It'd kind of weird seeing all this talk about #Kirk being "Old" in the early 80s #StarTrek movies

[MithrandirOlorin]

When people born then are becoming Grandparents now yet Shatner still lives.

[Admiral X]

William Shatner was born in 1931, so he'd have been in his 50s at that point, which was considered kind of old at the time and still kind of is.

[J!!]

50's not as old as it used to be.

[clearspira]

50's not as old as it used to be.

But in the 1980s it was. Hell, in the 1990s and early 2000's it was too. Besides, the plot is more ''Kirk THINKS that he is old'' rather than he is actually old. He is looking into the mirror and seeing the wrinkles, the grey hairs. And for a ladies' man like Kirk that would be especially hard. The hottest ladies no longer look at him like they used to.

Either way, it certainly is old for military service once you remove the benefits provided by Main Character Powers.

[BridgeConsoleMasher]

Danny Glover was like 40 when he was getting too old for this shit. Samuel Jackson was 40 when he spoofed the same character.

[Fianna]

There's a difference between old old, and old-for-leading-an-action/adventure-series old.

[BridgeConsoleMasher]

......And then there's William Shatner who has proved to be an issue in it of himself.

[CharlesPhipps]

Mind you, Captain Kirk peaked early. He's Starfleet's Chief of Naval Operations and is absolutely rubbish at it. Worse, he derives no job satisfaction.

He sees nowhere else to go with his life and that's a shame.

Really, it's more like a Midlife Crisis move than an "end move" in his attempts to get back the Enterprise.

[clearspira]

Mind you, Captain Kirk peaked early. He's Starfleet's Chief of Naval Operations and is absolutely rubbish at it. Worse, he derives no job satisfaction.

He sees nowhere else to go with his life and that's a shame.

Really, it's more like a Midlife Crisis move than an "end move" in his attempts to get back the Enterprise.

I agree that he hated the job, but where is the evidence that he was rubbish at it?

[BridgeConsoleMasher]

I think the idea they went for was that the five year mission was done with and Starfleet wasn't exploring anymore.

Getting old wasn't really an issue in the first movie, the captain that he took Enterprise from was just mad that he swooped in. You can apply the same general inactive Starfleet condition there because you know the guy was just jealous that he didn't get to do the mission.