Hero Trek: Star Trek XI as a Hero’s Journey

The eleventh Star Trek film—simply titled Star Trek (2009), but distinguished by fans from previous installments in the franchise with the moniker Star Trek XI—was a vigorous attempt by the film’s executive producer director, J.J. Abrams (creator of the television series Alias, Lost, and Fringe) and the film’s writers, Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman (The Legend of Zorro, Mission: Impossible III, Transformers, as well as co-creators/writers of Fringe with Abrams) to resurrect the floundering Star Trek franchise, the future of which had been in question since the box-office and critical failure of the previous Star Trek film (Star Trek Nemesis, 2002) and the cancellation of the last Star Trek television series (Star Trek: Enterprise, 2001-05). To accomplish this goal, Abrams, Orci, and Kurtzman decided to “reboot” Star Trek, setting their new film in a time several years prior to the original television series (1966-69), when the characters from that series were still young, fresh officers newly-minted from Starfleet Academy. To avoid any complications that might arise from trying to fit their film into established Star Trek continuity, Abrams, Orci, and Kurtzman chose to set their film in an “alternate reality”, one that would not affect existing Star Trekcanon and that would at the same time allow them the freedom to tell a story about the crew of the “original” starship USS Enterprisecoming together for the first time. Doing so, they reasoned, would be the best way to re-introduce Star Trek to the general public, since the characters from the Original Series are the ones with whom people outside of Star Trek fandom are most familiar.

To maximize the appeal of Star Trek to modern audiences, including to new potential fans not familiar with the franchise’s previous incarnations, Abrams, Orci, and Kurtzman decided to structure their story around the classic myth of the Hero’s Journey, outlined by Joseph Campbell in his 1949 book The Hero with a Thousand Faces. Furthermore, the story arcs of the film’s two central protagonists, James T. Kirk and Spock, incorporate several elements of the “Everyman” morality play mythos, as described by Richard L. Homan in his 1997 article from the Journal of Popular Film and Television, “The Everyman Movie, Circa 1991”. Though the Hero’s Journey is a common theme in science fiction and fantasy films, most notably Star Wars, no previous Star Trek film had ever attempted the kind of epic storytelling that the Hero’s Journey requires. Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan contains some themes about masculinity, mortality, and fatherhood, which relate very clearly to Homan, but even that film—widely considered by critics and fans alike to be until very recently the best installment in the series—does not incorporate elements from Campbell to nearly the extent of Star Trek XI. Perhaps for this reason, Star Trek XI has become the most critically acclaimed Star Trek film ever made, as well as the most commercially successful. The simultaneous Heroes’ Journeys of Kirk and Spock, who are also both at least partial Everyman figures, enable the general public to relate to them and empathize with their plights in ways that transcend the traditional boundaries of science fiction’s—and particularly, Star Trek’s—appeal. 

The close adherence of Star Trek XI to Joseph Campbell’s Hero’s Journey is no accident; its writers, director, and producers were deliberately seeking to design a Star Trek film that followed the model of Star Wars, which has traditionally held much greater popular appeal. According to George Lucas, Star Wars was an explicit attempt to adapt Campbell’s ideas into a screenplay that could be understood and enjoyed by modern audiences; the creators of Star Trek XI, therefore, also referred to Campbell when developing the story for their film. Damon Lindelof, one of the film’s producers, describes the filmmakers’ desire to emulate Star Wars in a comment made on the movie’s Blu-Ray disc commentary:

“We did talk about a lot of fun-poking [that] has happened in how we echoed the storytelling in Star Wars, but that is the great myth of our childhood, and in the Joseph Campbell tradition. We always talked about rebooting Trek in terms of saying, where is our moment when Luke is looking at the twin suns, and [the moment when Kirk sees the Enterprise being constructed at Riverside Shipyard in Iowa] was it.”

Star Trek XI’s creators knew that repeating the same, tired formula that had been used in previous Star Trek films—lengthy verbal exposition; slow, television-like pacing; weighty philosophical or political themes; and minimal character development, buoyed by the occasional space battle or fight sequence—would result in another catastrophic failure that could quite possibly doom the entire Star Trek franchise. Consequently, the film has much faster pacing, is much more richly humorous, is much lighter on social commentary, and has much more well rounded, fully developed characters than any of the previous films in the series.

Though not a part of either character’s Hero’s Journey per se, the film’s opening sequence is of critical importance, particularly for the character of James T. Kirk. In the year 2233, Kirk’s father, George Kirk, is serving as First Officer of a Federation starship, the USS Kelvin, which is on its way back to Earth when it encounters a strange anomaly in space. The anomaly, described by the Kelvincrew as a “lightning storm in space,” turns out to be a quantum singularity (a “black hole”), out of which emerges a fearsome Romulan space vessel, the Narada, commanded by the film’s central antagonist, Captain Nero. The Narada has been transported back in time from over a century in the future and possesses extremely advanced weaponry, for which the comparatively primitive Kelvin is no match. The Narada immediately fires upon the Kelvin, disabling her and killing several crewmembers. Nero forces the Kelvin’s captain, Richard Robau, to come aboard the Narada, which causes Robau to place Kirk in command of the Kelvin. Upon realizing that he has been transported back in time, Nero becomes enraged and kills Robau, re-instigating the battle between the two ships. Seeing that the Kelvin has no chance of survival, Kirk orders the evacuation of all crew and passengers on ship, including his very pregnant wife, Winona, who has gone into early labor as a result of the first attack (her baby was meant to be born in Iowa). As the Kelvin is being evacuated, Kirk takes control of the ship’s weapons and fights off the Narada’s missiles, giving the shuttles containing Winona and the other survivors time to escape. He then pilots the Kelvin on a collision course with the Narada, heroically sacrificing himself only moments after the birth of his son. 

The destruction of the Kelvin and George Kirk’s death are significant for several reasons, but most importantly, they cause James Kirk to grow up without a father. Instead of joining Starfleet and rising to the position of Captain of the Enterprise organically due to his father’s inspiration, Kirk must instead travel along the path of the Hero’s Journey to find his true destiny. Furthermore, if one interprets Star Trek XI as a modern Everyman morality tale, Kirk’s father’s death and his subsequent orphanhood are the direct cause of the tragic “bad life” that Kirk is leading at the beginning of the film. Without proper guidance—young James and his brother George Samuel (referred to as “Johnny” in the film) are instead raised by an apparently abusive, unloving uncle/stepfather—Kirk becomes a rebellious, cynical troublemaker, a “repeat offender” according to Captain Christopher Pike, without any direction or purpose in his life. Kirk’s run-ins with the law apparently begin early when, while still a young boy, he steals his father’s classic, three-hundred year old Corvette (now claimed by his uncle/stepfather), and crashes it off of a ravine in Iowa. This is the Home Culture in which James Kirk begins his Hero’s Journey, and it is also the “bad life” that Kirk is living at the beginning of the Everyman morality play that constitutes his development as a character over the course of the film. 

Concurrently with Kirk, the film’s other protagonist, Spock, undergoes his own Hero’s Journey, although his journey is more jagged and less well defined than that of Kirk. Spock’s Hero’s Journey begins around the same time as Kirk’s birth, in Spock’s Home Culture, the planet Vulcan, which is dominated by a philosophy that places logic above all else. Though Vulcans do possess emotion and are on occasion known to act very passionately, even violently, their cultural norms dictate that they deeply repress their emotional instincts and instead embrace logic totally and exclusively as the basis of their lifestyle. Spock, however, is half-human, so for him emotions are an integral part of his identity. This causes young Spock to be viciously ridiculed and tormented by his peers in school, who tell him that he is “neither human nor Vulcan, and therefore [has] no place in this universe” and on one occasion even call his Vulcan father, Sarek, a traitor and his human mother, Amanda Grayson, a whore. This thirty-fifth attempt to elicit emotion from Spock finally succeeds, causing him to have a violent emotional outburst in which he brutally assaults the boy who insulted his parents. 

After the fight, Sarek has a serious conversation with his son about the importance of controlling his emotions and the need for Vulcans to embrace logic: “the control of feelings, so that they do not control you.” Furthermore, Sarek tells Spock, “You are fully capable of deciding your own destiny. The question you face is: which path will you choose?” This decision, which preoccupies Spock over the entire course of the film, is one that he is only able to make after completing the Hero’s Journey; in this case, Spock literally must become the Master of Two Worlds, reconciling his human and Vulcan halves to be able to function as a single complete individual. In fact, according to Lindelof: 

“The movie is secretly about Spock.... How do you reconcile being half-Vulcan with being half human? And the idea that in that moment [when Sarek consoles Spock following his mother’s death], his father is saying, 'Even I feel still. And it's ok.' And that…allows him to give in (reconcile) to that feeling. And I've always felt…his partnering up with Kirk is what allows him to embrace fully his Vulcan [side], because he knows that having that human, emotionally-driven person at his side allows him to more completely embrace being Vulcan and not deny that emotion.”

Because he is a Vulcan who generally renounces all emotion in public life and acts almost entirely on the basis of logic, Spock does not have a Call to Adventure to which to respond; in fact, Spock does not fulfill any of those requirements of the Hero’s Journey that require an emotional response. Only after the death of his mother, much later in the film, does Spock begin to act on impulse, in a manner consistent with the Campbell mythos. For Kirk, however, the Call to Adventure occurs when he is 22 years old, at a bar full of Starfleet cadets outside his hometown of Riverside, Iowa. At this point in his life, Kirk is a reckless ne’er-do-well, an immature rebel without a cause, cocky, arrogant, and far too prone to getting himself into trouble. Kirk attempts to flirt with Nyota Uhura, a young, attractive female Starfleet cadet, shortly after she arrives at the bar, but she rebuffs his advances. When he persists, another, large, male Starfleet cadet steps up to Kirk and warns him to “mind [his] manners”; Kirk flippantly disregards the cadet’s warning and further provokes him with condescension. Upon being told that there are four cadets ready to fight him, Kirk responds, “So get some more guys and then it’ll be an even fight.” The fight, however, is anything but even, and Kirk is badly beaten. At this point in the film, Kirk is at the pinnacle of his “bad life,” and, it could be argued, the bar fight is the catalyst, as death or near death would be in a traditional Everyman morality play, for him to make changes in his life. Following this scene, Kirk makes decisions that cause the “death” of his old self, and start him down the path towards becoming a mature, responsible, effective leader. 

Kirk’s guide down this path is Christopher Pike, the first captain of the starship Enterprise (in this alternate reality), who also fulfills the role of Supernatural Aid (though he is not supernatural) on the Hero’s Journey. After helping Kirk clean himself up, Pike, who wrote a dissertation about Kirk’s father and his valiant actions on the Kelvin, encourages Kirk to enlist in Starfleet, saying that Kirk’s instinct to “leap without looking” is something that he admired about Kirk’s father, and that it is something that Starfleet has lost. Pike poses a provocative question to Kirk, one that causes him to re-evaluate his life: “So your dad dies; you can settle for a less than ordinary life…or do you feel like you were meant for something better? Something special?” Though Kirk is initially dismissive of Pike’s suggestion, and seems to Refuse the Call to Adventure, before very long Kirk changes his mind, perhaps because of the final challenge that Pike poses to him in their conversation: “Your father was captain of a starship for twelve minutes. He saved eight hundred lives, including your mother’s, and yours. I dare you to do better.”

Regardless of the reason, Kirk finally Crosses the First Threshold the following day when he accepts Pike’s offer and shows up at Riverside Shipyard to board the shuttle for new recruits that will take him to Starfleet Academy, where he will begin the Departure phase of his Hero’s Journey. His Refusal of the Call does not last long, probably because, as a virtual orphan and a complete loner, he has no one to either support or oppose his decision. Kirk arrives at the shipyard on his motorcycle and tosses the keys to a random worker there who compliments the bike; this is meant to symbolize Kirk tossing away is old life and making the conscious choice to move forward along the Hero’s Journey; additionally, in the Everyman morality play, this is where Kirk “amends his life.” On the shuttle, Kirk meets Leonard McCoy, an older, divorced physician joining Starfleet because he, like Kirk, is alone and has no other options left available to him. Unsurprisingly, Kirk and McCoy quickly bond and become the best of friends.

Spock, meanwhile, Crosses the First Threshold of his Hero’s Journey much earlier than Kirk. Again, Spock’s Hero’s Journey is a quest to determine whether he will proceed down the human or the Vulcan path, and a critical point along that journey is when Spock declines admission to the Vulcan Science Academy, instead choosing to attend Starfleet Academy. Spock makes this decision spontaneously, as a direct result of a comment made by the head of the Vulcan Science Academy admissions council, who refers to Spock’s human mother as a “disadvantage.” This causes Spock to realize that he will face discrimination at the Vulcan Science Academy, as he has throughout all his life on Vulcan. On the surface, this may seem more like Refusing the Call than Crossing the First Threshold, but it is important to note that, had Spock chosen to join the Vulcan Science Academy, not only would his adventure have been impossible, but he would have been renouncing his human heritage, thus preventing him from eventually becoming the Master of Two Worlds. By joining Starfleet, Spock sets his Hero’s Journey into motion and puts himself on a path that will eventually provide him with the power to reconcile his two halves.

The insult cast upon Amanda by the Vulcan Science Academy admissions board director is particularly stinging for Spock because he—unlike Kirk, whose mother is apparently absent for much of his life—has an extremely close relationship with his mother. In fact, Amanda fulfills the role of Supernatural Aid for Spock, though she, like Pike, is not a supernatural figure per se. Prior to going before the council, Spock speaks intimately with his mother about the Vulcan discipline of kolinahr, the purging of all emotion, which he would presumably have to endure if he intends to become completely Vulcan. Spock fears that his mother might interpret his decision to undergo this ritual as reflecting judgment upon her, but Amanda assuages his fears, saying, “As always, whatever you choose to be, you will have a proud mother.” The comfort that Spock receives from his mother’s acceptance of him is what allows him to move forward with his decision to join Starfleet and Cross the First Threshold on his Hero’s Journey. It also acts as the foundation for his efforts to reconcile his logical lifestyle choice with his intense human emotions, which for Spock constitutes the “amending his life” phase of the Everyman morality play; Amanda, on the Homan model just as on the Campbell model, is Spock’s “guide.”

Spock’s relationship with his mother contrasts sharply, at least initially, with his relationship with his father, who despite the sound advice he gives to Spock as a child is deeply judgmental and critical towards Spock as an adult. This aspect of Spock and Sarek’s relationship is not explored very deeply in this film (it was expounded upon at great length on the Original Series, in the Star Trek films of the 1980s, and in two episodes of Star Trek: The Next Generation), but the film does hint at it during the Vulcan Science Academy admissions board scene, in which Sarek is seated immediately next to the head of the admissions board and reminds Spock, almost angrily, that he has made a commitment to follow the Vulcan way of life. In the prime reality of Star Trek, Sarek’s disapproval of his son’s decision to join Starfleet created a rift between them that lasted for at least thirty years and which appeared to still not have been completely healed by the time of Sarek’s death in 2368 (“Unification”, Star Trek: The Next Generation, 1991), 110 years after the time in which Star Trek XI is set. In this alternate reality, however, Spock and Sarek appear to make amends, understandably, in the wake of Amanda’s death, which is the single greatest blow that Spock endures along his Road of Trials. The loss of his mother nearly derails Spock from the Hero’s Journey entirely, causing him to lose command of the Enterprise to the more unpredictable, less experienced Kirk in the midst of a crisis on the grounds that he has been “emotionally compromised” by the mission at hand. Spock recovers, but only because Sarek steps in during the Overcoming Temptation phase of the Hero’s Journey, which will be discussed later. 

Though he begins his Hero’s Journey later, Kirk reaches the Road of Trials first. Like Dorothy Gale in The Wizard of Oz, or Luke Skywalker in Star Wars, Episode IV: A New Hope, Kirk’s Road of Trials occurs in three main phases. The first occurs when Kirk is a cadet at Starfleet Academy, three years after boarding the shuttle at Riverside Shipyard. Here, Kirk is a cocky, arrogant ladies’ man, who excels at his studies overall but is stubborn in the face of frustration and unable to accept failure. As part of his graduation requirements, Kirk is required to take the Kobayashi Maru examination, which consists of a simulation in which the student being tested is placed in the role of a starship captain and must command a ship during a rescue attempt of a freighter stranded at the edge of hostile Klingon space. Unfortunately, the examination is deliberately designed to be a no-win scenario, intended to test the character of the cadet involved and to observe how that cadet reacts while experiencing fear in the face of certain death. Kirk takes the Kobayashi Maru test an unprecedented two times, but both times he fails, unable to find a solution to the problem. Therefore, in a manner consistent with the description of the event in Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, Kirk takes the test a third time and, with the unwitting help of his promiscuous, green-skinned Orion girlfriend, Gaila, reprograms the scenario so that winning is possible; in effect, Kirk cheats. This results in Kirk being brought before a formal board of inquiry, during which he is confronted directly by Spock, who has been programming the Kobayashi Maru test for the past four years. Spock explains to Kirk the purpose of the Kobayashi Maru and forces him to recognize that, despite having technically passed the test, truly he has failed, because he does not grasp the lesson it was designed to teach and refuses to believe in the no-win scenario. From Spock’s words, Kirk derives his first self-realization, though he is too proud to express it openly.

A distress call from Vulcan interrupts Kirk’s hearing, which leads to the second phase of Kirk’s Road of Trials. With the help of McCoy, Kirk manages to get around being on academic suspension and boards the Enterprise, where he successfully deduces that the distress call is not the result of a natural disaster, but that Vulcan is in fact being attacked by the same Romulan ship, commanded by Nero, that destroyed the Kelvin and killed his father twenty-five years earlier. Kirk’s intuition prevents the Enterprise from warping into a trap unprepared, and, presumably in recognition of Kirk’s aptitude, Captain Pike decides to make Kirk first officer (under Spock’s command), under circumstances similar to those that caused Captain Robau to place Kirk’s father in command of the Kelvin. Pike then orders Kirk, Lieutenant Hikaru Sulu, and a doomed redshirt named Olson to skydive down into the planet’s atmosphere to disable Nero’s black hole-creating, planet-destroying weapon. Kirk and Sulu survive and are able to fight off the weapon’s Romulan defenders and destroy the drill, but they are unable to prevent the destruction of Vulcan; this represents Kirk’s second and biggest major failure in the film. Unable to stop Nero from accomplishing his first horrendous goal, Kirk’s focus instead shifts to redeeming himself by preventing Nero from achieving his second objective: the destruction of Earth.

The destruction of Vulcan also ties directly into the first and single greatest obstacle faced by Spock along his Road of Trials, that of course being the destruction of his homeworld and, more specifically, the death of his mother. As Spock notes in his log, he is now a member of an endangered species, Nero having wiped out most of Vulcan’s six billion inhabitants in the attack. This presumably includes all of Spock’s friends and family on Vulcan, with the exception of Sarek. Spock is emotionally compromised by these events, but he must retain his composure to stay in command. His only consolation during this time is Uhura, with whom Spock seems to have become romantically involved. Through his relationship with Uhura—which has developed despite the fact that Spock was apparently Uhura’s instructor at the time and the fact that Spock was already genetically bonded and engaged as a child to a Vulcan girl, T’Pring (“Amok Time,” Star Trek: The Original Series, 1967), who presumably dies in the attack on Vulcan—Spock seems to be seeking, at least subconsciously, to emulate his father, who also became involved with and eventually married a human woman. Whether Spock’s relationship with Uhura is the result of a “logical” attempt to understand humans better, which Sarek initially claims was his motivation for marrying Amanda, or Spock genuinely fell in love with Uhura is unclear, but at any rate, one could argue that Uhura is the neglected partner in Spock’s Everyman morality play, since despite the fact that she clearly loves him and shows him great compassion and affection, Spock, constrained by his desire to maintain an unemotional, logical Vulcan façade, refuses to open up to her. When Uhura approaches Spock privately in the turbolift, embraces and kisses him, and asks him, “What do you need?” Spock’s only response is “I need everyone to continue performing admirably.” Spock’s learning to be comfortable expressing his emotions publicly, particularly in regards to Uhura, is a major part of the evolution of his character that can only occur after he has completed the Hero’s Journey.

After the destruction of Vulcan, Kirk and Spock’s Heroes’ Journeys begin to converge, as each character begins to have a direct impact on the Journey of the other. Roberto Orci most succinctly explains the importance of Kirk and Spock’s growing relationship on the film’s Blu-Ray disc commentary: “Both [Kirk and Spock] are able to lean more towards their true nature by knowing that the other is providing balance.” Kirk is able to reconcile his rebellious, wild tendencies with his newly found responsibilities as captain of the Enterprise to ultimately become an effective, competent leader, and Spock is able to find a happy medium between his conflicting human and Vulcan natures largely thanks to Kirk’s intervention. Though it is ultimately constructive, this convergence originates in conflict between Kirk and Spock over what course of action to follow after Spock takes command of the Enterprise. Kirk wants to pursue Nero and rescue Pike, whom Nero has taken prisoner and is torturing for information; this course of action is consistent with Pike’s orders before leaving the ship, which were, “I guess you’ll have to come get me.” Spock, on the other hand, believes that the logical course of action is to regroup with the rest of Starfleet before pursuing Nero, which Kirk believes would be a waste of time. The dispute becomes heated, and Spock orders Kirk to be forcibly removed from the bridge. When Kirk resists and becomes violent, he is expelled from the ship. His capsule lands on Delta Vega, an ice-covered world in the Vulcan system, where he narrowly escapes death by two alien monsters, in a scene that Lindelof and Orci describe on the Blu-Ray disc commentary as being “a staple of [the] classic, old-school spirit of Trek…and Campbell mythology.” This represents the final obstacle faced by Kirk along his Road of Trials, ending when he is saved by none other than the Spock from the prime reality, played by Leonard Nimoy, who has traveled back in time and has also been stranded on Delta Vega, by Nero, who wished for Spock Prime to witness the destruction of Vulcan first-hand. Lindelof compares Spock Prime saving Kirk’s life in this moment to Obi-Wan Kenobe saving Luke Skywalker from troublesome aliens in Star Wars, Episode IV: A New Hope, strongly suggesting that Spock Prime is meant to serve as the Soul-Mate along Kirk’s Hero’s Journey, the one who enables him to cross from the departure phase into the return. This role fits Spock Prime very well, since on the Original Series Kirk and Spock were in fact virtual soul mates, though in a platonic sense. Spock Prime explains to Kirk Nero’s motivations for his actions (revenge against Spock, whom he blames for the destruction of his own homeworld, Romulus, in the late 24th Century) and then goes on to show Kirk the possibilities of his journey: that he is destined to one day become Captain of the Enterprise, and that he and Spock are meant to be the best of friends. Furthermore, Spock Prime encourages Kirk forward along the journey by instructing him to deliberately provoke his past self into an emotional outburst, thereby forcing him to give up command of the Enterprise. This action, which Kirk performs by accusing Spock of having never loved his mother, not only causes captaincy of the ship to be passed down to Kirk, but also enables Spock to move forward along his Hero’s Journey. Therefore, one could say that Spock Prime is also the Soul Mate of his past self, albeit indirectly through Kirk, since Spock does not actually meet his future self until nearly the end of the film, in the Freedom phase of the Hero’s Journey. 

In either case, it is Spock Prime who enables both Kirk and Spock to move forward to the Overcoming Temptation phase of the Hero’s Journey: after returning to the Enterprise with the help of Commander Montgomery “Scotty” Scott, whom he found on Delta Vega, Kirk takes his rightful place as captain, while Spock, humiliated and confused, is consoled by Sarek, who literally fulfills his role as Father-Figure by telling Spock that he “will always be a child of two worlds” and that this is something for which Sarek is grateful. Sarek also acknowledges for the first time that he did in fact marry Amanda because he loved her; this revelation makes it considerably easier for Spock to reconcile the intense emotions that he has been feeling since his mother’s death with his dedication to Vulcan logic, which is critical to him becoming the Master of Two Worlds. Furthermore, it allows Spock to feel comfortable expressing his love for Uhura, which in Spock’s Everyman morality play constitutes the “recognition of his neglected partner” as well as “amending his life”. 

With both characters having emerged from their Roads of Trials stronger and more self-aware than they were before, Kirk and Spock are now able to View the Whole Picture, taking on the respective roles that each of them is destined to fulfill. Now in command, Kirk abandons Spock’s previous orders and instead orders the Enterprise to pursue Nero ready for battle. As is typical of a Hero at this stage of his Journey, Kirk is still somewhat unsure of his ability to command (Uhura tells him spitefully, “I sure hope you know what you’re doing, Captain,” to which he responds, “So do I.”), but he now recognizes what must be done and is willing to see it through to the end. Spock, meanwhile, emerges from his seclusion, now confident in his ability to reconcile logic and emotion after the conversation with Sarek, and offers to help Kirk defeat Nero and prevent the destruction of Earth. Spock says to Kirk, “My mother was human, which makes Earth the only home I have left.” This represents a recognition and acceptance on Spock’s part of his dual nature and a willingness to take decisive action to defend his newly adopted homeworld and honor his mother’s memory. To accomplish this goal, Spock is now resigned to his role as second-in-command under Kirk and seems willing to respect Kirk’s newfound authority. As a result, the two of them will now begin working as a team, proceeding along the Hero’s Journey together, as it was meant to be.

Kirk, the purpose of whose Hero’s Journey is to prevent the destruction of Earth by Nero and thereby fulfill Pike’s challenge of outdoing his father’s heroism, attains his Ultimate Goal when Ensign Pavel Chekov explains to him how the Enterprise might be able to ambush Nero by traveling through the rings of Saturn and hiding behind one of its moons. Kirk decides to go with Chekov’s plan, despite the fact that Chekov is only seventeen years old, thus making his first real command decision, after deciding to pursue Nero in the first place. Kirk then decides that he himself will beam onto the Narada with Spock to disable Nero’s weapon and prevent Earth’s destruction; thanks to Chekov, Kirk now sees a clear path to achieving his goal. 

Spock meanwhile achieves his Ultimate Goal when he finally openly and publicly expresses his affection for Uhura, embracing and kissing her on the transporter pad as he is about to leave the ship. Thanks to his mother’s encouragement, his father’s honesty, and Spock Prime and Kirk’s difficult but necessary conspiracy against him, Spock now feels comfortable enough with his human side to express emotions without feeling as though he is somehow not being truly Vulcan. His overt affection towards Uhura surprises his fellow crewmembers and makes them somewhat uncomfortable, but his demeanor is so confident afterwards that no one dares to question him.

The Refusal to Return does not occur in either Kirk or Spock’s Hero’s Journey, as is the case in all but a few films today, even those that closely follow the Joseph Campbell model. Perhaps this is simply for the sake of time or pacing, but either way, it is unnecessary, because at this point in the film Kirk and Spock are both fully ready to move on to the Return phase of the Hero’s Journey. The Chase occurs when Kirk and Spock board the Naradatogether to rescue Captain Pike, disable the black hole device, and prevent the destruction of Earth. Working as a team, they are able to coordinate their efforts and defeat Nero once and for all. On the Blu-Ray disc commentary, Brian Burk, another of the film’s producers, compares this scene to the corridor scene in Star Wars, Episode IV: A New Hope, where Luke, Han, and Chewbacca rescue Princess Leia from the Death Star, indicating yet another example of the film’s creators deliberately seeking to emulate that particular piece of Campbell-influenced work. Kirk stays aboard the Narada to fight Nero and his lieutenant, Ayel, while Spock takes command of Spock Prime’s ship, the Jellyfish, and attacks the weapon now preparing to destroy Earth. Kirk and Spock are Rescued by the Enterprise, commanded by Sulu, who launches a full-scale assault against the Narada just as it is about to destroy the Jellyfish. Scotty then beams both Kirk and Spock back to the Enterprise just before both the Jellyfish collides with the Narada, activating the black hole device and preparing to suck Nero’s ship back into oblivion. Nether neither Kirk nor Spock in this case appears to have a bruised ego as a result of having been Rescued by supporting characters; in fact, both seem quite grateful to have made it back to the Enterprise alive and intact. 

Once back on the bridge of the Enterprise, Kirk and Spock simultaneously Cross the Return Threshold when Kirk, acting with authority as Captain, with Spock faithfully at his side, offers assistance to Nero, who now faces certain death. Nero’s pride prevents him from accepting Kirk’s offer, so Kirk instead orders the Enterprise to fire upon and destroy the Narada, which is pulled into the black hole and disappears, along with Nero, into nothingness. This is also the moment where Kirk becomes the Master of Two Worlds, having finally acquired the character and confidence to be a decisive, effective leader, setting all of his shady, tragic past behind him. Once the Narada disappears, the Enterprise herself is almost trapped by the black hole, but she barely manages to escape thanks to Scotty’s innovative thinking. Thus the crew of the Enterprise is able to return to Earth, victorious and far wiser due to the experiences they have endured.

Upon returning to Earth, Spock finally becomes the Master of Two Worlds when he meets his future self, who encourages him to stay in Starfleet and explains to him just how important his friendship with Kirk will become. “I could not deprive you of the revelation of all that you could accomplish together,” Spock Prime tells Spock, when Spock asks why he sent Kirk back aboard the Enterprise instead of simply explaining what needed to be done himself. “Of a friendship that will define you both, in ways you can not yet realize.” With this statement, Spock Prime is alluding to the deep camaraderie that existed between himself and Kirk on the Original Star Trek Series and in its subsequent spin-off films; without this relationship, Spock can never really attain Freedom, the final step of the Hero’s Journey, because at Kirk’s side is where he is meant to be. When Spock suggests that he should resign from Starfleet to help rebuild his race, Spock Prime points out that he can literally now be in two places at once, and encourages him to stay in Starfleet. As a final piece of advice, Spock Prime tells his past self to “put aside logic—do what feels right”, a lesson that he himself has only been able to learn after decades of acquiring wisdom, often through tremendous hardship. With this affirmation from his future self of the changes to his life that Spock is already inclined to make, Spock feels that he can be comfortable being both human and Vulcan. Thus, he is now the Master of Two Worlds—on top of which, he now feels that he can be comfortable “celebrating his new life”, presumably with Uhura, meaning that his Everyman morality play is now complete.

For his actions in saving Earth, Kirk is awarded with a commendation by the same panel that seemed ready to convict him earlier in the film for cheating on the Kobayashi Maru. He is promoted to Captain, despite having only been a cadet and by all apparent accounts not yet having graduated from the Academy, and he takes over command of the Enterprise from Pike, now an admiral, who tells him, “Your father would be proud.” Kirk is confident and comfortable in this new role, and upon returning to the Enterprise bridge wearing a gold command uniform for the very first time, he speaks to his bridge crew with unwavering authority. Kirk has now attained Freedom, and his Hero’s Journey is complete; he has fulfilled the dare that Pike issued him in the beginning, to outdo the accomplishments of his father. He can now “celebrate his new life”, perhaps with the Enterprise itself, as it was on the Original Series, as his metaphorical partner; therefore his Everyman morality play is also complete. Spock, meanwhile, also enters the bridge and formally submits his candidacy for First Officer to Kirk, who gladly accepts. He then takes his rightful place at the science station, the only place where his true destiny lies. In doing so, Spock attains Freedom, and his Hero’s Journey is now also complete.

Star Trek XI is now considered to be the best film in the Star Trek series largely because of its close adherence to the model of the Hero’s Journey. This formula rarely fails to inspire those who observe it, since it contains core thematic elements to which any person inculcated into Western culture can relate. Furthermore, the Everyman morality plays present in the story add a kind of personal relevance to the film that is not normally found in science fiction. The incorporation of these elements into a Star Trek film represents a transition of Star Trek from pulp fiction to high art—a status that all true Star Trek fans have known for years that it was capable of achieving. With writers, producers, and directors that truly understand the nature of epic storytelling, it can be assured that the Star Trek franchise, written off as dead only a few short years ago by its critics, will in fact, in the famous words of Spock, “live long and prosper.”

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