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There was a lot of discussion about Kirk's Assignment as Captain of the Enterprise straight out of the Academy as a cadet. I'm not sure if it was mentioned before, or not, but just before they give him the position he's called for not as Cadent Kirk, but as Captain Kirk, is it possable that Pike's field prommotion on the mission stuck with him, and then after he heroicly saved the day, he was granted the actual prommotion. In which case it wouldn't be too crazy of an idea to give him command of the Enterprise, he'd just proven himself a capable commanding officer, and had already shown great ingineuity and leadership.

Lt. Staplic wrote:There was a lot of discussion about Kirk's Assignment as Captain of the Enterprise straight out of the Academy as a cadet. I'm not sure if it was mentioned before, or not, but just before they give him the position he's called for not as Cadent Kirk, but as Captain Kirk, is it possable that Pike's field prommotion on the mission stuck with him, and then after he heroicly saved the day, he was granted the actual prommotion. In which case it wouldn't be too crazy of an idea to give him command of the Enterprise, he'd just proven himself a capable commanding officer, and had already shown great ingineuity and leadership.

There's more to be a good CO then holding the rank and having "ingenuity". Why do you think Captains are good at their job? This is a rank that can take decades to reach, the holders have experience in the nuances of command. Basically what this would do in RL is make the XO the power behind the throne, cause the CO wouldn't have a fucking clue what he's doing half the time.

I suspect the old Spock has something to do with it and telling High Command, that if Kirk and Spock won't team up as Cpt. and XO on the Enterprise he would reinvent the Red Matter and finish Neros work or so...

Cpl Kendall wrote:

Lt. Staplic wrote:There was a lot of discussion about Kirk's Assignment as Captain of the Enterprise straight out of the Academy as a cadet. I'm not sure if it was mentioned before, or not, but just before they give him the position he's called for not as Cadent Kirk, but as Captain Kirk, is it possable that Pike's field prommotion on the mission stuck with him, and then after he heroicly saved the day, he was granted the actual prommotion. In which case it wouldn't be too crazy of an idea to give him command of the Enterprise, he'd just proven himself a capable commanding officer, and had already shown great ingineuity and leadership.

There's more to be a good CO then holding the rank and having "ingenuity". Why do you think Captains are good at their job? This is a rank that can take decades to reach, the holders have experience in the nuances of command. Basically what this would do in RL is make the XO the power behind the throne, cause the CO wouldn't have a f***ing clue what he's doing half the time.

I agree, that ususally that is what it would mean, but with Spock as his XO, and Pike pushing for the position, it at least gives some kind of rational explination to the prommotion, maybe not the wisest, but better than...well that's what they did.

This was one of the most contrived bits of the movie. Even the fact of Pike appointing someone who was, in essence, and AWOL stowaway to be XO bugged me. Granted, Spock or the Academy might have let go of the academic restrictions based on cheating after Kirk's heroic performance, but it doesn't explain his elevation to that position.

Mikey wrote:This was one of the most contrived bits of the movie. Even the fact of Pike appointing someone who was, in essence, and AWOL stowaway to be XO bugged me. Granted, Spock or the Academy might have let go of the academic restrictions based on cheating after Kirk's heroic performance, but it doesn't explain his elevation to that position.

Yeah, I was wondering the same myself. IIRC the entire ship was mostly crewed by cadets and jr. officers due to the nature of the emergency. We can all assume that Kirk was a natural at command and Pike, begrudgingly, made him XO. Then the rest is history.

Cpl Kendall wrote:There's more to be a good CO then holding the rank and having "ingenuity". Why do you think Captains are good at their job? This is a rank that can take decades to reach, the holders have experience in the nuances of command. Basically what this would do in RL is make the XO the power behind the throne, cause the CO wouldn't have a f***ing clue what he's doing half the time.

Alternately, as someone suggested on SDN, Pike was going to take the Enterprise as his flagship, which would reduce the competence required of the Captain. IIRC Flag Captains tend to be relatively junior (albeit not straight out of the Academy).

Captain Seafort wrote: Alternately, as someone suggested on SDN, Pike was going to take the Enterprise as his flagship, which would reduce the competence required of the Captain. IIRC Flag Captains tend to be relatively junior (albeit not straight out of the Academy).

That's an interesting interpretation. That's a more administrative role is it not?

The flag captain is simply the CO of the flagship - I think Captain of the Fleet is an admin role.

Captain Seafort wrote:The flag captain is simply the CO of the flagship - I think Captain of the Fleet is an admin role.

Ahh, maybe I was thinking of Flag Lt.

That would make a lot of sence too....

However, Admiral Pike wasn't seen on the Enterprise as she departed, so any speculation that he is still aboard her is just that. The only way Kirk's promotion to Captain of the Federation Flagship STRAIGHT OUT OF THE ACADEMY makes any sense is if EVERY SINGLE EXPERIENCED COMMAND OFFICER OVER HIM WAS DEAD, QUIT, OR REFUSED THE JOB.

Its one of those things I can accepts as necessary plot power, provided I don't have to look TOO closely.

"Here's the flagship of the Fleet...try not to scratch her, son..."

Mark wrote:However, Admiral Pike wasn't seen on the Enterprise as she departed, so any speculation that he is still aboard her is just that. The only way Kirk's promotion to Captain of the Federation Flagship STRAIGHT OUT OF THE ACADEMY makes any sense is if EVERY SINGLE OFFICER IN THE ENTIRE FLEET WAS DEAD, QUIT, OR REFUSED THE JOB.

Fixed

Its one of those things I can accepts as necessary plot power, provided I don't have to look TOO closely.

It's one of the reasons why, while the main plot is good, XI will never be a great Trek film - there are holes (or rather a hole) in the plot you could drive the neo-E through.

They'd have been much better off completely rejigging the entire plot from the scene with Kirk and Bones meeting and then leaving for the Academy and Nero's attack on Vulcan. The gap should have been extended by a few years, it should have been established that Kirk, while not a long-serving officer, was through the Academy and had a few years service under his belt, and had some command experience (perhaps as a watch officer or department head). The Kobayashi Maru should have either been referred to in passing (more a homage to TWoK than a plot point), or depicted as part of an advanced command course, not the regular academy (there's good evidence that this is true in the Prime universe). Kirk's cheating should also have been a damn sight less blatant - exploiting a loophole in the programme rather than rewriting the whole script and treating it as a joke. From there, you can continue as the film actually went, with the initial hostility explained by suspicion on Spock's part regarding the Maru, rather than solid proof of cheating, and natural irritation at Kirk being appointed 2iC despite only having served a few years. That way, when Kirk got command of the neo-E, he would have been unusually young an inexperienced, but not stupidly so.

But wasn't that like the third time that he took the KM test, so might it be that he was there for a while... Just couldn't stand losing...