^ It's been pointed out before and is worth pointing out again that Jean Luc Picard has a remarkably similar background to Kirk in this regard, the self-described skirt-chasing brat who challenged three surly Nausicans to a bar fight just because they cheated in a board game. We got to see Picard in his old age after four decades of service to Starfleet, which included what seems to be an unusually strenuous tour of duty on the Stargazer. But the Lieutenant Picard who still had some maturing to do and some experience to earn was, I suspect, not totally unlike the raw Lieutenant Kirk who wound up in command of the Enterprise.
It's WAY too early in Kirk's career for him to act like a seasoned old veteran, so we can even less expect him to command all the respect of an older commander. As far as the rest of Starfleet is concerned he's a cocky young upstart who got lucky once but who the hell does he think he is anyway. But as far as his own crew is concerned, think about this: they all came up together, they all trained together, they all joined the fleet together. Kirk's command, in this case, isn't based on a sense of command or authority, but on the admiration of his peers who have seen him in action firsthand. You have to think that a seasoned commander earns the respect of his crew just by the fact that he is seasoned and holds the Captain's rank and the implications of that are huge; NuKirk was just another classmate of theirs who was notable for occasionally pulling academic rabbits out of his hat. He had to put his balls on the line to earn their respect, and his command of the Enterprise was forged in the fires of battle first and foremost.
That's a totally new dynamic for the Enterprise crew, one we've arguably never seen before. While it is certain to evolve into something more familiar over time, right now we're not seeing the "master and commander" Kirk so much as the "Ace Pilot and Squad Leader" Kirk. He may not be as commanding as Shatner, but he doesn't have to be: in this universe it's not his authority that they respect, its his abilities.
It's WAY too early in Kirk's career for him to act like a seasoned old veteran, so we can even less expect him to command all the respect of an older commander. As far as the rest of Starfleet is concerned he's a cocky young upstart who got lucky once but who the hell does he think he is anyway. But as far as his own crew is concerned, think about this: they all came up together, they all trained together, they all joined the fleet together. Kirk's command, in this case, isn't based on a sense of command or authority, but on the admiration of his peers who have seen him in action firsthand. You have to think that a seasoned commander earns the respect of his crew just by the fact that he is seasoned and holds the Captain's rank and the implications of that are huge; NuKirk was just another classmate of theirs who was notable for occasionally pulling academic rabbits out of his hat. He had to put his balls on the line to earn their respect, and his command of the Enterprise was forged in the fires of battle first and foremost.
That's a totally new dynamic for the Enterprise crew, one we've arguably never seen before. While it is certain to evolve into something more familiar over time, right now we're not seeing the "master and commander" Kirk so much as the "Ace Pilot and Squad Leader" Kirk. He may not be as commanding as Shatner, but he doesn't have to be: in this universe it's not his authority that they respect, its his abilities.
and Pine says something very revealing in an interview (not slashy, don't worry): in effect, his character is using bravado to mask insecurity and fear about living up to the standard set by his dead Starfleet hero dad.
