Nero altered the timeline = altered the original Trek reality

To be honest, just based on the dialog of the scene on the bridge where they presume Nero is from the future, what happened is open to interpretation. Whether they're now a branch of the prime timeline or they're essentially "recording over" the prime line, in either case it's an alternate timeline, their destinies have been changed, and no one can predict the future. There's not enough information from the discussion to conclude whether or not something new has been created or if an existing timeline has been changed.

However, if the "TOS timeline" had been changed, the question within Trek storytelling would be: how is it corrected? I don't think it can be, and that proves it's a new timeline, not a perverting of the prime one. Consider, if someone did try to go back in time to stop Nero and the Narada, that would still change time, not "correct" anything, because Nero and the Narada never existed at all in the TOS timeline.

To my tortured reasoning, that's the best on-screen evidence that a new universe was created and the old one still exists. There is nothing to correct in the new universe. The moment Nero appears, a new timeline is created whether things happen as they did in the movie or otherwise. The only way to prevent the new timeline is to travel to the future of the prime universe and prevent Nero (and Spock) from going into the black hole in the first place. Of course, that new universe doesn't exist without Nero's appearance. So -- .

And with that, I'm outta ammunition on this.

 

So technically, if we agree that the JJ-verse is an alternate timeline, completely cut off from the Prime Universe (with the exceptions of Spock Prime, Nero, the Jellyfish and the Narada), then nobody can bitch and moan about scenes being stolen/homaged to from the original series or movies (Kirk's "KHAAAAAN!", Quinto's "KHAAAAAAAAN!", Spock's death, Kirk's death) seeing as how they're in two different universes.

 

I'm sure such similar things happen in a lot of alternate universes. For all we know, in a Mirror Universe it is Khan screaming "SPOOOOOOOCK!" when Kirk is killed.

 

Regardless of out-of-universe physics, it is canon, within Star Trek, that the theory that "all possibilities that can happen do happen in alternate quantum realities" has been observed at least once to be correct. You pretty much can't say "Parallels" is not canon.

So following from that -- the simple fact that Nero appeared in front of the Kelvin on 2233.04 created an alternate quantum reality --- it really doesn't matter how he got there. Prime Universe = No Nero. NuVerse = Nero. Both of these possibilities happened in alternate quantum realities, the end.

 

Wait...Your DVDs are still intact? How do you rate such special treatment? JJ Abrams sent a Bad Robot to my house and wiped my DVDs. I've put them in to play, but, now there's nothing but static

Now that you've admitted in Public, that they missed yours, I imagine JJ will get someone on the job post-haste, so guard your DVDs well.

 

Mine are in an underground bunker, next to my guns, explosives and liquor.

 

Nope, just the future, which is standard time travel shenanigans.

particularly in-universe.

Out of universe, the "alternate reality" was the nod to Star Trek fans, saying "this is new and different, you should really just relax."

The setup as presented in the film is already creating confusion, as evidenced in this very thread. Trying to make it even "less confusing" might have made Trek fans nod but most moviegoers would be waiting for the next important thing to happen.

That's why the bridge discussion scene is so brief, and oriented more towards detailing why Nero being from the future isn't as dangerous as it appears.

well I wasn't going to say anything but: