The friendship between Captain James T. Kirk (Chris Pine) and Mr. Spock (Zachary Quinto) in J.J. Abrams’ Star Trek (2009) was modeled after The Beatles’ John Lennon and Paul McCartney, according to co-writer Roberto Orci. Pine and Quinto, along with the cast of Star Trek (2009), proved that younger actors could embody the iconic characters originally played by William Shatner, Leonard Nimoy, and the cast of Star Trek: The Original Series. Pine’s Kirk and Quinto’s Spock ran the gamut, starting off as rivals and coming to blows before teaming up to save Earth and blazing an unbreakable, star-crossed friendship.
To reconceive Captain Kirk and Spock for Star Trek (2009), co-writers Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman drew inspiration from The Beatles. In Star Trek (2009)’s alternate Kelvin timeline, Kirk and Spock experience personal tragedies that William Shatner’s Kirk and Leonard Nimoy’s Spock did not, and this was the key to their bond, just as a similar upbringing brought Paul McCartney and John Lennon together to form the most beloved rock band of all-time. Orci explains Kirk and Spock’s Lennon and McCartney connection in the Star Trek oral history The Fifty-Year Mission: The Next 25 Years by Mark A. Altman and Edward Gross. Read Orci’s quote below:
We looked at John Lennon and Paul McCartney’s friendship as part of our model for Kirk and Spock when we were writing. They were opposites and they bonded very young because they both lost their mothers when they were teens. They might not have actually gotten along at the time had it not been for that kind of a bond. They were the only ones who understood each other’s pain, so they were definitely an influence on our view of Kirk and Spock. You know, Star Trek and the Beatles were products of the sixties, so sometimes you have to tie it all together. By the way, Spock is Lennon, because Paul is the optimist who can see through the pain and still keep his chin up. That’s Kirk. Spock is a little more fatalistic with his logic, as John Lennon was.
Star Trek 2009 Ending Explained
J.J. Abrams’ Star Trek 2009 saw the young Kirk and Spock join forces to save Earth. A deep dive into how Star Trek 2009 ended and what it all means.
J.J. Abrams’ Star Trek Movie Trilogy | Release Date | Director |
|---|---|---|
Star Trek | May 8, 2009 | J.J. Abrams |
Star Trek Into Darkness | May 6, 2013 | J.J. Abrams |
Star Trek Beyond | July 22, 2016 | Justin Lin |
How Kirk & Spock Are Different In Star Trek’s Prime Timeline
Strange New Worlds showed how Kirk and Spock met in Star Trek’s Prime universe
Captain James T. Kirk and Spock had different life experiences in the alternate reality of J.J. Abrams’ Star Trek that were more dramatic and tragic than Kirk and Spock’s lives in Star Trek‘s Prime universe. In Abrams’ Kelvin timeline, Kirk’s birth was tied to the death of his father, Lieutenant George Kirk (Chris Hemsworth), and Spock witnesses the destruction of the planet Vulcan and the death of his mother, Amanda Grayson (Winona Ryder). Neither of these life-altering events happened to Kirk and Spock in the Prime timeline, nor did William Shatner’s Jim and Leonard Nimoy’s Vulcan begin as closed-fisted rivals before forging their friendship.
Strange New Worlds season 2, episode 6, “Lost in Translation” finally depicted Star Trek’s canonical first meeting between the younger Lt. James T. Kirk (Paul Wesley) and Lt. Spock (Ethan Peck), and it had none of the emotionally charged tumult seen in J.J. Abrams’ Star Trek. Rather, Ensign Nyota Uhura (Celia Rose Gooding) introduced Kirk to Spock, and the trio shared drinks on the Starship Enterprise. Yet aspects of Roberto Orci’s John Lennon and Paul McCartney comparison still hold for Kirk and Spock regardless of which Star Trek timeline they exist in.
- Director
- J.J. Abrams
- Cast
- Chris Pine , Zoe Saldana , Zachary Quinto , Simon Pegg
- Writers
- Roberto Orci , Alex Kurtzman
- Studio(s)
- Paramount Pictures
- Sequel(s)
- Star Trek Into Darkness , Star Trek Beyond
- Franchise(s)
- Star Trek
