Hunter6 you are forgetting that this is a reboot, or reimagining of star trek as if the world is seeing it for the very first time. They had to do away with 40 plus years of continuity because it was baggage as far as creativity goes, or at least that is what i Get from JJ.
Yes it is confusing that i still has links to the next generation and original trek via Nero and Older Spock.
They want it to be a reboot and continuation of the original series at the same time, i would just as soon they reimagined the entire thing.
William Shatner is an actor, James T Kirk is a fictitious character and is not real. Therefore they can and did get a younger actor to play him. You don't seriously think they are going to make a 150 million dollar movie following the surviving original cast who are in there sixties and seventies? That is as ludicrous as a sixty year old Harrison Ford playing Indiana Jones and surviving the stuff he survives in crystal skulll.
This is the beginning of Universe B. Universe A becomes universe B by Neros tampering with the timeline. A lame excuse for continuity reset but i don't know what i would have done in JJ's shoes. The thing is people are saying JJ is ruining star trek and this is terrible but nobody is offering any alternatives or ideas. And i mean for a healthy and vibrant alive resurgent franchise Like the Original Motion Picture did for trek, or trek II that is arguable. What we don't need is for Roddenberry Pastiche up on the big screen aka James Cawley and Phase II with bad trying to sound like William Shatner.
Shatner has worked with Chris Pines father and has given his blessing to chris there is no animosity there. Only that Shatner is now sorry he turned down a cameo role because he wanted the starring role.
Yes they are doing the James Dean Rebel without a cause type character again for Kirk, just like was done for Anakin in the star wars prequels and mutt in indiana jones IV. Shia also played a rebel in i robot and in transformers though not necessarily of the james dean mold.
One of the original inspirations for the space Pirate Han Solo was James Dean. If done well it could work out well. And Haydens screentest was better than his own screen performance so there is plenty of blame to go around namely a certain mr lucas who can't direct actors.
In the orci comics supposedly Romulas is destroyed so to get revenge Nero blows up Vulcan. Seeing the blown up planet in the trailer a bit too much like the death star and Alderaan. and Enterprise already ripped off star wars with the Xindi superweapon. So JJ is now copying copies.
So like Nero tries to Change the destiny of Kirk. But even though Tarsis IV and Kodoss the excutioner do not happen nor the farrugut missions, history still takes the same course and James Kirk still comes out a great man. I wonder if this is Orci and JJ idea?