Harrison in the Prime Universe

[Procutus]

I apologize in advance if this has already been touched upon somewhere, or if Orci has made any comments about it. It occured to me that since Harrison is a such a powerful, Bad-Ass Bad-Guy who's going to have an impact on the Abramsverse, what is his counterpart like in the Prime Universe? This is assuming, of course, that he does exist in the original timeline, and that he wasn't killed before he had a chance to be... Whatever John Harrison is.

But since he appears to be Starfleet in this reality, I'm guessing he'd most likely be in Starfleet in the Prime. I realize this is a lot like the whole issue with Archer's Enterprise never being mentioned in TOS because of when the show was made, but there's always room for in-universe speculation.

 

[BillJ]

Well, Into Darkness still takes place roughly six years prior to the bulk of TOS. So he could've been a major player in a similar incident in the Prime Timeline, just a different group of people dealt with it.

 

[Tosk]

We won't really be able to answer this 'til the film comes out any way. There are so many variables we can't easily hypothesize about until we know what his deal is.

 

[SonicRanger]

He's a technician on the Enterprise in the Prime Universe:

http://en.memory-alpha.org/wiki/Harrison

 

[Tosk]

^Nah, his first name is Bruce. Or Jerry.

 

[F. King Daniel]

He's a technician on the Enterprise in the Prime Universe:

http://en.memory-alpha.org/wiki/Harrison

Although I really do like the idea of a competent but unspectacular officer somehow becoming an unstoppable one-man war machine in another life, I don't think TOS's Harrison and ID's John Harrison are meant to be the same guy. I'm half-expecting John Harrison to be revealed as Khan or a Starfleet-bred Augment, either found and thawed or created shortly after the initial timeline disruption 26 years before.

I want to know if Starfleet or the Enterprise saved Nibiru from the erupting supervolcano in the prime universe! I'll be scouring future TOS novels for an offhand mention somewhere.

 

[Procutus]

I'm half-expecting John Harrison to be revealed as Khan or a Starfleet-bred Augment, either found and thawed or created shortly after the initial timeline disruption 26 years before.

I want to know if Starfleet or the Enterprise saved Nibiru from the erupting supervolcano in the prime universe! I'll be scouring future TOS novels for an offhand mention somewhere.

I really don't want him to be Khan, but I like your second idea. The problem with him being Khan, as I see it, is that from all appearances Harrison is in fact a rogue SF officer. For him to be Khan, SF would've had to have found the Botany Bay a couple of years prior to the events of the first movie and then somehow convince Khan to join. It's possible, but I like the idea of him being a totally new character.

And like you, I'll probably be looking at future TOS novels for references to Nibiru as well.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

John Harrison is probably a pseudonym. He could be anybody - not necessarily anyone we met in the prime timeline who's named Harrison.

Me, I think he's either Garth of Izar or Gary Mitchell.

 

[Set Harth]

If he was Mitchell, wouldn't Kirk recognize him?

 

[BillJ]

If he was Mitchell, wouldn't Kirk recognize him?

Why? Kirk went to the Academy three or four years later than he did in the Prime Timeline.

 

[Dale Sams]

John Harrison is probably a pseudonym. He could be anybody - not necessarily anyone we met in the prime timeline who's named Harrison.

Me, I think he's either Garth of Izar or Gary Mitchell.

If it is a pseudonym...then why make him Garth or Mitchell in the first place?

 

[JarodRussell]

Well, that alternate universe story isn't thought through. Any sort of big villain would almost certainly have operated in the Prime universe as well.

Yet I still think Harrison is Gary Mitchell, as in a guy named Harrisom who went to the edge of the galaxy and, just like Mitchell, developed new powers. They play with that.

 

[Oso Blanco]

If he was Mitchell, wouldn't Kirk recognize him?

Why? Kirk went to the Academy three or four years later than he did in the Prime Timeline.

Kirk and Mitchell knew each other in this timeline as well, and Mitchell died. It has been covered in the Ongoing comics, which are supposed to be more or less canon.

And even if they weren't, I doubt that Orci as a creative consultant would have greenlighted the comic if he had such a radically different story in mind for the movie. Even if Mitchell came back from the dead, Kirk WOULD know who he is.

 

[BillJ]

If he was Mitchell, wouldn't Kirk recognize him?

Why? Kirk went to the Academy three or four years later than he did in the Prime Timeline.

Kirk and Mitchell knew each other in this timeline as well, and Mitchell died. It has been covered in the Ongoing comics, which are supposed to be more or less canon.

And even if they weren't, I doubt that Orci as a creative consultant would have greenlighted the comic if he had such a radically different story in mind for the movie. Even if Mitchell came back from the dead, Kirk WOULD know who he is.

If they had a great story that focused on Mitchell, they would use Mitchell regardless of the comics. And the comics are not canon.

 

[Melakon]

Maybe it's not Gary, but someone else from the original episode. Two hundred years earlier, the captain of SS Valiant destroyed the ship due to the danger of one individual. We don't know if he successfully eliminated the threat. Maybe that individual doesn't get a name until now.

 

[BillJ]

Maybe it's not Gary, but someone else from the original episode. Two hundred years earlier, the captain of SS Valiant destroyed the ship due to the danger of one individual. We don't know if he successfully eliminated the threat. Maybe that individual doesn't get a name until now.

That's a hell of a good point.

 

[Dale Sams]

Maybe it's not Gary, but someone else from the original episode. Two hundred years earlier, the captain of SS Valiant destroyed the ship due to the danger of one individual. We don't know if he successfully eliminated the threat. Maybe that individual doesn't get a name until now.

Not a bad idea. In the Nutimeline, the Enterprise responds to the Valiant's distress signal and rescues Harrison...etc..etc..Kirk ignores all the warning signs or Spock's advice...etc..

 

[BillJ]

Maybe it's not Gary, but someone else from the original episode. Two hundred years earlier, the captain of SS Valiant destroyed the ship due to the danger of one individual. We don't know if he successfully eliminated the threat. Maybe that individual doesn't get a name until now.

Not a bad idea. In the Nutimeline, the Enterprise responds to the Valiant's distress signal and rescues Harrison...etc..etc..Kirk ignores all the warning signs or Spock's advice...etc..

That kind of ignores the fact that he's a Starfleet officer. He would've had to have survived the explosion of the Valiant and rejoined under a different name.

 

[Dale Sams]

Maybe it's not Gary, but someone else from the original episode. Two hundred years earlier, the captain of SS Valiant destroyed the ship due to the danger of one individual. We don't know if he successfully eliminated the threat. Maybe that individual doesn't get a name until now.

Not a bad idea. In the Nutimeline, the Enterprise responds to the Valiant's distress signal and rescues Harrison...etc..etc..Kirk ignores all the warning signs or Spock's advice...etc..

That kind of ignores the fact that he's a Starfleet officer. He would've had to have survived the explosion of the Valiant and rejoined under a different name.

In this speculation, I'm throwing away the 200 years ago thing.

 

[starburst]

If they had a great story that focused on Mitchell, they would use Mitchell regardless of the comics. And the comics are not canon.

That would make sense if the comics had come out before the movie was written, but as Orci is involved in writing both and they have said a couple of times it is supposed to fill in some of the time before the two movies its unlikely he would use the same villan twice.

That is unless Mitchell undergoes some sort of Time Lord style Regeneration too.

Well, that alternate universe story isn't thought through. Any sort of big villain would almost certainly have operated in the Prime universe as well.

Possibly, but as Spock said in the first movie a new timeline means a completely new chain of events, this would mean that what happens to Harrison in this timeline may not have happened in the original one meaning he did not turn bad...we wont know until the film and we learn those motives the Cumberbatch talked about.