My head-canon is that there is no retconm, or at least no need for one.

We’ve seen in ST SNW that where the Gorn are concerned, the younger they are, the faster and dumber they are.

Pike and his crew have only directly encountered hatchlings, adolescents and a very few Gorn of age to serve on starships, perhaps the Gorn equivalent of redshirts.

The logical extension of that idea is that as Gorn mature, they become slower, burlier and more intelligent. The Gorn Kirk encountered in Arena may have a very mature individual, thus his slow, lumbering pace and extreme cunning. Probably overdue for a promotion to admiral.

You forgot Alka Seltzer’s “Mama mia, that’s a spicy meatball!”

I’d be much more likely to watch Muppet Dark City if Jennifer Connelly was the only human cast member.