#THATS OUR JIM

[1shirt2shirtredshirtdeadshirt]

Early Jim Kirk: Why So Serious?

To the people who said that Paul Wesley's Captain Kirk was "too serious" or that it "wasn't our Jim Kirk":

Let's have a kiki, shall we? :)

A lot of folks seem to forget who Jim used to be before meeting him in TOS.

In an interview, Paul Wesley discussed how different Jim's early character and life was from TOS Kirk. Wesley's study of Jim and his early characterisation was in fact based on TOS descriptions and relevant lore surrounding it. I was not at all phased by the Jim we saw, as early Jim is described as quite a departure from our flirty, confident TOS Jim. Wesley did his homework.

From the chat that Kirk has with Gary Mitchell in TOS (Where No Man Has Gone Before 01x03) and Bones in Shore Leave (01x15) re: Finnegan, we learned in Jim's younger years, Kirk didn't always have that swagger. In fact, Jim used to be a rather serious nerd.

Kirk in the academy was described as "a stack of books with legs", "positively grim", and "watch out for Lieutenant Kirk. In his class, you either think or sink".

He also adhered to Starfleet rules far more in his early years a la Boimler. For example, he reported an error that older officer and very good friend of his Benjamin Finney made on the USS Republic, leading to Finney's demotion and later the events of Court Martial (01x20). He reported one of his own besties to HQ and got him demoted. Quite a departure from how often Kirk violates Starfleet orders and directives for Spock on TOS. Again, he is not the same Jim. Character growth.

I think folks get so wrapped up in Spock being the thinking guy and Kirk being the action guy that they forget: You kind of have to be a brilliant genius and thinker to even get a starship command, let alone the flagship. Jim is not dumb and never was; he is exceptionally smart. Spock is just a freaking GIGA GENIUS and anyone standing next to that might look less bright in contrast. But make no mistake, Jim is also brilliant as a military man and diplomat.

Jim is often stereotyped as a swaggering meathead when he is actually an intelligent and capable diplomat even from his earliest years with Starfleet. As a cadet, he was decorated by Starfleet with the Palm Leaf for his peace mission work on Axanar (Court Martial 01x20). As a Captain, Jim helped to complete just as many successful federation member recruitments as he did take names and kick ass.

Jim loves chess. He loves his dad's old books and classic literature. He memorizes quotes from those texts and references them constantly in TOS. How many jocks do you know out here memorizing classic literature to reference even now in our time? One of Jim's most precious, prized possessions is an old text copy of "A Tale of Two Cities" he got as a gift for his birthday from Spock.

There are still those glimpses of old Jim planted throughout TOS and the movies.

As you examine him and his past, every description of him as a young man in the original series was that he was a nerd. Kirk, as a character, shows how much we change as people from high school/uni to adulthood.

The early Jim Kirk is not the Kirk we knew and loved, and he often comes as a surprise to folks accustomed to the Jim he later becomes. He grows into his own over time and finds himself, like many of us. But Wesley's portrayal seemed surprisingly apt to me, considering early descriptions of James T. Kirk's character.

TLDR: Jim Kirk was described in his early years as "serious", "positively grim", "a stack of books with legs", top of his class, and would report you to HQ for a crumb. This is not the Captain Kirk you knew who took command of the Enterprise in 2265. Jim Kirk used to be a serious, passionate Starfleet nerd.

All in all, I thought Paul Wesley's character study with all this considered was

Anyway, thanks for coming to my Ted X Talk about baby James Tiberius Kirk.

I'd love to hear from you folks, feel free to chip in, add to this or correct any errors. :) LLAP.🖖

EDIT: See Part 2 of this Jim Kirk SNW AU Analysis where I respond to an ask from @letteredlettered​; we get into the importance of the Triumvirate for Kirk Prime, as well as the relevance of why Jim Kirk being assigned the Farragut would be a poor choice of command commission for him. It further solidifies that this is not “our Kirk”, but an AU where we see what would come of our Kirk if he did not get the flagship commission or meet his boays to form the Trek Trinity. 

[themistymountainscold]

guys i am not okay

frenchie risked his life to save izzy. openly lying to ed about killing him many times, just to keep him safe.

the crew all felt comfortable enough to tell izzy they thought he and ed were toxic.

izzy going against ed for them.

“he’s our dick”

[dustykneed]

one moment theyre arguing on the bridge the next theyre necking in a turbolift (bickering is their foreplay.) also mckirk is peak "i married my best friend" energy

also i LOVE the idea of bones being inexplicably more flustered than spock over kissing the vulcan way,, theyre both terrible terrible tsunderes but jim thinks its so funny that they play it up sometimes when hes feeling down just to see him laugh

[ed-teach]

No need to textually address the Archie, Jim, Olu polycule, they're sharing a bed, calling each other babe, being silly together as a family... Peak rep

[mcchi-ken]

masterpost of all my stupid memes...a special kiss to stock photos and pinterest reaction pics (yes theyre mostly iasip memes no i dont watch iasip yes we exist)

[snixx]

i like lesbyler but the ship itself is NOT quintessentially lesbian??????? they're gay men. gay men and lesbians face (subtly) different shit and are different. like lesbyler all you want, i do too, but they are NOT "lesbian coded" or whatever you want to tell yourself.

ok bro. please go outside and touch some grass. if you dont want to see me, a lesbian, being silly and dicking around on my blog, the block button is right there:D

[dizzybevvie]

HOPES FOR TOMORROWS EPISODE CUS IDK WHEN IM GETTING IT AND I MAY HAVE TO BLOCK THE TAG:

plot will follow Lucius + Pete planning/preparing for their wedding, w lots of parallels (and differences) to Ed and Stede's relationship

More Lucius love advice !!!! PREFERABLY Ed + Stede both go individually to Pete + Lucius and ask about their relationship etc etc (Also maybe parallels to the Mary scene)

follow-up on Olu/Zheng plotline in some way

I thought Buttons would officiate but obviously hes currently...... not available

bonus points if Fang or Izzy is flower girl

Izzy and Stede are officially friends

Izzy has some weirdly homoerotic moment with Ed Lucius or stede, this ones a given

Maybe Lucius will go (reluctantly) thank Izzy for making him move on / giving his love for art and life back eventually leading to him proposing?? and they can be friends?

The Prince guy is there who fucking cares Lupete wedding

Lupete wedding absolutely goes to shit (maybe the real wedding is the friends we made along the way)

CAKE. TOPPER. MOMENT. (bonus points if izzy wittles them)

Buttons the seagull saves the day somehow

ik this is unrealistic but i just want this ep to focus on the stuff going on on the ship rather than the villains

i have no idea where theyd fit this but like. parallel to the "The Chain" sequence with the foot touch. itd just be nice is all

Me, the viewer, dies in violent conflict

[magniloquent-raven]

jim is aromantic, i've decided

[urproblematicfav-arsonk]

Season 2 arc about Izzy and Ed properly breaking up but not because Ed is a precious baby who deserves better but because Izzy deserves someone who doesn't fucking mutilate him. Izzy deserves someone who respects him and loves him and doesn't try to bully him or ignore all their problems in the relationship and then make it his fault with shit gets all fucked in the end.

[lilyvu1234]

Gabriel and Ed

Doess not rmb much the bad stuff they did, being ridiculously blank and kind n shit, and also scaring the shit out of people

[origamiyoda]

some of these fuckin kids need to learn that rottmnt is an outlier in the tmnt history

[tallowfallow]

Thinkin about Lucius coming onto Jim and Jim is suddenly incredibly aware of their body and how it doesn't align to how they feel, who they are, but Lucius says 'I don't like girls, Jim, and I really like you. You're Jim, just Jim, and not a single thing else.'

And then Jim fucks him within an inch of his life

[ourflagmeansgayrights]

ive lost count of the amount of times i've mistyped jim as him (bc the h and the j are right next to each other) and had to correct it. and im always afraid im gonna miss one and then it's like NO I DIDNT MEAN TO MISGENDER THEM IT WAS A TYPO OF THEIR NAAAAME

[redridinghoodandthesourwolf]

I’ve finally watched Our Flag Means Death so watch out for the spam because HOT DAMN is that show full of FEELS

[dragons-and-yellow-roses]

I'm at work, being a manager, one of my staff is stoned and the other has had three Redbulls since he got here. It's an interesting combination.

[ourflagmeansparty]

In Which Oluwande Misses His Boat (But Doesn't Regret It)

Prompt 6: Idioms: Miss the Boat

By: Rylee

AO3 Link: https://archiveofourown.org/works/40005909/chapters/100503630