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I guess I should say SPOILER ALERT if you haven't seen Star Trek Generations or the reboot films.

In the movie Star Trek Generations, Captain Kirk and Captain Picard meet to defeat Soran. According to the wiki, Kirk captains the Enterprise-B in year 2293 and Picard captains the Enterprise-D in 2371 (78 years later).

Would Captain Kirk have been alive when Picard was alive if he had not gone into the Nexus (per Star Trek Generations)?

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    What is unclear about "Would Kirk have been alive when Picard was alive?" Commented Jan 16, 2015 at 20:59
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    @Chrismas007 - If five people in a row think a question is unclear, it's usually a good sign that the question is unclear.
    – Valorum
    Commented Jan 16, 2015 at 21:10
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    @Richard i thought his original was unclear, but hes right about wondering whats unclear about asking if kirk would have still been alive when picard was alive, im not sure how much clearer it can be asked.
    – Himarm
    Commented Jan 16, 2015 at 21:13
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    @Richard LMK when we ban trivia from the site.
    – user1027
    Commented Jan 16, 2015 at 21:30
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    Why is the “within the reboot films…” paragraph here? What does the question have to do with the reboot?
    – bdesham
    Commented Jan 16, 2015 at 21:37

2 Answers 2

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Admiral Dr. McCoy inspects the Enterprise D in the first episode of TNG, he is 137 years old at this point. So I hazard to guess if nothing had happened and Kirk lived a long life he would have possibly been alive when Picard was captain of the Enterprise.

Kirk would have been 72 when Picard was born, so its also not unreasonable that Picard could have meet Kirk as a child, or first entering Starfleet.

Also as ThePopMachine mentions, Dr. McCoy is older then Kirk anyway, which would give Kirk more leeway in age if Dr. McCoy was at the extent of human life expectancy.

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    (also, of course, in Star Trek, anything is possible, so obviously the answer is yes.) :) Commented Feb 4, 2016 at 15:20
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    If this answer hadn't been here, I'd have had to add it. Kirk was significantly younger than McCoy, yet McCoy did visit the Enterprise D in the first season of TNG. Even fifteen years later, it's very reasonable that a geriatric Kirk might still have been around.
    – Zeiss Ikon
    Commented Oct 5, 2023 at 18:17
  • Kelley (McCoy) was 67 at the time, so we can estimate that lifespan has roughly doubled by then. Commented Oct 5, 2023 at 20:11
  • As I recall the Shatnerverse novel The Return has McCoy comment that most of his organs have been replaced by the time of the TNG films. Cloned replacement intestines specifically. Commented Oct 6, 2023 at 4:45
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If in real life as a young man William Shatner can play Fictional Captain Kirk then in his 90s actually go to space and in this century actors like Betty White are acting into their 100s and presidents are leading the free world into their 80s & Queens are Reigning into their 90s, then I think that in 100 years, a prestigious Captain that heads the flagship of the most important “country” at the time probably has the best health care there is like the 1% has today. I 100% expect a young officer, possibly even a young captain Picard could cross paths with an elderly Admiral Kirk,

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    I don't disagree with your conclusion, but I think your argument would be stronger if you based it on in-universe evidence -- as the accepted answer did -- rather than real world evidence. Commented Oct 5, 2023 at 16:51
  • Betty White died at age 99.
    – F1Krazy
    Commented Oct 5, 2023 at 19:52

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