When Did Continuity Diverge From TOS and How?

[Basill]

The movies were way too "self-aware", if that makes any sense. The corny little inside jokes were painful --and pandering.

That's a good point and it was tolerable early on then it just got worse and worse.

That is an interesting perspective. I personally never noticed it until ST-V and then it just snowballed through that film and into the next one.
It was almost analogous to Congress trying to pass a bill and attempting to squeeze as much as they can into it because of the infrequent nature of the venue. Star Trek: Earmark?

 

[Captain Robert April]

From ENT through NEM, I don't really think continuity really "diverged" anywhere, just took some unexpected turns here and there before resuming its downstream path to the sea (kinda like real life).

ST09, if there has to be a divergence point, is much further back than Nero blowing up the Kelvin. I put it back to an offshoot of the Temporal Cold War, resulting in an alternate timeline where Archer doesn't hit the big reset button and things continue to spiral out of control.

 

[Warped9]

From ENT through NEM, I don't really think continuity really "diverged" anywhere, just took some unexpected turns here and there before resuming its downstream path to the sea (kinda like real life).

ST09, if there has to be a divergence point, is much further back than Nero blowing up the Kelvin. I put it back to an offshoot of the Temporal Cold War, resulting in an alternate timeline where Archer doesn't hit the big reset button and things continue to spiral out of control.

 

[Admiral Buzzkill]

Continuity was loose on TOS - no one expected that thousands of people would pore over the details obsessively, year after year. By the time that ST:TMP was made, Roddenberry and company felt some pressure and responsibility to force the property into consistency somehow.

 

[Captain Robert April]

It was loose, but an effort was made to keep things straight, with the result being that the framework does hang together pretty well, all things considered.

 

[Warped9]

ENT and TOS and FC and the rest of it... Not by a freaking long shot.

 

[Captain Robert April]

There are very few things that can't be tweaked into submission.