There's a couple of things not sitting with me right at the moment. I think this is all a wind-up. These guys have made their money with genre shows, they understand that the "ordinary public" may take them to $500m, but it's the fans that'll buy the merchandise, see the movie 5 times, buy it on every format - that's where the real dough is. It's inconceivable that when every studio is trying their hardest to build "franchises" that paramount/CBS would let Abrams wreck what is still, far and away, their most valuable property and alienate the fans.
I'm suspecting that this is all a massive wind-up. I offer 2 nuggets:
Interview published today with Abrams:
http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/movies/a135565/jj-abrams-we-cut-klingons-subplot.html
"they hadn't seen [Romulans] for so many years, so that it immediately breaks, for anyone who knows, the rules of Trek to start the movie and have Romulans crossing paths with Starfleet.
"It jumps in breaking the rules, which I think is kind of fun."
He added: "That's not to say it's not explained and it’s not consistent with canon"
So JJ KNOWS that they shouldn't have seen the Romulans.
Also, see MattJCs thread about his conversation with Robert Orci:
http://trekbbs.com/showthread.php?t=73423
Mr. Orci gave me some examples from past Treks which give some precedence( I don't know if I spelled that right) for what is happening with this movie.
Here is his exact post to me:
Did you see the TNG episode "Yesterday's Enterprise?" Or Star Trek iV? Was Tasha coming back to life, or the theft of whales a canon violation?
Now, think about it. If all you'd seen of Yesterday's Enterprise was a couple of stills we'd all be "WHAT??? Weapon belts on the bridge?? Set 'canon has been compromised' outrage to 'TOTAL F**KING DESTRUCTION'!!"
I'm really starting to think that all of this will be reset either at the end of the movie, or at the end of the third movie, (if that's what they're planning). I think Abrams is saying as much. And I think Orci is too.
These guys are too smart to denigrate this. What better way to have your cake (kewl new ships & sets for today's movie theatre) and eat it (but our heroes restore normality after a hell of a ride) than a baddie f#%king with the timeline?
I know it sounds like Temporal Cold War all over again. Hopefully it won't be!
For all we know the Shat is going to turn up at the end of the 3rd movie.
At the end of Revenge of the Sith the big pay off was seeing all the art design mirror the Blockade Runner and Tattoine as seen in Star Wars. I think they'll get away with showing the 60s bridge (albeit "movied-up") at the end of the 3rd movie. It'll elicit the same feelings ("Ahh, I see now how it all comes together") in the audience.
I dunno, I just get this feeling ...