Applying Star Trek (2009) to Star Trek First Contact

[Baffalo]

Alright, just like before, I'm going to try and apply the time travel rules established by star Trek (2009) to another Star Trek time travel episode, in this case Star Trek First Contact.

The movie starts with the Enterprise E being excluded from the major battle against the Borg over Earth, and the Big E shows up just in time for Picard to sense a weakness in the Borg defenses and destroy the cube. However, before complete destruction occurs, a sphere ejects itself and heads for Earth. Picard orders pursuit, and then the sphere creates a chronometric field, preparing to go back in time. The moment the sphere created that chronometric sphere, to all outside observers, it ceased to exist. Why? Because, as per the rules of Star Trek (2009), any time travel back to the past creates a new universe.

Now, here comes the argument that we saw Earth assimilated, but why didn't it affect the Enterprise? Because anything that came into contact with the chronometric field came into contact with the creation of a new universe. And we saw that the Borg sphere went through to the past first, BEFORE the Enterprise E came into contact with the field. It was only after they were enveloped by the field that we saw the Earth having been assimilated. To the outside universe, the Enterprise E disappeared after pursuing a strange Borg sphere, and after the field collapsed, were never seen again. They were the most tragic losses of the Battle of Earth, and no doubt their loss would be greatly felt by Starfleet.

Now, if we saw the Earth assimilated in the future, why was the Enterprise able to go back through the same opening in time and defeat the Borg to prevent assimilation? Because if we view Star Trek (2009) carefully, despite there being an identical event that caused both Spock Prime and Nero to travel to the past, Nero came out first. His ship was affected first, and therefor he was able to cause the initial creation of a new universe. Same situation here, in that both ships were affected by the same disturbance. It's just that for a brief instant, until the Enterprise fully entered the field, they were able to glimpse the future if they did nothing. We'll call this the Marty McFly effect, in which an observer from the future can witness events changing due to their action or inaction.

So what happens after the Enterprise E destroys the Borg in the past and ensures history mirrors what they remember? Well, we saw part of the fallout from this when ENT had to deal with the Borg. I said that the time travel caused a new universe, and it just so happens that in it, Zephram Cochran reveals he spoke with time travellers, that some Borg did end up on Earth, and that an entirely new series of events was spawned. Before the events of First Contact, there was no mention of the original Enterprise on the refit Enterprise Wall of Honor, but that's because, prior to the Enterprise E's time travel, Archer's Enterprise DIDN'T EXIST. I'm going to get yelled at, but it's true. Zephram Cochran knew the name of the Enterprise E as being the Enterprise, so when he built his Warp 5 engine, he wanted it put in a vessel named ENTERPRISE.

Now I know that above statement will catch me some flack, but it perfectly fits what we see and observe. Jonathan Archer might NOT have been chosen to lead the original Warp 5 ship, but due to other actions caused by the timeline's changing, he becomes a very important person and eventually an admiral and beyond. That's why in Star Trek (2009) they made reference to Admiral Archer's prized beagle. I imagine that if we saw a wall of honor similar to the one seen in TMP, it would include a picture of Archer's Enterprise, for no other reason than it exists in the new universe and not in the old one.

[Swindle1984]

Eh, I suppose it works. It explains why ENT has zero mention in TOS, TNG, DS9, and VOY, and retcons a bunch of stuff. Plus it shuffles it off into its own, separate continuity where it belongs.

So when the Enterprise E returned to the future, what timeline did it end up in?

And did we start TNG watching one timeline, then end it watching a different timeline from Yesterday's Enterprise onward?

[Baffalo]

Eh, I suppose it works. It explains why ENT has zero mention in TOS, TNG, DS9, and VOY, and retcons a bunch of stuff. Plus it shuffles it off into its own, separate continuity where it belongs.

So when the Enterprise E returned to the future, what timeline did it end up in?

And did we start TNG watching one timeline, then end it watching a different timeline from Yesterday's Enterprise onward?

When the Enterprise E returned to the future, it returned to the future it had helped to create. As far as Yesterday's Enterprise is concerned, there are so many instances of time travel that it'll take a bit to discover every single point in which a new universe was created, because time travel has occurred multiple times throughout the series, not just on Yesterday's Enterprise.

[Baffalo]

This is the first I plan to do, using Memory Alpha's listing of time-travel events. If I miss something, sorry.