What if Burnham and Discovery were erased from the timeline?

[Ar-Pharazon]

I just don't understand the need for this series to be "Prime", why can't it just be Star Trek and tell stories with the tools in the tool box?

They could do the "I can't believe it's not the Prime universe" thing.

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[Nerys Myk]

The secret adoptive sister just reeks of fanwank after we already had a secret half-brother. I would've rather that Burnham stood on her on than having connections to Spock and Sarek.

Secret? How is it a secret? Never came up is not the same as a secret.

That happened within TOS, and was needed for the characters growth. I hate the idea of messing with characters fifty years after the fact.

The characters should not be held in stasis. There's always room for more information and backstory. Hell, some of the characters didn't even have first names fifty years ago!!!!!

 

[KirkusOveractus]

I just don't understand the need for this series to be "Prime", why can't it just be Star Trek and tell stories with the tools in the tool box?

I don't see anyone in the promos carrying a tool box. What's going on here?

 

[Kor]

For some reason, we expect all of Trek to fit neatly together. Heaven forbid there be a bunch of separate continuities enjoyable in their own right and on their own terms, like all those DC movies and TV shows.

Kor

 

[BillJ]

For some reason, we expect all of Trek to fit neatly together.

I've always loved the disjointed nature of the Trek universe. The ability to give us two distinct versions of Zeframe Cochrane or the Klingons (or Romulans). Who cares if it conflicted with what came before, just tell the best story possible.

We've entered the OCD-era of TV and film.

 

[Jackson_Roykirk]

I don't see anyone in the promos carrying a tool box. What's going on here?

They learned their lesson from the steampunk welder in Abrams' ST:2009 film teaser

 

[starmike]

I like this theory.

And at the end of the series, Bob Newhart wakes up next to Uhura and says he had a terrible dream.

 

[KirkusOveractus]

I've always loved the disjointed nature of the Trek universe. The ability to give us two distinct versions of Zeframe Cochrane or the Klingons (or Romulans). Who cares if it conflicted with what came before, just tell the best story possible.

We've entered the OCD-era of TV and film.

This. IMO, I don't need to know every little bit of someone's backstory, or how something came to be, or just the right farewell for a character to know where they ended up. Just give me good stories, good adventure, a way to detach from the real world for a while (even if it's a parable or something reflecting the real world, it's wrapped in a good story and another time and place).

 

[Jackson_Roykirk]

I like this theory.

And at the end of the series, Bob Newhart wakes up next to Uhura and says he had a terrible dream.

Newhart's finale was the best TV finale ever in the history of television. Even better than The Fugitive. Better than M*A*S*H, Breaking Bad, or even TNG.

And that's not my subjective opinion; it is an objective fact!

 

[Jackson_Roykirk]

I've always loved the disjointed nature of the Trek universe. The ability to give us two distinct versions of Zeframe Cochrane or the Klingons (or Romulans). Who cares if it conflicted with what came before, just tell the best story possible.

We've entered the OCD-era of TV and film.

I agree with you that it isn't a necessity that DSC (or any Trek show/film) fits in the same universe as TOS, TNG, et al. However, I find it pretty easy to "let them" fit in with the rest.

I don't think DSC needs to have been part of the prime universe, but if they say DSC is supposed to be part of the prime universe -- and the story, premise, and characters generally are consistent with the prime universe -- then I would have no issue "letting" it fit into the prime universe.

 

[Noname Given]

I like this theory.

And at the end of the series, Bob Newhart wakes up next to Uhura and says he had a terrible dream.

Even better: Nurse Chapel wakes up - and opens her sonic shower door to find Spock there, and she relates she had a nightmare about his adopted Human sister; and Spock replies, "That is not logical."

Que old DALLAS theme with a STAR TREK theme riff...

 

[Vger23]

Can we erase this thread from our timeline?

 

[The Wormhole]

What if Burnham and Discovery were erased from the timeline?

Then they would cease to exist.

 

[Bry_Sinclair]

I think Kirk was Spock's secret adopted brother. That's alluded to in "Whom Gods Destroy." Sarek and Kirk just descided not to tell Spock up front. Now that I think about it, all the Enterprise crew were Spock's adopted siblings. And probably a few other people as well. You. You're Spock's adopted sibling, and you're Spock's adopted sibling!

Hey, it's never mentioned so it's possible.

We all know that Spock was Kirk's secret lover. He overcompensated trying to keep their relationship secret by pretending to hook up with numerous ladies of the galaxy.

 

[F. King Daniel]

Spock kept Burnham from Kirk because he knew Kirk would try and sleep with her.

 

[Kor]

Then they would cease to exist.

Very astute deduction.

Kor

 

[Nyotarules]

I like this theory.

And at the end of the series, Bob Newhart wakes up next to Uhura and says he had a terrible dream.

Is that before or after he shakes the snow cone?

 

[uniderth]

We all know that Spock was Kirk's secret lover. He overcompensated trying to keep their relationship secret by pretending to hook up with numerous ladies of the galaxy.

So they were secret lovers and secret brothers. This is the 23rd Century after all. Everybody's doin' it.

 

[Locutus of Bored]

The secret adoptive sister just reeks of fanwank after we already had a secret half-brother. I would've rather that Burnham stood on her on than having connections to Spock and Sarek.

Fact: Spock is super-secretive about his family life, not even telling Kirk about his parents, and Vulcans in general aren't very forthcoming about personal matters.
Fact: Spock and Sarek spend decades off and on estranged from each other, so they could have circles of family and friends that the other is barely familiar with.
Fact: Sarek has a weird love-hate fascination with humanity, choosing to become ambassador to Earth, and to marry two human women and have a half-human son.
Fact: Spock kept his half-brother a secret, possibly because he brought shame on the family, or never felt it was relevant because they barely knew each other.

What about any of those makes the idea of Sarek having an adoptive human daughter who we never heard about later an uncharacteristic behavior for either him or Spock?

Sarek is shown to feel love for humans on multiple occasions but also has a great deal of private contempt for them, resenting Spock's human genetics ("So human"), and resenting his choice to join the human dominated Starfleet. I could easily see him feeling responsible for fostering a human child left parentless in an embassy attack but growing distant and cold if she did something as an adult to bring shame upon the family.

Spock just never seemed to get along with Sarek much at all, so he might not have had much contact with Michael growing up. He was probably off getting a proper Vulcan education at Academy of Science boarding schools and such. To Spock, Burnham might have been someone he saw once or twice at awkward Vulcan Thanksgiving dinners but had no contact with otherwise, and no reason to mention her.

 

[BillJ]

Fact: Spock is super-secretive about his family life, not even telling Kirk about his parents, and Vulcans in general aren't very forthcoming about personal matters.
Fact: Spock and Sarek spend decades off and on estranged from each other, so they could have circles of family and friends that the other is barely familiar with.
Fact: Sarek has a weird love-hate fascination with humanity, choosing to become ambassador to Earth, and to marry two human women and have a half-human son.
Fact: Spock kept his half-brother a secret, possibly because he brought shame on the family, or never felt it was relevant because they barely knew each other.

What about any of those makes the idea of Sarek having an adoptive human daughter who we never heard about later an uncharacteristic behavior for either him or Spock?

Sarek is shown to feel love for humans on multiple occasions but also has a great deal of private contempt for them, resenting Spock's human genetics ("So human"), and resenting his choice to join the human dominated Starfleet. I could easily see him feeling responsible for fostering a human child left parentless in an embassy attack but growing distant and cold if she did something as an adult to bring shame upon the family.

Spock just never seemed to get along with Sarek much at all, so he might not have had much contact with Michael growing up. He was probably off getting a proper Vulcan education at Academy of Science boarding schools and such. To Spock, Burnham might have been someone he saw once or twice at awkward Vulcan Thanksgiving dinners but had no contact with otherwise, and no reason to mention her.

I'm not saying the show will be terrible because of it. I have some hope of Discovery being entertaining. On the surface, it just reads like fan fiction to have a secret adopted sibling show up fifty years after the original show was produced, who is super special and critical to the entirety of the Federation's peace efforts with the Klingons.

It could be inspired, it could equally be stupid. I won't know until the show airs. But, right now? It looks like fanwank. In my opinion.