"Risk
is part of the game. You want to sit in that chair?" Captain James
T. Kirk (William Shatner).
— When I talk about quotes that draw
from every thread of character makeup, this one is certainly among the
most extensive. The line between risk and reckless is often blurred with
Kirk, and some might argue that he, himself, isn't all that concerned
with distinguishing between the two.
But I disagree.
Kirk's presence here
on the bridge of Enterprise B in Star Trek: Generations is
intended as little more than pomp and
circumstance; when crisis hits, the counsel he gives to his
successor in this passage is all but glib. Then this starship is
trapped by the same force into which it's gone to rescue others, and, in
sweet irony, an
impact to the hull jars Captain Kirk, himself, into "that chair."
This is his test. Beauty and
tragedy now flesh out the quote. The new captain moves to the turbo lift,
ready to follow Scotty's instructions for realigning the defector array
to force their way out.
But Kirk graciously trades places with him. In doing
so, he literally accepts the risk that goes along with sitting in that
chair. He steps up to the consequences of his advice, however given, as
"part of the game."
In doing so, he
thus demonstrates that he has earned that place, because he can
and will back his words with actions.
For the last time: "I'll take care of
it"
To me, Star Trek: Generations
has always been the James T. Kirk legacy film. It just happens to have a
nice TNG story sandwiched in the middle of his two key sequences.
Mr. Shatner's dash from the bridge to Deck 15
of Enterprise B is reminiscent of
that desperate run he makes years earlier in Star Trek: The Wrath of
Kahn, when word comes up from the engine room from Dr. McCoy that
Spock has acted on a commitment of his own: To preserve
"The needs of the many," which "outweigh (or so he originally felt) the needs of the few."
"Or the one." Captain Kirk refutes
this philosophy for his friend in Star Trek: The Search for Spock
by risking life and career by returning to the Genesis Planet on an
forbidden rescue mission.
Kirk falters on his Enterprise B
run,
of course. He is, after all, "...so human."
I haven't forgotten that we're
talking about a fictional universe here. But if we can engage in that
"willing suspension of disbelief" that high school English teachers are
so fond of encouraging us toward, one more question.
Would Captain James T. Kirk have gone
to the engine room if he'd known his fate there? Or, made that off-hand
(comforting) remark before leaving the bridge, "I'll take care of it"?
Or, would he have gotten up from the command chair in which he'd become
ensconced, perhaps his for the taking?
Absolutely. Because some positions
are meaningless without the real risk that comes with them.
