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Star Trek: Strange New Worlds premiered in May of this year, and along with it, we got a brand-new look at the early crew of the Enterprise. As most Trekkies might know, Gene Rodenberry originally intended his show to focus on Captain Christopher Pike, who was the focus of the original series pilot. But after NBC ended up scrapping Rodenberry’s script for a different version of the show starring James T. Kirk, Captain Pike became a mythical forerunner in the lore of The Original Series (TOS). In the recent Paramount+ show Strange New Worlds, we get our first good look at Pike leading the Enterprise crew.
The series follows Captain Pike’s adventures and his “future” traumatic stress disorder he receives from a vision he had concerning a terrible sacrifice he will eventually have to make. It’s a refreshingly creative take on the show and one that avoids the Kirk-mania that comes with many past Star Trek reboots.
In episode 2 of Strange New Worlds, "Children of the Comet," we got a peek at our first Kirk in the series, Samuel, Jim’s brother, but ironically enough, Samuel was knocked unconscious with barely five minutes of screen time. Cadet Uhura was the real star of this episode. The writers just dangled a carrot in front of the viewer to show them what was really important, and that was the story.
Where the Kirk Family Fits in
As viewers will know, Strange New Worlds takes place fairly close to the events of TOS. Only a few years before James Kirk takes command of the Enterprise, the current series explores the ship's adventures when familiar characters from TOS are reasonably close to the ages at which we recognize them.
So, when Samuel Kirk appeared in the second episode of Strange New Worlds, it wasn’t such a surprise to see him as an adult and fully capable of being a crew member of the Enterprise. Samuel is a little older than James, and of course, he joined Starfleet before James did. We first found out that he existed in the TOS episode "Operation – Annihilate!" when audiences discovered he had been killed by a strange parasite on an extraterrestrial colony. But we never really got a good chance to look at him until now.
In the J.J. Abrams movies, Pike mentions that he knew the elder Kirk, George. In the 2009 Star Trek movie, George Kirk was put in command of the U.S.S Kelvin in its final moments and crashed the ship into the time-displaced Romulan vessel in order to save the rest of the crew. Pike uses his memory to inspire the wayward Jim Kirk into becoming captain of the Enterprise. This is likely one of the most important relationships in the Star Trek universe. Still, as it hasn’t happened yet, fans remain uncertain whether Strange New Worlds exists in the continuity of TOS or the Kelvin Universe as it’s referred.
Perhaps it’s ironic that we see so little of Samuel Kirk, as he has only been seen or mentioned offhandedly in previous iterations. So when he walks into the interior of a comet while on an away mission and immediately touches the strange, glowing thing at the center of the room, it was no surprise to watch him go down like a red shirt.
Strange, though, to see him for only about five minutes and then have him be incapacitated for the rest of the episode. His character was more of an Easter egg than anything else. If he were hinting at anything, his presence provided some very poor clues.
Kirk Could be a Distraction
We love James T. Kirk as much as any fans of Star Trek, but this series isn’t about him. It tells the story of Captain Pike and gives us a good look at each of the other characters on the Enterprise before they became who we know in TOS.
Strange New Worlds is also a show that has chosen to discuss some very big questions with its narrative, and using Kirk as a sparkling treat meant to catch the eye of fans would just detract from any of the messages that the show is trying to get across.
But despite these opinions, Star Trek: Strange New Worlds will have The Vampire Diaries star Paul Wesley enter the show as James T. Kirk in the second season. His role on the Enterprise remains to be seen, but as the writers have done an excellent job with the series so far, we have no doubt that they will create a capable space for the Star Trek star without just using him as a focus for the show. There are good possibilities for the character.
Never in Star Trek history have we seen James and Samuel in the same room before, and seeing the prologue to his and Spock’s friendship could be nothing but a delight. Still, we hope that the mythical starship captain will remain in his place and maintain that the true star of the show is the story.