Kirk and Spock - Character Studies
The Legendary Friendship of Star Trek's Original Lead Characters
May 9, 2009
Star Trek, the original series (or TOS to die-hard Trekkers), is getting a reboot in movie theaters in May 2009. The film, inspired by the 1960s television show, will undoubtedly inspire a new generation of fans, some of them drawn in by the breathtaking special effects. But strong characters, not just great FX, have always been the drawing card for Star Trek, and that is particularly true of the original series.
Spock, the Alienated Everyman
The logical place to begin a discussion of TOS lead players is with the ship's most recognizable character, first officer Spock (his last name is too difficult for humans to pronounce; even Spock's human mother has difficulty with it). Spock was initially created as a visual reminder to viewers that they were watching a space opera.
NBC executives of the mid-60s feared that Spock's otherworldly appearance (pointed ears, sharply angled eyebrows and strange haircut), would repulse television viewers; writers were instructed to keep him solidly in the background. But Spock proved to be too compelling a character to keep tucked away. Ironically, the half-human/half Vulcan character humanized the series.
Spock, austere and aloof -- the only alien aboard a ship full of humans -- was often lonely and misunderstood. Audiences identified. Fortunately for Spock, and television viewers watching his evolution, friendship with the ship's captain, James T. Kirk, began to chip away at Spock's Vulcan rigidity, making him a more user-friendly first officer and a fascinating character to watch.
Captain James T. Kirk: it's Lonely at the Top
James T. Kirk (we didn't find out that the "T" stood for Tiberius until the movies came along) has been described as a cowboy in space, but it seems apparent that Kirk's character was actually intended as an archetype World War II military commander, with all the bravado and masculine ego that movie goers were already accustomed to seeing in war films.
Unlike Jean Luc Picard, Kirk's counterpart in Star Trek: The Next Generation, Captain Kirk carries a big stick and only speaks softly if he really has to. Kirk is a man's man. His admiration for the opposite sex is legendary, and although he's been known to chastise a crew member or two for barroom brawling, he's good with his own fists and he doesn't mind using them.
Kirk's gregarious personality makes it easy for him to draw friends, but aboard ship he isolates himself, fearing that familiarity with the crew could weaken respect for his command. This self-imposed detachment makes him as much an alien aboard his own ship as his first officer.
Kirk and Spock, a Legendary Friendship
It is these shared burdens of leadership and isolation that forge one of the strangest and most unlikely friendships in all of fiction. It shouldn't work on any level. Kirk is all too human and Spock is anything but. Kirk boldly goes, Spock makes plans. Spock's impeccable logic should clash with Kirk's impulsive bravado, but instead the two opposites come together to form one whole.
The Kirk, Spock friendship is the bedrock of the original series; an irony considering that the powers that be never intended Spock to be anything more than window dressing. It seems apparent, now that the original show's characters are being given a new lease on life, that we'll see the legendary friendship for many more years to come. May it live long and prosper!
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