Continuity Overload

[BobtheGunslinge]

Clearly the TOS movies take place in a different continuity or timeline from TOS.

 

[Idran]

Honestly, do we have any evidence that any two episodes or movies that don't reference each other are in the same timeline?

 

[DonIago]

Heck, even if they did appear to reference each other they could still be different timelines in which similar (but not identical) events occurred.

 

[JonnyQuest037]

Alternately, one could assume Kirk and Khan were just approximating (arguments could be made for either party being unreliable), but that's beside the point.

I could buy that Kirk might be a little off on how long ago the Enterprise encountered the Botany Bay, but not Khan. Khan was insane, yes, but he was also obsessed with Kirk as the man who stranded him on Ceti Alpha V. Kirk was, to borrow a line from the current James Bond film, the author of all his pain. Khan would know the length of his exile down to the second. If Khan said it had been 15 years, then dammit, it was 15 years.

Someone, I believe it was Nick Meyer, made the point that "Kirk didn't lay awake at night thinking about Khan. Khan did lay awake at night thinking about Kirk." That's exactly right.