Captain Kirk’s Outsider Status On The Enterprise Is A Star Trek Disadvantage

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds gradually makes it clear that James T. Kirk (Paul Wesley) puts himself at a disadvantage when he becomes Captain of the USS Enterprise. With Star Trek: Strange New Worlds season 3 ended, the prequel series is past the halfway mark of its five-year mission to lead into Star Trek: The Original Series.

Captain Christopher Pike (Anson Mount) is firmly Star Trek: Strange New Worlds’ leading man, but the prequel introduced his successor, Lieutenant James T. Kirk, at the end of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds season 1. A recurring special guest star, Kirk’s progression towards his destiny as Captain of the Enterprise is being seeded continuously.

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds season 3, episode 6, “The Sehlat Who Ate Its Tail,” canonically gave Lt. Commander James T. Kirk his first taste of starship command. Aboard the USS Farragut, acting Captain Kirk led a successful rescue of the Starship Enterprise, with the help of Lt. Spock (Ethan Peck), Scotty (Martin Quinn), Ensign Nyota Uhura (Celia Rose Gooding), and Nurse Christine Chapel (Jess Bush).

It’s by Star Trek: Strange New Worlds’ design that Kirk’s first time as captain of a starship happened alongside members of his future USS Enterprise crew. But when Kirk does become Captain in Star Trek: The Original Series, he does so as something of an outsider.

Kirk Inherits A Starship Enterprise Crew That Already Knows Each Other

Spock (Leonard Nimoy). Lt. Uhura (Nichelle Nichols), Scotty (James Doohan), and Nurse Christine Chapel (Majel Barrett-Roddenberry) all remain aboard when Captain James T. Kirk (William Shatner) takes command of the USS Enterprise. While Kirk knows and has worked with each of them, they all know each other far better.

By the time the Starship Enterprise becomes Captain Kirk’s in 2265, Spock, Chapel, and Uhura will have worked together for six years under Captain Pike, with Scotty having about four years on the Enterprise by then. They all shared many voyages and adventures together, and survived battles with the Gorn, among other enemies.

Lt. Commander Kirk’s visits to the USS Enterprise are remarkably frequent relative to his role as First Officer of the USS Farragut, yet his time working together with his future crewmates remains limited. By virtue of Kirk’s mind-meld with Spock in Star Trek: Strange New Worlds season 3’s finale, Jim knows the Vulcan Science Officer best.

Kirk worked with Scotty a second time, and came to like the Scottish engineer, in Star Trek: Strange New Worlds season 3, episode 8, “Four-and-a-Half Vulcans.” Given their history, it makes sense that Kirk was pleased that Spock, Scotty, Chapel, and Uhura remained aboard his USS Enterprise, but James’ time with them is still fleeting compared to how well they all know each other.

Kirk Doesn’t Get Close To His USS Enterprise Crew (Besides Spock & Bones)

Watching Captain Kirk in Star Trek: The Original Series, it’s notable that Jim keeps a professional distance from most of his USS Enterprise crew, especially compared to Captain Pike. Kirk never hosts family-style get-togethers or makes the effort to get to know most of his crew both personally and socially the way Pike did.

This isn’t to say Captain Kirk isn’t caring or approachable, but Jim kept a separation between himself and most of his Enterprise crew. The exceptions were Spock and Dr. Leonard “Bones” McCoy (DeForest Kelley), who became Kirk’s trusted inner circle. Jim, Bones, and Spock spent time together, but privately.

Curiously, Kirk, Spock, and Bones shut Nurse Chapel, Lt. Uhura, and even Scotty out of their private revelries in Star Trek: The Original Series, despite what close friends they all are in Star Trek: Strange New Worlds. Captain Kirk radically changes the interpersonal dynamics of the Starship Enterprise.

Captain Kirk missing out on most Spock, Uhura, Chapel, and Scotty’s shared experiences in Star Trek: Strange New Worlds makes Jim an outsider, in retrospect. For instance, everyone but Kirk not only knows Chapel was engaged, but they met Dr. Roger Korby (Cillian O’Sullivan) socially before Kirk met Korby (Michael Strong) in Star Trek: The Original Series.

Similarly, Spock, Uhura, Chapel, and Scotty all know far more about the Gorn, and had their own battles with the alien reptiles, long before Kirk faced the Gorn Captain in Star Trek: The Original Series, and they didn’t share their information with their Captain. Perhaps Kirk encouraged a separation between the Captain and his crew, but they were all friendlier with each other under Captain Pike.

Captain Kirk’s USS Enterprise Is Very Different From Captain Pike’s

Captain Kirk eventually brings new people aboard the USS Enterprise in Star Trek: The Original Series. Dr. McCoy replaces Dr. Joseph M’Benga (Babs Olusanmokun) as Chief Medical Officer, and Lt. Erica Ortegas (Melissa Navia) exits so that Lt. Hikaru Sulu (George Takei) takes over as helmsman.

Lt. Commander Una Chin-Riley also leaves the USS Enterprise when Captain Kirk takes over, with Commander Spock assuming the dual role of First Officer and Science Officer.

All of those personnel changes create a very different Starship Enterprise bridge and overall environment under Captain Kirk, despite a number of crew members carrying over from Pike’s command.

Captain Kirk’s command style is more assertive and insular than Captain Pike’s more collaborative method, and perhaps this bled into how radically different his Enterprise became, despite so many of his crew being close friends for years.

While no one can doubt Captain Kirk’s effectiveness as Captain of the Enterprise, in hindsight, a lot of the camaraderie in Star Trek: Strange New Worlds seems to get lost, and, besides Spock, Kirk doesn’t avail himself of the expertise of Pike’s old crew that stayed with Jim as much as he could have.

Release Date

May 5, 2022

Network

Paramount+

Showrunner

Henry Alonso Myers, Akiva Goldsman

Directors

Dan Liu, Amanda Row, Maja Vrvilo, Akiva Goldsman, Dermott Downs, Eduardo Sánchez, Jeffrey W. Byrd, Jonathan Frakes, Jordan Canning, Leslie Hope, Valerie Weiss, Sydney Freeland, Christopher J. Byrne, Rachel Leiterman

Writers

Onitra Johnson