IIRC, he said in an interview once that he liked Star Wars, but didn't like/was ambivalent towards Trek because he had problems with the characterisation, the philosophy, and so on.
Maybe it was because it had characterization and philosophy.
The following [spoiler] rants on the rebooted Star Trek:
Let's skip over the original Star Trek canon of Kirk being brilliant and driven and make him a resourceful juvenile delinquent instead. Let's put the flagship out on cruise with a bunch of cadets running it. Let's have an idiotic plot device. I'll spot him that.
Killing Vulcan? Spock, and the Vulcans, were essential to the core of Star Trek by giving us a baseline to view ourselves. Gene Roddenberry fought hard to keep Spock after narrow-minded TV execs (the precursor to Mr. Abrams, apparently) told him to get rid of the Satanic-looking alien. I mean, Roddenberry threatened to fall on his sword over it. Spock, and the Vulcans, were the lens through which we could view ourselves, all the beauty spots*, all the warts**.
And apparently, they were inconvenient, because they lacked dramatic punch or something. Sorry. I'm not forgiving this one.
*Such as when McCoy says he feels sorry for what Spock will never know - the glorious victories, the glorious defeats, the love, the passion. I can't remember exactly, but it was the good side of emotion.
**The comments on racism and xenophobia were central to the time the show was originally made and, I submit, will stay relevant for humans for some time.
Killing Vulcan? Spock, and the Vulcans, were essential to the core of Star Trek by giving us a baseline to view ourselves. Gene Roddenberry fought hard to keep Spock after narrow-minded TV execs (the precursor to Mr. Abrams, apparently) told him to get rid of the Satanic-looking alien. I mean, Roddenberry threatened to fall on his sword over it. Spock, and the Vulcans, were the lens through which we could view ourselves, all the beauty spots*, all the warts**.
And apparently, they were inconvenient, because they lacked dramatic punch or something. Sorry. I'm not forgiving this one.
*Such as when McCoy says he feels sorry for what Spock will never know - the glorious victories, the glorious defeats, the love, the passion. I can't remember exactly, but it was the good side of emotion.
**The comments on racism and xenophobia were central to the time the show was originally made and, I submit, will stay relevant for humans for some time.
So sure, maybe Mr. Abrams will work better with a show that has little bearing to our present existence and whose prevailing philosophy is an analog for tapping some mystical power of God. Not that there's anything wrong with that.