What was the first TOS episode (production order) in which our heroic captain was "James T. Kirk" instead of just "James Kirk" (or "James R. Kirk"
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James *T* Kirk First Episode?
- Thread starter Joanna McCoy-Kirk
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What was the first TOS episode (production order) in which our heroic captain was "James T. Kirk" instead of just "James Kirk" (or "James R. Kirk"
Apparently it was in "Mudd's Women," although we didn't hear the full name spoken; he was referred to as "Captain James Kirk" by himself and Mudd, but Mudd also said, "It won't be Harry Mudd that's trapped. It will be a gentleman named James T..." before he was interrupted. How Mudd learned Kirk's middle initial is unclear.
Interestingly, going over the transcripts at chakoteya.net, I find there are several early episodes where the name "James" doesn't even appear, just "Jim." Out of the first 11 Kirk episodes, the name "James" is only spoken in "Mudd's Women" and "The Enemy Within." (In "The Corbomite Maneuver," he identifies himself to Balok only as "the Captain of the Enterprise.")
The first time the entire name "Captain James T. Kirk" is spoken onscreen is in "The Conscience of the King," by Spock. There's no "James" in the next episode, "The Galileo Seven," either. "Court-martial" is the first episode to incorporate the middle initial on a routine basis; he's repeatedly referenced as "James T. Kirk" or "Kirk, James T.," though only in formal contexts; McCoy still refers to him as "James Kirk." The next "James Kirk" is in "Shore Leave." In "The Squire of Gothos," Kirk introduces himself as "Captain James Kirk of the United Starship Enterprise," no initial. Ditto in "Arena," without the "United."
The first time Kirk himself utters the full name "James T. Kirk" onscreen is not until "Tomorrow is Yesterday." It's also the first episode where he's referred to exclusively as "James T. Kirk." He again used the T. in "A Taste of Armageddon" but was back to "James Kirk" in "Space Seed." The next use of either "James" or the initial -- and the last use of either in the first season -- is in "Errand of Mercy."
So not only was the T. only used in six first-season episodes, but even the name "James" was only heard in eleven. He was referred to primarily as Captain Kirk, Jim Kirk, and Jim.
So when does he first say "I'm Captain James T. Kirk of the starship Enterprise?" He almost does in "Metamorphosis," but there it's "commanding the starship Enterprise." In "Who Mourns for Adonais," it's "This is Captain James T. Kirk, commanding the USS Enterprise." In "The Changeling" it's "This is Captain James Kirk of the USS Enterprise." (If he'd inserted the T., Nomad probably would've destroyed the ship, since it wasn't built by Jackson Royteekirk. Lucky break.) The first time we hear "This is Captain James T. Kirk of the starship Enterprise" (close enough) is in "A Piece of the Action," the 48th episode of the 78 featuring the character of Kirk. Ahh, and then right at the start of the next episode, "By Any Other Name," we finally get it with "I'm."
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That's very interesting. I didn't notice that in "Mudd's Women" only Mudd uses the middle initial. Thank you, Christopher.
"Tiberius" was first uttered onscreen in the animated episode "BEM" by David Gerrold, though I believe Roddenberry had mentioned that as Kirk's middle name earlier in a convention appearance or something. It was first used in live-action Trek in The Undiscovered Country.
So, when was the idea of a middle initial conceived? Was there a memo on the thing after the first usage, or before the first usage, or perhaps some sort of an unofficial "in-joke" understanding that the middle initial be inserted in the stories at some point of the writing process?
When Nomad mistook Jimmy boy for Jackson Roykirk, was there still a memo circulating somewhere that said that Jim's middle initial was R?
Timo Saloniemi
When Nomad mistook Jimmy boy for Jackson Roykirk, was there still a memo circulating somewhere that said that Jim's middle initial was R?
Timo Saloniemi
The idea that Kirk had a middle initial was obviously "conceived" in the second pilot, and it's so common for people to have middle initials that it's a rather bizarre question to ask. And I profoundly doubt there was a memo; given how gradually its usage increased, I figure it was just the same kind of process that applies in any ongoing written work, as new ideas get introduced and then picked up spontaneously by later writers. Like the way Battlestar Galactica writers first had Baltar coin the nickname "Final Five" for the five unknown Cylons and then had the Cylons themselves use it as an official name. Or the way a "warp core breach" was introduced in TNG: "Contagion" as an incredibly rare and improbable event, but then subsequent writers started inserting the term more and more until it became a routine thing. It's just memetic propagation. If a term or phrase is used once, someone else might use it again because of its familiarity. And once two people have used it, it gets more familiar and it's more likely that others will use it.
It's significant to note that aside from Mudd's usage, the first references to "James T. Kirk" are always in formal contexts -- Spock reading from written records, court computers and witnesses reciting the defendant's full name, etc. The initial was only used twice prior to "Court-martial," but due to the formality of the occasion in that episode, the initial ended up getting used over half a dozen times there, and surely it was that repetition that imprinted the meme onto the writers of "Tomorrow is Yesterday," "A Taste of Armageddon," and "Errand of Mercy."
(The memetic evolution of "Tiberius" is similar. It was never used in TOS, introduced in TAS, reinforced in the literature and TUC, and so on, so that in the new movie it was referenced several times.)
Obviously not, since he'd been James T. Kirk for well over a season by that point, and since the comparison was "Jackson Roykirk" to "Captain James Kirk." Jackson to Captain, Roy to James, -kirk to Kirk.
It's not a bizarre question. None of the other characters ever had their middle initial featured so prominently.
Okay, but the way it's phrased is bizarre, as if it were about the very concept of the character having a middle initial at all, as opposed to it being used routinely onscreen. In my experience, it's generally a given that people have middle names and thus initials even if they don't routinely use them.
Christopher, I hardly ever find myself in disagreement with you, but where I live (Germany) the majority of people doesn't have a middle name. It's not out of the ordinary, but most people I know don't have one.
The lead character was called "Robert T. April" in the original outline (reprinted in Stephen E. Whitfield's "The Making of Star Trek"). So, the "T." initial dates back before the first pilot was produced.
The only other character with a middle initial, at that point, was the captain's yeoman, "J.M. Colt".
Halfway through I stopped reading. This is way, way, way more than I ever needed to, or want to know about the utterances of Kirk's middle name.
I have always thought that using the "T" in the middle always gave the name a bit more meaning, it made the character more interesting, though I would have kept the Tiberius part a secret
The point would be that James T. Kirk is not a person - he is a character. A priori, a character does not have things like mother, favorite beverage, nemesis or liver, even though most of those are part and parcel with being a person. The characteristics of a character depend on the whims of the writers. And using the middle T is a rather characteristic characteristic of this particular character.
On screen, it does appear that the use of the T evolved gradually, perhaps out of an underlying interest of Roddenberry for having a character with that middle initial. I'm just wondering if the evolution and its backstage motivations are actually documented somewhere.
Not all people get all memos. And nobody paid attention to the character development of Spock when some early text written for him was rehashed as "Omega Glory", resulting in the "reintroduction" of his magical powers over females of suitably attractive species...
Doesn't make much sense. How could Roy ever be "confused" with James? Or Jackson with Captain (although that's phonetically perhaps more defensible)?
If the part of the probe that still was Nomad was familiar with English naming practices, it could deduce that a person named Roy Kirk could be the person it knew as R. Kirk, and the possible other first names such as James, or the lack thereof, would be considered understandable lack of information, for which the probe's logic could compensate. And meeting its maker in space might be an occasion it had been preparing/prepared for...
In light of canon material, we could easily say that the full name of the character is James Tiberius Roy Betsheba Kirk, and that he's sick of people calling him either Roy or Betty.
Timo Saloniemi
I think Captain Kirk was given the middle initial of "T" as an homage to the rock-throwing, window-breaking character of Ernest T. Bass of The Andy Griffith Show.
"You ain't seen the last of Captain James T. Kirk!"
Come to think of it didn't Kirk throw a rock in "A Private Little War"?
Robert
"You ain't seen the last of Captain James T. Kirk!"
Come to think of it didn't Kirk throw a rock in "A Private Little War"?
Robert
He threw a big rock at the Gorn in "Arena." Didn't accomplish much.
Oh, I just remembered... the title character in Gene Roddenberry's 1963 TV series The Lieutenant was a US Marine named Lt. William Tiberius Rice. So GR's use of "Tiberius" actually predates Star Trek. He may have intended it as Kirk's middle name all along, even though nobody actually put it onscreen until "BEM." (The character of William T. Riker was also clearly named after Rice, as well as being a retread of Willard Decker. Roddenberry recycled names and ideas a lot.)
Oh, I just remembered... the title character in Gene Roddenberry's 1963 TV series The Lieutenant was a US Marine named Lt. William Tiberius Rice. So GR's use of "Tiberius" actually predates Star Trek. He may have intended it as Kirk's middle name all along, even though nobody actually put it onscreen until "BEM." (The character of William T. Riker was also clearly named after Rice, as well as being a retread of Willard Decker. Roddenberry recycled names and ideas a lot.)
For the record, the initial format pitch had "Robert M. April". Not sure if it ever morphed into "T."
It's possible that one influence that steered Kirk to getting the initial of T was the pilot for "The Wild Wild West", and the introduction of Jim West as "Captain James T. West".
Or it's just a coincidence.
Oh, and it was Dorothy Fontana that broke the news at a con that Kirk's middle name was "Tiberius".
It's possible that one influence that steered Kirk to getting the initial of T was the pilot for "The Wild Wild West", and the introduction of Jim West as "Captain James T. West".
Or it's just a coincidence.
Oh, and it was Dorothy Fontana that broke the news at a con that Kirk's middle name was "Tiberius".
Roddenberry had a T fetish.
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