Kirks middle name
- Thread starter Pixipick
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I knew that. He only says it once, though. And not in the series if memory serves, in one of the movies.
I thought it was in The Animated Series?
General Chang says it in Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country, but I believe it first appears in the animated Star Trek episode, "Bem," where it is said four times per the transcript.
For what it's worth, David Gerrold takes credit for coming up with the name at a convention in this interview, after which he put it an episode and had it approved by Gene Roddenberry and D.C. Fontana.
It's funny, I knew that it was said in the animated series but instinctively, I dismissed it as irrelevant. The animated series also contains a holodeck yet in TNG it is presented as something new.
"Grasps the bottom"? Well, that explains a lot. 
The R. stands for Reinhold, just like Dan R. Fielding on Night Court.
I thought it was Riberius, and Mitchell had slugged some of the OP's wine.
IIRC, the original intent was for "R" to stand for Roy, which is why Nomad so easily mistakes the captain for its creator (Jackson Roykirk). I can't remember when "T" was first used, though.
That's unlikely, since "James T. Kirk" appears in the first season ("Court Martial" and "A Taste of Armageddon") and "The Changeling" wasn't written until after those episodes had already been written, filmed, and broadcast.
^ Alrighty-roosky. 
As early as the second regular production episode ("Mudd's Women"), Mudd says: "No, my dears. After one more job for you, it won't be Harry Mudd that's trapped. It will be a gentleman named James T...." and then he is interrupted by Eve McHuron entering the room. He also has a "Captain James T. Kirk" nameplate just outside of his cabin in "The Enemy Within" (the trhird regular production episode).
By now, it's pretty well known that in the television series The Lieutenant, created and produced by Gene Roddenberry, the lead character (played by Gary Lockwood [Gary Mitchell]) was titled William Tiberius Rice. It looks like Tiberius was a popular name with Roddenberry. I wouldn't be surprised if, for the purposes of the second pilot, they decided not to have Gary Lockwood from the recently-cancelled The Lieutenant series make reference to another character named Tiberius. It might just have been too insider-y. I speculate that Roddenberry always wanted Kirk's middle name to be Tiberius, but didn't want to do any silly stuff to jeopardize the success of this second pilot.
By now, it's pretty well known that in the television series The Lieutenant, created and produced by Gene Roddenberry, the lead character (played by Gary Lockwood [Gary Mitchell]) was titled William Tiberius Rice. It looks like Tiberius was a popular name with Roddenberry. I wouldn't be surprised if, for the purposes of the second pilot, they decided not to have Gary Lockwood from the recently-cancelled The Lieutenant series make reference to another character named Tiberius. It might just have been too insider-y. I speculate that Roddenberry always wanted Kirk's middle name to be Tiberius, but didn't want to do any silly stuff to jeopardize the success of this second pilot.
The final draft of the second pilot indicates "James R. Kirk." If Roddenberry had wanted it to be "James T. Kirk" from the beginning, I suspect he would have written it that way. There's nothing too "inside" about a middle initial.
Just something he changed his mind about when it went to series (or forgot about).
The fact that Gary Lockwood played a character with the middle name of "Tiberius" on Roddenberry's pre-Trek series does suggest to me that David Gerrold's memory may not be 100% on this. The similarities could also, of course, be a coincidence. Hard to say with any degree of certainty.
Just something he changed his mind about when it went to series (or forgot about).
The fact that Gary Lockwood played a character with the middle name of "Tiberius" on Roddenberry's pre-Trek series does suggest to me that David Gerrold's memory may not be 100% on this. The similarities could also, of course, be a coincidence. Hard to say with any degree of certainty.
If things had been slightly different, James T. Kirk could have been named "Dylan Hunt."
Which would have made Shatner one of four actors in a Roddenberry production to have that name.
I think what people are overlooking is that alphabets, like languages, are mutable, and obviously by the 23rd century the letters R and T are regarded as alternate forms for the same letter, in much the way that I and J used to be regarded as the the same letter, or U and V were barely differentiated.
Of course, R and T have quite different sounds, but then both C and G are letters which correspond to very different sounds. Why are we supposing that English should have stopped evolving in 1965?
Of course, R and T have quite different sounds, but then both C and G are letters which correspond to very different sounds. Why are we supposing that English should have stopped evolving in 1965?
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