Well, to be fair, DS9 was the show that established that the difference was “real” in-universe. ;)

I actually liked the ENT ep, because it added some real depth to Klingon society, to see how they responded to the situation. I also liked that the episode was a good ol’-fashioned allegory about today’s issues, in the spirit of TOS, something that a lot of folks seem to miss in all the commentary about the “Klingon forehead episode”.

Either way, I agree that Abrams and Co. shouldn’t be creating alternate timelines just to explain some production design differences. ‘Course, it’s really far from clear that they’re actually doing that, when all is said and done. Even the “heresy” line in EW is referring to the end of the opening sequence, not the whole movie, which means there’s a whole lot afterward that they haven’t told us. ;)

This reminds me of the ENTERPRISE episode that thought it was necessary to explain why Klingons from TOS era look different from Klingons from ST:TMP and beyond? That was just silly ’cause we all know the main reason was technology and economics. I just didn’t care, don’t care, nor did I think it was necessary to offer any explanation.

I say the same thing to Abrams. If AICN is correct, they will–in part–be turning the future foundation of TREK into nothing more than a time travel franchise, so that any future changes seen in a future TREK story, will have that baggage. Other franchises have survived changes, without this kind of pandering or contrived explanation. In the film CASINO ROYALE, M is a female and Bond is blonde, and no damn explanation was given–or needed for that matter.

In a lot of ways this approach is condescending, ’cause it presupposes fans wouldn’t accept change. That is true to a slight degree, and it can be seen, just by reading some of the posts above, but, fans will get over it, and if they don’t accept the changes, fine, let them move on–new blood is the primary mission of the film anyway. Small changes will eventually be accepted and I doubt seriously if the film makers were ever going to make major changes anyway.

Time travel is like the holo deck IMHO: A cheap way to craft a story without the challenge of crafting. It’s space – the final frontier people!!

The *SPOILERS* in the article didn’t give away too much. We already knew about time travel, etc.

The ears on the villain – finally – confirmation on what we already knew.

Kirk – damn that man is sexy. There I said it. Mock me.

The bridge….. at first I was repulsed. Then it started to grow on me, but I need to see more. ORCI, KURT, and ABRAMS – we demand more. Feed our addiction….

Today’s deluge has made my day.