We are still consumers and Paramount doesn't owe us a thing.We're Trekkies, we're the most hardcore of Nerds.
We all wouldn't be on this forum discussing the most detailed of minutiae if we were "just a consumer".
Correct. But inventing convoluted explanations served no useful purpose from an entertainment aspect. It doesn't aid us in our enjoyment, and actively creates inflexibility to appreciate what is intended by the artists.Doesn't mean we have to accept whatever their PR talking head states as true because their own Show Runners & Creators state otherwise within their own show.
That's why this aspect is so dangerous; it says that art must be subjected to popularity in order to say whatever we think it says. So, the artist becomes a liar if the fans declare them so.
Not a very happy relationship to me.
For me, as a student of history, knowledge is changing a lot. It's why Roddenberry's idea of TOS being a dramatic recreation of Kirk's logs appeals to me.
We're not going to get history perfectly right and saying every change is a new timeline is unnecessarily convoluted to me. It ignores the real world aspects of getting things wrong