With all of the issues related to retconning, and poor fan reaction surrounding Star Trek: Discovery, the show could use some help. Queue up the original, legendary Captain Kirk!
During an interview with IGN, the OG of Star Trek captains has a theory that could see him make his way onto the show. But what will it take to make happen? Shatner joked that it would take “a great deal of money”.
Aside from the issue of money, it would be difficult to imagine how he could appear in the series without pulling a Spock. Discovery has already taken a great deal from the Kelvin Timeline. I would hate for them to take even more. Even Shatner spoke about this problem:
I don’t know what you’d do with a character who appeared 50, now 51 years ago. You know, I am 51 years older, with all the exigencies of age.
This would limit any sort of appearance he could make down to some sort of time travel. By this time I think we can all agree that Kirk has punched that card enough.
Beyond Discovery Shatner opened up about how Kirk has more story to tell:
Are there stories to tell about an aging guy? [Bradshaw] was a great athlete. An awkward kid of 15, 16, who matured and then was a quarterback that was third quarterback, then he became the second quarterback. He grew into this great quarterback, one of the great quarterbacks, that he became. Now, he’s older, his knees hurt, his back hurts. … So here’s this aging athlete, who isn’t [what] he was in his twenties and thirties. Still carries himself grandly and has a sense of humor and all, but he’s not the athlete he was. What would Captain Kirk be like 50 years later, with the sagacity of mind, and yet the body doesn’t do what he wants it to do? I mean, it’s an interesting story.
What do you think, would you want to see a Kirk experiencing the last golden years of his life?
Relics
An episode of The Next Generation explored this in a small way. “Relics,” which was the fourth episode of the sixth season saw Scotty, the engineer of the Enterprise-A, brought back because of his use of looping his pattern in the transporter buffer. By doing this he was able to survive many years in suspended animation until the crew of the Enterprise D found him.
Here the episode looked into the darker side of aging and watching the world move on without you as if you’re left behind. Seeing Kirk go through something like this would be a great avenue to explore the effects of aging on a person who may not be ready to age.
What do you think, would the return of Captain Kirk help the franchise, or could he overshadow Discovery? Also, would you want a Trek Series based on the “Relics” format? Let us know in the comments below!