Abrams' Star Trek: One Overshadowing Glitch

J. J. Abrams' Star Trek (2009) and Star Trek Into Darkness (2012) are full of stunning vistas and thrilling chases, but something about it leaves me unfulfilled. (Perspective: I've seen the entire Original Series and accompanying films, and large chunks of Next Gen, DS9, and Voyager.)

I can forgive the differences from the Original Series. This Star Trek is, after all, a reboot. Different timeline, presence of an extra Spock, absence of Vulcan, obligatory alien sex scenes, awkward Spock/Uhura romance - bring it on, Hollywood, I'm ready.

But the new Enterprise has a glitch I am unwilling to overlook: Kirk. Chris Pine does a great job portraying the little butthead that the new Kirk is, but the presence of this character in the Star Trek universe, even a rebooted one, presents some basic storytelling problems.

Miss me yet?