From: zell@ux1.cso.uiuc.edu (Joseph Zell)
Subject: Re: Kirk and the Kobayashi Maru (was Re: Locarno = Kirk)
Organization: University of Illinois at Urbana
Date: Sat, 11 Apr 1992 03:15:01 GMT

clin@eng.umd.edu (Charles Lin) writes:


>In article <1992Apr10.220848.29790@cco.caltech.edu>, tlynch@cco.caltech.edu (Timothy W. Lynch) writes:
>>Followups set to r.a.s.misc.
>
>>
>>>The episode that shows that Kirk had trouble accepting defeat or more
>>>precisely, he thought of defeat as failure was 'Obsession' but at the end
>>>of that episode he had learned to accept the fact that there are instances
>>>where nothing you can do will make things work out.
>>
>>It's been a long, long time since I saw "Obsession", so I'll have to back
>>away from that; but again, I would show that Kirk's bulling right on in to
>>the next situation with his "la-de-dah, I know I can't die" attitude later
>>on in the series shows that as far as we can tell, he accepted nothing.
>>

>   If I recall Obsession had Kirk remembering when he was much younger and
>this gaseous thing had killed off a bunch of people and Kirk had frozen
>instead of firing his phaser.   When this incident repeated itself with
>some red shirt and this guy froze instead of firing (causing two other
>members to die), Kirk started going after this person and eventually
>had him confined to quarters.  McCoy kept saying that Kirk was living
>his obsession through this red shirt and seeing in this person the
>same mistake Kirk made.  He was punishing this person as he felt he
>should have been punished.

>   Of course, later on, when they do fire phasers at the thing and it doesn't
>die, then McCoy finally gets his point through, that had Kirk (or the red shirt)
>not hesistated nothing would have changed.

>   Of course, while Kirk does forgive the person for doing so, they later
>beam down on the planet.  The thing saps the blood out of some vessel
>before they can get to set off the anti-matter charge, and Kirk stays
>behind to lure the gas thing before he is beamed up at the last second,
>and boom the creature gets blown away.

>   So to some extent, he did avoid this no-win situation.  He kept this
>guilt for the umpteen years and blamed himself and then blamed
>the red shirt as well.  The only reason he was able to get over this
>obsessive behavior was that it really wasn't his fault, so he was
>let off the hook.  Actually, the episode is probably a good example of
>this never-say-die attitude having negative effects on Kirk.

But isn't that what makes characterization good? Showing the flaws as well as
the good points? You're never going to have the perfect captain.

>--
>   ______    __    __   ___  ____
>  / ____ \  |  |  |__| |   \ |  |    Charles Lin
> | /    \_| |  |   __  |    \|  |    e-mail: clin@eng.umd.edu
> | |        |  |  |  | |  |\    |   
> | |     _  |  |  |__| |__| \___|    University of Maryland
> | \____/ | |  |____                 "I hate big sigs." -- Moo
>  \______/  \_______|
-- 
zell@ux1.cso.uiuc.edu  * "What if they went nowhere?"
Joe Zell               * "Then this is your big chance to get away from it all."
CUBS WIN! CUBS WIN!    *   -Admiral Kirk and Dr. McCoy, STII:TWOK