Hello everyone I'm new here. I recently watched into darkness, so so movie. It got me thinking about how time travel and the alternate universe work. So here's a thought experiment suppose nuEnterprise decided to sling shot around the sun back to one these dates: 1947, 1968, 1969, 1986, 1996 or 2063. Would they encounter the ships and characters from the original time? If yes where did these ships & people comes from and go back to? Are they just remnants of old timeline like Marty in bbf2? What happens if one of the people from nuEnterprise are on board oldEnterprise, Voyager or Enterprise E when it returns to it's origin? Finally what controls what time line each ship go to when it times travels back "home" the quantum difference mentioned in parallels? The closest sci fi that deals with this kind of thing I've read is Timeline by Michael Crichton, in that book time travel was really just travel between parallel universes. Some of those universes existed in past of the starting universes and changes made in these alternate universes either changed the origin universe or caused the characters to return to a similar universe but with the changes they made represented.
the alternate universe and time travel
- Thread starter killerbee256
- Start date
Yes. The two timelines share the same past, so yes people from both timelines could meet each other if they traveled to the same point prior to the year 2233 (the branching off point).
The Prime Universe still exists, the existence of the Abramsverse did not erase it. If someone on board the Abrams Enterprise were on board the Prime Enterprise when it went back to the future, than that person would end up in the Prime Universe.
Probably.
My first attempt at posting his disappeared so lets try again. I recommend reading David Gerrold's "The Man who Folded Himself" and Robert Silverberg's "Up the Line".
The earliest change to the timeline that I can think of was the premature introduction of computer technology from the future by Henry Starling. Also the events depicted in "First Contact" introduced some changes in the timeline. Additionally, "Enterprise" with the whole "Temporal Cold War" plotline had unknown changes caused by future persons. It all gets very mind-blowing trying to untangle changes on top of changes.
The earliest change to the timeline that I can think of was the premature introduction of computer technology from the future by Henry Starling. Also the events depicted in "First Contact" introduced some changes in the timeline. Additionally, "Enterprise" with the whole "Temporal Cold War" plotline had unknown changes caused by future persons. It all gets very mind-blowing trying to untangle changes on top of changes.
I recommend Christopher Bennett's novel Department of Temporal Investigations: Watching the Clock. It goes into extensive detail about how all of Trek's different time travels work and makes it all seem like one consistent system with a plausible set of rules. Plus, it's an excellent novel in it's own right.
This page contains spoilers, but also shows the sheer amount of research (both into RL theories and Trekverse stories) and effort which went into it.
I say yes, AU Kirk and Spock would meet Picard and Riker in 2063, Kirk and Spock Prime in 1986 and Archer and T'Pol in 2003. How and which future they would return to, though, I'm not so sure about. I presume theirs, since the TNG crew didn't return to the future where the Borg won at the end of FC or any of the other "Parallels" futures, that they... reverse the polarity of something.... and it all works out.
Coolest of all, Data's head should still be under San Francisco, with all it's memories up until the end of TNG season 5! That's an awesome fanfic waiting to happen.
If the people in the AU start doing their own time traveling, different than the time travel of the PU (prime universe), and because of quantum-babble alway return to their own "present," they might create a unique past, separate from the past that exists in the PU.
In the AU, Data's head isn't necessarily under San Fransisco.
In the AU, Data's head isn't necessarily under San Fransisco.
As hinted at above, it (Data's head) is both there and not there.
Reminds me of a joke I heard: A cop pulls over Werner Heisenberg and Erwin Schrödinger and says to Heisenberg; "Do you know how fast you were going?" And Heisenberg replies; "No, but I knew exactly where I was." Then he says to Schrodinger, "Do you know you've got a dead cat in your back seat?" And Schrodinger replies; "I do now."
Reminds me of a joke I heard: A cop pulls over Werner Heisenberg and Erwin Schrödinger and says to Heisenberg; "Do you know how fast you were going?" And Heisenberg replies; "No, but I knew exactly where I was." Then he says to Schrodinger, "Do you know you've got a dead cat in your back seat?" And Schrodinger replies; "I do now."
Hmm. Could old Spock travel back to 1986 San Francisco, catch a ride on the BoP with himself back to 2286, then slingshot his way back to the 2387 he came from?
He would have to make his other self aware of his stowaway status, or his extra mass might throw off the younger Spock Prime's guess in calculating the return to the 23rd century. And then, yes. Either the slingshot effect, or the Guardian (which might be able to send him straight home from where he is now, for that matter), or just simply put himself in cryo storage in a bank vault on Ferenginar.
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