Enterprise had a two parter in the Mirror Universe. It was as cartoony as it ever was. Porthos was a Rottweiler.
The divergence occured in Earth's past. Enterprise showed a very different history that meant the separation was in the 1700-1800's at least.
You guys are right of course. This would have to be a different mirror universe, which would be confusing-- too many universes, like that TNG episode with ships from thousands of universes converged.
I never understood the need for the Kelvin universe. I think they should have made a whole new franchise. The only purpose the Kelvin universe serves is to create new characters and get the name recognition of "Star Trek", "Kirk", "Spock", etc. I would have been much less likely to see a sci-fi movie that the producers said was based on the characters and spirit of Star Trek. But they called it Star Trek, so I saw it the first night.
Even though it doesn't work for these reasons, I really like the notion that Voq is a wildcard that changes history and causes humanity, which had been climbing away form its barbarous past, slowly begins to return to its old ways. I really liked TOS's
Mirror, Mirror because Spock fit in so well. I could imagine if Spock had been born into a totalitarian world, he may have protested and become a fugitive or he may have found some low-ranking scientific job not directly affected by the empire. It also seems believable he'd do a good job and rise in the ranks of the evil Star Fleet. He'd act evil when necessary, but when he has a choice he would be a force for good. He would know the system is flawed and will eventually be overthrown in hundreds of years, but he would tell himself "One man cannot summon the future." He's a believer in the "trends and forces" view of history as opposed to the "great man" view. Kirk convinces him to try to be a "great man" and change the course of history. For some reason, it was totally believable to me. It's how I would be living hundreds of years ago, working on the navigation technology that made the British Empire dominant and eventually made slave trade possible. Someone from another universe comes and says your world is unjust. "Okay, I can't solve the world's problems, but I'm supposed to get this chronometer tolerance to be less affected by actual nautical conditions. Maybe one day people won't be slaves, and rebels against the empire will create some kind of utopian republic, which in your idealistic dreams would be based on on John Locke's philosophical writings, but what does that dream have to do with me? I've got a demo coming up at the Royal Observatory Greenwich!"
I agree the timing is wrong for Discovery to go this direction though.
