*Note: This is the second of a three part series, explaining my theory of how many of Star Trek’s continuity mistakes might be explained by time travel. If you haven’t already, please read Part I before continuing. And please keep in mind that this is an exercise in fun speculation; I don’t really believe any Star Trek writers had these ideas in mind while creating the series.

In Part I, I gave an overview of the second and third timelines, and went into detail about what the second timeline looks like and the changes between it and the first. In this section, I’ll explore the third timeline, especially in relation to continuity problems in Star Trek: Enterprise.

From the beginning of “Broken Bow” (Enterprise’s pilot) it’s obvious that dramatic changes have happened to this timeline. Originally, it was assumed that the show would simply tell the story of Starfleet’s early missions before the creation of the Federation. However, the Temporal Cold War alters how Starfleet operates and when certain things happen. This isn’t just part of my theory– we’re told this on screen in the series. Many references are made to things that weren’t supposed to happen yet by Enterprise’s time (beginning in the year 2151). The Suliban weren’t supposed to be any kind of intergalactic force, but they’re given advancements by a being from the future. Starfleet’s first contact with the Klingons happens in the first episode, a hundred years before it happened in the original canon (“Errand of Mercy” in TOS) only because both species are effected by the Suliban. And dialog between Archer, Admiral Forrest, and Ambassador Soval in the pilot seem to suggest that the NX-01 Enterprise wouldn’t have even been launched so early if not for the Suliban.

So at least Rick Berman and Brannon Brega don’t have these things happen without explaining themselves. However, without an alternate timeline, there’s no way to reconcile these Enterprise episodes with episodes of other series that, chronologically, come after them.

As mentioned in Part I, “Regeneration” (in which Earth scientists find Borg drones frozen in ice) seems to be a direct result of the events from First Contact and a catalyst for most of the other changes in the second timeline. However, we submit that even this episode probably happened differently in the third timeline. In the second timeline, the NX-01 may not have even launched yet (since there were no Suliban around) and so the Borg drones may have been dealt with by someone else, maybe even the Vulcans or Andorians. Archer may not have been involved whatsoever, and there may not have been a Denobulan around to get assimilated, which would explain why a cure was never worked on and used in later encounters with the Borg.

But the largest continuity issue my theory helps solve is the importance of the NX-01. Archer and his crew stop the Xindi from destroying Earth, they put an end to the Temporal Cold War, and Archer is one of the key forces in putting together the Federation charter. It seems strange that neither Archer nor his ship are ever referred to by a character in chronologically later episodes. In fact, Kirk and his crew come up in various conversations and his importance seems to pale in comparison with some of Archer’s accomplishments. The Constitution class Enterprise seems to be considered the first ship with that name, until Star Trek: Enterprise. perhaps there wasn’t an NX-01 in the first and second timelines, or at least it may not have been important enough to ever be referenced. Perhaps it was even destroyed on its first mission.

If this were the case, whether or not Archer even existed would be somewhat irrelevant, because he certainly wouldn’t have been as influential as he is according to Enterprise. Even the design of the NX-01, often criticized by fans for looking too close to a 24th century Akira-class vessel, may be a result of timeline changes due to the Temporal Cold War.

The Temporal Cold War could have a number of repercussions that are impossible to even quantify. It could explain why some of Enterprise’s most crucial races are never seen in later canon during the other two timelines. In the case of the Denobulans and the Xindi, it could be that these races didn’t even exist until they were created by drastic changes in the timeline, or perhaps, like in the case of the Suliban, they simply weren’t known of and weren’t interested in being known of.

And then, of course, there’s all those pesky inconsistencies with the Vulcans. It’s really hard for me to believe that a species that has a taboo against mind melding completely embraces it a hundred years later and also lies to other peoples, saying that it’s been part of their customs for thousands of years. The Vulcans in the original series don’t seem to place women in high positions on starships (regardless of T’Pau being the leader of the entire PLANET), yet T’Pol is a high ranking officer on the NX-01. The Vulcan government in Enterprise is one of the most corrupt we’ve seen in Star Trek, seeming to just use logic as a smoke screen for oppressing melders and committing other underhanded practices. So could the Vulcan race race itself have been manipulated or changed by factions of the Temporal Cold War?

I speculate that if any time travel did occur in the twenty-second century of the other two timelines, they would have been isolated incidents and few people would have known about them. In the third timeline, the crew of the NX-01 and all of Starfleet remember the Temporal Cold War, somehow, even though Archer managed to to end it at its original source. Yet Kirk and his crew, when they experience time travel for the first time, react as though it’s never happened to anyone before. I believe that later in the third timeline, Kirk’s crew would consider Archer’s missions to be legendary, would be quite familiar with time travel, and Kirk would have a hard time living up to the reputation of Jonathan Archer.

In the final season when Manny Coto took over as show runner, he did his best to make the series work with the rest of Trek canon, forgetting this whole time travel thing and trying to get back to the heart of Star Trek. He explained the evolution of the Klingon forehead, set the Vulcans up to embrace mind-melding and he introduced T’Pau, the future leader of Vulcan. He even explained the aftermath of the Eugenics Wars and introduced Section 31. But if the Temporal Cold War changed so much, how can my theory explain these obvious attempts at fixing continuity issues? Well, since the war ends by the fourth season, I think the universe then attempts to balance itself out. Call it fate or some sort of universal constant, but maybe certain things are supposed to play out in the Trek timeline regardless of what smaller things change, and since neither the Borg nor the Temporal Cold War factions succeed in completely altering history to their liking, the universe does its best to happen the way it was meant to.

Okay, that was a stretch. I’m doing the best I can, here.

Even if this were the case, there are obvious differences, because the process of the universe balancing itself out would take a lot of time. The Denobulans, the Suliban, and the Xindi would now have to fit into a universe where they either weren’t important or didn’t exist before. The Vulcans would have to evolve more into the race as they are depicted in the original series, but that process would take longer than a hundred years. And the knowledge of Captain ARcher, the NX-01, the Temporal Cold War and the Xindi Conflict, as I mentioned before, would live on and be legendary. All of this would have a great impact on what the universe would look like later.

Next week, in my final blog in this series, I’ll explain my ideas on how the 24th century might look in the third timeline. Again, feel free to point out any holes in my theory or offer ideas of your own. I really appreciate the feedback I’ve already been given.

LLAP

-Cap’n Logan

Con’t to Part 3.