Plot hole to JJ trek than the eagles in LOTR.

In LOTR you could at least make the argument the millions of orcs would shoot 'em down like the Luftwaffe over London, but the Trans-warp beaming and 5-minute jaunt to the Klingon home land kind of make star ships useless.

That said, the intro to Into Darkness with the indigenous people was brilliant. Enterprise underwater aside (a topic for another thread), the color scheme and character interaction was 100% classic Trek, original series style. I loved it. A bit more of that and a bit less squid looking alien ships with no hand rails and the franchise will be fine.