Skip to main content

According to canon, what is the primary style of hand to hand combat utilized by Kirk in Star Trek TOS?


The hand to hand combat prowess of STNG Starfleet's security personnel is lauded by Tasha Yar in the accepted answer to this question.



Tasha: I think you should know that there is no physical training anywhere that matches Starfleet, especially its security people.




It is likely combat training evolved during the time elapsed between TOS and STNG, but Kirk definitely had specific moves which he seemed to be trained in and repeatedly used during his 5 year mission.


While some of the moves are identifiable, I find it difficult to pin a label on the double handed, flying hip check, style William Shatner utilized in his portrayal of James Kirk. According to canon, is Kirk practicing a known fighting style, and if so, what is it?



Answer



Captain Kirk is shown to be practicing Judo (TOS 1x07, 'Charlie X') but his actual 'fighting style' seems to be made up on the fly with no resemblance to an actual organized form or style.


Captain Kirk practicing Judo


In the Next Generation Lt. Yar conjures up a holodeck Aikido opponent to demonstrate Starfleet Security force training to visiting Dignitaries in (TNG: 1x04 'Code of Honor').


Lt Yar in the holodeck


There have been no other mentions of any 'modern day' form of martial art training, but there has been a couple of made-up (in universe) martial art forms briefly shown in TNG:




Anbo-jyutsu — (TNG: 2x14, "The Icarus Factor") involves wearing helmets that do not allow a combatant to see and using large, electrified pugil sticks that signal when aimed at the opponent. Practitioners of this art include Cmdr. William Riker and his father Kyle.



Worf teaches some of the Enterprise crew an art called "Mok'bara" that Thomas Riker identifies as having similar moves as human T'ai chi ch'uan (TNG: 6x24, "Second Chances").


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

futurama - How much time is lost in 'Time Keeps on Slippin''

In time Keeps on Slippin' , Farnsworth creates a basketball team which he matures by abusing Chronitons. This leads to time skipping forward by random, but ever increasing amounts. How much time was skipped in this way? Answer Unfortunately, I don't think a good estimate can be made for this, for two reasons: Many of the time skips move forward by an indeterminate amount of time. At one point, the Professor mentions localized regions of space skipping forward much more than others. We then see two young boys on the street below complaining about having to pay social security, only to suddenly become senior citizens and start complaining about wanting their money. Thus, each individual could have experienced a different amount of time skippage.
Post a Comment
Read more

harry potter - Did Dolores Umbridge Have Any Association with Voldemort (or Death Eaters) before His Return?

I noticed that Dolores Umbridge was born during the first Wizarding War, so it's very likely she wasn't a Death Eater then (but she is pretty evil -- who knows?). After that Voldemort was not around in a way that could affect many people, and most wouldn't know he was planning to rise again. During that time, and up through Voldemort's return (in Goblet of Fire ), did Umbridge have any connection with the Death Eaters or with Voldemort? Was she doing what she did on her own, or was it because of an association with Voldemort or his allies? Answer Dolores Umbridge was definitely not a good person. However, as Sirius points out, "the world isn't split into good people and Death Eaters". Remember that he also says that he doesn't believe Umbridge to be a Death Eater, but that she's evil enough (or something like that). I think there are two strong reasons to believe that: Umbridge was proud to do everything according to the law, except when she trie...
Post a Comment
Read more

aliens - Interstellar Zoo story

I vaguely remember this story from my childhood: it was about an interstellar zoo that came to Earth with lots of bizarre and unusual species, and humans would file through and gape at all the crazy looking creatures from other planets. The twist came at the end when the perspective shifted to the other side of the bars and we discovered that the "creatures" were traveling through space on a kind of safari. They thought they were the visitors and we were the animals. Neither side knew that the other side thought they were the zoo creatures. Answer Got it. Zoo, by Edward D. Hoch. Published in 1958. Link to Publication History Link to PDF
Post a Comment
Read more

harry potter - What is the difference between Diffindo and Sectumsempra?

In the Harry Potter books, Diffindo is called the 'Severing Charm' and it’s most commonly used to cut ropes and the like. However, in the last book Hermione uses it on Ron but misses, creating a 'slash in his jeans' and his knee gets cut, causing him to 'roar in pain'. We've only seen Sectumsempra used once on screen when Harry directly uses it on Malfoy in the sixth book, but there it's mentioned that he is 'waving his wand wildly'. Wouldn't Diffindo, if used in such a fashion also cause a similar effect? Similarly, if it was able to cut Ron, it would also be able to, say, chop off an ear (George's)? In that case, how are these two spells different, except for Sectumsempra seemingly used exclusively to hurt humans? Answer While Diffindo and Sectumsempra both can be countered by other spells, Diffindo is far more easily countered. Reparo, a relatively common spell, can completely reverse its effect when used once. “He pulled the old cop...
Post a Comment
Read more