Kirk was a jerk. And why I'm on Team Scotty
Uncover humor in your stories by switching the perspective.
Have you ever considered “Jaws” from the point of view of the shark? It’s not just a story of terror; it could be a lonely yarn of misunderstanding. Maybe he wasn’t a bloodthirsty killing machine. Maybe he was just a foodie.
In this post,
I’ll show you how switching who tells the story can change the entire emotional landscape—and turn a drama into a comedy.
We'll explore the tragically funny world of thankless jobs and horrible bosses
And I'll share why unfortunately, Scotty from Star Trek is my professional avatar.
Flipping the script & Switching the Perspective
Ever been in a conversation and thought “That’s a funny way of looking at it”? That’s because point of view is everything and why comedians can turn the mundane into laughs. In the same way, shifting your story to another character’s point of view can uncover humor that was invisible before.
I’m going to keep this short at the top and get to my story. If your story isn’t singing, try this trick:
Switch the Perspective to someone else in the story and tell it from their point of view.
At the very least, its a great writing exercise and most, it might end up an unforgettable story for a keynote or an article.
You might even craft something as genius as "Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead." (It’s a play by Tom Stoppard that flips "Hamlet" upside-down by focusing on two minor background characters. In Stoppard’s hands, however, they’re the main characters, hilariously puzzled by the tragedy unfolding around them.
Hamlet is not funny. But Hamlet, told by two very minor characters, IS.
I am going to share another piece from my live essay show days along the same lines.
Try switching the perspectives in YOUR stories.
PS I wrote this years before Star Trek: Lower Decks, nerds.
Please enjoy…
I am Scotty
Are you a Kirk, a Spock, or a McCoy?
All my expectations about collaborating in the workplace were set when I became a regular viewer of Star Trek… the original one with Kirk, Spock and McCoy. Those three characters were the greatest team in Science Fiction. Kirk would bark orders, Spock would offer cold hard facts, and McCoy would appeal to the group’s moral center.
When I was younger, I wondered which one of these heroic archetypes I would emulate in my professional career. Would I be Kirk, the fearless leader, Spock, the logical advisor… or McCoy, the loyal conscience? Which one of these are YOU at work? Well, if you’re like me, you didn’t end up a Kirk, Spock or a McCoy…
… because you ended up… a Scotty.
That’s right, I’m a Scotty, … the poor bastard in charge of the engine room. He’s the stressed-out sap surrounded by smoking widgets and leaking plasma who-zits with sparks flying everywhere. Just about every episode, he’d get a call from Captain Kirk screaming something like “Scotty we need warp drive in 5 minutes or we’re all dead.” No pressure there.
You see, when you’re a Scotty, you’re not a leader, or a trusted advisor, you’re the boob who has to clean up an enormous mess because your crazy-ass boss decided to disobey orders and violate the Romulan neutral zone treaty. Because of that, three enemy ships targeted the Enterprise’s engines, and now you’re cradling a co-worker with third degree plasma burns on 90% of his body.
Scotty is the person at your job who is holding it all together. They come in early and leave late. Scotty knows the system, and he doesn’t question his obligations.
“Scotties” don’t think about their lives too much
BUT, your Scotty’s emotional state should never be taken for granted. You never want the Scotty at your office to get existential about his job. You never want office Scotty thinking…
(SCOTTY) “What’s the F****G point?
You know Kirk asked Spock and McCoy if they thought it was a good idea to go into the neutral zone, but nooobody asked me.
You know what? F**K Kirk! I don’t need this bullshit and I don’t need him. I can get laid on my own. I don’t need to roll into a bar on a space station with a Star Fleet captain to hook up with some green chick.
If we get out of this mission alive, I’m out of here. I mean, I live in a depressing cabin with no windows, and I’m FOURTH on the call sheet… and let me tell you, there’s a big drop off when the number THREE is DeForest Kelly.”
Star Trek is told through the point of view of Captain Kirk, not Scotty. If it WAS told through Scotty’s point of view, you’d know the TRUTH… that Kirk was a prick to work for.
(KIRK) “Captain’s Log Stardate 3558 point 2, Captain James T Kirk reporting.
Star Fleet Command has given me a direct order to deliver medical supplies to deal with an epidemic on Seti Alpha 4 --but instead, I’ve decided to start some sh*t with the Klingons.
And for fun, I’ll drop my shields when I’m surrounded so that the warp coil overloads and then I can order that loser that runs engineering to deal it.
And why, you ask? Because I want to, that’s why! It’s fun!”
How does one work around this kind of behavior? By planning! I guarantee Scotty was a planner. He always tried to work around Kirk’s craziness. But you can’t plan when you work for a nutjob. But Scotty tries anyway.
(SCOTTY) “I’ve got backup systems for my backup systems. There’s no way that lunatic can mess up the ship now. Shields will hold against all enemy fire… and warp engines will never go down… I mean, unless he decides to fly into a nebula.”
Cut to Kirk on the Bridge…
(KIRK) “Captain’s log… we’re pursuing Khan into a Nebula. I could safely wait for him outside it, but what’s the fun in that?“
(SCOTTY) “Ummm… Captain?” Scotty here. Just checking in… I was looking at the forward monitor and noticed we’re inside a nebula. You DO realize the ionized gases will render our shields ineffective, right? I mean, I sent a long email to Commander Spock and I’m pretty sure I cc-ed you on it…”
(KIRK) “Shut the f*ck up Scotty, I’m trying to save the universe!”
(SCOTTY) “Yes, but isn’t there another way to save the universe, maybe… I don’t know… like … diplomacy? Maybe if we talked to this Khan person and found out what his beef is and worked out our differences? I don’t know… just throwing an idea out there that doesn’t involve us getting fired at by photon torpedoes by aliens that look like they have crab shells glued to their foreheads.”
You know what they never show on Star Trek?
Kirk thanking Scotty for getting his ass out of the danger HE got the Enterprise into in the first place.
Do you know why they never show it? Because Kirk has never ever thanked him.
Not once.
Scotty never even got a card saying “Thanks man, if it wasn’t for you, I’d be dead. Thanks for saving my fat ass.” Nothing.
And it’s all Scotty wants. It’s a deep and desperate need.
And I imagine the one time Scotty DOES gets called into Kirk’s ready room, he’s trembling with excitement…
(SCOTTY)“This is it, he’s going to thank me!”
But instead, Kirk says,
(KIRK)“Hey man, you know when I told you I needed shields in five minutes? And you snapped “I’m doing the best I can!” Remember that?
Well, I didn’t really appreciate your tone.
I know the ship was about to blow up, but there’s no need to raise your voice to me.
Look if you can’t handle the pressure, maybe we should think about a change.“
And one day, Scotty decides he’s through with it. The ship is docked at a space station and he finds himself at the bar drinking with a bunch of other chief engineers. And he starts talking to them, and they’re all bitching about THEIR captains.
And then he realizes ALL captains are crazy.
You see, Scotty’s problem all along has been that he thinks because he cares for it, that the Enterprise is his ship.
But on that day, he accepts that it’s not.
(SCOTTY) “Well, if he wants to fly his ship toward a star and whip around at the last minute because he thinks that will initiate some time travel so he can go back to 1985 and save some humpback whales, well let’s just cross our fingers and hope for the best.”
It’s never your ship. You’re rarely the Captain.
So, cross your fingers, do what you’re told, and hope for the best.
This is such a great take on this! And you're plenty Kirk! Not in the jerky way, but in the cool, leadery way :)
lol I have thought that at some point for some of my collaborators, I became a Kirk