You may as well ask how the Mirror Universe had the same groups of characters in the same places - especially in DS9/on Terak Nor, after the major effect Kirk Prime's intervention had on Mirror humanity...
^ The MU is different - it's an infinite multiverse, after all. So the chance that the MU would turn out like it did is no more or less likely than any other. And as far as we know, nothing in the regular universe created the MU or caused it to diverge: the MU's existence is not dependent on the original. The Abramsverse, OTOH, diverged while many of our characters (Kirk, Spock, Scotty, etc.) were already alive. So their existence is assured, since they were born before the divergence. None of the characters on TNG, DS9 or Voyager (not even Tuvok) were yet born in 2233, so any one of them could have been altered or wiped from existence. And the current Abrams year is, what, 2261? That's only 28 years. The likelihood of a greater divergence from the norm expands, exponentially, the further away you get. So the Abrams 24th century is that much more likely to be different than its version of the 23rd.
My point was that the entire DS9 cast being present on and around Mirror Terak Nor is more than slightly ridiculous if you start to play Butterfly Effect. Individually, Bajorans like Intendant Kira, Odo, Cardassians like Garak, Klingons like Worf and even the various Ferengi aren't too bad. But all of them? And then you have to jump through SERIOUS hoops to explain Sisko, Jennifer, O'Brien, Bashir EXISTING, and - along with Jadzia - being associated with the station, especially since the Trill somehow ended up with the Mirror Dax symbiont too. And, ultimately, of course it's not impossible with infinite variations on the same scenarios available. Just very, very, VERY unlikely. And no more so than Abramsverse counterparts of the same characters existing and somehow ending up involved with a certain Nor-class station in whatever circumstances - especially since the latter involves a certain Q. [And I remain unconvinced that the universe the Narada emerged into was identical to the Prime universe at the moment before its arrival and only then diverged, as opposed to being merely a similar already-alternate universe. Even silly little things like the Gregorian stardates work against it being the dame.]
I don't think Mirror Jadzia was joined with Dax though. I think that Curzon didn't die until after Jadzia and Dax went from Curzon directly to Ezri. I expect most of the 24th century characters would still exist as it offers better story potential, whether it's realistic or not. I'm really looking forward to this.
As I recall, Mirror Jadzia was never referred to as "Dax" making it possible she was never joined. Ezri definitely wasn't joined, Quark even called her Dax and she said it wasn't her name. Or are you referring to the novels? In which case, yes, I believe you are right in the MU Ezri was the next Dax host after Curzon.
There are dozens of equal inconsistencies between the different works we choose to count as part of the Prime universe. For instance, The Wrath of Khan has some enormous continuity errors vis-a-vis "Space Seed" and TOS, like Khan's people being much younger and more ethnically uniform than they were before, Khan recognizing Chekov, the refugees having movie-era technology and uniform pieces even though they were stranded in the series era, etc. Or there are the massive contradictions between "The Host" and DS9's portrayal of the Trill. If you insist that slight differences are proof of an alternate universe, then you'd have to agree that TWOK is in an alternate universe from "Space Seed," DS9 is in an alternate universe from "The Host," Insurrection (where Data says he's physically unchanged since his creation) is in an alternate universe from "Inheritance" (where Geordi says Data has an "aging program"), etc. The whole idea of a "Prime universe" that encompasses all the TV series and the first ten movies requires a willingness to gloss over inconsistencies and pretend that the different versions of Trek from numerous different creators somehow fit together despite all their contradictions. So it's a double standard to be stricter about the Abramsverse's inconsistencies than about the many equally bad inconsistencies that exist within the Prime "continuity." But she looked at him a bit oddly when he did so. Of course, it was meant to be in response to his orders, but it could've been that she was puzzled by the name. And the other person to call her Dax was Jennifer, who met her through Sisko and thus presumably called her what he called her. So it requires squinting a bit, but it can be worked around. (Again, the pretense that a consistent Trek continuity even exists at all requires flexibility about the details.)
I do like a consistant continuity when possible, and I do like to reconcile the novels with the tv serieses and movies where possible. I'm pretty open to MU Jadzia not being joined since it's established in the books. It's more interesting anyways imo.
If they ever want to do a TNG/DS9/VOY remake that's set in the prime universe, then they will and it'll work and be accepted by the audience. As for Khan recognizing Chekov in "Space Seed", that can be explained away pretty easily. You could say that Chekov was already on the Enterprise and met Khan offscreen since "Space Seed" took place after "Catspaw" which was Chekov's first appearance.
^Of course -- that's the whole point. We've spent decades explaining away and rationalizing the inconsistencies between multiple different Trek productions in order to justify the conceit that they fit together in a single continuity. So there's absolutely no reason we can't do the same with the Abramsverse's discrepancies. The stardates, for instance, are simple to explain away. Maybe that stardate system was in use in 2233, but in the Prime universe it was changed to a different system by 2265, whereas in the Abramsverse the old system was retained. It's such a tiny, easily resolved discrepancy (and it's not like Trek stardates have ever made any sense anyway) that it's bizarre to claim it's some fundamental irreconcilable conflict that forbids the Abramsverse from being an offshoot of Prime. (And a simpler explanation for Chekov is that he was already aboard the ship in the first season but simply wasn't a bridge officer at the time. After all, there were 430 people aboard and we didn't see every one of them in season 1.)
And Vonda McIntyre has a brief scene in the ST II novelization that establishes a friendship between redshirt Chekov and Marla McGivers, which Greg Cox picked up on for the "Khan" trilogy of books.
It should also be noted that Chekov in Abrams' Trek is the only member of the big seven who's actually a different person. This Chekov was born four years before his prime counterpart, though he probably has the same parents and a similar upbringing (this could also explain how Anton Yelchin can get away with not looking anything like Walter Koenig). Who's to say that future characters, even ones a century away from being born couldn't come about in a similar fashion... The same people where it counts, but with slightly different circumstances.
Trek operates under comic book universe rules - see every alternate timeline we ever saw for proof. The butterfly effect is one of many handwaves used so writers can keep or change whatever they think would be cool.
Well, that's one theory. It's the one I favor myself, but there is an alternative possibility: That Chekov lied or misspoke for some reason when he said he was 22 in "Who Mourns for Adonais." Maybe he had some reason to pretend he was younger. Maybe he was using the calendar of some other planet with longer years, although that's very unlikely given his Russia fixation. Maybe it's like Enterprise: The First Adventure's weirdly immature version of Janice Rand, and he spent several years in relativistic travel on a sublight ship and is four years below his calendar age due to time dilation. Few of the actors look any more like their predecessors than he does; Zachary Quinto is the only one who has a really strong likeness. Robin Curtis doesn't look much like Kirstie Alley either.
Chekov's age was a misstep just to shoe-horn in the character from the word go. I would have preferred them to use Chapel and/or Rand to pad out the women to start and bring Chekov in later. The Batman movies did this with Robin. It's fine. Anyway, this months issue is one of my favourites to date. Characterisations and artwork were spot on and the story was fun. If those goes on for 6 issues it should be a fun ride.
Liked this quite a bit. A pretty spot-on Q, a great scene with Picard and the best art on the ongoing series to date. However, was it just me or was the Abrams crew shown to be particularly... well, dumb. Are we to believe that the person who coded that scenario and the person who beat that scenario wouldn't recognize it? And that Uhura decided to spot translate the name of the vessel for no discernible reason that would help out in the situation? It just felt silly and made everyone look inept. I will admit that I'm not really sure why Picard was so hesitant to hear about an alternate timeline in the past. It doesn't jibe with what we've seen of how these situations are dealt with on any of the series. Q's comment about Khan was pretty funny, too.
Y'know that makes me wonder. The Federation and Starfleet have the Prime Directive and the Temporal Prime Directive. Do either of those extend to alternate quantum realities?
1) It's been a couple of years 2) They're nowhere near the Neutral Zone 3) Events were going too damn fast 4) Kirk was on the verge of figuring it out, but events overtook him 5) Uhura was the only one not immediately engaged in the battle, giving her just enough time and room to make the connection. Note she wasn't using the console to translate - she's just that damn good at languages.
I'm pretty sure Sisko made a reference to not wanting to become involved with the stuff in the MU because it would violate the Prime Directive.