Should Shatner Appear in the Next Star Trek Film?
A number of us Albany science fiction fans sat down for lunch at Locos a few weeks ago, and talked about the state of science fiction in general and a bit about Shatner's rumored desire to appear in Star Trek (2011).
The 2009 movie was a sore point for myself and one of the others, another said it had no interest for him at all, and the last member of our party asked, "Why not?"
It's a good question. A fair question. Why shouldn't Shatner appear in the next movie?
Simply because it's not workable. In the vernacular of the nuTrek fan, Shatner's Kirk is from the Prime Star Trek Universe, and therefore can't appear via any means of time travel because the future's already been changed, and James T. Kirk never went through the series of events that led to our hero's development as a person. The nuTrek universe James T. Kirk never dealt with Gary Mitchell. Probably never dealt with Ben Finney. Never went through the events of "Balance of Terror." Never encountered the Cloud Vampire. The nuTrek James T. Kirk is not and cannot be the same man that the Prime Universe James T. Kirk became. He's an alternate at best, a knock-off at worst.
So how could the Prime James T. Kirk end up in the nuTrek universe? He's already dead by the time that Prime Spock ends up going back in time, chased by the Khan-like Nero. No, the best way that he could appear in the nuTrek would be either as a flashback in Spock's recollection or as a holovid in Spock's possession. And both of those ways are cheats... Anything else would be a complete and total paradox.
Which means Shatner WILL be in the next Star Trek movie (2011). I have no doubt that the explanation will be completely bogus and unworkable as well, much like the 2009 movie was to many.
Randy
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