I will say Mount was a good casting get...I really wanted to like SNW, and did, early on. Then, we got the Xenomorph Gorn, Kirk being there all the time, the weird season finale, and I just kinda moved on. They laid the nostalgia on so thick, that it feels like they're winking at me. That and I really enjoyed Anson Mount's run on Hell on Wheels. To the point that I treat Cullen Bohannon as an ancestor of Christopher Pike.
Just one of those things where you can't go home again.
BTW, have you ever read the late 90's Marvel Comics run of Star Trek: Early Voyages? Now that's a great post-"The Cage" take on Pike's Enterprise.