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New Treks Timeline, what can't change?

Posted: 2009-06-16 11:35pm
by Crossroads Inc.
A friend of mine was talking about the new trek and the topic of what "the future" holds. Basically, what has happened to Earth, other planets has been fucked as far as original timeline, so we discussed thing that might be "set in stone" For instance... NO mater what happens to the Trek verse from Nero or others, is it a fair bet to say that, in 10 or 20years or so, a certain "V'ger" is destined to show up? Or a Whale probe? Does anyone think that certain events that, if you think about it, would be destined to happen, will be revisited?

Re: New Treks Timeline, what can't change?

Posted: 2009-06-17 12:17am
by Patrick Degan
If the writers are smart, they'll just develop the world they've now got and not worry about trying to shoehorn-in elements from the TOS continuity or any continuity. Just from the evident state of Earth society in the movie and the engineering level of a starship like the Kelvin, it can be inferred that World War III never happened, nor was there any tyranny of genetic supermen or a post-atomic period of devastation which disrupted Earth's progression into space, so the pattern was already radically different from the jump —even before Nero ever arrived on the scene.

Re: New Treks Timeline, what can't change?

Posted: 2009-06-17 12:30am
by Alyeska
Because this is a Reset, everything can change.

Re: New Treks Timeline, what can't change?

Posted: 2009-06-17 03:11am
by Darth Fanboy
Since it's an alternate reality, nothing has to happen at all. V'ger, the whale proble, Janeway,none of these disasters ever need to happen.

Re: New Treks Timeline, what can't change?

Posted: 2009-06-17 03:26am
by Darth Wong
Everything can change, but when the writers run out of ideas, you can get they will borrow stories from the old Star Trek. Hopefully they won't borrow the really bad ones, like that idiotic V'Ger story.

Re: New Treks Timeline, what can't change?

Posted: 2009-06-17 03:45am
by Patrick Degan
Darth Wong wrote:Everything can change, but when the writers run out of ideas, you can get they will borrow stories from the old Star Trek. Hopefully they won't borrow the really bad ones, like that idiotic V'Ger story.
Which idiotic V'ger story? The one that was the first movie or the one which was that awful TV series with Kate Mulgrew? 8)

I'd doubt they'd do a rehash of TMP in a rebooted series. But the whale probe is a possibility. So is TFF. I'd hope they'd just forget them all and simply create a new continuity. There's more than enough material to borrow from the books, but some of that is fairly rancid as well.

Another dread possibility and a far more likely one: mirror-universe.

Re: New Treks Timeline, what can't change?

Posted: 2009-06-17 07:52am
by Gemini-Preserver
I would like to see them encounter a version of the Doomsday machine. Or the possiblity of the M5 unit making a reappreance.

Re: New Treks Timeline, what can't change?

Posted: 2009-06-17 07:55am
by Lusankya
Patrick Degan wrote:Another dread possibility and a far more likely one: mirror-universe.
It'd be kinda cool if they did that like Trials and Tribble-ations by editing in old stock footage. Obviously it wouldn't be quite the same as the mirror universe, but I'd probably enjoy it if they did it well.

Re: New Treks Timeline, what can't change?

Posted: 2009-06-17 10:54am
by FedRebel
Crossroads Inc. wrote:A friend of mine was talking about the new trek and the topic of what "the future" holds. Basically, what has happened to Earth, other planets has been fucked as far as original timeline, so we discussed thing that might be "set in stone" For instance... NO mater what happens to the Trek verse from Nero or others, is it a fair bet to say that, in 10 or 20years or so, a certain "V'ger" is destined to show up? Or a Whale probe? Does anyone think that certain events that, if you think about it, would be destined to happen, will be revisited?
I think we're forgiving time travel instances in the original timeline, specifically by Kirk & Co.

Without those adventures to Earth's past there could very well be no Voyager 6 to facilitate V'Ger, no humpback extinction to facilitate a Whale Probe, etc.

That leaves the Doomsday Machine, Space Amoeba, the Kelvans', and anything else not native to the galaxy to deal with.

Re: New Treks Timeline, what can't change?

Posted: 2009-06-17 11:53am
by CDiehl
That leaves the Doomsday Machine, Space Amoeba, the Kelvans', and anything else not native to the galaxy to deal with.
Why, necessarily? Since this universe doesn't have an identical past to the one from the original series, why must it have an identical future? If, for some unfathomable reason, these events have to take place, I hope they don't show them to us. It would be depressing if the producers went to the trouble of separating this storyline from the original just to turn it into a clone of the original.
Another dread possibility and a far more likely one: mirror-universe.
There's no need for that. This universe is a mirror-universe as it is, similar to but not identical to the original. I don't see the value of aping the series in this manner.

Re: New Treks Timeline, what can't change?

Posted: 2009-06-17 01:10pm
by tim31
The mirror universe concept was so convoluted that even South Park ripped on it; after that, no writer for any Star Trek material had any excuse, but they still went ahead anyway. In a mirror, darkly gets a pass from me because it was so much nostalgic fun.

Re: New Treks Timeline, what can't change?

Posted: 2009-06-17 02:31pm
by VT-16
The writers went out of their way telling people in interviews that certain events not influenced by Nero (for instance V'Ger, the Whale Probe, and unless it's been in a pissing contest with the Narada, the Doomsday Machine), will all show up in this timeline as well. Not that they'd be obligated to do stories with them, they just mentioned things like that in passing.

The only possible thing I heard about revisiting anything, was Khan, but even that was just a thought, nothing solid that would indicate what the next film would be about.

Also, the Kelvin exists in the prime timeline, given the appearance of the black hole and the Narada is the thing that makes the timelines diverge. In the original timeline, the Kelvin reaches Earth and Kirk is born in Iowa.

Re: New Treks Timeline, what can't change?

Posted: 2009-06-17 03:07pm
by Samuel
VT-16 wrote:The writers went out of their way telling people in interviews that certain events not influenced by Nero (for instance V'Ger, the Whale Probe, and unless it's been in a pissing contest with the Narada, the Doomsday Machine), will all show up in this timeline as well. Not that they'd be obligated to do stories with them, they just mentioned things like that in passing.

The only possible thing I heard about revisiting anything, was Khan, but even that was just a thought, nothing solid that would indicate what the next film would be about.

Also, the Kelvin exists in the prime timeline, given the appearance of the black hole and the Narada is the thing that makes the timelines diverge. In the original timeline, the Kelvin reaches Earth and Kirk is born in Iowa.
Wait... the Narada popped out that close to Earth :wtf:

Re: New Treks Timeline, what can't change?

Posted: 2009-06-17 03:11pm
by Bounty
Or Kirk's mother went into premature labour during the attack and the medical staff didn't have the time or means to stop the contractions, what with the ship breaking up and all.

Re: New Treks Timeline, what can't change?

Posted: 2009-06-17 04:06pm
by Stark
VT-16 wrote:Also, the Kelvin exists in the prime timeline, given the appearance of the black hole and the Narada is the thing that makes the timelines diverge. In the original timeline, the Kelvin reaches Earth and Kirk is born in Iowa.
Oh dear.

Re: New Treks Timeline, what can't change?

Posted: 2009-06-17 05:19pm
by VT-16
Hey, I like the Kelvin, as dirty and bloated the design is. :P It seems to be an explorer vessel, basically an early version of the Galaxy-class's function. Might make some sense that it's large to withstand prolonged voyages far from Federation territory, with lots of food and shuttles and stuff.

I'm trying to find the various interviews or transcripts that relate to the director and screenwriter interviews where they answer some timeline questions. One thing I found, was that Kirk's mother, Winona, was a Starfleet officer, not a regular civilian, on board the Kelvin (the answer is under "Families on board?"). So there is no "families on spaceships" brainbug in this part of history.

There's an interesting debate made with Robert Orci and Alex Kurtzman on TrekMovie.com regarding timeline issues. The final question and answer on the page relates to the "prime" timeline and where it ends. I "Oh dear"-d through most of it, btw. :P

Re: New Treks Timeline, what can't change?

Posted: 2009-06-17 05:27pm
by Simon_Jester
Gemini-Preserver wrote:I would like to see them encounter a version of the Doomsday machine. Or the possiblity of the M5 unit making a reappreance.
Seconded.

Especially the idea of the M5. In this setting, Starfleet ships already have an autopilot that appears to be capable of fighting the ship (though it can be put out of action by severe damage). The M5 module would be a logical "software upgrade" to the existing shipboard AI.

Re: New Treks Timeline, what can't change?

Posted: 2009-06-17 05:42pm
by Stark
VT-16 wrote:Hey, I like the Kelvin, as dirty and bloated the design is. :P It seems to be an explorer vessel, basically an early version of the Galaxy-class's function. Might make some sense that it's large to withstand prolonged voyages far from Federation territory, with lots of food and shuttles and stuff.

I'm trying to find the various interviews or transcripts that relate to the director and screenwriter interviews where they answer some timeline questions. One thing I found, was that Kirk's mother, Winona, was a Starfleet officer, not a regular civilian, on board the Kelvin (the answer is under "Families on board?"). So there is no "families on spaceships" brainbug in this part of history.

There's an interesting debate made with Robert Orci and Alex Kurtzman on TrekMovie.com regarding timeline issues. The final question and answer on the page relates to the "prime" timeline and where it ends. I "Oh dear"-d through most of it, btw. :P
The salient point might be that the 'prime' timeline is almost certainly not the TOS-TNG timeline, if Nero is really the point of divergence (which he obviously isn't).

Re: New Treks Timeline, what can't change?

Posted: 2009-06-17 05:46pm
by Bilbo
Because Trek writers love them one can assume the Borg can still easily show up. They appeared without being seen in the finale of STNG season 1 without Q interference.

Re: New Treks Timeline, what can't change?

Posted: 2009-06-17 07:03pm
by Gandalf
Perhaps the anomaly that spewed forth Nero opened a long time before Nero actually came out, thereby leading Starfleet to dispatch the Kelvin to what appeared to just be another wacky special effect in space.

Re: New Treks Timeline, what can't change?

Posted: 2009-06-17 07:19pm
by tim31
VT-16 wrote:One thing I found, was that Kirk's mother, Winona, was a Starfleet officer, not a regular civilian, on board the Kelvin (the answer is under "Families on board?"). So there is no "families on spaceships" brainbug in this part of history.
I've been saying that since day dot. She was probably a viral xenoimmunologist or something with the medical staff.

Re: New Treks Timeline, what can't change?

Posted: 2009-06-17 08:11pm
by VT-16
Stark wrote:The salient point might be that the 'prime' timeline is almost certainly not the TOS-TNG timeline, if Nero is really the point of divergence (which he obviously isn't).
Well, the "black hole" he came out of, is, technically. No hole -> no diverting the Kelvin from its original course.

Re: New Treks Timeline, what can't change?

Posted: 2009-06-17 08:14pm
by Stark
Uh, no. Y'know the way Earth is different, the ship is way too large, history appears to be different, politics is different, etc? It's clearly totally unrelated to the TOS timeline. Abrams can say Nero's destruction of the Kelvin is the change point from the 'old' timeline all he wants; he's wrong.

Re: New Treks Timeline, what can't change?

Posted: 2009-06-17 08:41pm
by tim31
He's playing appeaser to the diehard trek fundamentalists. Let's leave it at that.

Re: New Treks Timeline, what can't change?

Posted: 2009-06-17 09:30pm
by VT-16
Stark, none of those things figured into the movie, so how can you tell? Although the Kelvin is huge, but that's not necessarily impossible, just not a scale shown in TOS stories before.
tim31 wrote:He's playing appeaser to the diehard trek fundamentalists.
Some of which appear in that Q&A, if I read their whining correctly. :lol: