What if Star Trek pulled a 'Flashpoint Paradox'

[Ralphis]

This will probably be the dumbest, most fanwank-y concept that's been posted here in probably the last decade. I want to be upfront right now that I totally acknowledge this is fankwank in its purist form. But it randomly popped in my head awhile back, and I'm at the point now were I just need to spitball it so I can move on with my life...

SO... HERE... WE... GO...

I was thinking about the Flashpoint Paradox from The Flash, where Barry Allen (The Flash) goes back in time to prevent his mother's murder, but inadvertently totally mucks up the timeline. In the comics it was used to reboot the DC line, BUT... in the CW show, when Barry tried to fix the timeline, we found out that there was no going back totally, 100%, to the way things were. You can get close, but there will always be changes that weren't there before. The timeline was forever altered.

SO... Let's apply that to the Star Trek universe. The way the Kelvin timeline was originally introduced was that Nero's incursion in 2233 created an alternate reality that spun-off from the Prime timeline (TOS, TNG, etc.) What if at some point after Star Trek Beyond, Kelvin-Kirk discovered a way to go back in time to 2233 to stop Nero from destroying the Kelvin and killing his father? While the Kelvin wouldn't have been destroyed, George Kirk lived, and Vulcan didn't get sucked into a black whole years latter, there still would have been an incursion - thus creating yet another alternate reality. What if this new alternate reality really was a mix of Prime and Kelvin elements? The ships, technology, uniforms were similar to what you saw in the Kelvin timeline, but the characters, events, and overall narrative elements were closer to their Prime timeline counterparts? And what if... *drumroll*... Discovery was retroactively made a part of this new timeline?

The producers of Discovery have said about 4 trillion times that the show is Prime timeline (which I personally accept) so this move would be one heck of a retcon. But I think it solves some issues with fandom. If they go ahead with a Section 31 show set in the 23 Century, and/or do something with Anson Mount's Captain Pike (I pray to the gods, both the old a the new, that we get more Pike), establishing that it's actually in a 3rd reality gives them breathing room for those projects, and future projects (although Picard probably should be Prime). Of course, it also means sending the Discovery 930 years into the future was pointless, and for that I offer no retort - I've got nothin'! [Edit] ...To me, Discovery already felt like an attempt to make a quasi-hybrid of Prime and Kelvin timeline elements, so just as well make it official.

Overall, to make a long story longer, I think establishing a 3rd reality would be helpful for the franchise going forward - and this is an 'in-universe' way to do it. They can literally cherry pick what elements they want to use, Prime or Kelvin. And of course, get freedom to do their own thing, establish new foes, new alliances etc., without butting heads with all that canon. Yes, going 930 years further into the future also gives you a certain amount of freedom, but there's always going to be that one thing that sets the Star Trek fandom interwebs on fire!

Welp, there it is. I'm going to climb under a rock now.

 

[NewHeavensNewEarth]

Nah.
But thanks for sharing.

 

[F. King Daniel]

Haven't they already kinda done this? Endless temporal incursions either left unfixed or given hodge podge fixes by inept time cops. Somewhere on the board there is always someone arguing that First Contact, or Enterprise altered the timeline away from TOS instead of toward it.

 

[Cyrus]

Sounds like Roberto Orci’s original story idea for the 3rd Kelvin movie. I think he referred to it as “Last Temptation of Kirk and Spock”. Kirk and Spock attempt to restore Kirk’s father snd Spock’s mother by resetting the timeline back to prime. And William Shatner was somehow going to play the old Kirk (not sure from which timeline).

The 2 writers who worked on the script with Orci then wrote the script for the 4th Kelvin movie which is now supposedly shelved. Some elements of that story may have survived in the new script since it was somehow going to bring back Kirk’s dad.

 

[Lord Garth]

I stopped reading comics in 2011. And it was because of Flashpoint.

Every time someone tries to get me back into them, they keep mentioning all these crazy new changes. Or there's a new gimmick. Or there's yet another change that will be undone in a year. Nothing sticks anymore, from my sense. And my thought is, "Why should I care?"

How that translates to Star Trek? On TV, they have what they're doing now and it's working for them. I liken it to Post-Crisis DC. I think that's the better comparison for what they've done. They changed some early stuff (DSC S1-S2) but still keep going (PIC and DSC S3+). I was for a reboot of Star Trek before, but I like what they're doing now, so I want them to keep it up. If I'm satisfied, why would I want it to change?

 

[The Old Mixer]

I don't watch Disco, but this makes me think...wouldn't it be funny if they eventually returned to their own time period, but everything looked exactly like it did in TOS, and they were like, "What the hell happened?"

 

[NewHeavensNewEarth]

I don't watch Disco, but this makes me think...wouldn't it be funny if they eventually returned to their own time period, but everything looked exactly like it did in TOS, and they were like, "What the hell happened?"

They would say, "We ended up in 1966!"

 

[Ralphis]

Nah.
But thanks for sharing.

No problem! I do what I can!

I like what they're doing now, so I want them to keep it up. If I'm satisfied, why would I want it to change?

Fair enough. And I actually don't disagree at all. Given the choice of staying the course with what they're doing or going with my dumb idea, I'd stay the course. I said in my very first sentence that this was total fanwank - I just can't help myself sometimes. And I needed to know for sure what I had in mind was a bad idea so I can move on.

But still, there's a small fraction of me that thinks this is a viable idea!

 

[Lord Garth]

I don't watch Disco, but this makes me think...wouldn't it be funny if they eventually returned to their own time period, but everything looked exactly like it did in TOS, and they were like, "What the hell happened?"

I want to see a 1960s version of the Enterprise-D bridge with the luxury-liner mentality intact. That would be a hoot to see. Something you'd see Thurston Howell III on.

I imagine the side-walls would be nothing but flashing, blinking lights. Picard, Riker, and Troi's chairs would look kind of like the Romulan Commander's in "The Enterprise Incident". And Worf, the Klingon who switched sides, would look like a TOS Klingon, except with a red Starfleet uniform and sash that looks like Kor's. Geordi would have a sensor web instead of a VISOR.

If I had the artistic skills to pull it off, I'd illustrate something like this. But unfortunately I don't.

 

[Khan 2.0]

Sounds like Roberto Orci’s original story idea for the 3rd Kelvin movie. I think he referred to it as “Last Temptation of Kirk and Spock”. Kirk and Spock attempt to restore Kirk’s father snd Spock’s mother by resetting the timeline back to prime. And William Shatner was somehow going to play the old Kirk (not sure from which timeline).

the Star Trek 3 that should've been.. Beyond

 

[Unimatrix Q]

Imo a "Flashpoint" like time altering event, like it was done in the CW show, would have been the best explanation for the change in the lore between the first two seasons of TNG and Berman Trek.

In my headcanon "Yesterday's Enterprise" was this event...

 

[tharpdevenport]

An idea:

The Borg were unsuccessful at stopping the deflector dish burst, Picard and the Borg were destroyed, Riker took command. Too busy with command, Troi and Worf ended up together.

The threat handled, the Defiant is never developed because Starfleet resumed complacency. This drastically alters D.S.9., as well.

Voyager is put off some from it's launch, as the Dominion invasion catches them off guard and there is no Defiant to turn the tide. Some other poor bastard gets taken by the Caretaker and Janeway disappears into obscurity (thankfully).

With no Voyager to warn of the impending Borg attack, everybody in the war is caught by surprise.

And GO.

 

[saladdays]

Haven't they already kinda done this? Endless temporal incursions either left unfixed or given hodge podge fixes by inept time cops.

This was kind of done in a Voyager episode, but I can't remember which one right now. I think it was a 2-parter, maybe.