I’m pretty well-versed in Star Trek lore, but it’s always nice to get another perspective. After reading the article I had a brain storm. Lucile Ball was [amazingly enough] a big wheel at Desilu and pushed for the second pilot. She must have liked the first one because it dared to have a smart woman in a position of power. I’m sure many other people have had that notion, and I think it’s funny that it took me so long to see the obvious.
Of what I read the author seems to either not understand linear time, or have explained it poorly. The events of SNW don’t happen “before the … 2009 theatrical release”; they happen after that stardate, by 20 something years, and crucially, in a different timeline…
Edit: Apologies to have responded without realising OP is the piece’s author. It wasn’t my intent to be offensive. Basically, OP, the JJ events have nothing to do with the Prime timeline (except the instantiating incident) so marking time based on those factors isn’t common. I might seem like the worst type of sneering Trekkie dork, but Kirk is a living character in his late twenties in Strange New Worlds. The show isn’t taking place before he was born; just before he was Captain. Spock doesn’t require supernatural abilities that defy aging to stay in basically the same job for 10 years.