This week I watched “This Means War” to see how the second actor to play Kirk (Chris Pine) would fare against the actor who will be the second man to play the Batman villain Bane (Tom Hardy). A day after watching the movie, a friend of the show wrote me and reminded me that Hardy actually had a pretty huge Star Trek link himself. He was the newest actor to play Picard! As soon as she said it, I remembered Hardy’s portrayal of Shinzon and that his likeness has been the template ever since for “Young Picard” (thank you to IDW to giving us the only  comic book reference of Hardy-Picard).

In case you wondered, the movie is actually good for your typical “Romantic Comedy” and I recommend everyone to see it. The plot of the movie is that two super spies (Hardy and Pine) fall in love with the same woman (Reese Witherspoon) and try to outdo each other for her affections. I do wish they would have made SOME sort of Star Trek reference, but I will forgive them anyways. In the same vein, I always wished there was a Batman vs Superman joke in the movie “Speechless”, where Michael Keeton (aka Batman) and Christopher Reeve (aka Superman) where both in love with Gena Davis.

As for the other actors to play Picard at different points in his life:

Rascals – Picard age 12: David Tristan Birkin.

• In addition to playing a 12 year old Picard, he also played Picard’s nephew in the Episode “Brothers”. Non-Star Trek gigs were: the 1998 movie Les Misérables and 1989 movie The Return of the Musketeers (with Lt. Valeris herself, Kim Cattrall)

Tapestry – Cadet Picard: Marcus Nash

• In addition to playing a skewered Picard, he has written, produced, and directed several independent movies and shorts.

The only other non-Shatner and non-Pine actor to officially play Kirk is Jimmy Bennett.
Jimmy played “young Kirk” in the 2009 movie.

• Jimmy had a great season as a super-smart teenager in the underrated television series “No Ordinary Family” (along with formar Capt Decker Stephen Collins). He was also in the horror movies “The Orphan” (which is also a fantastic movie) and “The Amityville Horror”.