Man the thing I love about Enterprise is that everything Kirk supposedly did first was actually done first by this Archer guy. That’s the best and most original writing to come out of Star Trek in years.
What did Kirk supposedly do first that no one else in the whole of Starfleet couldn’t have similarly done previously? By the time Kirk became a captain, Starfleet had been around for hundreds of years.
Enterprise doesn’t retcon Kirk doing anything first. And just because Kirk is routinely going where no man has gone before doesn’t mean no man has ever been anywhere Kirk ever goes.
Kirk apologist!
Well, seriously. It’s not like no one is going to go anywhere until Kirk gets around to doing it. TOS never says 1701 was the first ship to ever time travel; encounter the Romulans; or get the Vulcans, Andorians, and Tellarites in the same room at the same time. I’m not sure what thunder Archer is supposed to have stolen from Kirk.
Did someone mention Romulans? The group of people that had actually never been seen by the Federation before Kirk? And how about Spock being the first Vulcan to join Starfleet? They weaseled out an excuse by having her not actually be an officer, but come on. I’m not saying that Kirk is some kind of god (what would God need with a starship?), but each series makes implications about what things the federation knows about and what is clearly newfound knowledge. Federation captains do have to report their missions y’know. They don’t just dillydally around and not tell command when they see the face of a Romulan for the first time in history.