Differences Between TOS and Abrams Version (SPOILERS)

[Skylon]

Spoilers ahead, if you haven't seen the new Star Trek.

At the suggestion of one of the posters for the Trek review thread, I figured the changes to the timeline should be noted in a separate thread (I can also hide so many things in spoiler tags before I get cranky).

Before going into differences, there is some stuff in this movie that can easily fit into the normal TOS continuity.

- The USS Kelvin was a Federation Starship that Kirk's father served aboard. In the normal continuity Kirk's dad lived to see his son assume command the Enterprise.
- The presence of Kirk's mother may indicate an early example of TNG's habit of having families aboard Starships, but, I don't buy it. She may have been a civilian scientist attached to the Kelvin, which goes with the USS Grissom in ST 3, which had civilians attached to it.
- Some private companies, like Nokia, Jack Daniels and Budweiser survived into the 23rd Century (these are the first cases of product placement in Trek I can think of since ST IV).
- Stardates were measured differently in 2233, than they later would be in TOS and TNG. The Kelvin's Captain cites the stardate as 2233 point something. The first part of the date is apparently the year, followed by the decimal and other numbers, perhaps indicating the month and day.
- I see no reason to imagine Spock's childhood turning out differently in TOS continuity.
- Starfleet continues its practice of having shit security within its borders. Whatever Starships were in Earth orbit had to be hastily put into action utilizing cadets to fill positions aboard them, to investigate what was happening on Vulcan.

Differences, and some possible reasons for the changes where possible, note I'm shooting for differences that were in place before events ramped up in the film:
- Chekov was born earlier than he was in TOS - he was stated to be 22 in 2267, during TOS, giving a birthdate of 2245. In the film he is 17 in 2258, making the birthday 2241. I suppose his parents had a child earlier, and instead of the Chekov we all know and love, got some uber-kid-genius who is a Starfleet cadet, or officer at 17.
- In the absence of a USS Enterprise being built in 2245, Spock is instead an academy instructor in the 2250's.
- Likewise for Christopher Pike.
- Significant design changes were made to the Constitution-Class vessels, and the entire production run (the USS Enterprise for sure) may have been delayed into the 2250's. A purely conjectural reason for this, is perhaps someone aboard the Kelvin would have gone on to help make sure the Connie's were launched on time, and in the configuration we saw.

Feel free to add.

[General Zod]

- Starfleet continues its practice of having shit security within its borders. Whatever Starships were in Earth orbit had to be hastily put into action utilizing cadets to fill positions aboard them, to investigate what was happening on Vulcan.

iirc, the rest of Starfleet was occupied somewhere else and couldn't be diverted, so they had to make due with what they had.

[Academia Nut]

-Apparently the Cardassian's were contacted about a century earlier than originally as Uhuru was seen ordering a Cardassian drink in the bar scene
-Somehow the Federation learned about the links between Romulans and Vulcans years ahead of schedule as Spock uses this link as the reason he should be beamed over to the Nerada. Potentially this could be tied to the Nerada's appearance and the destruction of the Kelvin sparking off enough tensions between the Federation and the Romulans that talks were engaged, although considering the fact that the crew of the Kelvin wouldn't have known they were meeting Romulans and apparently the Nerada didn't go to Romulan space and make them the most powerful empire in the region this is a little iffy

[Worlds Spanner]

And for that matter about Romulans ahead of schedule.

[Skylon]

And for that matter about Romulans ahead of schedule.

Romulans would have been known about by this point. The Romulan War took place about 100 years before TOS. However, nobody had ever seen a Romulan prior to TOS.

Also, the name USS Hood does not seem to have been attached to a Constitution-Class Starship as it was in TOS.

The term "warbird" has been taken by the Klingons (or is a Starfleet designation) to classify their battle cruisers. Based on the glimpse of them during the Kobyashi Maru test, they don't look much different than the Klingon D-7's from TOS...but it was a quick look.

[Bounty]

- Starfleet continues its practice of having shit security within its borders. Whatever Starships were in Earth orbit had to be hastily put into action utilizing cadets to fill positions aboard them, to investigate what was happening on Vulcan.

The "main fleet" was occupied elsewhere.

Also... it was a rescue mission. There were hardly enough cadets around to crew even one ship, so the cadets getting sent up was probably less a case of "we need these people" and more one of "the more qualified personnel we get up there in the next ten minutes, the better".

-Somehow the Federation learned about the links between Romulans and Vulcans years ahead of schedule as Spock uses this link as the reason he should be beamed over to the Nerada. Potentially this could be tied to the Nerada's appearance and the destruction of the Kelvin sparking off enough tensions between the Federation and the Romulans that talks were engaged, although considering the fact that the crew of the Kelvin wouldn't have known they were meeting Romulans and apparently the Nerada didn't go to Romulan space and make them the most powerful empire in the region this is a little iffy

Most of the Kelvin's bridge crew survived. They've seen the alien crew and they must have noticed they look like fucked-up Vulcans. I guess their report prompted to Vulcans to open up about their history twenty years ahead of schedule.

-Apparently the Cardassian's were contacted about a century earlier than originally as Uhuru was seen ordering a Cardassian drink in the bar scene

This isn't technically a mistake, since at least one Cardassian lived on Vulcan before the TOS era and a few were seen in the background in Enterprise. If there was no official contact, they were at least moving in the same circles as Starfleet.

[Skylon]

- Starfleet continues its practice of having shit security within its borders. Whatever Starships were in Earth orbit had to be hastily put into action utilizing cadets to fill positions aboard them, to investigate what was happening on Vulcan.

The "main fleet" was occupied elsewhere.

Was it stated what they were occupied with? Presumably not the Klingons, who had just gotten a fleet of forty-something ships trashed by Nero.

I suppose it was better than the old plot-device of "the Enterprise is the only ship in range!" to "The Enterprise, and these other ships are the only ones in range".

[General Zod]

Was it stated what they were occupied with? Presumably not the Klingons, who had just gotten a fleet of forty-something ships trashed by Nero.

I believe they mentioned it but fuck if I remember who.

[Lord Revan]

Was it stated what they were occupied with? Presumably not the Klingons, who had just gotten a fleet of forty-something ships trashed by Nero.

I believe they mentioned it but fuck if I remember who.

there was talk about a fleet in the laurentian (or something) system, but I think they never said exactly where it was.

[Bounty]

They never explicitly say what they're doing out there, just that the fleet is stuck in that system.

And Earth wasn't exactly *defenceless*. Half a dozen ships were scrambled in hours at best, and even with that fleet gone Nero still needed the defence systems' access codes to get to Earth.

[General Zod]

Another difference. In ST 2 when they used the brain-stem worms, they went in through the ear canal, but in the new movie Nero just dropped them in the mouth. Seems a bit strange they'd do it that way.

[Skylon]

Another difference. In ST 2 when they used the brain-stem worms, they went in through the ear canal, but in the new movie Nero just dropped them in the mouth. Seems a bit strange they'd do it that way.

I think they were different creatures. Nero said some other planet, not Ceti Alpha 5, when describing them.

[Bounty]

"Centaurian slugs". It's strange they decided to change the name, but in a way I'm glad I did. It's always better to have a new and creepy alien bug, even if it's just a Ceti Alpha Eel with a makeover.

[Academia Nut]

I think he called them Centauri brain worms or something like that. I'm pretty sure they were visually different from the ST2 parasites as well.

Nero needing the defence system access codes is still pretty atrocious security because I don't see how a five mile long death machine crewed by Romulans can in any way pretend to be a Federation ship returning, and if a single captain has the authority to deactivate the entire Sol defence grid such that it apparently can't be turned back on when said five mile long death machine shows up then that's terrible security.

[General Zod]

I think he called them Centauri brain worms or something like that. I'm pretty sure they were visually different from the ST2 parasites as well.

Nero needing the defence system access codes is still pretty atrocious security because I don't see how a five mile long death machine crewed by Romulans can in any way pretend to be a Federation ship returning, and if a single captain has the authority to deactivate the entire Sol defence grid such that it apparently can't be turned back on when said five mile long death machine shows up then that's terrible security.

Maybe it's less of shutting down the defense grid, and more giving a signal to the defense grid that "Yes, we are a friendly ship. Don't fire on us."?

[Academia Nut]

Hence the first bit about my statement that such would not work long unless the guys in charge of the defences are retarded, what with the fact that the Nerada is clearly not a Federation ship and is also clearly not the sort of thing you would want to let just freely waltz into Earth orbit. There should be some guy going, "You know, these are Pike's authentic codes, but there's something about that ship that makes me think its not the Enterprise..."

[Bounty]

Perhaps he just needed the codes to get into the system? Once he's close to Earth there's pretty much nothing that can stop him before he drops the red matter.

That said, I would have liked to see some effort on Starfleet's part to go after the drill, or at least some acknowledgement that they tried. I have a hard time believing the Spockmobile was the only ship that attacked it.

[General Zod]

Perhaps he just needed the codes to get into the system? Once he's close to Earth there's pretty much nothing that can stop him before he drops the red matter.

That said, I would have liked to see some effort on Starfleet's part to go after the drill, or at least some acknowledgement that they tried. I have a hard time believing the Spockmobile was the only ship that attacked it.

They'd already scrambled all their ships earlier, and the rest of the fleet was occupied, so what else could they send?

[Academia Nut]

Well obviously there was something or there would have been no point for Nero to torture the codes out of Pike.

[Bounty]

Perhaps he just needed the codes to get into the system? Once he's close to Earth there's pretty much nothing that can stop him before he drops the red matter.

That said, I would have liked to see some effort on Starfleet's part to go after the drill, or at least some acknowledgement that they tried. I have a hard time believing the Spockmobile was the only ship that attacked it.

They'd already scrambled all their ships earlier, and the rest of the fleet was occupied, so what else could they send?

They have that big-ass starbase sitting in orbit. Just because the ships are gone doesn't mean there's no defences left.

And you won't convince me there aren't police craft or armed shuttles or *something* they could send against that drill.

[Havok]

I don't think that having a drink called a Cardassian sunrise, necessarily indicates actual contact. I doubt it is actually a Cardassian beverage.

[General Zod]

They have that big-ass starbase sitting in orbit. Just because the ships are gone doesn't mean there's no defences left.

What could the Starbase do? All the Nerada would have to do is fly on the other side of the planet where it was out of range. Or blow it up.

And you won't convince me there aren't police craft or armed shuttles or *something* they could send against that drill.

What makes you think they would have done more except get destroyed futilely?

[General Zod]

I don't think that having a drink called a Cardassian sunrise, necessarily indicates actual contact. I doubt it is actually a Cardassian beverage.

Not a Cardassian beverage, no. But something's not terribly likely to become a popular drink if people aren't at least aware of what it's named after.

[Havok]

Well obviously Federation defenses pose some sort of threat to Nero or why would he need to get codes from Pike to presumably deactivate them?

[Havok]

I don't think that having a drink called a Cardassian sunrise, necessarily indicates actual contact. I doubt it is actually a Cardassian beverage.

Not a Cardassian beverage, no. But something's not terribly likely to become a popular drink if people aren't at least aware of what it's named after.

It's popular because it is a gimmick drink. If I'm not mistaken that is the drink where if you ping the glass, it activates the "sunrise" effect.