I’m not one to write fan fiction, but as an author, you always think about how you might have written something on the page or on the screen. One thing that really gripes me is how they killed off Kirk in Generations.
The movie came out in 1994, so I’m going to assume you don’t care about spoilers. Kirk is sucked up by some handy strange anomaly. Apparently, the same one that took Guinan’s people or, at least, most of them. Inside, you can have anything you want. So Jim is shacked up with an unseen girl and a horse for — apparently — decades.
Soran had been in the Nexus (the magic anomaly) as well as Guinan. Once you’ve had a taste of having everything you want, you want to go back badly. So Soran hatches a plot to move the Nexus over a planet full of people so he can go back. Apparently, there’s some reason you can’t just fly into it because for some reason ships get destroyed.
Picard tries to stop him but gets sucked up into the Nexus where he decides to be a family man and have Christmas every day. But he decides to end it all, find Kirk, go back to before he failed to stop Soran and give it another go. This time he’s successful, but at the cost of Captain Kirk’s life.
Ok, so just from a fairness point of view, seems like you could sacrifice Kirk for a cause more meaningful than a planet full of people you don’t know and there’s no budget to show. He’s saved the galaxy numerous times. Let him save… hell, even a Klingon world to show he forgave them for the death of his son. Or some other planet we’ve heard of like wherever the Andorians live.
But there’s more. The Nexus gives you whatever you want, right? But it isn’t real. Kirk didn’t have a real horse. Picard didn’t have real kids. So Picard wants to save the planet and somehow wills himself and Kirk to leave at a time before they entered. Why is that any more real than the horse and kids? Occam’s razor says Picard and Kirk are STILL in the Nexus and Picard just got wish fulfillment of saving the planet and killing Kirk to end the who’s the better Captain argument.
Guinan is somehow in our universe but a copy/echo/something of her is still in the Nexus. Therefore Kirk and Picard are still there, too. But let’s pretend they really did leave at a time of their own choosing. Is that the best they could do? Go back further and stop Soran before he is even on the planet. That would have been easy and erased the entire movie. Kirk could go back to horses and lady friends and all would be well.
I hear you. “Ok, Al, do better!” Thanks. I will.
Do you remember the next movie? Picard follows the Borg through mumble-mumble time tunnel and winds up back on Earth right before warp drive is invented, defeating the Borg and ensuring the Federation gets born. Yay!
This had all the makings of a glorious and appropriate death for James Kirk.
“Number One, situation report!”
“Captain, as best we can tell, we have traveled back in time to 2063.”
“What are the Borg up to?” Picard’s eyes flash. “Everyone! To my ready room immediately.”
Data interrupts. “Wait, sir. I am picking up something… strange.”
Worf clicks a button on his console. “Yes. It is.. An old Starfleet IFF signal. I don’t have things that far back in my database, but the header definitely identifies it as Starfleet.”
Data looks away. “Accessing.” His eyes refocus. “Captain, the transponder code is from the Enterprise. NCC1701A.”
Picard’s mouth drops. “That’s Kirk’s ship. Could it be a Borg deception?”
Worf replies, “No sir. The quantum signature of the signal is definitely Starfleet.”
“Hail them Lieutenant. Tight beam and scrambled with a period-appropriate Starfleet code.”
“Yes sir. It will take me a minute to get the encryption set up.”
As Data rises to join Worf at his station, Picard says, “Make it so.”
###
Ok, now we got something going on. The Enterprise is back in time with a skeleton crew doing some kind of historical research with a hot lady doctor, of course.
Picard explains to Kirk what’s going on and enlists his help. Using both Enterprises, they attack the Borg and just as it is about to go badly, Kirk arranges to beam everyone over to Picard’s Enterprise and drives the ship into the Borg — just like his Dad would do the Kelvin in the newer movies. He saves… well, everything and dies in the Captain’s chair.
As the Klingons would say, that would be a glorious death. What do you think?
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