Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Entertainment/2022 November 1

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November 1

Star Trek's timeline

Some years ago I used to follow the Star Trek series. I saw a good part of the original series, next generation, voyager, Deep Space 9 and Enterprise. Along with some films, they made a shared universe, long before the MCU made the concept popular. Enterprise would be first (in plot), TOS next, and then the 3 others, with TNG starting first and the other three added later.

Then there was a reboot, and I lost interest (as it means that everything I enjoyed was now basically lost). But in recent years I noticed there are so many new Star Trek films and series that I may be losing something. But before jumping in again, which the context from a narrative viewpoint? Was that reboot a crossing of the Rubicon for the franchise, is everything within the new canon? Do they keep using both? Is Picard meant to be the same character from TNG, or a rebooted character played by the same actor? (as Daredevil in the MCU) Is the animated series canon, or its own thing? And if any series is in the original canon, is it after the the endings of Voyager and DS9, before everything else, or at some point in-between or concurrent?

Of course, when asking those questions I'm assuming that they still use the shared universe model. If each series has its own canon, independent from the others, say so. Cambalachero (talk) 12:53, 1 November 2022 (UTC)

The reboot was a diverged timeline; like a "parallel universe" Star Trek, which both exists alongside the prior timeline in parallel to it (with some crossing over), but also its own thing. This is known as the "Kelvin timeline" and is explained a bit at Star Trek. It covers the three films released from 2009-2016, with Chris Pine as Kirk et. al. The original timeline (called "Prime") was continued with the post-2016 series such as Star Trek: Discovery (slotted in time frame between Enterprise and TOS), and Star Trek: Picard which is set 20 years after Picard's last appearance, and incorporates the pre-timeline-fork elements from the 2009 Chris Pine film. Star Trek: Strange New Worlds fits in between Discovery and TOS. --Jayron32 13:08, 1 November 2022 (UTC)

The recent movies are their own canon. Everything else including all the new series are technically part of the same universe as TOS, so yeah it is the same Picard. As for the timelines, take a read of List of Star Trek television series and I'm sure Memory Alpha has more details. But basically. Discovery seasons 1-2 are set ~10 years before TOS (so long after Enterprise). Strange New Worlds is set just after season Discovery season 2. Picard is 30 years after the end of TNG although a large part of season 2 took place in 2024. Discovery season 3-4 are set something like 900 years after TOS so a long time in the future from nearly everything else. Nil Einne (talk) 13:10, 1 November 2022 (UTC)

Edit: As Jayron32 mentioned, technically the new movies are a diverged timeline although AFAIK nearly everything in the movies are part of the diverged timeline, but I only watched the first one. And actually I think Picard might be 30 years after the beginning of TNG rather than the end, it's 18 years after the last movie Nemesis. Nil Einne (talk) 13:12, 1 November 2022 (UTC)

The "Old Spock" from the 2009 movie is himself from the "Prime" timeline, so events he experiences (or reports as happening) are canon from the original timeline. There are some plot elements in Picard that incorporate some of these things, such as the supernova that threatens the destruction of the planet Romulus, which occurred in the "Prime" timeline, despite happening in a Kelvin-verse film. Other than those elements, everything else from the Kelvin-verse films, including all of the second and third movie, are distinct and separate. --Jayron32 13:16, 1 November 2022 (UTC)

• This website has a pretty good rundown of major events put into chronological order, incorporating ALL canonical series. It also includes Kelvin-timeline events marked with (Kelvin), so that you can sort of place those in context. --Jayron32 13:18, 1 November 2022 (UTC)