Think about all of the things he has seen, all of the worlds he has explored, all of the green women he has slept with, and when he is faced with death, it shocks even him, to the extent that all he can say is, “Oh, my.” I’m not sure how popular this scene is among the Star Trek Zeitgeist, but I imagine it’s probably hated. I, however, love it. Feel free to tell me how I’m wrong in the comments.
I always took it as surprise that he wasn’t dying alone, because Picard was there with him.
In Star Trek V, he has that whole thing about how even as he was falling from El Capitan, he knew he wouldn’t die because Spock and McCoy were with him, and “I’ve always known, I’ll die alone.”
Although it’s not depicted, the fact that Kirk had to personally go to the deflector controls and the fact that afterwards, they had to ask if anyone was in there, it strikes me that that area is not normally manned and as a consequence, Kirk was alone there when the explosion hit. He may very well have believed himself to be dead and in some sort of heaven while in the Nexus, until he met Picard and left to help stop Soran.
Later, lying there on the rocks of Viridian III, Picard at his side as he slips away, what’s left to him is surprise that, despite his expectations, in the end, he wasn’t alone after all.
I found it very powerful.
You have come very close to making one of the worst parts of Trek almost not shit. I don’t know what that is but it’s something. Kudos.
You get me, mah Trek! That’s what it was all about. He faced death so many times in his life, but when it came, he wasn’t alone, but he was with another captain, someone who might have become a friend, but who understood his burdens and regrets. The whole movie is about the similarities between Picard and Kirk, because they each lost or gave up family, love and friendships for their obsession.
I won’t say you’re wrong to love something, but I do disagree with you. Kirk deserved more poetic last words because he spoke with eloquence. He has also been faced with death more than once before that, he just ended up surviving. It felt like a wasted opportunity to me. They didn’t have to give him a long monologue or anything, just something a little more pithy than “oh, my.”
This is the man who said things like:
You know the greatest danger facing us is ourselves, an irrational fear of the unknown. But there’s no such thing as the unknown – only things temporarily hidden, temporarily not understood.
Without freedom of choice there is no creativity. The body dies.
Death. Destruction. Disease. Horror. That’s what war is all about. That’s what makes it a thing to be avoided.
And, most applicable to this situation:
How we deal with death is at least as important as how we deal with life.
I don’t think he dealt with death as he dealt with life.
I don’t disagree with you, but I think Kirk was probably the most “human” of the Star Fleet Captains. Sure, he was larger than life in some respects, but he was very grounded and his character flaws were all human traits. Giving him a human reaction to death suited him well, I think. Sure, we all want Shatner to ham it up and give us some spoken word space poetry, but Kirk was human through and through, and I think his final words reflected that.
Exactly this … I think it just displays how no matter how special, significant, intelligent, capable or strong we may think we are or we think any one us can be … when death arrives, none of us know what our final words will be. Sure there is the possibility of being in bed after a long sickness, being fully aware and knowing your time has come and you get some time to think of what to say … or you’re bleeding out and you know you have five more minutes … but for the majority of us when the time comes, we’ll be so frightened, scared and so shocked that it is all happening that we will not be capable of saying anything else other than … ‘oh my’
It’s like what La’an explained to Captain Pike in the first episode of Strange New Worlds …
La’an Noonien-Singh : Yes. Because right up until the last moment, they… couldn’t imagine dying.
Shut the fuck up… let me die in peace.
I was not expecting a flowery speech. I think there’s a happy medium between ‘space poetry’ and “oh my.”
I mean this wouldn’t be the best line either, but I would prefer something like, “now I’m off on a new adventure…”
Kinda like John Leguizamo in Land of the Dead, after he’d been bitten and shrugs off shooting himself.
That would actually work pretty well, considering-
Another line from Peter Pan.
That line is in the film to imply the ship and crew would never age - that for the fans the original show would be timeless. It’s not so much a measure of hope, it’s more a wink and nod to the audience.
Peter Pan and his crew in Neverland never age, they remain perpetual children.
But this would give a similar message… Kirk’s adventures will never end.
They do end. That’s the point.
You don’t think there’s eloquence in a man overwhelmed by seeing the beauty of the journey into afterlife enough that he uses his last breath to express loving wonder?
I think you’re missing the point of the man if you think he should give a speech as he exits stage left - you turn him into a melodramatic buffoon, like the caricature over actor who takes minutes to die delivering a soliloquy in death.
As I said below, I think there is a happy medium between a speech and just two words.
I don’t think he dealt with death as he dealt with life.
He gave up the chance of being in effectively heaven to give his life saving a planet and an entire civilisation that would never even know he existed.
Starfleet to the end.
Really stealing George Takei’s thunder, there.
Not stealing. An homage.
Agree that the movies aren’t the best (typically), though they do have some neat aspects.
For instance, Star Trek V starts with Kirk, Spock & McCoy roasting marshmallows and singing “row, row, row your boat” and ends with them killing god.
As someone popping in from all who knows little to nothing about Star Trek, is it secretly a jrpg or something
Yep, and depending on the series you either play from the hero or the villains perspective.
Unironically; yeah basically
JRPGs are all based in Star Trek lore.
Killing a creature who claimed to be a god
I’m a “what’s around the next turn” kind of guy, so I’m with ya. With all he’s seen, he still found excitement when faced with the unexplored. His curiosity overpowers his fear.
Some may say that’s out of character to not have a short monologue or soliloquy of sorts to extol his final thoughts, but I’ve always thought the simplicity summed him up eloquently.
There’s another character from a different franchise who’s last words were “…and now, for the greatest adventure of all,” and I’ve always loved that quote for the same reason
Reminds me of Hook
Ill see if i can find a clip of shatner talking about this. He has a great explanation of why these were kirks last words. When Shatner tells it, it makes a lot of sense. If i cant find it i hope you all get to see it someday, it wont necessarily make you like the scene if you dont already, but it might make you dislike it less which is nice
Generations was such a shitty movie.
