At Devon:
1. No, you really don't get it. You seem to want people to come in here and gush about how great this film is.
I'm not sure what this has to do with my first response other than a misinterpretation of my comment, deliberate or not. My comment was that we got something smart and respected what had come before.
2. Who hired said writers? You guessed it! J.J. Abrams.
Who were said writers that wrote the script? You guessed it! Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci!
3. No the dialogue was dire.
Hardly. If this had "Dire Dialogue" as you're exaggerating, then the rest of Trek is in deep crap.
The best line in the film came from marketing chopping up the written dialogue.
In your opinion, of course.
4. Agreed Star Trek has had a ton of bad plot devices over the years. It still doesn't excuse the current one.
What makes you think it needs excuses? It's a plot device, it did its job. It didn't cause the end of the world (well, at least ours.)
5. The script jumps from one coincidence to the next at break neck speed.
C'est La Vie
6. Isn't one of the things that makes Kirk special is that he is able to do it in three?
Yes, but that doesn't explain why it supposedly doesn't make sense. What doesn't make sense about it?
7. Didn't look like Kirk was really all that interested in studying.
It's obvious he did if he got this far.
How do we know that the Kobayashi Maru was the only thing he cheated on?
How do we?
8. So what did he do to earn the promotion and be XO of the flagship only a few years out of the academy?
Ask him yourself.
Of course this isn't a problem for people who look the other way when Cadet Kirk is made captain of the same flagship.
Incorrect assumption. In fact I have stated either on here or another forum that the very part you mention was one of the few things I think could have been improved.
9. If I hadn't already seen so many impossibilities already this one probably wouldn't have stuck out like a sore thumb.
You're looking for them where there aren't any I think.
10. No need to discuss the issue if you don't have a problem with it. I don't need the cast of seven rammed down my throat to get that it's Star Trek.
Neither do I, but I'm not making the film either.
11. Different character. Chekov is 22 in 2266, this character was 17 in 2258. Which even in Trek's convoluted timeline makes him a completely different character.
Same character. He's still the Ensign Pavel Chekov from Russia, navigator for the Starship Enterprise. Except this time he's useful.