Eleven is Prime: A (Ludicrously Long) Reconciliation

[Wowbagger]

M'Sharak == Mudshark! I... am really embarrassed that I never realized this before.

The same thought had crossed my mind. It seemed too evil.

Now, somehow, in the light of a new day... it doesn't.

 

[Franklin]

Gotta admit that when I read the subject line, I thought the topic would be a reconciliation of how this movie broke the "odd number" jinx. I figured it would go on to say that from now on, all prime-numbered Star Trek movies would be good. So, XII will stink, but XIII will be good.

Though there is some plausibility to the OP's rationale that ST09 is the prime timeline, it's just not very parsimonious compared to the writers simply saying outright this is a new universe/timeline.

 

[Temis the Vorta]

Ay caramba! Can we have the cliff notes version?

Vulcan's destruction is reconcilable. The Vulcans all moved to a colony they called "Vulcan." That's the Vulcan we've seen all these years. It's just that the fact that there was a previous Vulcan never came up in conversation. (Now I'm having a flashback to ENT discussions but I can't remember why! )

Hey I got a simpler version: Q popped in right after the events of Trek XI ended and gave everyone amnesia/inserted new memories. The Vulcans forgot they ever had another home. Spock and Uhura forgot about their relationship. Kirk remembered he has a brother named George, etc.

 

[M'Sharak]

M'Sharak == Mudshark! I... am really embarrassed that I never realized this before.

Eh, no biggie. I remember Zeke asking once if anyone over there knew who M'Sharak was.

 

[beneldon]

I gotta say, I love it.
My only "gripe" is the: "Whoa! all our tech wuz wrong so we have ta reboot" part... and I think my gripe is I can't think of a better solution to the Pastels problem in classic trek.

That said, I subscribe to the theory that Spock Prime came back in time, yes, but what makes you think Spock Prime is our Spock Prime? Alternate Universe Spock came back in time to Alternate Universe universe which looks a lot more like the 23rd century as envisioned by early 21st century story tellers than the 23rd century looked as told by mid 20th century story tellers.

Time And Relative Dimensions In Startrek if you will.

I'm happy with that, but again, I really like your thread!

 

[Wowbagger]

That said, I subscribe to the theory that Spock Prime came back in time, yes, but what makes you think Spock Prime is our Spock Prime? Alternate Universe Spock came back in time to Alternate Universe universe which looks a lot more like the 23rd century as envisioned by early 21st century story tellers than the 23rd century looked as told by mid 20th century story tellers.

That's certainly a valid interpretation. I mean, the beauty of this movie -- scratch that, the beauty of canon -- is that there are so many different ways of approaching it and interpreting it, and every interpretation puts its own "spin" on the actual episodes and movies as you watch. And all those interpretations are valid!

I would have liked to have found a more elegant way to deal with the Pastels Problem. It's a toughie, though. I'm almost tempted to go with my original answer of "Ignore it, because Star Trek's art direction has never been consistent." The explanation I ended up with works, and I'm happy with that, and I'm even happier that it brought in Scotty's plumbing quote and finally names the long-missing NCC-1702, but it's clearly a more strained explanation than, say, the Vulcan Resettlement explanation later on.

I'm happy with that, but again, I really like your thread!

Thank you!

 

[Tom Riley]

Well that was a long read. I like how it definitely could work that way. Personally I still like to believe the Alternate Universe theory, but kudos to thinking this whole thing through!