At long last we can stop calling the alternate timeline introduced in JJ Abrams’ 2009 ‘Star Trek’ by the plethora of random names that have sprung up over the years. No more ‘Abramsverse,’ ‘JJverse,’ ‘Nuverse,’ or ‘AOS’ (alternate original series) monikers will be used for the adventures of the new cast of the franchise. Instead, the term ‘Kelvin Timeline’ has been made official according to a recent post by an official ‘Star Trek’ online blog and by CBS themselves.
Where did the name come from? If you are well-versed in the world of ‘Star Trek’ you might be able to give a good guess, as the Kelvin Timeline term came from Michael and Denise Okuda, two authors who over the years have worked on almost every ‘Star Trek’ reference in existence. The reasoning for the name clearly comes from the fact that the new timeline diverged from the original timeline at the point in time that the Narada encountered the USS Kelvin after traveling back in time, splitting the timelines by the fact that Kirk’s father died Captaining the USS Kelvin, while in the original timeline his father was not killed in that incident.
Some naysayers have posted that it should have been called the “Narada Timeline” as that ship is the one that actually changed things, but the Kelvin names works better in my opinion as it brings to mind the sacrifice of Kirk’s dad, which is a driving motivation for his character in the Kelvin Timeline. Also, JJ Abrams’ own obsession with the Kelvin name (which pops up in almost all of his works) also makes the name special, as it subtly links the new altered timeline to its creator (JJ himself) without having to directly cite the man’s name.
@EnterpriseExtra “Abramsverse” and more so “JJverse” have derisive undertones. “Kelvin Timeline” is a much-needed neutral term.
— Claire Little (@isolinearchick) June 21, 2016
I’ve always known Abramsverse or JJ-verse wasn’t an official in-universe label, but never had alternative until now. https://t.co/YGrVCsMifX
— Enterprise Extra (@EnterpriseExtra) June 21, 2016
Check out the announcement Tweets for the new name (above), and then feel free to share your thoughts on the new name for the alternate timeline in the comments section below!
Source: I09, Screenrant, TrekCore
Nick is a freelance writer based in Los Angeles, who belongs to the privileged few who enjoyed the ending to ‘Lost.’ For more of Nick’s thoughts and articles, follow him on Twitter.
