The totally official, all head-canon Unified Timeline Theory of the Trek Multiverse

[Mudd]

Miss Elk: "My theory by A. Elk. Brackets Miss, brackets. This theory goes as follows and begins now. All brontosauruses are thin at one end, much, much thicker in the middle and then thin again at the far end. That is my theory, it is mine, and belongs to me and I own it, and what it is too."




The heretofore-designated "Prime timeline" is referred to herein as the "ENT/STD/PIC timeline." It's a branch universe created from the original TOS/TNG/DS9 universe by the events of the movie First Contact. The events of those TV series take place in a universe that splits to become the TOS/TNG/DS9 and ENT/STD/PIC timelines.

History between Cochrane's flight and TOS is different between the TOS/TNG/DS9 and ENT/STD/PIC timelines, which is why the pre-Narada incursion universe of Star Trek 2009 differs from the world portrayed in the TOS episode "The Cage" and other historical references that carry through to the end of DS9.

 

[Tim Thomason]

My timeline is this:

2063 ------> All Star Trek -----> 32nd Century

Except, Kelvin branches off of 2233.

Kirk fought in the Klingon War. He read about Archer at the Academy. His father served on the USS Kelvin.

 

[Mudd]

My timeline is this:

2063 ------> All Star Trek -----> 32nd Century

Except, Kelvin branches off of 2233.

Kirk fought in the Klingon War. He read about Archer at the Academy. His father served on the USS Kelvin.

There's no suggestion that Archer or the Kelvin didn't exist in all three timelines.

Which "Klingon War" did Kirk fight in? What are the details?*

Did Kirk mention Archer in any of the canon TOS/TNG/DS9 sources? I don't recall him coming up much in the TNG/DS9 era - a couple of times in passing, and some abbreviated appearances in "Trials And Tribbleations."

The only onscreen canon reference to Archer I can recall prior to the Borg Incursion timeline branch is Picard's reference to a world called "Archer IV" in "Yesterday's Enterprise." Of course, even that's complicated by the fact that we're in a fourth timeline when Picard mentions it.

The beauty of the Serveaux Head Canon Unified Star Trek Timeline is that it eliminates far more problems than it creates while requiring that little or nothing be absolutely discarded in order for all onscreen sources to coexist rather well.

It even provides some cover for the Star Trek "literary universe" novels and stories that, while not canon, have been rendered incompatible with any continuity that assumes only two timelines. With two points of branching, one can allow the possibility that several other versions of first contact between Vulcans and humans, for example, might still be part of the TOS/TNG/DS9 timeline, just as the post-DS9 and Voyager (oh yeah, remember that show) novels don't have to contend with what's just been established in Star Trek: Picard. Whole eras of TOS/TNG/DS9 time that had been unexplored onscreen prior to Enterprise and Picard remain so.

*Similarly, when did TOS/TNG/DS9 Kirk mention his father serving on the Kelvin?

 

[Dukhat]

The only onscreen canon reference to Archer I can recall prior to the Borg Incursion timeline branch is Picard's reference to a world called "Archer IV" in "Yesterday's Enterprise." Of course, even that's complicated by the fact that we're in a fourth timeline when Picard mentions it.

The Archer IV planet being named after Jonathan Archer was just a retcon.

I like your theory, although if you use FC as the jumping off point, you have to take into account that Picard and the rest of the crew of the Enterprise-E were still the same people from the TOS/TNG/DS9/VOY universe; they would have returned to the 24th century of the ENT/STD/PIC universe to find that things had subtly (or not-so-subtly; i.e. there was now an NX-01 Enterprise when there wasn't one before...) changed.

 

[Nerys Myk]

I like this thread, It's exciting.

 

[Tim Thomason]

There's no suggestion that Archer or the Kelvin didn't exist in all three timelines.

Which "Klingon War" did Kirk fight in? What are the details?*

Did Kirk mention Archer in any of the canon TOS/TNG/DS9 sources? I don't recall him coming up much in the TNG/DS9 era - a couple of times in passing, and some abbreviated appearances in "Trials And Tribbleations."

The only onscreen canon reference to Archer I can recall prior to the Borg Incursion timeline branch is Picard's reference to a world called "Archer IV" in "Yesterday's Enterprise." Of course, even that's complicated by the fact that we're in a fourth timeline when Picard mentions it.

*Similarly, when did TOS/TNG/DS9 Kirk mention his father serving on the Kelvin?

Sorry, I wasn't clear. Kirk was referenced to be a soldier, but the wars he fought with (if he did, and it wasn't just an obscure reference to many martial adventures he likely had) are unchronicled. It's my belief that this was a reference to him fighting Klingons (and others? Tholians? Sheliak?) in the 2250s.

Basically, they tell us behind-the-scenes that this is all one universe, and I take them at face value (it's the old MAer in me). That The Cage and the Discoverse don't make sense is problematic, but that just makes trying to fit these legos together more fun, rather than shrugging and saying they're different timelines (or coming up with convoluted theories why they're not what they claim to be).

 

[F. King Daniel]

I used to care a lot about this kind of thing and once attempted to draw a Temporal Observatory thing of all the timelines we ever saw in Trek, but the deeper you go, the less anything holds together. The Voyager that makes it home in "Endgame" is absolutely not the one we see launch in "Caretaker". But then between which 2 blasts of the Krenim Delete Ray do the other Trek episodes and movies take place? And how does that resultant timeline (and all the ones created during "Year of Hell") tie into "Before and After"?

But the 30th century was spent fighting the Temporal Wars, which we saw bits of in Enterprise. Just like with Doctor Who, it excuses everything. No tech X from episode Y saving the day in adventure Z? Temporal war erased it.

And then there's this:

 

[Relayer1]

My timeline is this:

2063 ------> All Star Trek -----> 32nd Century

Except, Kelvin branches off of 2233.

Yeah, it's a straight line from first contact to Disco season three except for the Kelvin timeline branching off.

There's some errors and holes, but that's real world. The intent is a straight line.

 

[Mudd]

I like your theory, although if you use FC as the jumping off point, you have to take into account that Picard and the rest of the crew of the Enterprise-E were still the same people from the TOS/TNG/DS9/VOY universe; they would have returned to the 24th century of the ENT/STD/PIC universe to find that things had subtly (or not-so-subtly; i.e. there was now an NX-01 Enterprise when there wasn't one before...) changed.

Sure.

The beauty of this scheme is not that it explains everything - it's that it radically reduces the amount of stuff onscreen that has to be either explained or ignored in order to resolve apparent contradictions between various productions...if that's a thing that really matters to someone.

The reason it works in such a straightforward manner is that it's actually based on the production history and branching of the Trek productions. There have been two efforts to "prequelize" the TOS/TNG/DS9 continuity - Enterprise and the Abrams movies - both undertaken decades after the source material and based in very different and evolved production environments and market demands. They could not match the existing the continuity while succeeding in their own environments and on their own terms.

Personally I don't really get fussed by Trek's internal contradictions. This just struck me as fun when it occurred to me (and it's been proposed any number of times before, I have no doubt).

Similarly, I don't really care what the intent of the studio and the producers might be; I'm just working with the final product as presented.

My proposal works better than the two-timeline version.

 

[Tim Thomason]

Similarly, I don't really care what the intent of the studio and the producers might be; I'm just working with the final product as presented.

That's a very, valid point, and I've had to defend myself as a Barthesian in the past as well ("the author is dead" - Roland Barthes' often misinterpreted view, but it should apply easily to a multi-authored series like Star Trek). It's why I enjoy Timo's theories or stuff at the Daystrom Reddit that radically reinterpret what we see onscreen in fun and inventive ways.

On that note, multiple timelines work and is just as valid as the single timeline assumption. There's even tons of in-universe stuff that points to the timeline being rewritten from episode-to-episode (see: Gabriel Bell).

 

[Mudd]

Yeah, Trek has done so many time travel stories that there are a lot of opportunities to look at timeline branching.

There even used to be theories that the Mirror Universe resulted from Edith Keeler surviving.

(Oddly enough, my timeline branches would allow that as a possibility again. ).

I don't literally mean that I don't care about what the producers think and how things get done behind the scenes. Quite the opposite, I've been fascinated with it since the 1960s. I just think that the finished work either stands on its own and is material we can work with, without knowing its genesis, or it's not really worth a spit. After all, the number of people who will encounter and have thoughts about these stories is vastly greater than the number who will even pay attention to the names of the actors (let alone the writers. )

 

[1001001]

 

[BillJ]

I've had four timelines in my head since the Abramsverse started...

1) TOS, TAS, TMP.
2) Star Trek II - VI, TNG, DS9, VOY, TNG movies, Lower Decks.
3) First Contact (which actually exists in two timelines), ENT, DSC, Picard.
4) The Abramsverse.

Broad strokes are relatively the same, details are different. Star Trek, for me, is far more exciting as a multiverse than as a single timeline.

 

[fireproof78]

View attachment 19351

Too organized

On topic of this thread this is my view, though more simplified. That the events occurred within one timeline, being retold after the fact. In this view, the events and characters are the more important parts. The technical bits, what the ships look like, what the uniforms look like, how people spoke, are less important details that can be overwritten to a certain degree.

That's why TOS fitting in with Discovery is not a problem for me. TOS is just one telling of Enterprise's missions.

 

[Tim Thomason]

I just realized that I quoted Roland Barthes to one of the guys who actually wrote for Star Trek. Does that constitute a death threat?

 

[valkyrie013]

The only way anything makes sense to me is that the Kelvin universe is a separate Dimension that Spock and Nero travel to so they both traveled in time and cross Dimensions because pretty much every other time time travel changes the future this one did not.
The Kevin universe is just one of those parallel with slight differences thet got Fubar by Nero.

So no multiple timelines. Just multiple dimensions. And only parallel dimensions we've seen is mirror and kelvin. (And those of the tng parallels episode)

 

[Mudd]

I just realized that I quoted Roland Barthes to one of the guys who actually wrote for Star Trek. Does that constitute a death threat?

No. I think that's the only way this can properly work.

 

[Mudd]

Yeah...it's not that different.

 

[FederationHistorian]

My headcanon timeline theory is different from yours. Aside from the alternative future episodes, we have seen five different timeline onscreen.

Kelvin Timeline
/
ENT-"The Cage”-TOS-TAS-TOS Movies-TNG-DS9-VOY-Nemesis-LD-“Children of Mars” -PIC (Prime timeline)
\
Mirror Universe timeline
\
TATV-Short Treks-DSC-“Calypso” (TATV-DSC timeline)

“Ephraim & Dot” timeline


The Kelvin timeline branches off in 2233 between ENT and “The Cage”. However, Spock’s telling of a galaxy threatening supernova – that occurs between LD & PIC in the original timeline– is accurate.

The original NX-01 was destroyed early on in S1 in the Prime timeline in an accident involving its warp engine, explaining its lack of mentions in later series. And the Temporal Cold War is responsible in preventing that event. However, the existence of the NX-01 is rather inconsequential to the founding of the Federation. The Earth-Romulan War is the fixed point in time that determines the formation of the United Federation of Planets.

TATV and DSC are the same timeline, and is called the TATV-DSC timeline. Its the best way to explain Riker and Troi’s aged appearances in “The Pegasus”, the holodeck of the Ent-D not needing the participants dressed in costumes before usage, and the various inconsistences in S1 of DSC with the rest of the franchise.

The Prime timeline and the TATV-DSC timeline share the same Mirror Universe, and that’s it. The USS Defiant in “The Tholian Web” is not the same USS Defiant seen in IAMD (belonging to the TATV-DSC timeline), even though the same fate befit its crew. The historical database on the Defiant in IAMD if filled with numoerous inaccuracies in relations to the prime timeline; it actually acknowledges that Jim Kirk being born is a big deal, it suggests Cochrane’s first warp flight was in 2061 instead of 2063, it suggests that Cochrane permanently departed Earth two years before the founding of the Warp Five complex (which ENT established he was a part of), and acknowledges 70 years of hostilities between the Federation and Klingon Empire – even though it should be 45 years at that point in 2268. This does also bring into question the accuracy of the bios on Archer and Sato and the length of WW3 in the prime timeline.

The Short Trek “Ephraim and Dot” is its own timeline.

 

[Tim Thomason]

TATV and DSC are the same timeline, and is called the TATV-DSC timeline. Its the best way to explain Riker and Troi’s aged appearances in “The Pegasus”, the holodeck of the Ent-D not needing the participants dressed in costumes before usage, and the various inconsistences in S1 of DSC with the rest of the franchise.

The holodeck of the Enterprise-E (in First Contact) didn't seem to require a costume change (I believe it was RLM that had alot of questions on what Lily was wearing or not in that scene), so it's possible that this "update" in software was applied to the Enterprise-D late in its voyage.

Now, of course, there is the question of Generations a year later, which had the crew all dress up in 18th century period costumes, outside of the holodeck, but maybe the costume party was going to continue in Ten Forward or something and that's why they replicated those crazy outfits.

I have no explanation for Riker and Troi's appearance, but, you know, they're actors. Just like we shouldn't (necessarily) explain that Ishka or Tora Ziyal had plastic surgery a couple times to look like different people, we shouldn't need to come up with some convoluted reason why Riker and Troi looked ten years older on the holodeck (and in Ten Forward) during the Pegasus incident. Jonathan Frakes and Marina Sirtis don't look exactly like Will Riker and Deanna Troi. They're just approximations (as are their occasional stunt and body doubles), and the "real" Riker and Troi didn't age rapidly during that event.