Captain James T. Kirk has saved the Earth many times in Star Trek’s Prime and Kelvin Timelines and, in doing so, Kirk often gets rewarded or gets out of predicaments he got himself into. Most of Kirk’s voyages commanding the Starship Enterprise involve exploring the final frontier, but the Captain has been occasionally called upon to protect his homeworld from alien threats. Kirk’s heroics in saving Earth were relatively modest in Star Trek: The Original Series but they became much more dramatic in the Star Trek movies.
As the home of Starfleet and the United Federation of Planets, Earth is a tempting target for extraterrestrial enemies. The Terran homeworld, located in Sector 001 of the Federation, is usually extremely well-defended, but Earth has still weathered numerous attacks throughout Star Trek’s history. In the 23rd century of Star Trek’s Prime Timeline, Captain Kirk (William Shatner) and the USS Enterprise tend to be Starfleet’s go-to saviors when the Earth is threatened (often because they’re conveniently “the only ship in the area”). The first two of J.J. Abrams’ Star Trek movie trilogy also climaxed with direct threats to Earth that Captain Kirk (Chris Pine) had to stop. While Kirk’s renegade ways often get him into trouble, saving the Earth is a surefire ‘get out of jail free’ card that ensures Kirk slides out of trouble and is rewarded for his heroics.
Star Trek: TOS – “The City on the Edge of Forever”
Star Trek: The Original Series’ all-time classic, “The City on the Edge of Forever,” is subtly about Kirk saving the Earth by making an impossible choice that would protect its history. Sent by the Guardian of Forever, Kirk and Spock (Leonard Nimoy) time travel back to 1930s New York City to stop a temporarily insane Dr. Leonard McCoy (DeForest Kelley) from interfering with Earth’s past. Kirk and Spock learn that the focal point they’re looking for is social worker Dr. Edith Keeler (Joan Collins). But Kirk falls in love with Edith, and the Captain must choose between losing her or altering the timeline.
“The City on the Edge of Forever” centers on Kirk’s heartbreaking decision to sacrifice the woman he loves to preserve history. But if Kirk didn’t stop McCoy and let Edith die as history intended, Nazi Germany would have won World War II and conquered the world. The seminal “The City on the Edge of Forever” was the first time in Star Trek that Kirk was called upon to save the Earth, and it remains arguably the best episode from The Original Series.
Star Trek: TOS – “Assignment: Earth”
In Star Trek: The Original Series season 2, Kirk and the Enterprise time-traveled back to 1968 and met Gary Seven (Robert Lansing), a Supervisor charged with protecting the Earth. Kirk and Spock’s actions in the past end up helping Gary Seven stop the detonation of a nuclear warhead that would ignite World War III. Thanks to the Enterprise crew helping Gary Seven, the world’s nuclear powers re-evaluated the risks of a nuclear weapons platform in orbit, and another devastating global conflict was averted. Star Trek: Picard season 2 later explained that Gary Seven and the Supervisors are agents of the Travelers like Wesley Crusher (Wil Wheaton), but “Assignment: Earth” was another low-key instance of Kirk saving Earth.
Star Trek: The Motion Picture
The stakes for Earth were significantly raised in Star Trek: The Motion Picture. V’Ger, “an alien object of unbelievable destructive power” was just days away from attacking Earth when Admiral James T. Kirk took command of the refitted USS Enterprise to stop it. Kirk and his crew eventually learned that V’Ger was actually the Earth space probe Voyager 6, which fell into a black hole and was rebuilt by machines in another galaxy. V’Ger then set a course to return home to Earth to meet its creator in order to understand its origins. In order to stop V’Ger, Captain Will Decker (Stephen Collins) and Lt. Ilia (Persis Khambatta) sacrificed themselves to become ‘one’ with the gigantic starship. In turn, Admiral Kirk got back what he wanted most, the USS Enterprise and his crew reassembled.
Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home
Admiral Kirk was resigned to return to Earth to face charges of mutiny and stealing (and destroying) the USS Enterprise at the start of Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home. But when an alien probe arrived in Earth’s orbit and threatened to destroy the planet for unknown reasons, Kirk’s crew determined that the probe was emitting whale songs and trying to make contact with humpback whales, which are extinct. Kirk quickly decided to time travel back to 1986 to find two humpback whales and transport them to the 23rd century in the hopes that this would stop the whale probe, which it did.
Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home set the precedent for Kirk that saving Earth would absolve him of crimes and vindicate him. Kirk and the Enterprise crew were still called before the Federation council, but because of their heroics in rescuing the planet, all charges were dropped except one against Kirk. His punishment turned out to be what Kirk wanted all along: a demotion to Captain and command of the USS Enterprise-A returned to him.
Star Trek 2009
In Star Trek 2009, Nero (Eric Bana), a Romulan who time-traveled to the 23rd century and set off the creation of the alternate Kelvin Timeline, intended to destroy the Federation by wiping out its worlds with black holes. Kirk and the USS Enterprise were helpless to stop Nero from destroying Vulcan, but it was imperative they save the Earth from the fate that befell Spock’s (Zachary Quinto) homeworld. Kirk and Spock enacted a daring plan and the young Starfleet Officers succeeded in stopping Nero and saving Earth.
Star Trek 2009’s reward for 25-year-old James T. Kirk echoed what happened with Admiral Kirk in Star Trek IV. Kirk skyrocketed up the ranks from Cadet to Captain in the span of Star Trek’s adventure, although he was also kicked off the Enterprise by Spock for mutiny. But because Kirk led the Enterprise and saved Earth, he was rewarded with Captaincy and command of the Starship Enterprise.
Star Trek Into Darkness
Captain Kirk nearly ruined his Starfleet career at the start of Star Trek Into Darkness. The Enterprise was taken away from him because Kirk lied to Starfleet about breaking the Prime Directive on Nibiru, and he was busted back down to a Cadet before Admiral Christopher Pike (Bruce Greenwood) saved him by making Kirk his First Officer. Kirk became a Captain again when he promised to hunt down Khan (Benedict Cumberbatch), whose two terrorist attacks on Earth resulted in Pike’s death.
Star Trek Into Darkness culminated in Khan using the USS Vengeance on a suicide run to destroy Starfleet Headquarters in San Francisco. Kirk died from radiation poisoning after he fixed the Enterprise’s warp core, but Spock and Uhura (Zoe Saldana) apprehended Khan so that the madman’s genetically-engineered blood could restore Kirk to life. For leading the Enterprise in saving Starfleet and Earth from Khan, Captain Kirk got to command a five-year mission to explore the galaxy. This marks the last time Kirk saved the Earth in Star Trek (for now).
