Alright, So This Post Is A Long Time Coming But It Is Something That Has Been On My Mind Lately And Involves

Alright, so this post is a long time coming but it is something that has been on my mind lately and involves how I personally see the AOS timeline, particularly the way it involves canon of Discovery and Strange New Worlds and how those events unfold in the Alternate Original Series Timeline (Kelvin Timeline).

Simply put, it doesn’t. They don’t. Those events don’t happen.

Not as they are in the show/series canon.

Agree or disagree, that’s your prerogative, but these are my thoughts.

Now this isn’t an attack on anybody who enjoys either of these series. I’m watching SNW too. I enjoy it for the most part. This has to do with the fact that these shows are written for the Prime Timeline. The timeline in which Ambassador Spock hails from, in which TNG happened, TOS, you get the point.

None of these events are written taking into account AOS and the simple nature of the fact that the events, if they’re to follow a coherent, linear timeline, cannot have unfolded the way they did.

If you put the two timelines up next to each other, you’ll see almost immediately that you cannot cross them without some heavy manipulation of the newer shows—AOS has made one thing exceptionally clear and this fact cannot be changed, as it is a very important point in the story:

The Enterprise did not launch until 2258 and she was the first one in this timeline to be named Enterprise.

There are no stories of the Enterprise before 2258, as she was under construction in the Riverside Shipyard in Iowa. You remember that really neat shot of Kirk on the bike in 2255 before he gets on the shuttle for Academy looking at the almost completed Enterprise? The shot signifying hope and rebirth and a bright future? Yeah, that one. You know the one.

Her maiden voyage was the very day of Vulcan’s destruction.

Pike’s first day as captain of the USS Enterprise was not until that day, when the distress call was received from Vulcan.

“Ladies and gentlemen, the maiden voyage of our newest flagship deserves more pomp and circumstance than we can afford today. Her christening will just have to be our reward for a safe return. Carry on.”

Even Scotty remarks on the Enterprise’s launch when Ambassador Spock and Kirk visit him during his ‘stay’ on Delta Vega.

“So, the Enterprise has had its maiden voyage, has it?”

This simple fact alone makes it impossible for the events of either Discovery or Strange New Worlds to have unfolded in the Kelvin Timeline as they have.

Pike, as we know, is an exceptional captain in both Prime and Kelvin—that fact cannot and will not be taken away from him. They’re very different people, yes, as we can see from their presence, the way they command their starships, etc., but they’re both incredibly capable and experienced and hold the trust/loyalty of their crew. That being said, it means AOS Pike will also have a number of experiences under his belt to have earned him the position he has within Starfleet.

But in AOS, none of those experiences were on the Enterprise. Had the Narada not arrived back in 2233 when it did, the Enterprise might have been launched in 2245 as it was in the Prime Timeline, captained by Pike. However, Nero’s incursion brought with it a wealth of information and technology that was used to enhance the entire Fleet, especially the flagship, thereby delaying her launch to 2258 and resulting in the incredibly large and technologically advanced Enterprise we (I) know and love in the Kelvin Timeline.

That doesn’t even begin to touch upon the mess that comes from trying to figure out what happens to all of these characters if you attempt to blend the two, because, for example, Ortegas is going to simply give up her position to Sulu? Pike wouldn’t want to have such an exceptional pilot as part of his crew?

One of the smartest, in my opinion, things AOS did was to outright state this is an alternate timeline and lean heavily into that fact to differentiate it from all the already previously existing Trek canon. But with that, and particularly the canon choices made for this timeline, means that the events taking place prior to the Kelvin incident and Nero’s incursion in 2233 need to also be reimagined to address this anomalous event that never happened in that timeline.

That was a major event with intense, direct consequences that neither of the shows make any mention of and cannot be ignored. Everything beyond the incursion is also shaped by those events to varying degrees.

The events of Discovery don’t begin until 2255, I believe, with s2 taking place in 2259. Pike and the Enterprise cannot be around for that. Nero’s incursion throws a wrench into everything that would have been happening in the original Prime Timeline.

The Prime and Kelvin Timelines do not overlap well/seamlessly, not without manipulation of one to adapt to the other. They’re difficult to blend—they’re not meant to be blended, in my opinion, because you sacrifice important points and history from one or the other or both to fit all the events together, thereby diminishing the weight of particular events of that canon. They’re separate timelines and they should stay separate timelines.

So, again, my particular blog canon especially, neither Discovery nor Strange New Worlds are canon to the Kelvin Timeline in any capacity, not as they are. Can some of Pike’s adventures be adapted to be some of the experiences under his belt? Absolutely, but it happened on a ship other than the Enterprise at another place, another time.

And that entire arc with the Gorn that SNW is doing? Absolutely not canon, not in my portrayal of events unfolding on the blog. Similar to how it was in TOS, the Enterprise is going to be the one to make real, proper first contact with the Gorn under different circumstances.

It happened in Prime. It didn’t happen in the Kelvin timeline. I’m more than happy to interact with anyone from either of those shows, absolutely, but it’s with the caveat that, unless there’s an AOS verse for those characters, it will be by way of crossover event, similar to the LD x SNW event.