James Tiberius "Jim" Kirk is a fictional character in the Star Trek media franchise. First portrayed by William Shatner as the principal lead character in the original Star Trek series, Shatner also appears as Kirk in the animated Star Trek series and in the first seven Star Trek movies. Chris Pine portrayed the character in the 2009 Star Trek film, with Jimmy Bennett playing Kirk as a child. Other actors have portrayed the character in fan-created media, and the character has been the subject of multiple spoofs and satires. Kirk also appears in numerous books, comics, and video games. Kirk has been called "the quintessential officer, a man among men and a hero for the ages".James T. Kirk was born and raised in Riverside, Iowa in the year 2233. Diane Carey's novel Best Destiny identifies Kirk's parents as George and Winona Kirk. Best Destiny and Carey's Final Frontier novel describe George Kirk's adventures aboard the USS Enterprise under the command of Captain Robert April. Although born on Earth, Kirk for a time lived on Tarsus IV, where he was one of nine surviving witnesses to the massacre of 4,000 colonists by Kodos the Executioner (Arnold Moss). James Kirk's brother, Sam, and his sister-in-law are introduced and killed in "Operation: Annihilate!", leaving behind three children.
At Starfleet Academy, Kirk became the first student to defeat the Kobayashi Maru test, garnering a commendation for original thinking by reprogramming the computer to make the "no-win scenario" winnable. Kirk was granted a field commission as an ensign and posted to advanced training aboard the USS Republic. He then was promoted to lieutenant junior grade and returned to Starfleet Academy as a student instructor. Students could either "think or sink" in his class, and Kirk himself was "a stack of books with legs". Upon graduating in the top five percent, Kirk was promoted to lieutenant and served aboard the USS Farragut. While assigned to the Farragut, Kirk commanded his first planetary survey and survived a deadly attack that killed a large portion of the Farragut's crew. He received his first command, the equivalent of a destroyer-class spaceship, while still quite young.
Kirk became Starfleet's youngest captain when he received command of the USS Enterprise for a five-year mission, three years of which are depicted in the original Star Trek series.[13] Kirk's most significant relationships in the television series are with first officer Spock (Leonard Nimoy) and chief medical officer Dr. Leonard "Bones" McCoy (DeForest Kelley). Robert Jewett and John Shelton Lawrence's The Myth of the American Superhero describes Kirk as "a hard-driving leader who pushes himself and his crew beyond human limits". Terry J. Erdman and Paula M. Block, in their Star Trek 101 primer, note that while "cunning, courageous and confident", Kirk also has a "tendency to ignore Starfleet regulations when he feels the end justifies the means". Although Kirk throughout the series becomes romantically involved with various women, when confronted with a choice between a woman and the Enterprise, "his ship always won".
J. M. Dillard's novel The Lost Years describes Kirk's promotion to rear admiral and unfulfilling duties as a diplomatic troubleshooter after the Enterprise's five-year mission. In Star Trek: The Motion Picture, Kirk is chief of Starfleet operations, and he takes command of the Enterprise from Captain Willard Decker (Stephen Collins). Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry's novelization of The Motion Picture depicts Kirk married to a Starfleet officer killed during a transporter accident.[16][17] At the beginning of Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, Kirk takes command of the Enterprise from Captain Spock to pursue his enemy from "Space Seed", Khan Noonien Singh (Ricardo Montalbán). The movie introduces Kirk's son, David Marcus (Merritt Butrick). Spock, who notes that "commanding a starship is [Kirk's] first, best destiny", dies at the end of Star Trek II; in Star Trek III: The Search for Spock, Kirk leads his surviving officers in a successful mission to rescue Spock from a planet on which he is reborn. Although Kirk is demoted to captain in Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home for disobeying Starfleet orders in the pursuit, he also receives command of a new USS Enterprise.[1] The ship is ordered decommissioned at the end of Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country.
In Star Trek Generations, Captain Picard (Patrick Stewart) finds Kirk alive in the timeless Nexus, despite the fact that history recorded his death during the Enterprise-B's maiden voyage. Picard convinces Kirk to return to Picard's present to help stop the villain Soran (Malcolm McDowell) from destroying a planet's sun. Kirk agrees; the two leave the Nexus and stop Soran. However, Kirk is mortally wounded; and as he dies, Picard assures Kirk that he helped to "make a difference". Picard buries Kirk on Veridian III.
Shatner and Judith and Garfield Reeves-Stevens wrote a series of novels that depict Kirk's resurrection by the Borg and his ongoing adventures after the events of Generations.
Alternate timeline
The 2009 Star Trek film introduces an "alternate" timeline that reveals different origins for Kirk, the formation of his friendship with Spock, and how they came to serve together on the Enterprise.The point of divergence between the original and the alternate Star Trek timelines occurs on the day of Kirk's birth.
Although the movie treats specific details from Star Trek as mutable, "characterizations remain the same". In the movie, George and Winona Kirk name their son James Tiberius after his maternal and paternal grandfathers, respectively. He is born on a shuttle escaping the starship USS Kelvin, on which his father is killed. The character begins as "a reckless, bar-fighting rebel" who eventually reaches "maturity". According to Pine, the character is "a 25-year-old [who acts like a] 15-year-old" and who is "angry at the world". Kirk and Spock clash at Starfleet Academy, but, over the course of the movie, Kirk focuses his "passion and obstinance and the spectrum of emotions" and becomes captain of the Enterprise.
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