Ripplin said:
Oh, and how old was Spock's mother supposed to have been in the movie, anyway? (and in turn, how old was Spock in relation to her age?) The guy that played Spock is 6 years younger than her. :p They can wrinkle up Winona Ryder, but uh...well, I found it weird. She looked her age, which isn't even 40 yet, just a bit weathered.

It's because they cut a scene with Winona Ryder and baby Spock. That's why they originally cast Winona Ryder - they figured it would be easier to cast a younger actress and "age" her later than cast two actresses. If the baby Spock/mother scene hadn't been in the script, they would have cast an older actress.

And Captain Pike was indeed a great character. I would've liked to have seen him as Captain in at least one more movie. After all, Pike was supposed to be the captain on the original show before Jeffrey Hunter quit when "The Cage" pilot was rejected.