Nothing is Changed (spoilers)

[A l t e r E g o 9]

TrekMovie EXCLUSIVE: Bob Orci Explains How The New Star Trek Movie Fits With Trek Canon (and Real Science)

 

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All of the above (link) can be a bit much to take in, and to paraphrase Captain Janeway ‘time travel gives you a headache.’ In reality you really won’t need to understand any of this to watch the movie. The above (link) explains (in possibly too much detail) how the film resolves both the paradox of how the movie can appear different, but fit within canon, as well as how the film resolves the traditional paradoxes associated with time travel. So here it is in a simpler FAQ.

 

Click for Spoiler:

Q: Why do some things appear different in the new Star Trek movie?

A: There is an alternative timeline created by Nero traveling back in time.

 

Q: Is everything different in the alternative timeline?

A: No, some things remain the same.

 

Q: Does this alternative timeline wipe out the original timeline (from TOS -Nemesis)?

A: No, quantum theory says they both co-exist.

 

Q: Does the original timeline continue?

A: Yes, again as explained by quantum theory.

 

Q: Does this quantum theory approach conform to ‘Trek science?’

A: Depends on the episode, but it is explicitly cited by Data in the episode “Parallels.”

 

And the really GOOD news is;

Click for Spoiler:

opportunity for us to sometime revisit the OT in the future is wide open!

[Jack_Bauer 1]

Click for Spoiler:

I read this article months ago and it does work.

In fact, I have seen the argument made that what we view as the prime timeline of Stat Trek could really be a patchwork of several different timelines. We generally don't notice as most time travel incidents do not result is such irreversible changes that go unprevented.

For instance, the argument has been made that the last four TNG movies take place in four distinct timelines. We begin in the timeline where Generations starts. A new timeline is created when Kirk and Picard exit the Nexus. So we now have a timeline where Soran succeeded and one where he is stopped. We then follow the new timeline, even though he did succeed in the original timeline.

First Contact then follows in this timeline until the Borg travel back. The TNG crew follow them and prevent their assimilation of Earth. However, events are not identical to what they had been previously occurred (due to the involvement of the TNG crew and the Borg in these events). When the TNG crew return to the future they are now in another different timeline as while the events of first contact have still occurred, they just occurred slightly differently.

There's no time travel in Insurrection, so Insurrection takes place in the same timeline as the end of First Contact (However, there are a few episodes in the interim that deal with time travel, may not be identical).

Nemesis takes place in an entirely different timeline than Insurrection, because of Admiral Janeway's alternation of the timeline to get Voyager home sooner.

See that's just the previous four movies. According to Memory Alpha, there have been 40 instances of time travel of some form in Star Trek. That's up to 40 distinct timelines that our characters have moved into without us even knowing for the simple reason that no one else have ever "achieved" as much as Nero did in changing the past.