It's official, William Shatner's James Kirk came back to say goodbye

Unification was a huge moment for Star Trek fans. It was a viral video, that was made in conjunction with the Roddenberry Archive and Paramount, to tell the story of William Shatner's James T. Kirk saying goodbye. However, that wasn't totally made clear in the video. While we saw Kirk seeing old friends like Savik and eventually Spock, the message wans't exactly clear as to what we were seeing.

Was this heaven? Did Kirk get caught up in the Nexus? Who knew? Considering this was supposedly right after his death at the end of Star Trek Generations, either scenario was possible. It certainly felt like Kirk and Shatner were being given one final send-off to say goodbye. But we didn't know for sure.

Now, however, we do know. Not only was this project done to close out Shatner's time with the franchise, apparently, and also done to help say goodbye to Kirk. There was a third reason, however and one that we're glad happened.

In the video, Kirk comes to Spock's death bed, to watch the fading sun one last time. In a moment that completely went over my head, the reason for this was to bring Kirk and Spock back together. After all, Kirk and Spock, long-time friends, died in different universes.

Jules Urbach CEO of OTOY, the company that handled the production of the short film, spoke about why he felt the need to say goodbye to Kirk, Spock, and Shatner, and why it was so important to him, saying in an interview (via TrekMovie.com);

“The point of this, emotionally, is we give them a proper sendoff. It was horrible that they died in separate universes… So, we thought: do we dare do this? And everyone was okay with this, from Shatner to the Nimoys to Paramount. Then it felt like something we should get as fans, as people that love these characters, as closure"

He's not incorrect in his observations of how the franchise handled each of the passings of Kirk and Spock. Kirks' death is still denied to this day, having simply been crushed by a collapsing structure was as unheroic of death as possible. Spock didn't get his true death scene. Nimoy died during production of Star Trek: Beyond, an ending that no one expected.

Since his Spock traveled from the Prime Timeline to the Kelvin Timeline, he died around people who didn't know him. Not truly. So reuniting Kirk and Spock one final time was truly special.

The decision to bring Shatner back, albeit through the body of Sam Witwer, was a bold one. To see his Kirk one last time, saying goodbye to Spock, was an emotional experience. While Unification and the three shorts before it were a bit trippy, it did a fine job giving Shatner, Kirk, and Spock one final sendoff together.