The writers are 'Lost'
By Comicman

Ok, I'm no newbie to Trekweb, been visiting for years, but never created an account to react to news items. This one made me do it, because of certain irritations I have with the creative forces behind this movie. Don't get me wrong, I expect it to be a fun and adventurous film, but there could be so much more to it, the way I see it. They should be broadening their thinking.
You know, I agree on the fact that this whole 'Shatner in or not' thing has taken up quite alot of time already, endless discussions and quoting by actors/writers/producers/etc..
But if they're still pondering on how to bring Kirk into the story, I'm beginning to worry about the lack of creativity here. There's more that one way to have Kirk in it, and not have to do a resurrection of the character that died in 'Generations'.

Old Spock, when being confronted with the news that Romulans are trying to erase Kirk from history, could have a flashback to a time just before Kirk boarded the Enterprise B, his last conversation with him. A conversation in which Kirk could share with Spock his feelings of being unimportant ever since he stopped being the captain of a starship, similar to what Kirk spoke about to Picard. This would fit into the story, since a big driving force of the movie is to show how much of an impact, an importance, Kirk has made and been for the course of history throughout space.
This flashback scene offers a way for old Kirk to be in the movie without having to bring him back from the dead. Voilá, canon respected.

Another way to involve old Kirk is to say: 'What if Kirk isn't dead at all?'
What if the Kirk we saw dying in 'Generations', the Kirk who disappeared into the Nexus, met Picard and saved the day against Soran, wasn't Kirk?
There could have been a swap made by an unknown party before the time of 'Generations', the real Kirk being abducted and replaced by a genetic replica, undistinguishable from the real thing by medical technology in that era. All this time, the real Kirk being locked away somewhere in cryogenic state, waiting to be rescued. A ploy by enemies of the Federation to gain influence in Starfleet and the Federation by using the popularity and sway Kirk has in that society. Unfortunately for them, their clone was a little too perfect, and really believed he was Kirk and wanted to make a difference one last time, be the hero.

This last idea is a stretch since they're never going to use it in this movie, it takes up too much time since it could easily be made into a film on it's own à la 'The Search For Spock'. This film is all about starting over, passing the torch to a new generation of actors to portray the early days of Trek again. No more TOS movie era Trek, but a startover. No more need for old Kirk, except for possible sentimental value this film has in saying goodbye (again) to old beloved characters before they're rebooted/reimagined/reintroduced as younger versions.
And even in bookform it's not needed, since Shatner himself did a Kirk resurrection in one of his novels.

What I'm trying to say here is, if they're still whining over how to involve Kirk in this film, they're on a wrong track. There's so many ways to do it, and still it's not done? Come on, get with the program. Either do it, or don't do it, just quit bringing it up every once in a while. It get's old.