Friday, January 16, 2015

He's dead, Bob

The name Gene Roddenberry originally had picked out for the Captain of the Enterprise was Robert April. This became Captain Winter, then Captain Pike, and finally Kirk.

I wonder what thought-process was going on behind these decisions. I'm not surprised that it was changed from April. I'm surprised that it was ever April. In my mind, April is one of the girliest names of all time.

Personally, I think April is the perfect name for Jim Kirk because it's so flowery. No one gets to be as universally hot as Kirk without swinging both ways over gender lines.


The only problem is the Robert half of Robert April. I could swear I read somewhere in The Making of Star Trek that Dr. Bones Boyce was to call him "Bob", a name hasn't aged well, and sounds kind of silly for the time being. Just imagine "He's dead, Bob" or "Dammit, Bob..."
But how about Jim April? That sounds like one pretty man.

1 comment:

  1. Jim April! Love it.
    I'd love to hear the captain say, "April here."

    Reminds me of how David Copperfield's boyhood friend/crush Steerforth calls him "Daisy".

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