Inspired by this thread.
This thread will be full of spoilers! If you haven’t seen the movie and at all intend to see it, please don’t read this, as it will ruin your experience. This movie has reignited my love for Star Trek, and I don’t want to ruin it for anyone else.
If you have seen the movie, and wish to engage in geekery, welcome!
Either way, don’t say I didn’t warn you.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
So, what does Nero’s interference do to the Star Trek canon as we know it?
I’ll start by raising what I think is the largest issue: now that Vulcan was destroyed prior to the start of TOS, what changes throughout all the series and movies? No Vulcan science vessels to be put in harm’s way, no return to Vulcan for Spock’s pon farr… what else would not have happened, at least not in the way we saw it?
Vulcan explodes?! When I heard they were changing things I had no idea they were going to destroy the homeworld of one of the more important races. That’s just…
Is it at least interesting?
And I can just imagine the classic reaction-to-traumatic-event camera pan, but with Vulcans. 
Oh, all right. This movie is in an alternate timeline, or maybe a parallel universe, okay? ST pulled that kind of stuff often enough that it’s “canon”, and therefore there’s no problem.
Now relax. Everything’s fine.
I hadn’t thought of that. I think the deal is seeing Romulans and having everyone at the academy at the same time.
Oh good lord that’s nuts.
Nothing, really; a change that huge puts the movie firmly in alternate universe/alternate timeline/alternate canon territory.
They don’t change it, they’re part of it. You can’t say that now the original episodes and movies can’t happen, because they never did. It’s a story. If you have to work your head around it, pretend that the Chronology Protection Conjecture actually applied like it should for once, and that this movie splits the universe. It says so right in one of the trailers: “James T. Kirk was a great man, but that was another life.”
Me, I’d be fine without any reference to previous Star Trek events at all. This is just the first of many retellings of the adventures of Jim Kirk, mark my words. Star Trek has transitioned from franchise to fairytale as far as I’m concerned, and I think that’s fantastic. Your great grandchildren will have their favourite Jim Kirk along with their favourite Sherlock Holmes or Robin Hood.
I have tickets for a Sunday show, and I cannot wait. I haven’t been this keen on a movie since I waited in line knowing - knowing - that I was about to see Val Kilmer channel Jim Morrison.
Interesting ideas, all. I suppose what I was thinking of was a geeky re-examination of the series given the changes introduced in the movie. What I see now is a more existential debate over whether these can even be considered “changes” at all. It’s just fun to consider what the original episodes would be like as re-imagined in this continuity.
For example, back to Vulcan, or the lack thereof. Without a Vulcan to go back to, the events of Amok Time can’t happen as they did in the episode. However, a Spock-Uhura relationship is established in the movie as well. T’Pring was royalty in the original continuity, so she might have been among the survivors in the new one. If that episode were remade, would Spock be forced to encounter her? Would Uhura’s presence resolve the whole Pon Farr issue? McCoy’s whole “thin atmosphere” excuse would be gone too. And would trial by combat even be allowed within this “endangered species”?
So yes, I’m being extremely geeky. If this is too silly, never mind.