The movies of Star Trek's Kelvin Timeline exist in an entirely separate continuity to the franchise's Prime Universe, and though this development was entirely necessary to ensure the movies had a chance at success, the popularity of the Kelvin Timeline is utterly unique. Star Trek's success dates back to the 1960s, when Gene Roddenberry's singular vision challenged societal norms by painting a picture of a more tolerant and open-minded future in Star Trek: The Original Series. The Star Trek franchise has evolved considerably in the decades since, but one thing that hasn't changed is its continued popularity.



After Star Trek: TOS came a number of other hugely successful Star Trek series. Star Trek: The Next Generation and Star Trek: Deep Space Nine both proved massively popular, and though Star Trek: Voyager and Enterprise were somewhat more divisive, they still found impressive respective audiences. However, through the '00s, Star Trek was mostly absent from Hollywood. After the critical and commercial disaster that was 2002's Star Trek: Nemesis, a new approach to the franchise was conceived: a blockbuster movie reboot of The Original Series. Helmed by J.J. Abrams, 2009's Star Trek revisited the origins of the franchise by recasting its most iconic characters, managing to tell a new story by establishing a separate continuity known as the Kelvin Timeline.


Related: The Kelvin Timeline's Cast Is Star Trek 4's Secret Weapon


Establishing a separate continuity was key for J.J. Abrams' Star Trek, because it freed his movie (and its sequels) from the constraints of decades of continuity. Star Trek's Kelvin Timeline was free to exist separate from established canon, but this was actually a risky move: by disregarding previous Star Trek stories in order to start over, Abrams could have potentially alienated much of his core audience. However, the nature of the franchise and its fans meant that Abrams' gamble paid off, and the Kelvin Timeline became a successful offshoot of the Star Trek franchise.



Why J.J. Abrams Had To Create The Kelvin Timeline



Establishing an alternate timeline was absolutely vital in rebooting Star Trek: TOS, because otherwise Abrams' movie would simply have been forced to retread old ground. As Roddenberry's initial Star Trek series is considered sacrosanct, directly meddling with it by retconning elements of the Enterprise's story would only have worked against Abrams' movie. What's more, revisiting the same continuity would inevitably open up a direct Star Trek comparison, and this would likely have forced Abrams into making a shot-for-shot remake of The Original Series - something that would have been entirely unnecessary.


Instead, Abrams' Star Trek opened with a clever piece of time travel that resulted in an alternate reality - one in which all of TOS' characters exist, but their lives have been changed, and therefore, their stories have, too. This afforded more creative freedom to tell exciting Star Trek stories while still using the same iconic characters and settings of TOS (albeit with a modern makeover). Creating an alternate timeline was the only way to successfully revisit the days of classic Star Trek free from the constraints of hundreds of hours of previously established continuity to live up to.






The Kelvin Timeline Rejoining The Prime Universe Would Ruin Star Trek



Though it has been suggested that the Kelvin Timeline could join Star Trek's Prime Universe, this would actually be a terrible creative decision. Though the changes that led to the divergence in the timelines are relatively minor in the grand scheme of the franchise, they have shaped their respective characters and stories in a number of important ways, and mashing the two universes together for the sake of establishing one larger continuity would be counterproductive. As the Prime Universe has now recast iconic TOS roles for Star Trek: Discovery and Strange New Worlds, merging the universes would be unnecessarily messy.


Related: Why It's Good That William Shatner Doesn't Appear In Star Trek's Kelvin Timeline


Though facilitating the joining of timelines would be relatively simple, it would be incredibly convoluted from a canonical point of view. Abrams' movies were afforded a clean break by the divergence, and the simplicity of the Kelvin Timeline's stories is a key part of the way they recapture the success of TOS. Establishing canon for both Star Trek timelines within one single universe would be jarring and potentially far too convoluted to ever properly untangle, and it would ruin the most successful aspects of the two separate continuities.






What Makes The Kelvin Timeline's Success So Unique



The success of Star Trek's Kelvin Timeline is unique for two key reasons - one on-screen and one off-screen. On-screen, the Kelvin Timeline works as it hearkens back to Star Trek's roots. Though there's source material to draw from, nothing is set in stone in the Kelvin Timeline, with the crew of the Enterprise truly going where no one has gone before. The alternate timeline recaptures the excitement of The Original Series, particularly due to the freedom offered by the separate continuity. As such, Star Trek can move away from TOS stories in the Kelvin Timeline, and ironically, that's the best way to recapture the creative freedom of Roddenberry's original series.


Off-screen, what makes Star Trek's Kelvin Timeline's success so unique is Star Trek's audience. Abrams took a huge gamble when he decided to make a movie that largely ignored The Original Series, but the open-minded nature of the audience contributed to the Kelvin Timeline's success. Whereas some franchises - such as rival sci-fi saga Star Wars - boast fans so passionate as to boycott movies that don't adhere to the creator's original vision, Star Trek's fans proved more open to the idea. Though much is made about how Gene Roddenberry would feel about modern Star Trek, the most vocal contingent is simply happy for the franchise to survive in whatever form, and the two continuities make it possible for those who don't appreciate the Kelvin Timeline to simply disregard it entirely.






Why Separate Continuities Are Better For The Star Trek Franchise



Keeping the two Star Trek continuities separate is much better for the franchise's future. It's far cleaner from a narrative point of view, but it's also much easier to digest thanks to the way the two universes are presented. The Kelvin Timeline is being explored through movies, and Star Trek's Prime Universe survives through its many series. This is also key to Star Trek's future: Strange New Worlds' success might hurt Star Trek 4, but as the two aren't mutually exclusive, the success of one isn't contingent upon the other. If Star Trek 4 is the final entry into the Kelvin Timeline, there's a healthy Star Trek universe waiting to be further explored in the Prime timeline.


Related: Why Star Trek 4 Shouldn't Directly Follow Beyond


Ultimately, Star Trek's Kelvin Timeline was a risk that paid off for J.J. Abrams and the Star Trek franchise as a whole. Though rebooting Star Trek: TOS could have been disastrous, it was handled delicately enough to work, and this opened the door for two successful separate continuities. This allows Star Trek to offer both major blockbusters and stories of a more traditional episodic nature, and the separate continuities allow them to exist independently of one another. The success of Star Trek's Kelvin Timeline is unique to the franchise itself, even if it was born of necessity.

Source: Screen Rant

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