The theory isn't necessary how it works in Trek's world. Although it's a complete mess since so many writers have depicted time travel in so many different and incompatible ways...
Narada Incursion
- Thread starter elric428
- Start date
In a universe of infinite possibilities (and infinite universes!) there's room for multiple forms of time travel and the effects thereof. 
Parallels at least implies the theory that Data posits — that every action creates an alternate quantum reality — is correct. Who knows what quantum realities our heroes access when they think they're "simply" time traveling? (It's actually also integral for my head-canon regarding the Mirror Universe.)
Parallels at least implies the theory that Data posits — that every action creates an alternate quantum reality — is correct. Who knows what quantum realities our heroes access when they think they're "simply" time traveling? (It's actually also integral for my head-canon regarding the Mirror Universe.)
That does kind of ruin every time travel story though, our heroes never really fix anything, they just shift themselves to a happier timeline where it all works out, leaving (for example) the First Contact Borg timeline to suffer eternally. Kind of Star Trek Into NihilismIn a universe of infinite possibilities (and infinite universes!) there's room for multiple forms of time travel and the effects thereof.
Parallels at least implies the theory that Data posits — that every action creates an alternate quantum reality — is correct. Who knows what quantum realities our heroes access when they think they're "simply" time traveling? (It's actually also integral for my head-canon regarding the Mirror Universe.)
What about the Red-Matterverse?
And I suppose different people may have different terms they prefer to use for the same concept. Wesley and his ilk may call it one thing, while the DTI or some other organization may call it another.
And I suppose different people may have different terms they prefer to use for the same concept. Wesley and his ilk may call it one thing, while the DTI or some other organization may call it another.
On the other hand, that "There's only this single timeline and we've screwed it up somehow, so now it's our job to figure out what went wrong and FIX IT (before the end of tonight's episode)!" model for time-travel -- while it more or less fit with the then-current theory of the way time flowed and was quite handy as a setting for telling 45-minute TV-series stories of the kind we saw in 1960s Star Trek -- is probably just a wee bit over-simplistic and obsolete now.That does kind of ruin every time travel story though, our heroes never really fix anything, they just shift themselves to a happier timeline where it all works out, leaving (for example) the First Contact Borg timeline to suffer eternally. Kind of Star Trek Into Nihilism
As the saying goes: Time marches on. The way time behaves in time-travel stories shouldn't be expected to remain stubbornly static.
That does kind of ruin every time travel story though, our heroes never really fix anything, they just shift themselves to a happier timeline where it all works out, leaving (for example) the First Contact Borg timeline to suffer eternally. Kind of Star Trek Into Nihilism
As far as I know, only Star Trek '09 ever gave the impression that once the timeline has been altered, it creates a new timeline going forward parallel to the original timeline (i.e. the original timeline never changed.) Prior to that, the rule of thumb always seemed to be that once the timeline has been altered, the original timeline ceases to exist unless someone goes back in time to fix the mistake that caused the timeline to be altered in the first place, and then that altered timeline ceases to exist and the original timeline (or at least something extremely close to it) returns.
I understand why JJ Abrams did that. He wasn't interested in erasing 40+ years of Star Trek canon; he just wanted to be able to tell stories unhindered by that canon. But it basically went against every depiction of time travel previously seen. By that logic, there was still a McCoy alive in the past of an Earth where Germany won WWII; a universe where the Federation was still at war with the Klingons and lost; an Earth where the Bell Riots never happened and the Federation never existed; a universe where Earth was Borgified; a universe where Voyager crashed prematurely, returned to Earth later than expected, etc. And then there are situations where the time traveling was a predestination paradox (but of course we are never given concrete proof that this is the case because we never saw what the timeline looked like before the incursion (VOY's "Future's End," ST:FC, etc.) So because an alternate timeline was created which doesn't erase the previous one, no one from the future of the prime universe can go back and fix it (or even needs to), because the prime universe still exists. No one from the prime timeline would even have known a new branching timeline was created in the past, because their original past still exists and nothing was changed for them. (I suppose the time cops would have known, but they are so amazingly bad at their job that I wouldn't trust them to tell me the time, let alone be responsible for keeping timelines in order.)
Last edited:
Yeah it seems that most of Trek's time travel stories (both before and after Star Trek '09) have been about a single timeline without branches, where changes have to be fixed. There was even a Temporal Cold War fought over it! I don't know how we reconcile that with Parallels saying that every action creates a new reality, but it apparently all makes sense to someone.
I forget if one of the shows ever stated outright that the Kelvin Timeline was created by time travel, or if it was a separate parallel universe knocked off course by it, but it's definitely an exception. Thankfully (I didn't want all of Star Trek history erased).
I forget if one of the shows ever stated outright that the Kelvin Timeline was created by time travel, or if it was a separate parallel universe knocked off course by it, but it's definitely an exception. Thankfully (I didn't want all of Star Trek history erased).
I'm pretty sure Kovich in DSC outright stated that the KT was created by Nero's mining ship going back through time.
I suppose certain conditions decide whether a new timeline is created, or the old one is repaired.
If "certain conditions" = "the writer(s)", then yes.
I'm sure they'd be happy to create rules if the DTI gets their own film.
I figure the method of time travel is a good way to determine that. Red matter is a unique method of time travel, so it can uniquely create alternate universes.
Except that it has never been mentioned on screen that red matter has properties that affect how time travel works. The only thing we know for sure is that the KT was created because of Nero going back in time, because Kovich said so. He didn't say anything about the red matter causing the KT to be created.
There is a certain amount of extrapolation required in any Trek tech discussion. For example, they never say onscreen that Latinum in unreplicatable, but we know it can't be because it doesn't make sense otherwise.
We know that Red matter makes a black hole portal you can travel through. We know that how far back you travel depends on how soon after the initial formation you enter. We know that a formed portal deposits you in the same timeline as previous entrants. Therefore, changes made by the first travelers don't effect the origin timeline because that would prevent later travelers from entering at all. If Red matter worked like, say, the Enterprise C rift, then Old Spock would never have had a chance to enter at all, because the Prime timeline would have been overwritten before he had a chance to enter.
I thought they did in fact say that, which was the point of showing that the actual 'latinum' inside the gold bar is a liquid.
The Narada and the Jellyfish entered the portal at the same time, did they not? So even though Spock arrived later, he was still in the portal and unaffected by whatever was going on in the prime universe.
Close to the same time, but oldSpock says (during the mind-meld sequence) that Nero went through first.
SPOCK PRIME: (voice-over) In my attempt to escape, both of us were pulled into the black hole.
(the Narada and Jellyfish are sucked through time)
SPOCK PRIME: (voice-over) Nero went through first. He was the first to arrive.
(scenes from the beginning of the film and the destruction of the Kelvin)
SPOCK PRIME: (voice-over) Nero spent the next twenty-five years awaiting my arrival. But what was years for Nero, was only seconds for me.
Latinum being liquid was the big reveal, but its never been stated you can't replicate it. It's just implied from the way it's used.
Arguably we didn't need Kovich or anyone else to say so, we can come to the same conclusion from ST09 alone.
Similar threads
