spirk-erkel01

[spirk-erkel01]

[spirk-erkel01]

Canonically Jim Kirk was referred to as “as stack of books with legs”.

One of my biggest pet peeves with Jim Kirk's fanon/fanfic characterization is how so much of the time he's depicted as stupid...not just because he's standing next to Spock for comparison, but straight up lacking intelligence.

And I gotta be honest it DOES rub me the wrong way sometimes. I do think a lot of it comes from this puritanical belief that, somehow, people who are charismatic and gregarious and extroverted and like to have a good time are *incapable* of being intelligent and that's just not true. VS Spock, of course, fills the "virtuous enlightened smart guy" stereotype (read: doesn't fuck, isn't sociable, has never been to a party, doesn't act out or misbehave, etc.) very naturally. It's easy for us as the audience to believe he's intelligent because of it.

But Spock and Jim are shown to be equally matched at every turn, and they have a deep mutual respect. Jim is NOT dumber than Spock, and I doubt Spock would be nearly as loyal to Kirk as he is if he held that opinion of him. I think where he and Kirk differ is that while Spock has the edge on Jim when it comes to encyclopedic knowledge and mental math, Jim is definitely more emotionally intelligent. That's why he's the captain, afterall.

Spock is often alienated from the crew because he doesn't realize he's talking over people's heads. And yet, we see time and again that Jim is 100% capable of following along with all the technical jargon Spock and Scotty throw at him!!! The fact that Jim talks to others on their level--in layman's terms, with familiarity and a sense of humor, allowing others the chance to be the expert in the room, listens to what they have to say instead of acting like he knows everything--is a CHOICE that he makes, deliberately, and is HUGE sign of emotional intelligence, not ignorance.

Anyway tl;dr it really grinds my gears when Jim is written like a dumbass who failed general physics or makes idiotic, reckless decisions and succeeds only on luck and the crew covering his ass at the end of the day. Actually, I think TOS Jim is one of the few well-written leaders in fiction because we ALWAYS see him weighing the opinions and insights of the experts in the crew before making a final call.

Someone who's genuinely intelligent but also self-secure isn't trying to be the smartest guy in the room all the time. To me, Jim is someone who lets his actions speak for themselves.

[spirk-erkel01]

Okay. So I have plenty of feelings when it comes to James T Kirk having lived through Tarsus IV and all that comes with it.

But here I am watching the Animated Series (because I haven’t seen it in years) and season 1, episode 3 involves a planet that is being destroyed by a cloud that has completely engulfed it.

They talk about warning the planet when they realize that the cloud may actually be a life form eating the planet- and it comes out that they do know who the current leader of the planet is.

We see a face-to-face call between Jim and this leader. The man talks about how even if he had enough ships to evacuate every person on the planet, there wouldn’t be enough time to do it.

Jim asks “How are you going to choose?”. And this man- without hesitation says “There is no choice Jim. We’ll save the children.”

And I just. That’s the right answer. I mean, obviously they’ll need a few adults to watch the children/to pilot the ships/to provide medical care/etc. but that is the answer.

And though I am sure that Jim was grateful to hear it and knows that he did the right thing to warn them and that this man is doing the right this as well— I can’t help but think that at some point, probably once the danger has passed and his crew is no longer at risk, that Jim will have some big feelings about this. How unfair it is that he and every other citizen of that colony- but especially the children, had to deal with Kodos when they could have had someone like this man.

I want to clarify that this isn’t jealousy in the sense of ‘I want what this person has’ or ‘I should have this over them’ but more if an ‘oh. I have now seen that this outcome is possible in this circumstance- that there are good people when things get tough. Why wasn’t that possible for me? Why couldn’t there have been a better person making decisions that impacted me? Why did it have to be a bad guy when it was me?”

But yes. I absolutely believe that after everyone is safe and the reports are done that Jim is going to check back in with any remaining survivors of Tarsus. And I think he’s going to keep tabs on these evacuated children. Maybe for the rest of his life he’ll keep checking in on them. Because he knows a little bit of what it’s like. (As long as they aren’t able to save the planet— full disclosure I am still in the middle of the episode.)

[spirk-erkel01]

Yknow what I LOVE about the Star Trek fandom? It’s ANCIENT. I had a talk with a nice old lady at the old persons home that my great grandma is in and she noticed my Spock shirt and was like “oh I love that show I thought the premise was lovely” and you all know THE PREMISE is trekspeak for spirk and I was like “do you accept the premise because I do” and she looked at me with the eyes of someone who is reliving their otp moments and she said “the premise is all I wrote about, dear” and we just talked about spirk for a hella long time and I just love how age doesn’t matter in this fandom you can be ninety and still be the biggest spirk bitch ever how rad is that

[spirk-erkel01]

[spirk-erkel01]

In case anyone wanted; James Doohan knew about all the Spirk porn, and in fact wanted a copy for himself. He also seemed rather bored by the fact he was only ever drawn with women. Someone draw him some Scotty yaoi asap!

[spirk-erkel01]

Spock's whole identity problem would have been solved decades ago if they gave him just one mixed-race friend. Or an immigrant stuck between two cultures.

Spock: Despite all my efforts, I will never be Vulcan enough for my people.

Spock's friend: Yeah, I get it. They tell you to speak Spanish and then they complain it doesn't sound right and you're being assimilated. And I'm like, abuela, you're the one who immigrated here??

Spock: Indeed. And when I find myself surrounded by humans, they only see the Vulcan part of me.

Spock's friend: I know right?!? They're always "where you from, no where you really from" and I'm like dude?? I was born here??

Spock: This is most illuminating.

(aka "oh wow I'm not the only person in the universe to suffer this?!?!")

Give Spock a mixed-race or immigrant friend.

[spirk-erkel01]

Partway through watching “Amok Time”, having explained it to my roommate as “Spock goes into heat and Kirk gets a titty window about it”

Roommate: *turns to stare unbelievingly at me*

Me: Did I lie? Did I even slightly mislead you?

[spirk-erkel01]

I really wish that instead of rehashing the same characters AGAIN that Paramount would give us a TOS-verse spin-off sequel Star Trek: Nepotism where the New Triumvirate(tm) are Spirk's adopted daughter Captain Saavik & First Officer Joanna McCoy (they have a painfully homoerotic tension at all times) feat. CMO David Marcus (reconned back to life).

Demora Sulu is helmswoman and her father is very proud. Pavel's son, Anton Chekov the career politician, who gets like one (1) canon mention, is a recurring character who keeps on getting stuck on the boat during the shenanigans for ever more contrived reasons.

Uhura's protégé is on comms & he fills McCoy's former roll as The Voice of Reason and Distress. He can always be seen shaking his head in the background of every shot on the bridge desperately muttering "Inshallah we will survive this."

The chief engineer is a flaming Irish redhead, Siobhan, who is of no relation to Scotty despite their identical auras and is the only non-nepobaby among the ranking officers but everyone thinks she's his niece no matter how many times she insists she has no idea who tf they're talking about and that Ireland and Scotland are two different places.

The boat isn't even the flagship, it's like the USS Cerritos doing minor missions at best that they still manage to nearly botch 50% of the time. The Original Cast are phoned in for air support on occasion for nostalgia bait like:

Saavik, clearly distressed over something stupid: such challenges we face in the darkness...what would my fathers say? Anton, the reasonable one: Dude just call them, I saw them in San Fran like. Last week. They're probably doing luxury gay space pilates right now. Saavik, solemnly: ...sometimes I can still hear their voices....

[spirk-erkel01]

the most important thing about kirk and spock To Me is just how much they like each other. they're in love, too, in my opinion, but more importantly, they just really, genuinely, like each other. there's so much open affection between them, between the little touches they trade, kirk's stupid sappy smiles (that man is smitten smitten), spock's sassy little jokes, and kirk's gentle teasing - they're simply so obviously dear to one another. it's sweet.

[spirk-erkel01]

I've just had a fun concept idea

Episode of The Big Bang theory where Sheldon is introduced to an elderly couple, and their house has a bunch of Star Trek merch, decor and paraphenalia. He believes its the husband's collection and tries many time, with laughing track galore, to strike conversation with him about it. Only, it isn't the husband's collection, he's big into woodworking or smth, and then the elderly lady reveals herself as the fan and a fandom founder.

Way back in the 70s, she was a fanzine editor and convention organizer type.

She introduces him to fanzines and shows pictures of convention she and her friends organized, along with fandom history, like the letters sent to Paramount to get S3 done. He is sceptical of Fanfiction, having for so long loved canon, but suggesting that people can fix inconsistency and add even more stories through it, he finds he likes it. Namely, she argues with "Well, why would a teenage Spock undergo Pon Farr on Genesis..." and he completes with "WHEN HIS FIRST WAS AT 34 IN AMOK TIME- omg you're right and we can fix that!"

Seeing these fics in the fanzine, he asks her how it began.

"And you started writing this because you desired Spock?! Physically?!" And the lady goes "Well a lot of us really did see the appeal... tall, not a red blooded male, with a mind and such kindness. I still do as a matter of fact!"

Sheldon faints, exclaiming about how Spock wouldn't do that, and she has to fan him with a fanzine. *insert laughing track here*

When he comes to, they talk further, and she asks: "So, if you agree that Spock would not do that with women, do you accept the Premise?" And Sheldon is puzzled, but the sense of secrecy is instantly appealing to him.

She brings out another zine, and introduces him to K/S.

At first he needs convincing but with a t'hy'la thrown in (he gets to go "OMG a reference to the novelisation of Star Trek the Motion Picture by Gene Roddenberry) and logical arguments, citing examples of women Spock refused to engage in relations with in favour of his captain (Leila, Zarabeth, T'Pring), before bringing in the spirk logic about mutual devotion and you got him won over.

Maybe she asks him if he woulf destroy the Enterprise for one of his friends and Sheldon goes "Absolutly not! How could I do that to such a ship! That's far too great a sacrifice- Omg captain Kirk IS in love with Spock!"

They talk about fanfiction more, and she speaks about all the types and genres, the more romantic, the more mature and explicit, and about how you can find or create whatever suits your tastes, and finishes with:

"We lived vicariously through Captain Kirk and Spock, or sometimes just really enjoyed reading about how they got together, or lore of their lives and adventures. They are a beautiful pair and really opened the door for creating about their worlds" We get a little *awww* from the crowd track.

Later we see him on Livejournal or smth looking for Generations fix-it and Sheldon is officially hyperfixating on Spirk.

[spirk-erkel01]

aos spock when his mom gets killed: i feel anger toward the man that killed my mother

aos sarek: your mother would want you to feel, my son 😔

tos spock if his mom got killed: i am going to kill nero with my bare hands

tos sarek: that is highly illogical, my son. I am going to kill nero with my bare hands

[spirk-erkel01]

I think both tos and aos Jim survived Tarsus. but I think tos Jim was older (15-17) and aos Jim was younger (10-12).

I think tos Jim became the de facto leader of children survivors (as we see with Kevin Riley and Thomas), because of his age. That Jim carries the survivor’s guilt of not being able to save more kids—of watching the youngest ones die (ostensibly) in his care. his coping mechanism is thus leadership—usurping and clinging to positions of authority in an effort to save others; he craves authority, wants and needs to embody it to turn it into something that would’ve saved the others, would’ve saved him. Starfleet becomes his white whale. he needs the myth of Starfleet—an intergalactic emblem of peace, carving through deep space purely to discover (and defend). he embraces starfleet’s militarism because it echoes his understanding of power (some evils need to be defeated; innocents need to be protected). Jim also loves to defend—to entrench and hold boundaries (with the Klingons, the Romulans, with any hostile life). deep space is at the same time mystical—where birth and rebirth are always possible, where miracles happen every day—and orderly, where regulations and boundaries are clearly defined. Jim finds solace and role stability in this space, defending others, acting as a father figure, and indulging in hyper-independence & isolation.

that’s how we get tos Jim, who’s desperate for connection & intimacy, but ultimately clings to his leadership role like it can sustain him—like it’s all that can sustain him. (love, you’re better off without it, and I’m better off without mine. this ship, I give, she takes…I’m the captain…I’ve lost the enterprise, I’m losing command…nothing is more important than my ship) the guardian role is essential to his self-image.

conversely, aos Jim was the child. he was the scared, too-skinny kid who had the rug ripped from under him. aos Jim is born into a world where fatherhood/authority is already dead; George Kirk’s absence is a gaping hole in his life. Starfleet’s idealism makes martyrs, but it also cannibalizes its men to sustain its ideals. George’s replacement, Frank, neglects if not abuses him. that Jim witnesses the complete breakdown of authority. he watches Starfleet come with too little, too late. he sees the older kids die. he watches his only solace from Frank’s terror, his fresh start, become a waking nightmare.

that Jim learns that no one is coming.

his coping mechanisms are withdrawal from the system entirely; to bare his teeth at it, to claw at it, to draw blood. scare them before they can scare you. act bigger than you are. appearances are everything. to distrust authority entirely. give up on Starfleet, because Starfleet is an empty vaccum that will take and take, ineffectual at its core and hypocritical at best.

instead of being defined by his attraction to space, aos Jim is defined by his inability to stay still; his distaste for Earth, for Iowa, for groundedness. for him, staying in Riverside is a kind of self-harm, one he doesn’t understand how to escape and ultimately believes he deserves.

this Jim is lonely not because he uses distance as a defense, but because he’s so distrustful of others, he genuinely can’t imagine an open hand. (enlist?)

that’s how we get the Jim that ultimately cares way more about his crew than his ship; who latches onto Bones like a leech and craves Spock; who wants connection with far less shame has absolutely no expectation of receiving it. this is the Jim that blares sabotage while charging into battle, says fuck you to the admiralty, and would rather die saving lives than live with taking them—that’s what I was raised on.

there’s also the fact that tos Jim is a Jewish man written in an era of liberal internationalist optimism underscored by the early Cold War and the shadows of the Shoah whereas aos Jim is the flashy product of peak commercialized Hollywood in a post-9/11, post George-Bush America. anyways.

[spirk-erkel01]

it was a stroke of genius to give James T Kirk a bitchy flip phone in the 60's, truly amazing to watch him slam it shut like a pissed off socialite girl in 2000's teen shows

[spirk-erkel01]

Spirk really is true love because Jim fell in love with a guy with a bowl cut 

[spirk-erkel01]

This is absolutely amazing. I know that it probably doesn’t mean much to most people, but I remember being younger and having a craptastic day and being able to watch this episode- hell- even this scene from this episode to make me feel better. This scene is amazing and feels so demonstrative of these three characters and their dynamics. Kirk and McCoy playing off each other and joking while being proud of themselves- and my favorite- Spock being clearly agitated, truly frustrated with how downright giddy the other are and he though he obviously tries to reign it in and be a good Vulcan, you can see, hear, and feel how irritated Spock is at the very real prospect that his friends crew mates will be unbearably smug for the next month. And let’s be real- I’m sure Spock has the data points to calculate a good estimate based on all the nonsense they get up to.

[spirk-erkel01]

Both Spock & Michael canonically stating they are their father’s greatest disappointment is incredibly sad but also extremely funny when you remember their older brother LITERALLY was banished.