Orci on Start Trek, timelines, canon and everything (SPOILERS)

[Captain Robert April]

Frankly, the Kelvin doesn't really fit all that well, either, so if this is supposed to be an alternate timeline, something kicked things off in that direction before Nero got rolling.

Whatever. Alternate timelines don't count anyway.

 

[Kemaiku]

Right, so it is an alternate reality/universe/timeline afterall. Fuck that noise. Clean the Kelvin back to her eggshell white and take that damned zero off and I'll keep her, you lot can have the rest.

 

[trekkerguy]

*Yawn* It counts, it's the one that's actually here and getting the movie.

As for whether the Kelvin WOULD have fit in the "Original" timeline, then yes it would have.

For the coloring and digits, give me a break.

 

[Cyke101]

Frankly, the Kelvin doesn't really fit all that well, either, so if this is supposed to be an alternate timeline, something kicked things off in that direction before Nero got rolling.

Whatever. Alternate timelines don't count anyway.

Commander Sela, Harry Kim, and Naomi Wildman disagree with you!

(Thomas Riker would like to weigh in, but as in most situations where he's involved, he doesn't count and doesn't matter)

 

[marksound]

You know, I don't really care if they explain stuff with quantum theory or string theory or frickin' music theory, as long as we get a movie before I get too old to enjoy it.

 

[Jackson_Roykirk]

...On a loosely related note, I think I'm going to go out on a limb and make a prediction here and now: The next Star Trek film will be a remake of The Doomsday Machine. You heard it here first.

I'd buy a ticket to go see that, as long as my favorite scene is done verbatim:

KIRK: Matt, where's your crew?
DECKER: On the third planet.
KIRK: There is no third planet.
DECKER: Don't you think I know that? There was, but not anymore. They called me. They begged me for help, four hundred of them. I couldn't. I couldn't.
​

I always loved the manner in which William Windom said "There was, but not anymore" in that out-of-place slightly sarcastic sort of way.

 

[Admiral Buzzkill]

Frankly, the Kelvin doesn't really fit all that well, either, so if this is supposed to be an alternate timeline, something kicked things off in that direction before Nero got rolling.

Whatever. Alternate timelines don't count anyway.

Yes, this film will clearly make less of an impression on the public than the other current "Star Trek" films and TV shows that are in production.

I never really bought the "24th century" ala TNG, DS9 and so forth as a plausible one-century-forward progression from TOS (I mean, if some folks do, that's fine - it's really a matter of how credulous or relaxed one chooses to be).

I got used to it, because it was so obviously simply a conceit which made it possible for Roddenberry to produce a new "Star Trek" series without having to contend with what Bennett and others were doing in the TOS-based movies.

All of this "alternate timeline" stuff amounts to the same thing. Call it "a century later" or "another timeline" and it simply translates as "the new version of 'Star Trek' that isn't just like the last version."

 

[cooleddie74]

Smells like an excuse to do all-new Kirk stories without having to respect canon and continuity if you ask me. "Hey, let's change the timeline JUST enough that we can get away with new shit and have halfway believable in-universe explanations for ignoring most everything else and doing things WE think are cooler!"

 

[Cyke101]

Smells like an excuse to do all-new Kirk stories without having to respect canon and continuity if you ask me. "Hey, let's change the timeline JUST enough that we can get away with new shit and have halfway believable in-universe explanations for ignoring most everything else and doing things WE think are cooler!"

Hey, if that means getting stories on par with "In A Mirror, Darkly," then I'm down for that

 

[Admiral Buzzkill]

Smells like an excuse to do all-new Kirk stories without having to respect canon and continuity if you ask me.

I certainly hope so. There's not really much point to reviving "Star Trek" again, otherwise.

 

[Jackson_Roykirk]

...All of this "alternate timeline" stuff amounts to the same thing. Call it "a century later" or "another timeline" and it simply translates as "the new version of 'Star Trek' that isn't just like the last version."

Agreed....

Even though I would rather they did NOT go with the "Alternate Timeline" thing, I'm not going to let myself fall into the trap of saying:

"This film would have been great, except this is a whole new Trek with a new timeline -- and I can't accept a whole new trek"

OR

"Even though I thoroughly enjoyed this film, I must ignore it forever because it's a different timeline.

I think it will either be a good film or not...Period. Alternate timelines notwithstanding. There's no reason why the in-universe timeline should affect the quality of this film. There is no actual need to reconcile ALL of the events in this film with the series...even though some aspects of this film WILL be able to be reconciled with TOS.

If someone wants to call that a reboot, then I suppose to them it is a reboot.

 

[Qonos]

Ya gotta love that quantum multi-verse.

So it's not an origins story then. It's about a completely different set of characters in a completely different Star Trek universe. They may as well have just given the characters different names, (including the ship).

I also heard that in this alternate universe, hamburgers eat people!

Bitter, much?

There was nothing bitter about my comments. They were quite reasonable responses to the interview.

It's not going to be an alternate universe? They aren't going to be completely different characters? This isn't a completely different ship?

Did we just read a different interview above?

The hamburger statement on the other hand was my flippant view on alternate timeline stories. That and my fear of hamburgers turning on their masters!

Alternate universes don't work that way.

In the infinite amount of universes where there are tons of Kirks. The TOS PRIME KIRK, The Mirror Kirk, and now the Abramsverse Kirk, each one is Similar to the other. You really need to go watch Sliders to fully understand Parrelle Universe theory.

 

[Tyberius]

Re: Bob Orci on Start Trek, timelines, canon and everything (SPOILERS)

However. If a new alternate timeline is created when someone changes the past then what is the point of time travel to fix it? because whatever was done in the past wouldn't effect the current timeline, just create a new one. So why bother trying to stop it at all?

In one of the Voyager eps, after the arrest of Braxton, there was a remark about how the time cops had several versions of Braxton in custody. Perhaps there is a way to coalesce those disparate timelines back into a single history?

 

[Jackson_Roykirk]

...You really need to go watch Sliders to fully understand Parrelle Universe theory.

Yeah. I heard that's how Stephen Hawking finally came to understand it.

 

[Qonos]

Re: Bob Orci on Start Trek, timelines, canon and everything (SPOILERS)

Okay here's how Parallel Universe Theory works and Guess what YOU DON'T EVEN NEED TIME TRAVEL TO ACCOMPLISH IT.

You have two choices. One is Kill dog, one is let dog live. So you Kill the dog. Well another time line is automatically created where you didn't kill the dog. It's a simple as that.

The more choices you have the more strings are created Now why don't you see these other timelines? Well simple, you are continuing in the Timeline where you made the choice. There is an Alternate You who is living out that other time line. So that's why the Enterprise can be built in Iowa, and Kirk can be the Kirk we're getting. Starfleet decided to build in Iowa instead of San Fran, and when the Kelvin was destroyed Kirk's dad died so that ended his starfleet career, his mom to him to Iowa to live with his uncle, who isn't the nicest of guys. PU Theory is all about the choices made and which window you from the outside are peering into. It's actually a quite solid theory.

 

[Kirk-Fu]

I'm not understanding why anyone is upset now. The original Universe is still continuing. Just minus Nero and Spock. Everything that's happened before in that time line still happened.
Is it due to thinking this will change the new trek time line so much that we wont get more TNG era stories? Because that wasn't likely to happen anyway. I mean they dropped the 24th century Trek with Enterprise and the poor performance of the last TNG movie.
Plus now that it's confirmed that time line is still intact TPTB could choose to have stories set in that Universe. Once again not terribly likely. But the possibility is still there.
I'm just happy Star Trek is continuing. After how badly Enterprise and the last TNG film did in ratings/box office I'm amazed Paramount was willing to produce anything else.

 

[T'Cal]

I'm going to call everything we know so far STAR TREK and this movie and all that follow STAR TRACK.

 

[Therin of Andor]

Just seems like an easy out to me.

People are still unhappy, but it's "an easy out"?

 

[Ovation]

It really doesn't matter. Clearly there are those who don't want any new Trek that "contradicts" what they know to be "true". Just as there are others who don't care and still others who actively want the changes to become the new standard. These various viewpoints existed prior to the movie and would still exist if the new movie were just a proposal at this point, rather than a practically finished product.

Ultimately, it's about what the owners of the artistic endeavour wish to do with their property. It belongs TO THEM. We are NOT entitled to be satisfied with their choices, we are only entitled to express our opinion of them (verbally and with one's wallet). The current "powers that be" have settled on a particular approach and there is nothing we can do about it. We can choose to see or not see the film (and we are free to think whatever we wish of it). That's it. We don't own it. We're not owed anything (not even an "explanation" of why things are different).

 

[Therin of Andor]

Whatever. Alternate timelines don't count anyway.

In a parallel universe, you're one of this movie's greatest fans.