Aye, aye captain: Why we love Star Trek's James T. Kirk. Analysis.

`Don't let them promote you. Don't let them transfer you. Don't let them do ANYTHING that takes you off the bridge of that ship, because while you're there... you can make a difference.''

Those words come from the lips of Captain James T. Kirk - directed at one of his successors in the Starship Enterprise's command chair. But the final few words can easily be applied to the character himself.

Kirk did make a difference - but not only in space, the final frontier. He created a cultural imprint that has left us with everything from T-shirt catchphrases (``beam me up'') and real-world leadership ideals to seemingly endless forms of parody.

How did a seemingly one-dimensional character on a cheesy space-western - played with unabashed ham-handed, stilted glory by William Shatner - become the most important, endearing captain and leadership figure in sci-fi history?

Why exactly do we love James T. Kirk?

As the new Star Trek film prepares to look at the temperamental Kirk's youth and his rise in Starfleet, it's worth examining the character's durability. Frontiersman, lover, friend, flawed rebel, workaholic, philosopher, a cowboy with a conscience - Kirk connects with many of society's ideals of leadership and adventurer. He is who we'd like to be as leaders, or who we'd like to have lead us - and not just when he's bedding a bevy of space aliens.

``Kirk was a man who marveled and greatly appreciated the endless surprises presented to him by the universe... he didn't take things for granted,'' Shatner wrote in his 2008 autobiography Up Till Now.

Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry initially crafted the character as a homage to C.S. Forester's cunning and duty-minded sea captain Horatio Hornblower. And Shatner himself once said he tried to imbue Kirk with a sense of the witty ``good-pal-the-captain, who in the time of need could snap to become the warrior.''

With 28-year-old Chris Pine set to inherit sci-fi's ultimate captaincy in the J.J. Abram's Trek prequel (with Jimmy Bennett also playing Kirk as an impetuous child), Kirk is poised for reinvention to an old generation of fans, while simultaneously being introduced to a new one.

One of the reasons Kirk plays so well in North America is that he's the ultimate frontiersman - a future-era Davy Crockett wrestling Klingons instead of bears. Born in Iowa, Kirk moves from humble beginnings to become the ultimate explorer - part coureur de bois, part astronaut, part larger-than-life sea captain unafraid of falling off the edges of the known world (ie. universe).

"You could feel the wind at your back, about you - the sounds of the sea beneath you,'' Kirk says about his seafaring forefathers in the original series episode The Ultimate Computer. ``And even if you take away the wind and the water, it's still the same. The ship is yours, you can feel her, and the stars are still there.''

While a captain's captain, Kirk never shied away from ignoring the orders of superiors if he thought the end justified it -even going as far as stealing his old ship in Star Trek III: The Search for Spock, and later being demoted from the rank of admiral for his efforts. And he did it all with a twinkle in his eye.

The Last Lecture creator Randy Pausch said watching Kirk taught him to be a better teacher, co-worker and family man, while noting Kirk's strength was found in delegating, inspiring and establishing a vision - even though he wasn't always the smartest member of the crew (that was generally Spock).

And then there's the cosmic Kirk mojo - an intergalactic seduction record that makes Charlie Sheen and Mick Jagger look like high school virgins. Whether presented with a green Orion slave women, an android, or a primitive, tribal princess, Kirk could found a way into her bed. The web is littered with lists debating Kirk's greatest conquests, but he had a charm that made him seem less like a chauvinist scoundrel, and more just a lover of the moment.

Modern men can use ``going to war'' as an excuse for a tryst, but Kirk could use everything from ``won't be back in this solar system for another 40 years'' to ``battling a Vulcan to death in hand-to-hand combat tomorrow'' to justify his escapades. Life was short, and he flew by the seat of his pants in more ways than one.

``Kirk has been accused of being sexist and misogynistic - I don't believe that's true, but I do think Kirk's very nature prevented him from having any long-term or lasting relationships,'' writes Brad Trechak of TV.com. ``He wasn't that good at discussing his feelings (sensitivity obviously also didn't become "in" until the 24th century). He was too busy saving the universe as he knew it.''

Of course, Kirk was just as much a fighter as he was a lover. Despite all the technology at his finger tips, nearly every episode of the original series involved a campy fist fight producing a ripped, abs-revealing captain's uniform (it's a wonder Kirk's tailor's bill didn't bankrupt Starfleet). His fighting style has been widely derided and even coined Kirk Fu (also Shat Fu) - a combat strategy ``in which you can defeat someone without actually hitting any vulnerable spots'' whose signature moves included the ``Kirk drop kick'' (which typically left the good captain on the ground along with his opponent).

Yet, it's telling that in the film Fight Club (1999), when debating who the ``ultimate opponent'' would be, Edward Norton thinks for a moment and then says one word ``Shatner.'' And by Shatner, Norton means Kirk.

Friendship and loyalty are also at the heart of Kirk's appeal - the series linchpin is his friendship with Spock and Dr. McCoy, a Three Musketeers-esque loyalty that went beyond duty and ship.

``I thought you said men like us don't have families,''McCoy once tells Kirk. The captain's typically over-dramatically-delivered response: ``I. Was. Wrong. ''

With an undeniable bravado and a knack for always surviving against unrealistic odds (who else can take credit for outsmarting both a super computer AND a semi-omnipotent being pretending to be God), Kirk has also been taught lessons in humility. Unlike many sci-fi legends, Kirk is vulnerable, flawed and wounded. In the film series, he lost both his son David and best friend Spock (later happily resurrected) to his chosen profession.

Beyond brute and boor, it is these challenges that made Kirk a philosopher.

On of those most telling moments occurred in Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country, after Kirk was appointed a peace envoy between humans and Klingons, who he blamed for murdering his son.

``They're animals... Don't believe them. Don't trust them,'' Kirk says on the subject of helping his sworn enemies and brokering peace.

``They're dying,'' Spock intones, prompting a guttural, rage-filled response from the captain. ``Let them die!''

He later asks in his audio journal ``how on earth can history get past people like me?''

Captain Han Solo of Star Wars was a rebel, but he was a loner and no philosopher - and it took him three films to finally get the lady of his dreams. Luke Skywalker was a one-trick ``Use the Force'' pony who could barely beat his lava-ravaged father, and he kissed his sister. While a ham, Kirk's character dimensions are far greater than both.

A website listing 100 reasons why Kirk is a better captain than Star Trek: The Next Generations Jean-Luc Picard include the following: ``Kirk has punched out at least one member of over three thousand known alien races; When it's time for shore leave Kirk goes rock climbing and drinks whiskey. Picard wears nut smashing banana hammock speedos and reads by the pool; Picard drinks tea, Kirk drinks Saurian Brandy straight from the bottle; Kirk looks good in a ripped shirt, and he knows it; Kirk sword fights someone on a regular basis'' and, most tellingly, ``Style: Kirk did it first, he did it better and he did it wearing gold velour and Beatle-boots with a space girl on each arm.''

Since his debut in the 1960s, Kirk has arguably become the most parodied sci- fantasy character in history. And it's the public's - both Trek fans and non- fans alike - familiarity with the character that lend him to such mockery. We truly hurt the ones we love. Among the long list of those who have targeted the captain: The Simpsons, Family Guy, Saturday Night Live, National Lampoon's Loaded Weapon, Galaxy Quest and Futurama, and even Shatner himself in a famous SNL sketch in which he derides his famous role and tells a room full of Trek fans to "Get a life."

Then again, Shatner also once teased about his alter-ego: ``We were basically one and the same, although Jim was just about perfect, and, of course, I am perfect.''

There we have it from the man to first hold the name: Kirk was ``just about'' perfect. But the imperfections were what make him great. A warrior and intellectual. A lady killer. The ultimate renaissance man, and a self-professed one for ``rushing in where angels fear to tread.''

In Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, Kirk says ``How we deal with death is at least as important as how we deal with life.'' Now, 15 years after the character's controversial death in the film Star Trek: Generations, James T. Kirk has been given new life to ``boldly go where no man has gone before'' all over again.

Beam us up.

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