Hello, I would like to complain that filling out a form to complain is exactly the kind of thing that Gene Roddenberry would be against so I refuse to do it. /s
LMAO
Hair (not Pike)
Hair (Pike)
How are you going to have two for Janeway but no mention of siskos war crimes or martial law. Smdh
No man is an island
I have a problem with the Kelvin timeline. Specifically how they depicted the Kobayashi Maru sequence. No, I don’t care if Spock programmed it. My issue is that Kirk’s behavior stank. He straight up cheated, but even worse, he was smug about it. That didn’t show leadership potential at all. That was conduct unbecoming of an officer.
I’d always had it in my head that Kirk simply disagreed with the test philosophically. It’s a simple scene to set up. Kobayashi Maru tests officers to see how they deal with a losing path in a simulation of a deterministic universe, but especially to reveal the quality of their character. But Kirk doesn’t believe in fate. He believes in a quantum universe, where infinite possibilities spring from the vacuum every instant. In my mind, Kirk wouldn’t simply reprogram the hostile ships’ shields to drop at an exact moment, then just line up his shots. That’s still determinism! Instead he would subtly reprogram the simulation to account for random chance, and depend upon his skill to beat the odds against whatever the scenario might throw at him. Examining his changes to the code would reveal not a spoiled rotten, cheating, nepotism brat, but a confident leader with a fundamental difference in personal philosophy for approaching the Universe, and furthermore, who simultaneously argued that the Kobayashi Maru was a flawed exercise, while generously offering a patch to improve it. That’s captain material.
That scene would have made me lose all respect for Kirk if I regarded it as canon, so I can’t. I would never follow a man like that into the unknown, no matter his supposed tactical brilliance. No disrespect to any of the actors. It’s just bad writing. Beyond that, I’ve got no problem with Kelvin beyond minor quibbles.
I understand where you’re coming from.
Another way to look at it though, is Kirk wanted to draw attention to the ridiculousness of the test. He was making a bold statement that his intention wasn’t to “cheat” but to show the test was stupid by rubbing it in their faces. He was saying if you’re going to fix it so I can’t win, I’m going to fix it so no one can lose.
I have my issues with the Kelvin timeline. And to be honest I think the writing could have been better in that scene. But I would prefer they replace the ending of movie two. The reactor sacrifice thing went away past just a nod to previous movies into lazy writing. And the blood thing created SO many future plot holes…
This is how I see it. Reprogramming the test was a protest, and protests should be loud and obvious. A subtle change that made the test just barely passable would have just looked like academic dishonesty.
Yeah the more thought about it, you also can’t compare “canon” Kirk to the Kelvin Kirk. Expecting one that grew up without a dad to act the same…
Yeah Into Darkness was just a bad concept all around. Just a bad idea to remake a good movie in general. And then Star Trek II revolved around a villain from Kirk’s past coming back for revenge. Kirk and Khan never met before in the Kelvin timeline, so there really isn’t anything there. It was destined to be a a half-assed remake at the concept stage, and they should’ve scrapped it and done pretty much anything else as soon as someone suggested bringing back Khan.
Still it’s not the worst Trek movie.
The Kobayashi Maru sequence is a perfect summation of everything wrong with Kelvin Kirk. He’s basically a fratboy. He just lies and cheats his way through problems by the seat of his pants with no forethought or consideration. Actual TOS Kirk is an incredibly smart, educated and thoughtful leader who constantly questions his own beliefs and motivations. He understands the burden and the cost of leadership, and always strives to meet that burden, and he truly believes in the Federations mission to be build a better world for all.
This is why I love Strange New Worlds. SMW Chris Pike is, genuinely, the best version of Kirk in any Star Trek. Smart, thoughtful, emotionally intelligent, cares deeply about his crew, but also funny and likable. And, when need be, kind of a badass.
