I think the little nod of his head works, because he does it as he says "12 minutes," knowing that, under most circumstances, being a captain for such a short time is absurd and hardly enough time on which to create a legacy. In essence his nod is driving his point home, how great George was as captain
^
^^I know what you're saying, but to assume that Kirk met Pike only once, which was when Kirk took over command, is only ONE way to to look at it.
Here is the exchange between Mendez and Kirk regarding Kirk meeting Pike:MENDEZ: You ever met Chris Pike?Kirk never said anything about only meeting him once. It is not unreasonable to assume that wasn't the "ONLY" time they ever had any personal contact with each other -- that's only when they "met".
KIRK: When he was promoted to Fleet Captain.
MENDEZ: About your age. Big, handsome man, vital, active.
KIRK: I took over the Enterprise from him. Spock served with him for several years.
Also, Kirk never said that he met him when Kirk took over command of the Enterprise -- Kirk said he met Pike when Pike was promoted to Fleet Captain. Those could have been two different events separated by years (i.e. Pike could have been Fleet Captain and stayed in command of the Enterprise).
The whole "Kirk met Pike when Pike was promoted which was the same time as when Kirk took over the Enterprise" idea is only fanon (albeit reasonable fanon) and is not directly supported by dialog.
Of course if this film really takes place in an altered timeline, then anything could happen, but what I said above can also be true for the "unaltered" TOS timeline.
Liotta never had a thing going for him as Pike other than a superficial facial resemblance to Jeffrey Hunter. Bad plastic surgery has pretty much ruined him.
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