10 Times Star Trek Broke Its Own Rules
9. James T. Kirk V James R. Kirk
This is one of the more well known issues with an established fact. In Where No Man Has Gone Before, Gary Mitchell ascends to god-like powers after coming into contact with the Great Barrier (more on that later).
Unable to allow him to continue down this path, due the danger he poses - Kirk plots to bring Mitchell to a far off world and maroon his old friend there, keeping him safely away from any other human life.
This goes about as well as you'd expect and the two men end up facing off against one another. In the foray, Mitchel presents Kirk with his own grave - bearing the name James R. Kirk. Over the years, they have attempted to explain this away by saying that Mitchell simply made a mistake, but the fact is that The Animated Series was the first mention of Tiberius being Kirk's middle name, confirmed later in Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country.
As Mitchell was the one who ended up in the grave, its best just to think of it as a nickname for this once-great man.