When Captain Kirk met Picard in Star Trek Generations, Jim revealed his innermost regrets before the two Captains of the Enterprise teamed up.
Summary
- Captain Kirk reveals his regret about giving up romantic relationships and his empty house as a result of dedicating his life to Starfleet.
- Captain Picard focuses on his mission to stop Soran and save lives, disregarding Kirk’s pain and regret.
- Picard takes Kirk’s advice to heart and remains Captain of the Enterprise, making a difference until he becomes an Admiral in the future.
Captain James T. Kirk (William Shatner) surprisingly told Captain Jean-Luc Picard (Patrick Stewart) his secret pain soon after they met in Star Trek Generations, the first film starring the cast of Star Trek: The Next Generation. Picard found Kirk in the Nexus, an other-dimensional energy ribbon beyond time and space, and the Captain of the USS Enterprise-D recruited his predecessor to help him stop Dr. Tolian Soran (Malcolm McDowell), a madman willing to destroy a solar system so that he could return to the Nexus himself. Kirk and Picard defeated Soran, but Jim was mortally injured and died on the planet Veridian III.
Star Trek Generations‘ centerpiece and big draw was the historic meeting of Captain Kirk from Star Trek: The Original Series and Captain Picard from Star Trek: The Next Generation. Although Picard and Kirk’s climactic struggle to stop Soran on Veridian III wasn’t everything Star Trek fans hoped for, nor was Captain Kirk’s death, much more involving and satisfying were their scenes together in the Nexus. Picard found Kirk in a simulation of his former home, as the Nexus recreated the day Jim broke the news to his lost love, Antonia, that he was going to end his retirement and return to Starfleet. The interactions between Kirk and Picard in the Nexus revealed the basic similarities between the otherwise different Captains of the Enterprise, as Kirk bared his own truth and inner torment.
Kirk’s Secret Pain He Told To Picard In Star Trek Generations
Captain James T. Kirk has a big regret.
Initially, Captain Kirk refused Captain Picard’s request to help him stop Dr. Soran in Star Trek Generations. Instead, Jim decided not to repeat the mistake he made “nine years ago” (by Kirk’s reckoning in the Nexus) and tell Antonia he won’t return to Starfleet. Kirk then tried to reassure a dejected Picard by commiserating: “I was like you once, so worried about duty and obligation I couldn’t see past my own uniform. And what did it get me? An empty house.” It’s a shocking bit of soul-bearing from Kirk that gets lost in this breezy sequence of Star Trek Generations, but it’s also a profound insight into the inner pain that haunts James T. Kirk.
“I was like you once, so worried about duty and obligation I couldn’t see past my own uniform. And what did it get me? An empty house.”
Captain Kirk dedicated his life to Starfleet and, specifically, to saving the galaxy aboard the Starship Enterprise. James willingly gave up lasting romantic relationships, and Kirk lost his only son, David Marcus (Merritt Butrick), whom he mourned ever since. Star Trek Generations reveals that Kirk did give retirement a shot, but a presumably idyllic with Antonia couldn’t compete with the lure of the Enterprise’s Captain’s chair. Deep down, Kirk regrets this decision and the “empty house” that resulted from it, although it’s not in Kirk’s nature to linger on his mistakes, and he throws himself back into action to help Picard stop Soran.
Picard Listened To Kirk’s Other Star Trek Generations Advice Instead
Jean-Luc stayed Captain of the Enterprise for as long as possible.
Perhaps not surprisingly, Captain Picard, who was also singularly devoted to his duty as Captain of the Enterprise at that point in his life, didn’t register Captain Kirk’s pain and regret over his “empty house.” All Jean-Luc could focus on in Star Trek Generations was stopping Dr. Soran and saving the millions of people on Veridian III. If Kirk’s self-admonition did sting Picard, he didn’t show it, as Jean-Luc’s mission was his only priority, not the self-refection he instantly rejected when the Nexus showed Picard the happy home and loving family that would never be his.
Instead, Picard heeds Kirk’s other advice as a fellow Captain of the Enterprise: “Don’t let them promote you, don’t let them transfer you, don’t let them do anything that takes you off the bridge of that ship, because while you’re there, you can make a difference.” Jean-Luc Picard took those words to heart, and he remained Captain of the Enterprise for nearly another 15 years before Starfleet made him an Admiral. Jean-Luc wouldn’t face his own loneliness and regrets until Star Trek: Picard, and one wonders if he ever thought about what he learned about Captain Kirk in Star Trek Generations.
