theothersparrow
joined 1 year ago
I don't see why there has to be any one reason.
One of the founding members of the Federation (and basically the creator of it's exploratory/defense fleet) is extremely traumatized over a war that killed hundreds of millions.
Then, another conflict involving augmented antagonists comes along and gives them all the reason to say "see?! We were right!!!"
My headcanon is an energy-rich but extremely sensitive and volatile material that augments their power supplies superior to any non-Starfleet tech.
I really feel like any feeling of divergence is the result of Kirk's image in popular culture; Steve Shives did a segment on Kirk as we remember him and how accurate that memory is to the actual depiction in TOS, and over time certain traits were magnified in the mainstream.
Wesley's Kirk feels honest--that is to say he resembles Shatner's Kirk, through Wesley's performance.