"KHAN!!!"
Kirk returned to Starfleet in 2284 and took a position in theadmiralty, supervising command-track cadets at Starfleet Academy among his duties. The lack of a center seat gnawed at him until he began to express discontent in his latest posting. Kirk celebrated his fifty-secondbirthday alone, barring a visit from his friend Dr. McCoy, who gifts him abottle of2283Romulan ale and, as Kirk wasallergic toRetinax V, a pair ofglasses to adjust for his increasing farsightedness.
The following day, Kirk visited theEnterprise, now commanded by Captain Spock, for aninspection tour and as an observer to a cadet training cruise. Unknown to Kirk at the time, his nemesis, Khan Noonien Singh had been accidentally released from his exile onCeti Alpha V, which had lost the inhabitability it had possessed when he and his people were originally left there, by hijacking theUSSReliant, leading to the hunt for theGenesis Device from theRegula Ispace station. A call from Dr.Carol Marcus alerted theEnterprise, which changed course to investigate even though its crew was largely "a boatload of--children," in Kirk's phrasing. Despite Kirk's (somewhat half-hearted) protests, Spock insisted on deferring his command to Admiral Kirk, quipping that as a Vulcan "he had no ego to bruise."
The subsequent engagement with his old enemy was tumultuous for Kirk, including a near-disastrous blunder disregardingStarfleet regulations quoted bySaavik that nearly doomed his ship and crew. In a textbook example of Kirk's ability to wield theEnterprise against a well-matched opponent was in the encounter with the USSReliant, where he saved theEnterprise by tricking Khan into believing he was receiving data on Genesis but instead having his shields lowered via theReliant'sprefix code, allowing the ship to make several retaliatory phaser hits on theReliant, leading to a temporary withdrawl. Following the immediate success, Kirk admitted, in frustration and fury, to having gotten "caught with my britches down," at first, namely ignoringGeneral Order 12, which allowed theEnterprise to be crippled by the non-communicative ship's sudden attack.
After arriving at Regula I, Kirk met his estranged son,David Marcus, whom he rescued along withCarol Marcus, and theEnterprise escaped into theMutara Nebula. A difficultbattle with Khan ensued, however, Kirk prevailed after he used his long starship experience and Khan's own egomaniacal psychology to level the playing field and prevail, though it came at a great personal cost, the resulting death of his friend of twenty years, Spock. (Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan)
Stealing theEnterprise
Kirk in 2285, stealing theEnterprise
Kirk's return to Earth in2285 was solemn. The loss of Spock affected Kirk deeply, and McCoy began to show signs of mental illness. Planning to return to theGenesis Planet after his battle-damaged starship was fully repaired, Kirk's hopes were dashed whenCommander, StarfleetFleet AdmiralMorrow announced that theEnterprise would soon be decommissioned.
AmbassadorSarek approached Kirk, leading to the discovery of Spock'skatra surviving in McCoy. Kirk'ssenior officers rallied to him, conspiring to rescue McCoy and steal theEnterprise fromSpacedock One in order to recover Spock's body from theGenesis Planet and to bring it, and hiskatra, toMount Seleya on Vulcan.
At the Genesis planet, aKlingon Bird-of-Prey'sattack left theEnterprise disabled. After setting anauto-destruct sequence, Kirk and his crew abandoned the ship for the surface. TheEnterprise was destroyed, taking a Klingon boarding party along with it. Finding Spock's body reanimated by Genesis, Kirk took the Bird-of-Prey to Mount Seleya on Vulcan, where Spock'skatra and body were reunited. (Star Trek III: The Search for Spock)
Saving Earth
Kirk and Spock walking the streets of San Francisco in 1986
After three months of exile on Vulcan, Kirk and his crew departed (aboard the Bird-of-Prey renamedHMSBounty) for Earth, to face their charges of violating nineStarfleet regulations. During the voyage,a mysterious probe besieged Earth and communicated only inwhale song. After answering theplanetary distress signal and determining the probe's objective, Kirk used theslingshot effect to take theBounty back in time to1986San Francisco, 300 years ago.
With the help ofcetacean biologist Dr.Gillian Taylor, Kirk successfully obtained thehumpback whalesGeorge and Gracie and returned with them to2286. By providing the whales that could answer the probe's query, Kirk redeemed Humanity's extermination of asentient species and saved Earth from an environmental catastrophe. (Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home)
Commanding the USSEnterprise NCC-1701-A
Kirk and crew on the bridge of theEnterprise-A
Following the Whale Probe incident, theFederation president declared to Kirk, "we are forever in your debt." In light of their recent heroics, all charges facing his crew were dismissed, but one remained against Admiral Kirk: disobeying the orders of a superior officer. Kirk's punishment was areduction in rank to captain and a return to the duty that had served the Federation so well, starship command. He was assigned to theConstitution II-class starship, theUSSEnterprise (NCC-1701-A), in 2286. He commanded theEnterprise-A for the next seven years. (Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home;Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country)
Sybok and Sha Ka Ree
Kirk and theEnterprise-A were hijacked by Sybok and traveled to Sha Ka Ree
In2287, after a brief shakedown cruise proved theEnterprise-A not quite to be as fully spaceworthy as it had initially seemed to be, Kirk vacationed inYosemite National Park with Spock and McCoy, while Montgomery Scott attended to the technical problems. The respite was interrupted after Spock's half-brother,Sybok, raised a small force called theGalactic Army of Light to take over the planetNimbus III and captured the Federation, Klingon andRomulan representatives.
Kirk and theEnterprise-A responded, as did aKlingonBird-of-Prey commanded byKlaa, who took on the rescue mission as an opportunity to take on Kirk, as he believed defeating Kirk would make him the greatest warrior in the galaxy.
Following a failed assault onParadise City, Sybok captured the crew of theEnterprise-A and took over the ship. After most of Kirk's crew fell under Sybok's influence and joined in his quest to meet "God" by taking the starship through theGreat Barrier to the legendarySha Ka Ree. En route, Sybok offered Kirk the chance to "ease his pain," as he had seemingly demonstrated on Spock and McCoy. But Kirk rejected the offer angrily, insisting, "I don'twant my pain taken away; INEED my pain!!!"
Later, theentity they encountered proved to be a malevolent force, imprisoned and looking for release. Sybok joined the entity in combat, sacrificing himself and permitting theEnterprise-A to escape. (Star Trek V: The Final Frontier)
Final mission
Kirk and McCoy on trial
Six years later Kirk's career culminated in2293 ,theEnterprise-A was assigned to escort KlingonChancellorGorkon to Earth for a peace conference. Kirk opposed the peace initiative Spock covertly negotiated. He especially resented that Starfleet had chosenhim to be the Federation's olive branch. Acabal of Federation and Klingon officials instigated an attack onKronos One that appeared to come from theEnterprise-A, andassassinated Gorkon.
The Klingons arrested Kirk and McCoy, then tried and convicted them for the murder of Gorkon, sentencing them to theRura Penthepenal asteroid. In violation of orders and treaties, Spock took theEnterprise-A into Klingon space, eluded detection and rescued Kirk and McCoy. Following his victory over GeneralChang at theBattle of Khitomer, Kirk saved theFederation president from assassination, and the historicKhitomer Conference continued; this led to the successful negotiation, signatures, and ratifications of "The First Khitomer Accords" between the UFP and the Klingon Empire.
After commanding two Starships namedEnterprise, Kirk's tenure as captain of theEnterprise ended in 2293.
Kirk, Spock, Scott, Uhura, Chekov, and McCoy see the rest of Sulu's crew onboard theExcelsior-classUSSExcelsior on the view screen one last time before parting ways. Kirk ordered Chekov to set the course "second star to the right, and straight on till morning," as the last flight of theEnterprise-A. After that, the vessel was decommissioned, and Kirk retired permanently from Starfleet. (Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country)
Second Retirement
Maiden voyage of theEnterprise-B
Kirk briefly taking command of theEnterprise-B
Shortly after retirement, Kirk joined his friends Montgomery Scott and Pavel Chekov as the honored guests of CaptainJohn Harriman on the maiden voyage of theExcelsior-class starshipUSSEnterprise-B. The event, featuring a media frenzy surrounding Kirk, was little more than a ceremonial cruise, as theEnterprise-B was not yet fully crewed or equipped for regular duty. Soon after departure, the ship received a distress signal from twoWhorfin-class ships transportingEl Aurian refugees trapped in an energy distortion called theNexus.
With the advice of Kirk, and the help of Scott and Chekov, the rescue mission was a partial success, but theEnterprise-B succumbed to the Nexus'gravimetric field. Declining Harriman's offer to take command, Kirk volunteered to modify the ship'sdeflector relays and successfully enabled the ship's escape, but not before a burst of energy from the Nexus breached thesecondary hull. Kirk was lost and presumed dead. (Star Trek Generations)
The Nexus and death
Kirk, just before jumping over a chasm
Events of2371 revealed Kirk had entered the Nexus, yet unaware of the passing of 78 years due to the non-linear nature of time in the Nexus. CaptainJean-Luc Picard of theUSSEnterprise-D discovered Kirk within the Nexus. Kirk agreed to leave his idyllic but unsatisfying existence to help Picard defeat the derangedscientistTolian Soran, who was going to destroy theVeridian system.
As Kirk explained to Picard, the main reason he always returned to the command chair of theEnterprise was that it was only there that Kirk could truly make a difference. He advised Picard to refuse anything Starfleet offered him that would take him away from the currentEnterprise, because he would lose the ability to make a difference in the universe.
"It was... fun. Oh my...."
Kirk sacrificed his life to save the inhabitants ofVeridian IV, as well as the crew of theEnterprise-D, climbing along a precariously-balanced metal bridge in order to grab the control panel necessary to disable the missile that Soran would have used, the bridge subsequently falling down a steep cliff when its support beams broke. His last words, spoken to Picard after being assured that he had made a difference, were to comment that his help was the least he could do for the captain of theEnterprise, as well as to assure Picard that "It was... fun. Oh my...." (Star Trek Generations)
Scan of Kirk's remains at Daystrom Station
Captain Picard buried Kirk in a simple stone cairn on aVeridian III mountain top. (Star Trek Generations)
After Kirk's death,Section 31 retrieved his body forProject Phoenix.
As of2401, the remains were stored onDaystrom Station. (PIC: "The Bounty"okudagram)
Legacy
Sometime after2285, Kirk made a brief appearance in afilm calledThe Tardigrade in Space, which was about the adventures of afemaletardigrade and aDOT-7robot calledDot. His appearance in the film depicted his first encounter withKhan Noonien Singh insickbay, when he was first awakened fromcryosleep in the year2267. (ST: "Ephraim and Dot")
His missions were read bygrade schoolstudents andStarfleet Academycadets alike. (Star Trek Generations;VOY: "Q2") As a child ingrade school, futureEnterprise-B Captain Harriman read about Kirk's missions. (Star Trek Generations) While nearly a century later, in2377, asIcheb began his cadet training aboardVoyager, he recited a report forEarly Starfleet History, that described when Kirk concluded his "historic five year mission", that "one of the greatest chapters in Starfleet history came to a close." (VOY: "Q2")
CaptainKathryn Janeway of the USSVoyager nostalgically recalled Captain Kirk (and his contemporaries) as belonging "to a different breed of Starfleet officer." She went on to note that, given "the era they lived in, [...] It's not surprising they had to bend the rules a little. They were a little slower to invoke the Prime Directive, and a little quicker to pull their phasers." She opined,"Of course, the whole bunch of them would be booted out of Starfleet today. But I have to admit, I would have loved toride shotgun at least once with a group of officers like that." (VOY: "Flashback")
Along with Kirk's seventeen separate temporal violations, which gave him the distinction of having the biggest file on record with the Department of Temporal Investigations, Kirk also had a long standing first contact record to his name. (DS9: "Trials and Tribble-ations") It remained untouched until2378, when Captain Janeway concluded her seven-year trip across theDelta Quadrant aboard the USSVoyager. (VOY: "Friendship One")
During a visit to the 23rd century from2373, Lieutenant CommanderWorf remarked that it would be an honor to meet Kirk. (DS9: "Trials and Tribble-ations")
Thedefensive patternKirk Epsilon was a battle tactic that was still in use during the late2370s. (Star Trek Nemesis)
In2380 and2381, Kirk was mentioned multiple times by various crew members of theUSSCerritos, includingBrad Boimler andBeckett Mariner. (LD: "Second Contact", "Veritas", "An Embarrassment Of Dooplers")
Kirk's old bar onStarbase 25 still had his and Spock's names scratched into the counter top as of2381. (LD: "An Embarrassment Of Dooplers")
In2382DoctorT'Ana referenced Kirk during a skirmish with the KlingonRelga. (LD: "The New Next Generation")
In2383, Kirk was an option for a crewmember in theKobayashi Maru scenario.Jankom Pog suggested that he andDal R'El use"this JT Kirk guy," but Dal was uninterested as they already had a captain: himself. (PRO: "Kobayashi")
In2384,Hologram Janeway noted that both Captains Kirk and Sulu were "Starfleet legends". To theEnderprizians, Kirk was known as "James'T the Warrior", and he had at least onenamesake onPlanet 0042692,James'T. (PRO: "All the World's a Stage") Kirk also had at least two others named in his honor during his lifetime,Jame Finney andLeonard James Akaar. (TOS: "Court Martial", "Friday's Child")
In the alternate reality created byNero, Spock Prime told Kirk'salternate reality counterpart about his prime counterpart's relationship with his father.
Nero also told alternate Kirk that Kirk was a good man who went on to command the USSEnterprise. (Star Trek)
Personal interests
Skills and hobbies
Kirk spent a huge portion of his life aboard starships, and consequently relished the times he could spend outdoors. He was an accomplished equestrian, and kept a horse at a mountain cabin that he owned during his first retirement. Another companion at his mountain cabin wasButler, hisGreat Dane. He sold the cabin sometime after his return to Starfleet. (Star Trek Generations)
A personal challenge that nearly cost him his life was free-solo climbing the face ofEl Capitan mountain inYosemite National Park on Earth. After Spock rescued Kirk from an accidental free fall, Kirk told the Vulcan and McCoy that while falling he knew he would not die because he had always known that he would die alone, and since he, McCoy, and Spock were present during the incident, he could not die. (Star Trek V: The Final Frontier) However, Kirk's prediction eventually proved apparently wrong when he died on Veridian III in the company of Jean-Luc Picard, who was, evidently, an ultimately poor surrogate for Spock and/or McCoy in that particular situation. (Star Trek Generations)
Beckett Mariner once described herself as a "Kirk-stylefree spirit", though her mother, CaptainCarol Freeman, retorted that Kirk was confident, whereas Mariner was unwilling to risk dropping her defenses to make allies. (LD: "First First Contact")
Personal combat
Kirk's unique fighting style
Kirk incorporated techniques from Judo into his personal combat style
Kirk's command style frequently brought him in close proximity to his enemies, often resulting in hand-to-hand combat. His idiosyncratic martial-arts style used hand chops to the neck, wrestling and judo throws, roundhouse punches, two-fisted swings and open-hand slaps in varying combinations, and even drop kicks. One or two of Kirk's blows overwhelmed a variety of enemy guards and henchmen. In addition, Kirk regularly performed dives and rolls, either to evade phaser fire or to attack an opponent, thereby often jumping off walls and other fixed elements.
A typical example of Kirk's fighting style in a more extended bout occurred in 2265 on the surface ofDelta Vega, in the attempt to kill his friend Gary Mitchell. (TOS: "Where No Man Has Gone Before")
While typical examples of his wrestling and Judo abilities were seen when the Orion spyThelev assaulted him, and when he used a judo throw to disarm theRedjac entity which had taken the form ofHengist. (TOS: "Journey to Babel", "Wolf in the Fold")
At times, a larger, more powerful opponent clearly out-classed Kirk, leaving him to his wits, the aid of his crew, or pure luck to see him through. Pitted against the Gorn captain in 2267, he held his own for a time, until his injuries forced withdrawal and a search for a more efficient weapon. (TOS: "Arena")
In2255 and again in 2268, he wrestled a ferociousMugato of Neural. When the massiveancient androidRuk attacked Kirk onExo III in 2266, Kirk could do little but hold on for the ride. (TOS: "A Private Little War", "What Are Little Girls Made Of?")
On the Shore Leave Planet in 2267, Kirk was shocked by the appearance of Finnegan, his Academy nemesis, who had not seemed to age. The two proceeded to slug each other until both were bleeding and exhausted. Perhaps the longest fist-fight of his life, it was clearly the most satisfying. (TOS: "Shore Leave")
Kirk fought his friend and first officer Spock on three occasions when the half-Vulcan lost his normal emotional control. A series of slaps delivered to Spock in 2266 resulted in a blow that sent Kirk over a table. In 2267, after necessarily cruel taunts, Spock tossed Kirk back and forth across thetransporter room, regaining control just before he crushed his captain's skull. Spock'sblood fever during hispon farr of 2267 made him so dangerous in thekoon-ut-kal-if-fee ritual fight that Dr. McCoy was forced to falsify Kirk's death before Spock could kill him. (TOS: "The Naked Time", "This Side of Paradise", "Amok Time")
Kirk was constantly looking to improve his arsenal of combat techniques. Upon witnessing Hikaru Sulu perform a body throw onAgmar onPhylos in 2269, he asked Sulu to teach him the technique sometime, since it might come in handy. (TAS: "The Infinite Vulcan")
Relationships
Family
The Kirk family ancestry included settlers who pioneered theAmerican frontier in the19th century, and the Kirks of the early23rd century rediscovered the impulse for untamed spaces. After his early childhood on Earth, Kirk lived on Tarsus IV by the age of thirteen, and his brother's family later lived on colonies as well. (TOS: "Spectre of the Gun", "The Conscience of the King", "Operation -- Annihilate!")
Baby Kirok
Kirk's brief 2268 marriage to Miramanee produced a child. Though she and the baby died while she was still in the early days of her pregnancy, "Kirok" had welcomed her news of the child. (TOS: "The Paradise Syndrome")
George Kirk, Sr.
Kirk's father, Lieutenant CommanderGeorge Kirk was serving as first officer of theUSSKelvin during the time of Kirk's birth.
Kirk often credited his father with inspiring him to join Starfleet. His father proudly lived long enough to see his son achieve command. (Star Trek)
Sam Kirk
Sam and Jim reuniting in an alternate 2266
George Samuel Kirk (called "Sam" only by his brother) was also, for a time, a Starfleet officer. (SNW: "Strange New Worlds", "A Quality of Mercy")
Their relationship did experience signs of strain at times; Sam expressed feelings of jealousy towards James' quick rise. In2259, James had become thefirst officer on theFarragut, the youngest in Starfleet history, a record previously held by their father. Sam felt James' ambition and brash attitude reflected badly on him. (SNW: "Lost in Translation")
Sam later describedUna Chin-Riley to James as "the first officer that James thought he should be like." Someone who kept a necessary distance from her crew because she knows she has to make hard decisions. (SNW: "Subspace Rhapsody")
Sam, along with his wifeAurelan and three sons, joined his younger brother for a farewell visit before theEnterprise departed for her five-year mission. It was the last time Jim saw Sam alive. (TOS: "What Are Little Girls Made Of?") Sam ended up on Deneva, with his wife and sonPeter by2267. James was too late to save his brother and sister-in-law from theneural parasites that had invaded Deneva that year, and killed the couple, but Peter survived the attack. (TOS: "Operation -- Annihilate!")
According to an alternate timeline version of Sam Kirk, he described Jim as a "huge pain in the ass but he's a fine a captain as Starfleet has." (SNW: "A Quality of Mercy")
David Marcus
David Marcus in 2285
Kirk's romance with Carol Marcus produced a son, David Marcus. At Carol's request, Kirk stayed out of David's early life. David knew something of Kirk, referring to him as "the over-grownBoy Scout" his mother used to know, but not that Kirk was his father. Carol kept David's father's identity a secret, fearing that Kirk's adventurous life would draw David away from her. In spite of the separation, Carol told Kirk that David was "a lot like you, in many ways."
In2285, David was working with his mother at the Federationresearch stationRegula I as part of a team developingProject Genesis whenKhan Noonien Singh attacked the station. After fleeing to theRegulaplanetoid, Kirk rescued David and Carol. Kirk did not immediately recognize his son at their awkward meeting, and later became melancholy when considering an alternate life as a father. He observed David's dislike of him, complaining to Carol,"There's a man out there whom I haven't seen in fifteen years, who's trying to kill me. You show me a son who'd be happy to help him." After witnessing Kirk's victory at theBattle of the Mutara Nebula and the funeral for Spock, David consoled his father and admitted he was "proud, very proud, to be [his] son." (Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan)
Kirk with David's body on Genesis
Later in 2285, David was an advisor on thestarshipUSSGrissom, researching the Genesis planet he had helped to create. Taken hostage byKlingons, David interrupted an attempted execution of LieutenantSaavik, wrestling a Klingon warrior briefly before being killed with a stab to the chest. The news of David's death led Kirk to stumble to the deck in grief, spitting at CommanderKruge in his rage,"You Klingon bastard, you've--killed myson!" Kirk subsequently killed Kruge and all but one (Maltz) of his crew. As Kirk and his crew made their escape from the collapsing Genesis planet, he somberly and mournfully said goodbye to his son. (Star Trek III: The Search for Spock)
Kirk kept David's memory close, with a picture of his son in his quarters aboard theEnterprise-A. Kirk's opinion of Klingons, once enemies he could occasionally respect and even share a laugh with, grew into hatred. In2293, during the diplomatic mission to theKlingon Empire instigated by the destruction ofPraxis, he logged,"I have never trusted Klingons, and I never will. I've never been able to forgive them for the death of my boy." Acknowledging that he wanted to believe Spock's statements that the mission was historic, he added,"(H)ow on Earth can history get past people like me?" The partial log entry, surreptitiously and illegally recorded by the evil LieutenantValeris, was used against him during the trial for the assassination of Chancellor Gorkon, and the incident forced him to come to terms with his hatred for Klingons; Gorkon's daughter and acting successor,Azetbur, realized and admitted just as the Khitomer Conference was getting under way that Kirk had restored her father's faith, to which Kirk responded that Azetbur had in turn restored his son's faith. (Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country)
Friendships
An approachable, gregarious individual, Kirk made many friends across a range of worlds and status, from theHill dwellerTyree to Starfleet Fleet Admiral Morrow. Those that shared his closest, personal confidence appear to be limited to a few, including Spock, Leonard McCoy, and Gary Mitchell. The core group of talented officers that he assembled in his first years aboard theEnterprise followed his call throughout their own careers, and were integral factors to his long success and lasting reputation.
Kirk recognized the impact his life in Starfleet had on his family life. In2287, while camping with his friends in Yosemite, he referred to himself, Spock, and McCoy as the only family that men like themselves were likely to have. Presumably, his prediction that he would die alone meant that he would die with neither of them also present at his death. (Star Trek V: The Final Frontier)
Nyota Uhura
Lt. Kirk introducing himself to Ensign Uhura
Kirk first metNyota Uhura at a bar on theEnterprise in 2259. He introduced himself to her and she responded with hostility as she believed he was flirting with her. Over time, the two began to trust to one another and after dealing with the deuterium creatures withinBannon's Nebula, the two shared a drink and Uhura introduced Kirk to Spock. (SNW: "Lost in Translation")
After Kirk replaced Pike as captain of theEnterprise, Kirk kept Uhura on as communications officer. The two would work closely together for the next thirty years. (TOS: "The Corbomite Maneuver";Star Trek: The Motion Picture;Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country)
Spock
Kirk and Spock meeting for the first time
Kirk andSpock officially met in 2259 after Kirk visited theEnterprise for the first time after being tentatively promoted to first officer aboard theFarragut. (SNW: "Lost in Translation")
By 2265, Kirk and Spock were serving together aboard theEnterprise and were familiar enough with each other for Spock toaddress Kirk as "Jim". After the death of Gary Mitchell, Kirk came to depend on Spock's detached, logical analysis as a supplement to his own intuitive and impulsive nature. Their official relationship deepened into a friendship of mutual respect and love that was without a doubt the most important relationship of both Kirk's and Spock's lives. (TOS: "Where No Man Has Gone Before")
The inseparable trio (l to r) McCoy, Kirk, and Spock in 2267
As Edith Keeler observed of Spock's place in the world, "You? At his side. As if you've always been there and always will." (TOS: "The City on the Edge of Forever") He once described his Vulcan friend as "the noblest part of myself" and declared that Spock's immortal soul "is my responsibility, as surely as if it were my very own." Kirk even told Spock's father that he would never realize how important Spock was to him, and declared that, despite losing theEnterprise and his son, had he not tried to rescue his friend, "...the cost would have been mysoul." (Star Trek III: The Search for Spock)
Kirk with Spock on Earth in1969
The polywater intoxication that affected theEnterprise crew in 2266 led to a difficult encounter between Kirk and his first officer. Needing Spock at a critical moment, Kirk found him in anguished reflection, regretting his inability to express love even for his mother. Trying to bring the first officer around to the moment, Kirk slapped him. Spock's reaction was flat and revelatory, "Jim, when I feel friendship for you, I'm ashamed." Struck again, Spock responded in kind, sending Kirk backwards over a table. (TOS: "The Naked Time")
Spock was sympathetic to Kirk's plight after the transporter divided the captain's personality into opposite aspects. He referred to his own halves, "submerged...constantly at war with each other," explaining that he survived it because his intelligence won out over both and forced them to coexist. Spock believed that Kirk's own intelligence would also enable him to survive such a contest intact, and urged him to embrace the part of himself that, seemingly ugly, was crucial to his personality and captaincy. (TOS: "The Enemy Within")
Kirk holding Spock after he is attacked by a parasite on Deneva
After Kirk discovered emotional rage was the key to nullifying the effect of the pod plants, his first step in retrieving his crew was to taunt Spock into anger. Anticipating the result of a Vulcan's higher strength level pitted against his own, Kirk wielded a pipe for protection. After being called an"elf with a hyperactive thyroid" and told that he belonged"in the circus, right next to the dog-faced boy," Spock indeed lost control, nearly killing Kirk before resuming command of himself. (TOS: "This Side of Paradise")
In 2267, Spock began hispon farr mating cycle, and behaved bizarrely aboard theEnterprise. Kirk called to Spock "the best first officer in the fleet" and "an enormous asset to me" as he pled with Spock to explain his actions. When told that by taking Spock to Vulcan, against Starfleet orders, Kirk fired back, "I owe him [Spock] my life a dozen times over! Isn't that worth a career?"
Joining him on Vulcan for his marriage ceremony, Kirk was drawn intoT'Pring's scheme to marry another, and forced to fight Spock to the death. McCoy, knowing Kirk was endangered, faked Kirk's death, and the marriage was not consummated. Spock, despondent that he had murdered his captain, thrilled at the sight of Kirk alive, exclaiming, "JIM!", which McCoy delighted in needling Spock about once he gained his composure. (TOS: "Amok Time")
Kirk's understanding of Spock had an enormous impact on the parallel mirror universe, visited after a transporter accident in 2267. As Kirk's party prepared to return to their proper universe, Kirk implored themirror-Spock to re-examine his role in the fascisticTerran Empire, insisting,"One man can make a difference." Mirror-Spock's consideration of those words led to his rise to dominance and reform of the Empire, with drastic consequences. (TOS: "Mirror, Mirror";DS9: "Crossover")
When Kirk was trapped inspatial interphase during a rescue operation in Tholian space, Spock ordered theEnterprise to maintain her position in an effort to retrieve him, in spite of the danger the Tholians presented and the disruptive nature of the local space. After Kirk's assumed death, Spock and McCoy viewed the "last orders" Kirk had prepared. He urged Spock to use all the Vulcan disciplines at his disposal, tempered with intuitive insight. Kirk believed Spock had the latter qualities, but should they elude him, he was urged to seek out McCoy. (TOS: "The Tholian Web")
Kirk once commented to Captain Garth that the dream of theAxanar Peace Mission participants made him and Spock "brothers." Spock only said, "Captain Kirk speaks somewhat figuratively, and with undue emotion, but what he says is logical and I do, in fact, agree with it." (TOS: "Whom Gods Destroy")
When Dr. Janice Lester, a former lover of Kirk's, took over Kirk's body, Spock performed amind meld on Kirk while he was trapped in Lester's body. Spock believed Kirk was Lester before anyone else, and when Lester as Kirk ordered his execution, he continued to stand by his friend. (TOS: "Turnabout Intruder")
Kirk with Spock again in the2270s
At the end of theEnterprise's five-year mission, a period marked by his frequent loss of his emotional control, Spock chose to leave Starfleet and his friends, to pursue theKolinahr discipline of logic onVulcan. His return toEnterprise during theV'ger threat was a cold event, without acknowledgment of his past friendships. InV'ger's aftermath, Spock finally achieved equilibrium, able to express his friendship for Kirk without the influence of aliens or illness, and notably lacking any threat of physical violence. (Star Trek: The Motion Picture) In 2285, Spock was calmly able to tell Kirk, "You are my superior officer. You are also my friend. I have been and always shall be yours." (Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan)
Kirk and Spock, together on Kirk's birthday
Spock's sacrifice of his own life, to save theEnterprise from Khan's detonation of the Genesis Device, deeply affected Kirk. At his funeral, Kirk could only bring himself to say of Spock, "Of all the souls I have encountered in my travels, his was the most... Human..." but he broke off and broke down without being able to continue. (Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan)
The revelation that Spock'skatra, his "living spirit" (actually his complete brain patterns), survived in the tormented mind of McCoy, led Kirk to risk his career, and in turn, his crew's. He first asked Admiral Morrow for permission to retrieve Spock's body from the Genesis Planet, to bring it, and McCoy, to Vulcan. Kirk insisted that any chance to save Spock's soul was his responsibility,"as surely as if it were my very own." His request declined, he told his crew,"The word...is 'No.' I am therefore going anyway."
With the help of Uhura, Scott, Sulu, and Chekov, Kirk rescued McCoy from confinement and commandeered theEnterprise fromSpacedock One. The renegade mission saw the destruction of Kirk's ship and the death of his son. Finding Spock's body re-animated by Genesis, Kirk brought him and McCoy to Vulcan for thefal-tor-pan (re-fusion) ritual. The first person Spock recognized was Kirk:"Jim. Your name...is Jim." (Star Trek III: The Search for Spock)
During their homecoming from Vulcan, and eventually their trip to1986, Kirk tried to remind the resurrected Spock, suffering from memory loss, to their friendship and past adventures together. After Kirk's and the command crew's trial, Spock told his father, Sarek, that his "associates" were his friends. (Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home)
Spock in an attempt to save Kirk's life at Yosemite National Park
In 2287, the trio enjoyed a camping trip together atYosemite National Park, which abruptly ended when Spock, half-brother Sybok diverted theEnterprise toNimbus III. After their adventure onSha Ka Ree and Sybok's death, Kirk referred to Spock once again as his "brother," and told him and McCoy that they were his real family. (Star Trek V: The Final Frontier)
When Spock later entered thealternate reality, he toldthe James T. Kirk of that reality of their deep friendship, despite the fact thatthe alternate Spock had marooned Kirk onDelta Vega. During this meeting, Spock called the alternate Kirk "old friend" several times and felt it was good to see a version of James Kirk despitethe terrible events of that day. Kirk, who had been accused of cheating on theKobayashi Maru by the alternate Spock, told Spock Prime that his actions in changing history could be construed as cheating. Spock nostalgically admitted that it was "a trick I learned from an old friend," referencing the prime Kirk.
When meeting with his alternate reality counterpart, Spock Prime admitted to deceiving the alternate Kirk to force him and the alternate Spock to work together to defeat Nero rather than intervening in the situation himself to make both men see the potential of their friendship. Spock Prime explained it as "I could not deprive you of the revelation of all that you could accomplish together, of a friendship that will define you both in ways you cannot yet realize." He then encouraged the alternate Spock to stay in Starfleet and foster that friendship, something Spock ultimately chose to do. (Star Trek)
In2263 of the alternate reality, the alternate Spock discovered that even so long after Kirk's death, Spock Prime kept a picture of him and the bridge crew of theEnterprise-A amongst his personal things. (Star Trek Beyond)
Leonard McCoy
Sharing a drink in 2266
DoctorLeonard McCoy becamechief medical officer of theEnterprise after the departure of Dr.Mark Piper in2265. Kirk formed an easy rapport with his new doctor, giving him the moniker "Bones" (as in the old-fashioned colloquialism "sawbones" for a doctor or a surgeon). Even after McCoy began a program of exhaustive (and exhausting) quarterly physicals and interfered with Kirk's usual diet, their friendship grew rapidly. McCoy was probably Kirk's closest friend, aside, of course, from Spock. (TOS: "The Corbomite Maneuver")
The demands of Kirk's career required his best possible health, which Dr. McCoy closely oversaw. Kirk sparred with his crew in theEnterprisegymnasium for exercise. Quarterly physical checks tested his physical fitness as well as general health. In spite of his evident strength and conditioning, Kirk did tend to put on extra weight from time to time. Whenever Dr. McCoy noticed such a gain, he was unafraid to adjust Kirk'sdiet card, at least once annoying his captain with a plate of dietarysalad. (TOS: "Charlie X", "The Corbomite Maneuver")
Kirk could count on McCoy to express exactly what he thought, whenever he thought it, frequently without the courtesy of a question, and the doctor was often the sharpest observer of Kirk's actions and character. An early act of constructive insubordination occurred when theEnterprise faced the ominous spacecraftFesarius and Kirk seemed to be pushing young LieutenantDave Bailey past his breaking point. McCoy let his opinion loose from beside the captain's chair, and Kirk barked an angry reply--but this led Kirk to realize that poker, not chess as Spock had postulated, was the game he and Commander Balok were really playing. Unintimidated by that angered reply to his unrestrained expression of opinion, McCoy continued that behavior throughout their service together, earning a wide latitude with Kirk. (TOS: "The Corbomite Maneuver")
The first time McCoy saved Kirk's life, however, was not in surgery, but instead when McCoy fired aphaser (which itself was unusual for McCoy) in 2266. When theM-113 creature of planetM-113 attacked Kirk, it appeared to McCoy asNancy Crater, a past love and a particularly powerful impediment to inflict harm. With Spock's help, McCoy was able to see past the creature's camouflage, killing it before it killed Kirk. (TOS: "The Man Trap")
During the original five-year mission, Kirk recorded a tape of last orders Commander Spock and Chief Medical Officer McCoy were to play upon his death. He urged Spock and McCoy to give each other the same trust and loyalty they had each shown him. (TOS: "The Tholian Web")
Kirk implores McCoy to rejoin the crew of theEnterprise
McCoy's retirement from Starfleet in2270 ended abruptly when Kirk, throughAdmiralNogura, reactivated McCoy's commission for theEnterprise's emergency deployment for theV'Ger crisis. Kirk's plea,""Damn it, Bones, Ineed you--BADLY," ended McCoy's objection to the unwelcome "draft" and he returned to his frequent duty station, hovering just behind the captain's chair. (Star Trek: The Motion Picture)
McCoy advises Kirk on the bridge
In2285, McCoy advised a melancholic Kirk, while both were surrounded by Kirk's collection of genuine and simulated antiques, on his (Kirk's) birthday,"Get back your command. Get it back before you turn into part of this collection." He gestured to the collection and finished,"Before you really do grow old." (Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan)
Kirk holds McCoy in Spock's quarters
Kirk's drastic action taken to save Spock'skatra was also an effort to save McCoy from the anguishing burden of bearing Spock's "marbles". After his moonlight requisition of theEnterprise resulted in the ship's destruction, burning through the Genesis planet's atmosphere, Kirk asked, "My God, Bones... what have I done?" McCoy replied, "What you had to do, what you always do: turn death into a fighting chance to live." (Star Trek III: The Search for Spock)
Kirk and McCoy in 2287
After the assassination ofKlingon ChancellorGorkon, Kirk and McCoy were imprisoned together onRura Penthe. With the "help" of a shapeshifter named Martia, they were able to escape together and return to theEnterprise. (Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country)
Montgomery Scott
Montgomery Scott, the oldest of theEnterprise senior officers, was also the most consistently deferential to Kirk. While not included in Kirk's innermost circle with Spock and McCoy, Kirk had evident faith in Scotty's capabilities as an engineer. Kirk pushed theEnterprise past her known limits many times, and the technical genius of his devoutly loyal "miracle worker" was regularly the key to success.
He later admitted that a big part of his reputation was his exaggeration of repair estimates, so that Kirk could be pleasantly surprised when Scott has them done quicker than he had expected. It became a running joke of sorts between the two later on. Scott and Kirk shared a passion for theEnterprise, but Scotty's was a simpler, less complicated love for his "bairns". (TNG: "Relics";TOS: "Where No Man Has Gone Before", "The Naked Time", "The Changeling", "The Paradise Syndrome", "Elaan of Troyius";Star Trek: The Motion Picture;Star Trek III: The Search for Spock)
As the ship'ssecond officer, commanding theEnterprise while Kirk led a landing party, Scott's personal loyalty to Kirk served as a bulwark against variousambassadors orpotentates who threatened mission success. Usually, Scott refrained from taking the captain's chair and hovered around theconn when left in command, as he always felt more comfortable in engineering than on the bridge in command of the ship. He took the center seat only when the situation was critical: scaring a Klingon ship away fromCapella IV, or defiantly facing down threeRomulanbattle cruisers and demanding his captain's return. (TOS: "A Taste of Armageddon", "Bread and Circuses", "Friday's Child", "The Enterprise Incident")
"Aye, captain." (2267)
When escape from the mirror universe via the transporter meant one of theEnterprise party had to stay behind to operate the controls, Scott stoically volunteered. After Kirk overrode him, Scott's one-word plea "Jim!" was one of the few times he familiarly addressed Kirk. (TOS: "Mirror, Mirror")
Scott kept his temper throughoutKorax's barrage of taunts and insults thrown at Kirk, but a cross word about theEnterprise led Scott to throw the first punch in theK-7 bar-fight of 2267. When Kirk, a little incredulous that his engineer had failed to defend his honor, confined Scott to quarters as punishment, the engineer beamed at the chance to catch up on technical manuals. (TOS: "The Trouble with Tribbles")
Kirk observed Scott's infatuation with two young and attractive lieutenants,Carolyn Palamas andMira Romaine, with bemused detachment at first, until the "stiff-necked thistle-head" abandoned his usual solid professionalism and required Kirk's stern, but affectionate, scolding. (TOS: "Who Mourns for Adonais?", "The Lights of Zetar")
Kirk with Scott during a power drain crisis in 2269
Kirk's socialization with Scott outside of the call of duty was rare. One exception, a visit to the flesh-pots ofArgelius II, was a morale-boosting effort by Kirk on Scott's behalf. If Scott noticed the motivation, he didn't seem to care. Even after the horrific encounter with theRedjac entity, the "oldAberdeen pub-crawler" was eager to join Kirk on a second expedition to the planet. By 2285, Kirk knew enough about Scott's off-duty habits to detect the residue of a "wee bout" of shore leave at first glance. (TOS: "Wolf in the Fold";Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan)
"...she'll be ready." (2270s)
When theV'Ger threat forced the newly refittedEnterprise into duty, Scott protested with a litany of complaints about the rush and unready state of the starship. After Kirk revealed he had convinced Admiral Nogura to return his command, Scott responded, "Any man, who could manage such a feat... I would'na dare disappoint. She'll launch on time, sir, and she'll be ready." (Star Trek: The Motion Picture)
In2293, Scott accompanied Kirk, along with Chekov, to the christening ceremony of theEnterprise-B. Kirk expressed to Scott his surprise over Sulu finding the time to make a family after encountering his daughterDemora. Scott reminded Kirk of a saying he always said, "If something's important, youmake the time." Scott also commented on Kirk's seeming restlessness, asking him if he foundretirement to be a little lonely. "You know, I'm glad you're anengineer. With tact like that, you'd make a lousypsychiatrist", Kirk replied to him. Later, Kirk was believed to be lost in ahull breach indeflector control caused by an energy tendril from theNexus. Making his way to the heavily damaged area, Scott mourned the loss of his former commanding officer. (Star Trek Generations)
Upon being rematerialized in2369 after spending75 years in theUSSJenolan'stransporter buffer, by theEnterprise-D, to Scott's surprise that he was found by theEnterprise, Scott's immediate response was, "TheEnterprise! I should have known! I bet Jim Kirk himself hauled the old girl out ofmothballs to come looking for me." (TNG: "Relics")
Hikaru Sulu
Sulu, together with Kirk on the Shore Leave Planet
ThoughHikaru Sulu was briefly anEnterprisephysicist, he was transferred to thecommand division under Kirk's command, where Sulu became the ship's seniorhelmsman throughout the historic five-year mission. (TOS: "Where No Man Has Gone Before", "The Corbomite Maneuver") Kirk relied on Sulu as a capable officer he could trust with theEnterprise conn in battle situations (TOS: "Arena", "Errand of Mercy", "The Savage Curtain") and on away missions as delicate as the timeline-risky visit to theUS 498th Airbase Group inOmaha,Nebraska, on Earth in1969. (TOS: "Tomorrow is Yesterday")
Sulu with Kirk in the 2270s
Sulu risked his career for Kirk on two occasions. Conspiring with his friends, he assaulted a security guard to liberate Dr. McCoy, and piloted the stolenEnterprise out of Earth Spacedock to the Genesis planet in 2285. (Star Trek III: The Search for Spock) As captain of theExcelsior in 2293, he penetrated theAzure Nebula inKlingon territory in an effort to rescue his former captain before he was forced to turn back, (VOY: "Flashback") and he later joined Kirk in halting theKhitomer conspiracy. (Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country)
Outside of their careers, however, the friendship between Kirk and Sulu was not especially close. Kirk was surprised to discover Sulu had a daughter,Demora, on the maiden voyage of theEnterprise-B. Chekov had to remind him that he had actually met her before, twelve years prior. (Star Trek Generations)
Janice Rand
Kirk holds Janice close (2266)
Starfleet assignedJanice Rand as Kirk's personalyeoman in 2266. Initially, he complained about the idea of a female yeoman, leading McCoy to ask flatly,"What's the matter, Jim? Don't you trust yourself?" Kirk said he already had a female to worry about, and that theEnterprise was that female. Kirk warmed to Rand, but an undercurrent of sexual attraction between the two became obvious in stressful situations. Suffering from polywater intoxication in 2266, Kirk confided his attraction for Rand to Spock, shouting that he had "a beautiful yeoman!" Kirk later reached out to her hesitantly, longing for her, but he could not approach her on account of his duty. (TOS: "The Corbomite Maneuver", "The Naked Time")
A transporter malfunction created a duplicate of the captain that contained his negative qualities, such as hostility, lust, and violence. That version of Kirk was consumed with lust and desire for Rand and went "on the prowl" to find her. Eventually, when they both were alone in her quarters, he slowly approached her. Besides being a little startled by his presence, it looked and felt normal for her, until she noticed the captain drinking from a bottle of Saurian brandy.
Obviously drunk, he started telling her that she was "too beautiful to ignore" and "too much woman." As he stalked closer to her, he claimed that they'd both been "pretending too long." Then, he suddenly grabbed her and began kissing her fiercely. The Kirk duplicate tried to pin her to the floor to rape her. But Rand defended herself, leaving a large scratch on her attacker's face, which helped the crew differentiate between the two Kirk "halves." After the situation was resolved, Rand continued as Kirk's yeoman until a reassignment in 2267. She returned to theEnterprise astransporter chief in the2270s. (TOS: "The Enemy Within", "The Conscience of the King";Star Trek: The Motion Picture)
Kirk and Rand repeatedly felt an attraction for one another, but resisted discussing or acting on their feelings openly. During one mission, Rand, Kirk and other members of a landing party were trapped ona planet whereonly children survived;adults quickly developed a deadly virus which had been accidentally created by alife prolongation project on the planet. When Rand became upset, Kirk held her close in his arms and comforted her.Miri, a teenage girl whom the team had befriended, witnessed this and became jealous.
She felt that Rand was her "competition" and briefly betrayed the landing party by letting the other children abduct Rand. The captain's love for Rand became obvious when he was under stress from the disease, as he became distraught and obsessed in finding "his Janice," even grabbing Miri and shouting,"Where is she, Miri? Where is she, Miri? Where's Janice? Has something happened to her? Where is she? I've got to find Janice!"
Back aboard the Main Bridge, Kirk admitted, acknowledging that Miri's true age was far older than it appeared to be, "I never get involved with older women, Yeoman." Rand threw him an "Oh, really?" look in response. (TOS: "Miri")
Ben Finney
When Kirk was amidshipman, he befriended Academy instructor Lieutenant Ben Finney. Some time later, Ensign Kirk and Finney served together aboard the USSRepublic. The two became so close that Finney named his daughter,Jame, after Kirk.
A rift developed between the two friends while aboard theRepublic when Kirk logged a mistake that Finney had made which could have caused the destruction of the ship. Because of this, Finney was put on reprimand and his name was sent to the bottom of the promotion list. Finney blamed Kirk for his subsequent inability to gain a command of his own.
Though their friendship was effectively over, Lieutenant Commander Finney served aboard theEnterprise in 2267, as records officer. Kirk was unaware that Finney's old grudge had been growing larger over the years, and Finney had passed into madness. To take his revenge, he staged his own death and manufactured evidence of Kirk's negligence. Finney was successful to a point, and Kirk became the first Federation Starfleet starship commander brought before acourt martial. With the help of the eccentric lawyerSamuel T. Cogley and Spock, Finney's deception was revealed and charges against Kirk were lifted. Finney was arrested and faced trial, represented by Cogley. (TOS: "Court Martial")
Jean-Luc Picard
Kirk's body buried by Picard
Although their association was brief, James T. Kirk andJean-Luc Picard had profound personal effects on one another. Very much like Spock and Leonard McCoy, Picard was instrumental in helping Kirk find meaning in his life after his greatest adventures were essentially over.
Picard embarked on Kirk's final adventure with the fabled captain, and allowed him to feel he had "made a difference" as he died, solidifying the younger captain's place of significance in Kirk's life. Picard laid Kirk to rest on that obscure planet and was his lone mourner. (Star Trek Generations)
The reciprocal impact, however, could also be seen in Picard's career path. Taking Kirk's words to heart about the captaincy of theEnterprise being a position of importance and impact, Picard resisted promotion to the admiralty for 10 years after his encounter with Kirk. (LD: "The Stars At Night")
Romances
Often described as aladies' man, Kirk was notably successful in attracting women, and enthusiastic in their pursuit, yet notoriously unsuccessful in establishing any lasting relationships with women – a fact his brother Sam tended to warn women about. (SNW: "Lost in Translation") By design or coincidence, his most significant affairs were with women fundamentally incompatible with his life in Starfleet. In weighing the balance of starship versus a settled home life, the gross tonnage of theEnterprise usually tipped the scale. (TOS: "The Naked Time", "Elaan of Troyius")
As Kirk became more and more well-known, these exploits became the stuff of legend; whenJadzia Dax, upon seeing Kirk while aboard theEnterprise during theDefiant crew's trip over a hundred years into their past, mentioned how much more handsome "he" was in person, Captain Sisko responded that Kirk had "quite the reputation" in terms of his dealing with women – though Dax then admitted that the "he" to whom she had referred was actually Spock. (DS9: "Trials and Tribble-ations")
While attending the Academy, Kirk was romantically involved with at least two women.
Ruth
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Ruth, as she appeared in2252
In2252, another lover was a woman namedRuth. In 2267, he was greeted by a replica of Ruth that the Shore Leave Planet, in the Omicron Delta region, created. (TOS: "Shore Leave")
Janice Lester
Janice Lester
Kirk had a year-long relationship withJanice Lester while she also was at the Academy. He professed loving her, but the romance ended badly after "the intense hatred of her own womanhood made life with her impossible." The two were reunited in a truly bizarre manner in 2269, when Lester, extremely jealous of Kirk's successful career, traded her consciousness with that of Kirk's to take his place as captain of theEnterprise and then exact a double revenge by killing both Kirk and her womanhood. (TOS: "Turnabout Intruder")
In the late2250s, as an instructor at the Academy, Lieutenant Kirk was romantically involved with a "blonde lab technician" whom Gary Mitchell had introduced him to. His relationship with her grew serious, as he almost married her. (TOS: "Where No Man Has Gone Before")
La'An Noonien-Singh
Kirk and La'An in 2259
Kirk first metLa'An Noonien-Singh in2259 when Singh contacted Kirk on the pretense of confirming his brother's place of birth, after her adventures with another alternate timeline version of Kirk. He later invited her for drinks if they were ever to meet at starbase. (SNW: "Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow")
They officially met later on when Kirk transported aboard theEnterprise. Kirk revealed to her details of his childhood and reminded La'An that she still owed him a drink. (SNW: "Lost in Translation")
After they worked together trying to eliminate the subspace fold, La'An confessed to Kirk that she had fallen in love with an alternate version of him. She told him that she also liked the way Kirk looked at her now, but he said that while he felt a connection with her as well, he was presently in a relationship with Carol Marcus. (SNW: "Subspace Rhapsody")
Carol Marcus
Carol Marcus in 2285
Kirk was involved with Dr.Carol Marcus in the late2250s. She was stationed atStarbase 1 in2259 and was pregnant at the time. (SNW: "Subspace Rhapsody") She bore his son,David Marcus, but the relationship dissolved as their careers drove them apart. In 2285, the fractured family unit was briefly reunited. (Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan;)
Janet Wallace
janet Wallace
Kirk was involved with the futureJanet Wallace in2261; this relationship was also called off due to their difference in careers. (TOS: "The Deadly Years")
Areel Shaw
Areel Shaw
In2263, Kirk broke off a relationship withAreel Shaw. Kirk was reunited with Shaw four years later, when she was assigned as the prosecutor in his court martial, though Shaw was pleased when she lost the case and Kirk was exonerated of any wrongdoing. (TOS: "Court Martial")
Helen Noel
Noel's falsely implanted recollection
During anEnterprise lab'sChristmas party in 2265, Kirk met Dr. Helen Noel anddanced with her. He used her first name to address her and engaged in brief flirtation with Noel that ended unsatisfactorily for Kirk. He later exhibited irritation when McCoy assigned her to help Kirk investigateTantalus Penal Colony, and Kirk insisted on using her surname while working with her. Testing theneural neutralizer, Noel conditioned Kirk to believe that their previous encounter had been a sweeping romance. The colony's mad doctor,Tristan Adams, used the suggestion of love and loss of Noel to torture Kirk. (TOS: "Dagger of the Mind")
Janice Rand
The "evil" Captain Kirk and Yeoman Rand
In 2266, the evil side of Kirk tried to assault and seduce Yeoman Rand. (TOS: "The Enemy Within")
Miri
Miri
Also in 2266, Kirk met a girl calledMiri, who was soon about to enterpuberty, despite being about 300 years old chronologically speaking. Kirk piqued her interest by calling her "pretty" when they first met, and they went on to develop a close friendship. When theEnterprise leftMiri (where Miri lived) shortly thereafter, Janice Rand told Kirk that Miri had really loved him. He accepted that, but said that he never got involved with older women. (TOS: "Miri")
Lenore Karidian
Lenore
Later the same year, while onPlanet Q, Kirk metLenore Karidian at a party and entered into a brief romance with the then-nineteen-year-old blonde girl. As with many of Kirk's love affairs, the two fell in "love at first sight." Kirk was clearly enamored with Lenore, but the true depth of his feelings – and the importance of those feelings relative to his duties as a captain – were conveyed only through insinuation.
When Leonard McCoy directly asked Kirk whether he really cared for the hopelessly insane Lenore, the captain paused pensively, then evaded the question with a navigational order: "Ahead warp factor one, Mr.Leslie." McCoy's reply, "That's an answer," presumably indicated that he understood Kirk's unstated position: as captain, Kirk's priority was always the ship, despite his personal feelings for women such as Lenore. (TOS: "The Conscience of the King")
Edith Keeler
Edith Keeler in1930
In2267, Kirk and Spock traveled back to the1930s to repair damage to thetimeline Leonard McCoy accidentally caused. While searching for McCoy, Kirk met and fell in love with the compassionate and far-seeing social workerEdith Keeler. Keeler's death was found to be the focal point in history needing repair. As she crossed a street to meet Kirk, he was forced to hold McCoy back while anautomobile struck and killed her, thus restoring the timeline. (TOS: "The City on the Edge of Forever")
Sylvia
Sylvia
In 2267, the alienSylvia tried to seduce Kirk into giving her thetransmuter. (TOS: "Catspaw")
Marlena Moreau
Moreau
After 2267, Kirk had a near romance withMarlena Moreau. (TOS: "Mirror, Mirror")
Drusilla
Drussila
In 2268, while Kirk, Spock, and McCoy were held captive in a 20th centuryRoman Empire, a slave woman namedDrusilla "seduced" Kirk. (TOS: "Bread and Circuses") InThe Autobiography of James T. Kirk, Drusilla had a son named Eugenio (β), whom McCoy believed to be Kirk's son from their intimate time together.}}
Kelinda
Kelinda
In the line of duty, to recover theEnterprise hijacked byKelvans in2268, Kirk seducedKelinda, in order to arouse jealously in her commander,Rojan. Kelinda recognized Kirk's attempt at seduction, but welcomed his continued efforts. (TOS: "By Any Other Name")
Elaan
Kirk kissing Elaan
On a peace mission to the war-tornTellun system in 2268, theEnterprise transportedElaan,Dohlman ofElas, to her diplomatically-arranged wedding onTroyius. Kirk's antagonistic relationship with the arrogant and spoiled Dohlman changed sharply after herElasian tears infected him. Under their powerfulbiochemical influence, Kirk became instantly and deeply infatuated with Elaan. He ultimately resisted the more compelling effects of the tears and fulfilled his duties, but both Elaan and Kirk experienced a tangible sense of loss at their melancholy final parting. (TOS: "Elaan of Troyius")
Miramanee
Miramanee in 2268
In 2268, on the surface of theAmerind planet, an accident inducedamnesia in Kirk and separated him from theEnterprise landing party.
For several months, Kirk lived among theNative American inhabitants, worshiped as agod called "Kirok". His mind at ease from the pressures of command, he took a wife,Miramanee, who becamepregnant with his child.
When the tribal worship of Kirok was dispelled, he and Miramanee were stoned – fatally injuring both the young woman and their unborn child. (TOS: "The Paradise Syndrome")
Shahna
Kirk "helps" Shahna
In 2268, when captured for the gladiatorial combats ofTriskelion, Kirk was assigned to the tutelage of thedrill-thrallShahna. Kirk introduced Shahna to the wider universe around her, and the Human concept of love. (TOS: "The Gamesters of Triskelion")
Deela
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Queen Deela
Deela wasqueen of the (infertile) maleScalosians who hijacked theEnterprise in 2268. They planned to use the male members ofthe ship's crew as agene pool so herspecies could continue. Deela choose Kirk as her consort, who, along with the help of Spock, was able to stop her plan. (TOS: "Wink of an Eye")
Marta
In 2269, the criminally-insane, pathologically-lying Orion inmate of theElba IIpenal colony,Marta, became infatuated with Kirk while tending to him aftertorture. The fact that she loved him meant she had to kill him, but she failed in the attempt. Garth of Izar's jealousy led him to use Marta as a demonstration of a new explosive, killing her. (TOS: "Whom Gods Destroy")
Odona
Kirk and Odona kissing
Prime MinisterHodin ofGideon, a world greatly suffering from overpopulation, abducted Kirk and forced him to spend time isolated with his daughter,Odona, in 2269. As a carrier ofVegan choriomeningitis, it was hoped Kirk would infect Odona, and the rest of the population. The couple became quite affectionate in their time spent together, though Odona said Kirk "behaved like a perfect gentleman." (TOS: "The Mark of Gideon")
Rayna Kapec
Rayna Kapec in 2269
In 2269, Kirk's encounter with the near-immortalFlint led to their competition for the love of the androidRayna Kapec, and resulted in her destruction. Kirk was heartbroken. Spock took an extraordinary liberty with his grieving friend,melding with Kirk without his consent, whispering the word "forget". (TOS: "Requiem for Methuselah")
Antonia
Antonia
Kirk fell in love withAntonia after his first retirement from Starfleet in2281. The two lived together for some time before Kirk decided to rejoin Starfleet. Later in life, he regretted not having proposed to her. He would later be reunited with a life like illusion of Antonia during his 75 years in the Nexus, which was, from a chronological standpoint, his longest-lasting romance. (Star Trek Generations)
Martia
Kirk kissing Martia onRura Penthe
In2293,Martia had a brief romance with Kirk to put him off his guard so he and McCoy could be killed trying to escape. When he expressed his disgust over having kissed her, she, while in his form, quipped, "Must have been your lifelong ambition!" (However, it turned out to be Martia who was ultimately double-crossed and killed.) (Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country)
Enemies
Khan Noonien Singh
Khan and Kirk on theEnterprise in 2267
One of the most violent rivalries of Kirk's life was the bitter feud between himself and20th centuryAugmentdictatorKhan Noonien Singh.
In2267, theEnterprise discovered Singh and his followers aboard theSSBotany Bay in cryogenic stasis, and awakened them. Unaware of Khan's true identity, Khan took advantage of Kirk's hospitality to familiarize himself with theEnterprise and its systems. After identifying Khan, Kirk had him restricted to quarters, prompting Khan to implement his plan to seize control of theEnterprise.
With the help of LieutenantMarla McGivers, Khan assumed control of theEnterprise. The Augments were eventually subdued with anaesthetic gas, and Kirk and Khan engaged in hand-to-hand combat in the engine room. Realizing he was no match for Khan's Augment strength, Kirk subdued him with a heavy flow-control rod. After defeating Khan and his followers, Kirk exiled them to the then-habitable world ofCeti Alpha V. (TOS: "Space Seed")
Khan later sought revenge against Kirk after McGivers had died in exile. By that time, Ceti Alpha V had lost its ability to support much of the life it had once sustained, as a result of the explosion ofCeti Alpha VI. To exact his revenge, Khan hijacked theUSSReliant and stole theGenesis Device, whose research and development team included Kirk's old flameCarol Marcus and their son,David Marcus. The ensuing battle inside theMutara Nebula crippled theReliant, leading Khan to detonate Genesis in the hopes of taking Kirk and theEnterprise with him. Only the self-sacrifice of CaptainSpock allowed theEnterprise to escape the blast radius at warp speed. (Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan)
Kor
Kirk would more than once cross paths with the Klingon officer Kor. They first encountered each other on Organia during the 2267 Federation-Klingon War. Kirk was posing as a native of the planet when Kor declared himself its military governor. Kor was immediately drawn to Kirk, admiring his spirit compared to the passive Organians, and appointed him as his liaison. He would not learn Kirk's real identity until after Kirk and Spock had destroyed his supply depot. Kor noted he would have liked to face Kirk in battle and, even though he planned to have him executed and to use themind scanner on him, joined him for a drink, where he noted his admiration for Starfleet and claimed they were alike despite their ideological differences.
After Kirk had been freed by the Organians, he again confronted Kor in his office. Kor managed to surreptitiously summon his guards but it was at that point that the Organians intervened, preventing combat between both the troops on the surface and the fleets in orbit. Kirk and Kor found themselves temporarily united in protest against the Organians' interference but Kirk accepted the situation quicker than Kor, restraining him from attempting to attack the non-corporeal beings. (TOS: "Errand of Mercy")
They would meet again in 2269, when Kor's ship theIKSKlothos exchanged fire with theEnterprise in theDelta Triangle shortly before both ships were pulled into the alternate dimension known asElysia. Again, their battle was halted by an outside agency, this time by the ruling council who had forbidden violence in the area. Kirk convinced Kor that their two ships should work together in an attempt to escape the region but Kor planned to destroy theEnterprise afterwards, planting a bomb to detonate when theEnterprise went to warp eight. The attempt failed and Kor quickly left the scene, taking credit for the escape with the Klingons. (TAS: "The Time Trap")
Time travel
Several of Kirk's voyages involved travel through time, either personally throughtime portals or along with the entire starshipEnterprise via acceleration throughgravity wells. According to the Federation'sDepartment of Temporal Investigations, Kirk, who sometimes ignored regulations when he felt it was for the greater good, amassed seventeen separate temporal violations during his career, more than any other person on file as of2373.
His time-travel exploits were well-known enough that, when Sisko, after he and his crew returned to the 24th century, toldDulmur andLucsly that the vessel they had encountered in the past was the firstEnterprise, the two DTI investigators shrugged at the realization that it was "his" ship, which Sisko proudly confirmed. Kirk was regarded by DTI as a "menace". (DS9: "Trials and Tribble-ations")
Earth's 20th century
Kirk and crew visited20th century Earth on multiple occasions during his captaincy.
The Guardian of Forever
In 2267, after experiencing violent time distortions, theEnterprise discovered the source, theGuardian of Forever. McCoy, delusional from an accidentalcordrazine overdose, entered the time portal, altering history to the extent that the Federation and theEnterprise no longer existed. Kirk and Spock followed McCoy, appearing in1930New York City onEarth. Kirk found himself and Spock shelter in exchange for work, falling in love with a beautiful, idealistic benefactor,Edith Keeler. After Spock discovered that McCoy had prevented history's recorded death of Keeler, he was forced to restrain the doctor from saving her life again while Kirk watched Keeler die and himself avoid doing anything to save her life, the price for restoring the timeline. (TOS: "The City on the Edge of Forever")
When theEnterprise traveled back in time from 2267 to Earth of1969 but was accidentally observed by theUnited States Air Force, Kirk, with Sulu, beamed down to a military base inOmaha,Nebraska, to destroy photographic evidence of theEnterprise's appearance. Bywarping aroundthe sun's gravity well in aslingshot maneuver, Kirk and his crew managed to rectify the situation, cause the incident to "unhappen," and return to their own time aboard theEnterprise. (TOS: "Tomorrow is Yesterday") While formulating a means of escaping analternate timeline created byQ's manipulations of the past, AdmiralJean-Luc Picard referenced Kirk's intentional time travels, using this maneuver, prior to attempting it themselves aboard theCSSLa Sirena in visiting the past from2401. (PIC: "Penance")
Kirk, with Spock in 1968
In2268, Kirk was ordered to repeat the recently proven slingshot maneuver, taking theEnterprise back to1968 on a mission of historical observation. Intercepting enigmatic agentGary Seven, Kirk attempted to stop his interference but eventually cooperated with Seven's effort to avert a nuclear exchange between the United States of America and theSoviet Union. (TOS: "Assignment: Earth") After arriving in2024, using the slingshot maneuver, Picard recalled Kirk's encounter with Seven after learning ofTallinns similar credentials as awatcher. (PIC: "Fly Me to the Moon")
- See also:The Whale Probe crisis,The Nexus
Other temporal events
A visit to the planetSarpeidon, doomed by its sun's impendingnova, revealed that the Sarpeidans had escaped en masse into their own planet's past via theirAtavachrontime portal. The harried and ubiquitousAtoz mistook Kirk, Spock, and McCoy for tardy natives, and he thrust them into the planet's past. (TOS: "All Our Yesterdays")
In2269, Kirk and Spock used the Guardian of Forever a second time, on a mission of historical observation to the dawn ofOrion civilization. Upon their return, no-one but Kirk recognized Spock as theEnterprise first officer. Supposedly killed in his childhood, Spock returned to the Vulcan of his youth, playing the role of a nearly forgotten cousin who had saved his life during thekahs-wan, a Vulcan coming-of-age ordeal. (TAS: "Yesteryear")
Alternate timelines
Captain of the UEFEnterprise
United Earth Fleet Captain James T. Kirk in an alternate 2259
In thealternate timeline created whereKhan Noonien Singh was killed by theRomulanSera, Kirk was born on theUSSIowa, and was (still) the brother of George Samuel Kirk, who had died sometime prior to 2259.
Kirk once claimed he spent six months in aDenobulan prison with a Vulcan cellmate. He learned theVulcan neck pinch from this person, as well as how to makePlomeek soup in atoilet.
Kirk dying of a gunshot wound in 2022
He joined theUnited Earth Fleet and by 2259, was captain of theUEFEnterprise. AfterLa'An Noonien-Singh was transported aboard his ship from the prime timeline, Kirk was inadvertently brought back in time with her to2022Toronto, the point of divergence between their two timelines. Although initially skeptical of her intention to restore her timeline, he was persuaded to help her when he learned that not only was Earth a paradise, but that Sam was still alive. As they attempted to prevent history from being changed, Kirk was killed by the Romulantemporal agent Sera, before La'An succeeded in restoring the original timeline. (SNW: "Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow")
Captain of the USSFarragut
Captain James T. Kirk of the USSFarragut in an alternate 2266
In an alternate timeline where Captain Christopher Pike remained in command of theEnterprise and avoided the accident that exposed him todelta radiation, Kirk became the captain of theFarragut. In2266, he responded to thedistress call sent byOutpost 4 as it came underRomulan attack. At Kirk's suggestion, theFarragut and theEnterprise shadowed theRomulan Bird-of-Prey responsible, preparing to engage it in apincer move once it entered the tail of thecometIcarus IV and became temporarily visible through itscloaking device.
James T. Kirk in an alternate 2266.
However, the Romulan Commander had anticipated their plan and positioned his vessel behind theFarragut. Kirk ordered his ship to turn and engage the Bird-of-Prey, but theFarragut was hit by aplasma torpedo at close range and sustained catastrophic damage to itssaucer section. Withlife support failing, the surviving crew were evacuated to theEnterprise, including Kirk. After Pike negotiated a ceasefire, Kirk piloteda shuttlecraft for reinforcements, returning with a fleet of drone ships to bluff the Romulan armada that had appeared.
When the Romulans attacked theEnterprise, Kirk used his drone fleet to cover theEnterprise until its engines could be repaired, beaming back aboard moments before theEnterprise jumped to warp. Pike was impressed by Kirk and told the young captain that he would make a good captain for theEnterprise. Pike got to know Kirk briefly before using atime crystal to return to his own time where he changed the events that led to this timeline. However, the encounter led to Pike taking an interest in Kirk in his own timeline. (SNW: "A Quality of Mercy")
Thelin's commanding officer
In an alternate timeline created where Spock was killed in2237 when he was seven years old, Kirk had assumed command of the USSEnterprise by2265 and chosen theAndorianThelin as his first officer. (TAS: "Yesteryear")
Anything but canon account
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James T. Kirk on the viewscreen
James T. Kirk could be seen few times on theviewing screen whenWilliam T. Riker,Hikaru Sulu,D'Vana Tendi,Montgomery Scott,M'Ress andArex were performing aPost Mainframe Acid-Cardassian Ten Forwardcoresong on thebridge of theUSSEnterprise.
In one instance he could be seendancing withSpock. (VST: "Walk, Don't Run")Awards and honors
Kirk in dress uniform 2267
- Palm Leaf of Axanar Peace Mission
- Grankite Order of Tactics(Class of Excellence)
- Preantares Ribbon of Commendation(Classes First and Second)
- Starfleet Medal of Honor
- Silver Palm with Cluster
- Starfleet Citation for Conspicuous Gallantry
- Karagite Order of Heroism (TOS: "Court Martial")
- Leonard James Akaar –TheTeer ofCapella IV bears the first names of Leonard McCoy and James T. Kirk. (TOS: "Friday's Child")
- USSEnterprise (NCC-1701-A) –A starship was re-christened in recognition of his service, bearing the registration number of his original command, an honor carried on for generations. (Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home, et al.)
Key dates
- 2233: Born toGeorge andWinona Kirk inRiverside,Iowa on March 22nd.
- 2246: OnTarsus IV, he was one of nine witnesses to a massacre ordered by GovernorKodos.
- 2250: Began a fifteen-year friendship withGary Mitchell.
- 2252: EnteredStarfleet Academy as acadet. Was romantically involved withRuth and bullied byFinnegan. During his time at the Academy, participated in theAxanar Peace Mission.
- 2252 to2255: BefriendsLieutenantBenjamin Finney. Promoted toensign and was assigned aboardUSSRepublic, along with Lieutenant Benjamin Finney.
- 2255:
- Promoted to lieutenant. Was on his firstplanetary survey mission atNeural.
- Graduated from Academy after defeating the "no-win"Kobayashi Maru scenario. Assigned to theUSSFarragut under the command ofCaptainGarrovick
- 2257: Encountersdikironium cloud creature while serving aboard theFarragut.
- 2259: AppointedFirst officer of theFarragut
- Late 2250s/Early 2260s: An instructor at the Academy. Gary Mitchell was one of his students. Relationship withCarol Marcus ends; their son,David Marcus, is born.
- 2261: Breaks off relationship withJanet Wallace.
- 2263: Breaks off relationship withAreel Shaw.
- 2265 –2270: He assumed command of the USSEnterprise for a historicfive-year mission. Specific accomplishments include:
- 2265: Takes the USSEnterprise to thegalactic barrier, the first Earth ship to do so in two hundred years. During the mission, is forced to kill close friendGary Mitchell.
- 2266: Achievedfirst contact with theFirst Federation. Later that year, repels a Romulan incursion and destroys a Romulan Bird-of-Prey.
- 2267: Became the firstStarfleet captain ever to stand court martial, charged with negligent homicide in the death ofBenjamin Finney; charges dismissed.
- 2268: Responsible for stealing aRomulancloaking device during a covert Starfleet intelligence mission. Experiences amnesia and lived among theAmerican Indians onAmerind where he weddedMiramanee.
- 2269: Diverts the asteroid-shipYonada from destroyingDaran V. Nearly killed by Dr.Janice Lester with whom he'd had a year-long relationship years before. Trapped in a planet's past along with Spock and McCoy on a planet about to go supernova
- 2270: Promoted toRear Admiral and assigned asChief of Starfleet Operations.
- Mid-2270s: Accepted temporary grade reduction to Captain and assumed command of USSEnterprise to interceptV'ger.
- 2281: Retires from Starfleet.
- 2282: MeetsAntonia and enjoys a romantic relationship with her until choosing to resume his Starfleet career instead of marrying her – a decision he later regrets.
- 2284: Returns to Starfleet as an instructor at Starfleet Academy.
- 2285: Assumes temporary command of theEnterprise during a routine training mission, engagesKhan Noonien Singh in theBattle of the Mutara Nebula. Deserts from Starfleet later that year to retrieve body of Captain Spock from the Genesis Planet.
- 2286: Returns to Earth to face court martial charges. Subsequently, saves the planet in theWhale Probe incident. Demoted to captain for disobeying orders of Starfleet CommanderMorrow and assigned to command the USSEnterprise-A.
- 2287: Takes theEnterprise-A to the center of the galaxy after Vulcan renegadeSybok hijacked the ship.
- 2293: Along with CaptainHikaru Sulu of the USSExcelsior, was responsible for saving theKhitomer Conference: retired fromStarfleet and was presumed killed later that year during the maiden voyage of the USSEnterprise-B.
- 2371:Jean-Luc Picard finds Kirk alive inside theNexus. Killed while defeatingTolian Soran's plans and saving planetVeridian IV.
Memorable quotes
The wit and wisdom of Starfleet Captain James T. Kirk.
Existential Kirk
"Space, the final frontier. These are the voyages of the starship Enterprise. Its five-year mission: to explore strange new worlds, to seek out new life and new civilizations, to boldly go where no man has gone before."
- -Kirk's opening speech (TOS: "Where No Man Has Gone Before")Listen to this quotefile info
"Above all else, a godneedsCOMPASSION!"
- -Kirk, to Gary Mitchell (TOS: "Where No Man Has Gone Before")
"I wanna live! I wanna live!"
- -Kirk's double, about to be reintegrated with his other self (TOS: "The Enemy Within")
"This vessel... I give, she takes. She won't permit me my life, I've got to live hers."
- -Kirk, on theEnterprise (TOS: "The Naked Time")
"No beach to walk on."
- -Kirk on the life of a starship captain (TOS: "The Naked Time")
"Don't tell me that again, Science Officer! It's a theory; it's possible! We may go up in the biggest ball of fire since the last sun in these parts exploded, but we've gotto take that one-in-ten-thousand chance!"
- -Kirk, to Spock (TOS: "The Naked Time")
"Why me? I look around that bridge, and I see the men waiting for me to make the next move. And Bones...what if I'm wrong?"
- -Kirk, to McCoy (TOS: "Balance of Terror")
"...Nothing is more important than my ship."
- -Kirk, to Samuel Cogley (TOS: "Court Martial")
"You said you wanted freedom. It's time you learned that freedom is never a gift; it has to be earned."
- -Kirk, to Reger and Marplon (TOS: "The Return of the Archons")
"Death, destruction, disease, horror--that's what war is all about! That's what makes it a thing to be avoided. You've made it neat and painless. So neat and painless you've had no reason to stop it. And you've had it for over five hundred years. Since it seems to be the only way I can save my crew and my ship, I'm gonna end it for you, one way or another."
- -Kirk, to Anan 7 (TOS: "A Taste of Armageddon")
"All right. [War is] instinctive. But the instinct can be fought. We're Human beings with the blood of a million savage years on our hands, but we can stop it. We can admit that we're killers, but we're not going to kill today. That's all it takes! Knowing that we're not going to kill... today!"
- -Kirk, to Anan 7 (TOS: "A Taste of Armageddon")
"It's a true Eden, Jim. There's belonging and love."
"No wants...no needs...we weren't meant for that. None of us. Man stagnates if he has no ambition, no desire to be more than he is."
- - Spock andKirk (TOS: "This Side of Paradise")
"Well, that's the second time man's been thrown out of paradise."
"No, no, Bones. This time we walked out on our own. Maybe we weren't meant for paradise. Maybe we were meant to fight our way through...struggle, claw our way up, scratch for every inch of the way. Maybe we can't stroll to the music of the lute--we must march to the sound of drums."
- - McCoy andKirk (TOS: "This Side of Paradise")
"Excuse me, Gentlemen... I'm a soldier, not a diplomat. I can only tell you the truth."
- -Kirk to the Organian Council of Elders (TOS: "Errand of Mercy")
"Mankind has no need for gods. We find the one quite adequate."
- -Kirk, to Apollo (TOS: "Who Mourns for Adonais?")
"Human flesh against Human flesh. We're the same. We share the same history, the same heritage, the same lives. We're tied together beyond any untying. Man or woman, it makes no difference... We're Human. We couldn't escape from each other even if we wanted to. That's how you do it, lieutenant. By remembering who and what you are. A bit of flesh and blood afloat in a universe without end. The only thing that's truly yours is the rest of Humanity. That's where our duty lies."
- -Kirk, to Lieutenant Palamas (TOS: "Who Mourns for Adonais?")
"In every revolution, there's one man with a vision..."
- -Kirk, to Mirror Spock (TOS: "Mirror, Mirror")
"What is a man but that lofty spirit, that sense of--enterprise? That devotion to something that cannot be sensed, cannot be realized, but only dreamed, thehighest reality?"
"War isn't a good life, but it's life."
- -Kirk, to McCoy (TOS: "A Private Little War")
"Do you know the one, 'all I ask is a tall ship...?'"
"It's very old."
"20th century Earth. 'All I ask is a tall ship, and a star to steer her by.' You could feel the wind at your back in those days, the sound of the sea beneath you. And even if you take away the wind and the water, it's still the same... The ship is yours, you can feel her. And the stars are still there, Bones."
- -Kirk and McCoy (TOS: "The Ultimate Computer")
"I... am... KIROK!" (TOS: "The Paradise Syndrome")
"You could serve as Human sacrifice."
"No I wouldn't enjoy that at all. Besides you seem to need me alive."
- - Garth of Izar andKirk (TOS: "Whom Gods Destroy")
"I don't believe in the no-win scenario."
- -Kirk, to Saavik (Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan)
"We learn by doing."
- -Kirk, to Saavik (Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan)
"The needs of the one outweigh the needs of the many."
- -Kirk, to Spock (Star Trek III: The Search for Spock)
"Double dumbass on you!"
- -Kirk, to Taxi driver (Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home)
"Don't tell me--you're from outer space."
"No, I'm from Iowa; I only work in outer space."
- - Gillian Taylor andKirk (Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home)
"Damn it, Bones, you're a doctor! You know that pain and guilt can't be taken away with the wave of a magic wand! They're the things we carry with us, the things that make us who we are! If we lose them, we lose ourselves!
"I don't WANT my pain taken away--INEED my pain!!!"
- -Kirk, at first to McCoy and then to Sybok (Star Trek V: The Final Frontier)
"You have restored my father's faith."
"And you have restored my son's."
- - Azetbur andKirk (Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country)
"I was out saving the galaxy while your grandfather was in diapers!"
- -Kirk, to Picard (Star Trek Generations)
"Don't let them promote you, don't let them transfer you, don't let them do anything that takes you off the bridge of that ship. Because while you're there, you can make a difference."
- -Kirk, to Picard (Star Trek Generations)
Kirk on death
"Look, I could tell you some comforting fairy tale, but we both know the truth. Our job puts us up against death more than is fair. And we might not like it, but we do have to face it. And right now, death is winning. It claimed your family, it claimed your friend. It convinced you to forget them, because it's less painful than holding on to their memories. Now, you can let death win...or you can fight back. Hold on to them."
- -Kirk, to Ensign Nyota Uhura (SNW: "Lost in Translation")
"I'm used to the idea of dying. But I have no desire to die for the likes of you."
- -Kirk, to Ayelborne (TOS: "Errand of Mercy")
"Poor Matt... He gave his life in an attempt to save others... Not the worst way to go"
- -Kirk, to Spock (TOS: "The Doomsday Machine")
"What a terrible way to die."
"There are no good ways, Sulu."
- - Sulu andKirk (TOS: "That Which Survives")
"How we deal with death is at least as important as how we deal with life..."
- -Kirk, to Saavik (Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan)
"Lieutenant Saavik was right... You never have faced death."
"No, not like this. I haven't faced death. I've cheated death. I tricked my way out of death... and patted myself on the back for my ingenuity. I know nothing."
- - David andKirk (Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan)
"My God, Bones... What have I done?"
"What you had to do. What you always do. Turn death into a fighting chance to live."
- - McCoy andKirk (Star Trek III: The Search for Spock)
"I've always known... I'll die alone."
- -Kirk, to Spock and McCoy (Star Trek V: The Final Frontier)
In Harm's Way
"This is the captain of theEnterprise. Our respect for other lifeforms requires that we give you this... warning. There is one critical item of information that has never been incorporated into the memory banks of any Earth ship. Since the early years of space exploration, Earth vessels have had incorporated into them, a substance known as... corbomite. It is a material and a device which prevents... attack... on us. If any destructive energy touches our vessel, a reverse reaction of equal strength is created, destroying..."
"You now have two minutes."
"...DESTROYING the attacker. It may interest you to know... that since the initial use of corbomite more than two of our centuries ago, no attacking vessel has survived the attempt. Death has... little meaning to us. If it has none to you... then attack us now. We grow annoyed at your foolishness."
- -Kirk and Balok (TOS: "The Corbomite Maneuver")
"They used to say if man could fly, he'd have wings... but he did fly. He discovered he had to. Do you wish that the first Apollo mission hadn't reached the moon, or that we hadn't gone on to Mars or the nearest star? That's like saying you wish that you still operated with scalpels and sewed your patients up with catgut like your great-great-great-great-grandfather used to. I'm in command. I could order this. But I'm not... because... Dr. McCoy is right in pointing out the enormous danger potential in any contact with life and intelligence as fantastically advanced as this. But I must point out that the possibilities, the potential for knowledge and advancement is equally great. Risk... risk is our business! That's what this starship is all about... that's why we're aboard her!"
- -Kirk (TOS: "Return to Tomorrow")
"Khan. How do we know you'll keep your word?"
"Oh, I've given you no word to keep, admiral. In my judgment you simply have no alternative."
"I see your point... stand by to receive our transmission...(whispers) Mr. Sulu, lock phasers on target..."
"Time's up admiral!"
"Here it comes. Now, Mr. Spock."
- -Kirk and Khan (Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan)
"Sir, you did it!"
"I did nothing! Except get caught with my britches down. I must be getting senile."
- - Sulu andKirk (Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan)
"Kirk... you're still alive, my old friend."
"Still. Old. Friend! You've managed to kill just about everyone else, but like a poor marksman, you KEEP MISSING the TARGET!"
- - Khan andKirk (Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan)
"KHAAAAAAN!!!" (Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan)
- -Kirk
"We tried it once your way Khan, now are you game for a rematch? Khan... I'm LAUGHING at the superior... intellect."
- -Kirk, to Khan (Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan)
"Sorry about your crew, but as we say on, Earth,c'est la vie."
- -Kirk, to Kruge (Star Trek III: The Search for Spock)
"I... have had... enough of you!"
- -Kirk, to Kruge (Star Trek III: The Search for Spock)
"SHOOT HIM!!!"
- -Kirk, to Spock (Star Trek V: The Final Frontier)
"Excuse me... but what does God need with a starship?"
- -Kirk, to the Sha Ka Ree entity (Star Trek V: The Final Frontier)
"Don't believe them! Don't trust them!"
"They are dying..."
"Let them die."
- -Kirk, to Spock, on the Klingon Empire (Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country)
"Risk is part of the game, if you want to sit in that chair."
- -Kirk, to Captain Harriman (Star Trek Generations)
Kirk on women
"When I get my hands on the headquarters genius who gave me a female yeoman..."
"What's the matter Jim, don't you trust yourself?"
- -Kirk, to McCoy (TOS: "The Corbomite Maneuver")
"You're too beautiful to ignore. Too much woman."
- -Kirk, to Janice Rand (TOS: "The Enemy Within")
"Uh, there are things you can do with a lady, uh, Charlie, that you... Uh, there's no right way to hit a woman. I mean, man to man is one thing, but, um, man and woman, uh, it's, ah... is, uh... Well, it's, ah, another thing. Do you understand?"
"Worlds may change, galaxies disintegrate, but a woman... always remains a woman."
- -Kirk, to Lenore Karidian (TOS: "The Conscience of the King")
"You'll learn something about men and women... the way they're supposed to be. Caring for each other, being happy with each other, being good to each other. That's what we call... love. You'll like that too. A lot."
"Mr. Spock, the women on your planet are logical. That is the only planet in this galaxy that can make that claim."
- -Kirk, to Spock (TOS: "Elaan of Troyius")
"You sleep lightly, captain."
"Yes, duty is a good teacher. I see you've changed your dress-maker."
"Release me!"
"So you could attack me again? That would be foolish."
"Call the guards if you're afraid, captain."
"I'm not afraid. In fact... I find this rather enjoyable."
- - Vanna andKirk (TOS: "The Cloud Minders")
Kirk and Spock
"Will you try for one moment to feel? At least act like you've got a heart?"
- -Kirk, to Spock (TOS: "Where No Man Has Gone Before")
"Spock, I think I'm in love with Edith Keeler."
"Jim, Edith Keeler, must die."
- -Kirk and Spock (TOS: "The City on the Edge of Forever")
"Alright, you mutinous, disloyal, computerized half-breed, we'll see about you deserting my ship... You're an overgrown jackrabbit. An elf with a hyperactive thyroid... What else would you expect from a simpering devil eared freak whose father was a computer and whose mother was an encyclopedia... Your father was a computer, like his son... from a planet of traitors. A Vulcan never lived who had an ounce of integrity... You're a traitor from a race of traitors. Disloyal to the core; rotten like the rest of your sub-Human race, and you've got the GALL to make love to that girl. Does she know what she's getting, Spock? A carcass full of memory banks who should be squatting on a mushroom, instead of passing himself off as a man. You belong in a circus, Spock, not a starship. RIGHT NEXT TO THE DOG-FACED BOY!
- -Kirk, to Spock (TOS: "This Side of Paradise")
"Mind your own business, Mr. Spock! I'm sick of your half-breed interference, do you hear me?"
- -Kirk's android duplicate, to Spock (TOS: "What Are Little Girls Made Of?")
"Analysis, Mr. Spock?"
"Very bad poetry, captain."
"No, it was a calculated risk. Still, the Eminians keep a very orderly society and actual war is very messy business. Very, very messy business. I had a feeling they would do anything to avoid it, even talk peace."
"Feeling is not much to go on."
"Sometimes a feeling, Mr. Spock, is all we Humans have to go on."
"Captain, you almost make me believe in luck."
"Why, Mr. Spock, you almost make me believe in miracles."
- -Kirk and Spock (TOS: "A Taste of Armageddon")
"Kill Spock? That's not what we came to Vulcan for."
"Of my friend, I can only say this: Of all the souls I have encountered in my travels, his was the most... Human."
- -Kirk, on Spock (Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan)
"Oh him? He's harmless. Back in the sixties, he was part of the free speech movement at Berkeley. I think he did a little too much LDS."
- -Kirk, to Gillian Taylor (Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home)
"... either you're with me or you're not!"
"I am here, captain."
"That's a little vague, Spock..."
- -Kirk and Spock (Star Trek V: The Final Frontier)
"I lost a brother once... I was lucky... I got him back."
- -Kirk, to Spock (Star Trek V: The Final Frontier)
"You're a great one for logic. I'm a great one for rushing in where angels fear to tread. We're both extremists. Reality is probably somewhere in between."
- -Kirk, to Spock (Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country)
"You know, if Spock were here, he'd say I was an irrational, illogical Human being for taking on a mission like that... Sounds like fun!"
- -Kirk, to Picard (Star Trek Generations)
Opinions of Kirk
"This officer's record shows him to be an insubordinate, unprincipled, career-minded opportunist with a history of violating the chain of command whenever it suited him."
- -GeneralChang, on Kirk's disregard for Starfleet regulations (Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country)
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Appendices
Appearances
- TOS:
- "Where No Man Has Gone Before"
- "The Corbomite Maneuver"
- "Mudd's Women"
- "The Enemy Within"
- "The Man Trap"
- "The Naked Time"
- "Charlie X"
- "Balance of Terror"
- "What Are Little Girls Made Of?"
- "Dagger of the Mind"
- "Miri"
- "The Conscience of the King"
- "The Galileo Seven"
- "Court Martial"
- "The Menagerie, Part I"
- "The Menagerie, Part II"
- "Shore Leave"
- "The Squire of Gothos"
- "Arena"
- "The Alternative Factor"
- "Tomorrow is Yesterday"
- "The Return of the Archons"
- "A Taste of Armageddon"
- "Space Seed"
- "This Side of Paradise"
- "The Devil in the Dark"
- "Errand of Mercy"
- "The City on the Edge of Forever"
- "Operation -- Annihilate!"
- "Catspaw"
- "Metamorphosis"
- "Friday's Child"
- "Who Mourns for Adonais?"
- "Amok Time"
- "The Doomsday Machine"
- "Wolf in the Fold"
- "The Changeling"
- "The Apple"
- "Mirror, Mirror"
- "The Deadly Years"
- "I, Mudd"
- "The Trouble with Tribbles"
- "Bread and Circuses"
- "Journey to Babel"
- "A Private Little War"
- "The Gamesters of Triskelion"
- "Obsession"
- "The Immunity Syndrome"
- "A Piece of the Action"
- "By Any Other Name"
- "Return to Tomorrow"
- "Patterns of Force"
- "The Ultimate Computer"
- "The Omega Glory"
- "Assignment: Earth"
- "Spectre of the Gun"
- "Elaan of Troyius"
- "The Paradise Syndrome"
- "The Enterprise Incident"
- "And the Children Shall Lead"
- "Spock's Brain"
- "Is There in Truth No Beauty?"
- "The Empath"
- "The Tholian Web"
- "For the World is Hollow and I Have Touched the Sky"
- "Day of the Dove"
- "Plato's Stepchildren"
- "Wink of an Eye"
- "That Which Survives"
- "Let That Be Your Last Battlefield"
- "Whom Gods Destroy"
- "The Mark of Gideon"
- "The Lights of Zetar"
- "The Cloud Minders"
- "The Way to Eden"
- "Requiem for Methuselah"
- "The Savage Curtain"
- "All Our Yesterdays"
- "Turnabout Intruder"
- TAS:
- "Beyond the Farthest Star"
- "Yesteryear"
- "One of Our Planets Is Missing"
- "The Lorelei Signal"
- "More Tribbles, More Troubles"
- "The Survivor"
- "The Infinite Vulcan"
- "The Magicks of Megas-Tu"
- "Once Upon a Planet"
- "Mudd's Passion"
- "The Terratin Incident"
- "The Time Trap"
- "The Ambergris Element"
- "The Eye of the Beholder"
- "The Jihad"
- "The Pirates of Orion"
- "Bem"
- "The Practical Joker"
- "Albatross"
- "How Sharper Than a Serpent's Tooth"
- "The Counter-Clock Incident"
- Star Trek films:
- DS9: "Trials and Tribble-ations"(archive footage)
- ENT: "These Are The Voyages..."(archive audio)
- ST: "Ephraim and Dot"(archive audio)
- PIC: "The Bounty"(scan of remains)
- LD:
- "No Small Parts"(picture only)
- "An Embarrassment Of Dooplers"(picture only)
- SNW:
- VST: "Walk, Don't Run"(archive footage)
Background information
Casting Kirk
Kirk was played byWilliam Shatner.
Don Eitner served asbody double for Shatner as the pair of Kirks in "The Enemy Within". ActressSandra Smith also "played" Captain Kirk inJanice Lester's body in "Turnabout Intruder", while Shatner "played" Lester in Kirk's body.
Following his introduction in the second pilot, the only non-appearance of Kirk was in the animated episode "The Slaver Weapon". Archive footage of Shatner was used in theStar Trek: Deep Space Nine episode "Trials and Tribble-ations", and archive audio of his voice was used in theStar Trek: Enterprise finale, "These Are The Voyages..." and theStar Trek: Short Treks episode "Ephraim and Dot".
William Shatner was not the first choice to play Kirk. The producers first approached actorsLloyd Bridges andJack Lord for the role; both turned it down.[5][6](X)[7](X) Both Bridges and Lord have since passed away.
In order to play Kirk, William Shatner attempted to stay physically fit. "I've tried to stay limber, and I've tried to keep myself in shape," he related. "Not for a little reason. For a great reason, because I'm playing Captain Kirk, and I wanted to be ready for each movie and not act my age." ("Strange New Worlds: The Valley of Fire",Star Trek Generations (Special Edition)DVD/Blu-ray)
Naming Kirk
The name for Kirk wasn't decided until1965. In a memo written by Gene Roddenberry to researcherKellam de Forest on18 May1965, sixteen names were under consideration. These names were:
- January
- Flagg
- Drake
- Christopher
- Thorpe
- Richard
- Patrick
- Raintree
- Boone
- Hudson
- Timber
- Hamilton
- Hannibal
- Neville
- Kirk
- North
This memo was reprinted inThe Making of Star Trek(page number? •edit) andInside Star Trek: The Real Story(page number? •edit).
"James Tiberius Kirk" was the final choice of name chosen to adorn the new TV show's hero.
Originally, according toGene Roddenberry'snovelStar Trek: The Motion Picture, Kirk was named "James" after his mother's "first love instructor" as well as "an uncle" (his "father's beloved brother"), and "Tiberius" because the Roman emperor fascinated his grandfather Samuel.
Gary Mitchell's tombstone for "James R. Kirk"
Kirk's middle name came later, as can be ascertained by the "JamesR. Kirk" tombstone, created byGary Mitchell in "Where No Man Has Gone Before", Kirk's middle initial was R, not T. According toD.C. Fontana in the introduction forStar Trek: The Classic Episodes 1, when the mistake over the middle initial was discovered, Gene Roddenberry decided that if pressed for an answer on the discrepancy, the response was to be "Gary Mitchell had godlike powers, but at base he was Human. He made a mistake."
The origin of Kirk's established middle name has several possible, if not potentially conflicting, origins, including the "official" claim thatDavid Gerrold spontaneously blurted out the name in response to a question regarding what Kirk's middle initial stood for at a 1973Star Trek convention, and subsequently conferred withD.C. Fontana andGene Roddenberry, who approved the name, and it became forever part ofStar Trek lore. ([8]Maximum PC, November 2010, p. 94;Star Trek: The Official Guide to the Animated Series, 129) In another instance, the name was referenced by Fontana in a Q&A with her andMajel Barrett, in an audio recording dated from a 1972 convention, which suggests that Fontana may have been the first to mention the name to the public.[9] Whereas a third case can be made, and consequently has been by various reference works, that Roddenberry himself was responsible for the name, as his "fondness" for "Tiberius" predatesStar Trek, having had already used it in his prior series,The Lieutenant, for that lead character: "Willam Tiberius Rice".(Star Trek Chronology, 1st ed., p. 40;The Encyclopedia Shatnerica, p. 90;Star Trek Magazine Special 2016, pp. 23-24)
Character development
Gene Roddenberry, inhis original pitch to television producers, described the character (originally namedRobert April, then Christopher Pike) that later came to be known, eventually, as Captain Kirk:
The 'skipper', about thirty-four, Academy graduate, rank of Captain... a shorthand sketch of Robert April might be 'A space-age CaptainHoratio Hornblower', lean and capable both mentally and physically.
A colorfully complex personality, he is capable of action and decision that can verge on the heroic – and at the same time lives a continual battle with self-doubt and the loneliness of command.
As with similar men in the past (Drake, Cook, Bougainville, and Scott), his primary weakness is a predilection to action over administration, a temptation to take the greatest risks onto himself. But, unlike most early explorers, he has an almost compulsive compassion for the plight of others, alien as well as Human, [and] must continually fight the temptation to risk many to save one.
NBC's early-1966 sales brochure (reprinted inInside Star Trek: The Real Story) described Kirk thus:
A Space Academy graduate, Captain James Kirk has learned to accept the loneliness of command as he has rapidly climbed the ladder of promotion, although he never will learn to like the loneliness his post brings. Starship command is the most important position a man in the Space Service can hold, since he alone can and must make decisions in his contact with the other worlds that can affect the future course of civilization throughout the Universe. So far, James Kirk has proven himself equal to this awesome responsibility. A strong, capable, highly intelligent man in his mid-thirties, Kirk is a born leader, who has trained himself to walk the tightrope between friendship and authority without losing his sense of humor or compassion for others.
William Shatner was to have reprised his role as Captain Kirk onStar Trek: Phase II. The writers/directors guide for that series, written, among others, by Gene Roddenberry andJon Povill betweenMay andAugust 1977, described Kirk as follows:
A shorthand sketch of Kirk might be 'a space-age Captain Horatio Hornblower,' constantly on trial with himself, a strong, complex personality.
With the Starship out of communication with Earth and Starfleet bases for long periods of time, a Starship captain has unusual broad powers over both the lives and welfare of his crew, as well as over Earth people and activities encountered during these voyages. He also has broad power as an Earth Ambassador may discover. Kirk feels these responsibilities strongly and is fully capable of letting the worry and frustration lead him into error.
He is also capable of fatigue and inclined to push himself beyond Human limits, then condemn himself because he is not superhuman. The crew respects him, some almost to the point of adoration. At the same time, no senior officer aboard is fearful of using his own intelligence in questioning Kirk's orders and can themselves be strongly articulate up to the point where Kirk signifies his decision has been made.
Kirk is a veteran of hundreds of planet landings and space emergencies. He has a broad and highly mature perspective on command, fellow crewmen, and even on alien life customs, however strange or repugnant they seem when reassessed against Earth standards.
On the other hand, don't play Kirk like the captain of an 1812 frigate in which nothing or no one moves without his command. TheEnterprise crew is a finely-trained team, well able to anticipate information and action Kirk needs.
Aboard ship, Captain Kirk has only a few opportunities for anything approaching friendship. One exception is with ship's surgeon Dr. McCoy, who has a legitimate professional need to constantly be aware of the state of the Captain's mind and emotions. But on a 'shore leave' away from the confines of self-imposed discipline, Jim Kirk is likely to play pretty hard, almost compulsively so. It is not impossible he will let this drag him at one time or another into an unwise romantic liaison which he will have great difficulty disentangling. He is, in short, a strong man forced by the requirements of his ship and career into the often lonely role of command, even lonelier because Starship command is the most difficult and demanding task of his century.
Kirk's demise
Regarding the death of Kirk,Ronald D. Moore, co-writer of the script in which Kirk died, wrote:
- "[...] I felt (and still do) that the death of Kirk was an important moment inTrek and that this very Human character should experience the final act in every man's existence, namely death. Kirk had never shied away from promoting and honoring the unique experience of being Human (indeed, that was in many ways the foundation of Gene's entire vision – the celebration of the Human spirit). Therefore, it seemed that by killing him, by letting him really play out the Human experience, he would become something greater than simply another comic-book hero that never dies and is never really mortal as a result. I find vulnerable heroes more compelling than teflon-coated heroes, and to me the death of Kirk made him Human, and in the end, more heroic.
- "I am very much against the resurrection of Kirk for that reason – it would rob the character of something very important: his Humanity." (AOL chat,1997)
Years later, Moore added:
- "Killing Kirk was a great concept and had the potential to resonate throughout theStar Trek franchise, but the execution [no pun intended] was flawed and the impact was not what we'd hoped for on any level."[10]
William Shatner personally found portraying the final appearance of Kirk, inStar Trek Generations, was "kind of strange and sad." ("Uniting Two Legends",Star Trek Generations (Special Edition)DVD/Blu-ray)
Star Trek's writers,Roberto Orci andAlex Kurtzman, intended thealternate realitySpock to be given a hologram of Kirk Prime by Spock Prime to convince him of their friendship. His message would have bookended the young Kirk's promotion to captain and explained Spock's offer to become his first officer. However, the filmmakers opted to drop the idea without proposing it to Shatner, as the actor was vocal about having a substantial role in the film and not a cameo. Kirk's lines were as follows:
Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you... (stops, grins) I know I know, it's illogical to celebrate something you had nothing to do with, but I haven't had the chance to congratulate you on your appointment to the ambassadorship so I thought I'd seize the occasion... Bravo, Spock – they tell me your first mission may take you away for awhile, so I'll be the first to wish you luck... and to say... I miss you, old friend.
I suppose I'd always imagined us... outgrowing Starfleet together. Watching life swing us into our Emeritus years... I look around at the new cadets now and can't help thinking... has it really been so long? Wasn't it only yesterday we stepped onto theEnterprise as boys? That I had to prove to the crew I deserved command... and their respect?
I know what you'd say – 'It's their turn now, Jim...' And of course you're right... but it got me thinking: Who's to say we can't go one more round? By the last tally, only twenty five percent of the galaxy's been chartered... I'd call that negligent. Criminal even – an invitation. You once said being a starship captain was my first, best destiny... if that's true, then yours is to be by my side. If there's any true logic to the universe... we'll end up on that bridge again someday. Admit it, Spock. For people like us, the journey itself... is home.[11]
Ambiguities
Acceptedcanon regarding Kirk's early life before theEnterprise, and gaps between events portrayed in films, are scarce and ambiguous. The following notes attempt to reconcile the "mysteries" of Kirk and canon, but these questions may never be satisfactorily answered.
One of the ambiguities was when Lieutenant Kirk was an instructor at the Academy. According to "Coming of Age", there was an age requirement of 16 years for cadets. Assuming that Gary Mitchell was born in2242, the earliest that he could have entered the Academy was in2258. Of course, this raised the probability that the blonde lab technician might be Carol Marcus. Speaking of his time at the Academy as an instructor, he said in a line of dialogue from the script of "Where No Man Has Gone Before" that, "I sort of leaned on cadets I liked."
The producers ofStar Trek have stated – including on theaudio commentary – that many of the events of thealternate reality could have taken place in the original timeline. Some possible events include:
- a rebellious youth in Iowa
- disciplinary actions for cheating on theKobayashi Maru
- meeting Spock for the first time because he cheated on his test
Roberto Orci, co-writer ofStar Trek, had said that in an early draft of that film, dialogue confirmed that in the prime reality, Kirk was born in Iowa and not aboard theUSSKelvin: "If not for the attack from theNarada, the Kelvin would've reached Earth and Kirk would've been born in Iowa. The attack made Winona Kirk go into labor early."[12] The dialogue in question was likely Prime Spock's line in which he tells the alternateJames T. Kirk that he was born on a farm in Iowa, to which Kirk corrected him, stating he (the alternate Kirk) was born on a starship. This line appears in thenovelization of the film, which used an early draft of the screenplay as a basis.
In March 1985, when the town was looking for a theme for its annual town festival, Steve Miller, a member of the Riverside City Council who had readThe Making of Star Trek – a book that lists Kirk's year of birth as2228 rather than the more firmly established 2233 – suggested to the council that Riverside should proclaim itself to be the future birthplace of Kirk. Miller's motion passed unanimously. The council later wrote to Roddenberry for his permission to be designated as the official birthplace of Kirk, and with Roddenberry's consent,the town developed a tourist industry around the idea.Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home then established on screen that Kirk was from Iowa.
Reiteration
In2022, Paul Wesley appeared in the role of James T. Kirk during the first season finale ofStar Trek: Strange New Worlds, serving as the captain of the USSFarragut in an alternate timeline. His casting was announced on15 March2022. He reprised the role in Season 2 ofStrange New Worlds.[13]
Apocrypha
Outside of filmed canon productions, the character of Kirk had appeared in manynovels,comics,games, andcollectibles. While Kirk was the hero of nearly every TOS novel, he was notably the star of a series of novels by William Shatner (withJudith andGarfield Reeves-Stevens) which starred Kirk, reborn after his 24th century death when theBorg-Romulan alliance resurrected and brainwashed him, intending to use Kirk to kill Picard.
However, surgery performed by DoctorJulian Bashir, aided by Admiral McCoy, removed the implant controlling Kirk's actions, and the residual 'programming' was removed thanks to a mind meld with Spock. After his condition was stabilized and the Borg-Romulan alliance was destroyed, as well as a fatal blow delivered to theBorg Collective, Kirk went on to form a close, albeit sometimes strained, friendship with Picard, as well as once again encounter the mirror universe as his other self returned to kill him. He even goes on to have a child with Teilani, a genetically-engineered Romulan/Klingon hybrid.
According toStar Trek II: Biographies, Kirk was born on July 28th, 2182 on Farside Base,Luna to parents Eugene Claudius Kirk and Marjorie Wimpole. He had a sister named Michele Suzanne Kirk.
According to several novels (such asFinal Frontier andBest Destiny, both byDiane Carey) Kirk's father "George Samuel Kirk, Senior" was a Starfleet commander who was a close friend of Robert April and briefly theEnterprise's executive officer on its first mission. The novelCollision Course by William Shatner gave James Kirk's father's name as "George Joseph Kirk". The name of Kirk's mother was said to be "Winona Kirk".Crisis on Centaurus stated George died on the planet Hellspawn in 2250, but this was overruled canonically in the 2009 film with Spock stating George Kirk saw James taking command of theEnterprise.
The DS9 novelOriginal Sin features anAkira-class starship named the USSJames T. Kirk (NCC-63719) in honor of Kirk. It had an illustrious service history which included exploration and defensive missions.
Kirk's gravestone
In thethird andfourth issues of theIDW Publishing comicStar Trek: Spock: Reflections, Picard sent a message to Spock after the events ofStar Trek Generations explaining how Kirk did not die on theEnterprise-B, but was pulled into the Nexus and how he left it to help Picard defeat Soran from killing 200 million people in order to re-enter the Nexus and in the process, Kirk was killed while saving Picard and millions of others. Since Kirk was already thought dead, and explaining the nature of the Nexus to Starfleet would be difficult, Picard decided to bury Kirk on Veridian III where he gave his life to save millions. Nonetheless, Picard felt Spock should know of Kirk's fate. Eventually, Spock traveled to Veridian III and retrieved Kirk's body where he brought him back home to Earth to be reburied at the Kirk family farm in Iowa. Spock explains to Picard how Kirk didthe same for him, at a terrible cost, and says he needed to be equal to Kirk's sacrifice.
Kirk and The Doctor
In thethird issue of theDoctor Who crossover comicAssimilation², Kirk, Spock, McCoy and Scott investigate a Federation archaeological team on the planet Aprilia III on Stardate 3368.5, which had lost contact with Starfleet. Upon landing in the shuttlecraftGalileo, they are greeted by project manager Jefferson Whitmore, who assures them that all is well and gives them a tour of the facility, but Kirk finds the staff suspiciously calm. His team later return to the facility after dark where they meet theFourth Doctor, assuming he's a member of the research team and he helps them break the electronic lock and together, they infiltrated the facility. There, they find the researchers standing catatonically, with small cybernetic devices in their ears. It is discovered they were under the control of the Doctor's enemies, theCybermen. A battle ensues and Kirk fights theCyber-Controller, but is proved no match for the cybernetic being. The Doctor then asks Kirk if he has anygold on him as he's had experience with the Cybermen and Kirk hands him his communicator. Kirk distracts the Cyber-Controller while the Doctor uses hissonic screwdriver to disintegrate the communicator's gold cover into dust and use it to clog up the Controller's respiration and allowing Spock to destroy it with his phaser. After the Cybermen are defeated and the Doctor slips quietly away, Kirk arranges for a permanent garrison of Starfleet Security personnel to protect the researchers against further Cyberman incursions.
InStar Trek Cats, Kirk is depicted as an orange tabbycat.
TheRoddenberry Archive production "765874: Unification" depicts a final meeting of Spock and Kirk at Spock's deathbed.
External links
- James T. Kirk atMemory Beta, the wiki for licensedStar Trek works
- James T. Kirk attheStar Trek Online Wiki
- James T. Kirk atWikipedia