No, it should have been a straight up prequel in the prime timeline with no " Old Spock "( not that I didn't enjoy him or the movie) and no Romulans.( not that I didn't like them either) If I had my way, I would have focused on young Kirk and young Spock much like they did in the movie. then movie to the Academy and a longer Kobyoshi Maru scene. Have Mcoy come in while Kirk is at the academy, then end with Kirk and Spock and Mcoy save the day and Kirk and crew ending up on the enterprise some years later. You could have that spread over two or three movies much like SW prequels, but spend very little time with boy Kirk. Make Pike the hero in the first one and establish friendships and everyone gets assigned to different ships. The second one a huge threat comes about that involves multiple ships: Enterprise, Faragout, The Bad guys. The third movie caries over from the second( POTC style ) and involves the bad guys still on the run and like I said Kirk saves the day and in the very end we see Kirk assigned to the Enterprise after Pike is incompcitated. No " canon violation" and all is conected together. The gaps are filled. I would update the tech a little and make it look like a mix between Enterprise and the Kelvin, the TOS look would be updated, but recognizeable.