Marcel

Kelvin Timeline vs Prime Timeline

Any events depicted in all other Star Trek shows or movies are considered to take place in what is called the "prime timeline". As such, any time the prime timeline is mentioned in this guide, it is referring to those events. Additionally, while never explicitly said, it can be assumed that all events taking place prior to 2233 (First contact, all events depicted in Enterprise, the Earth-Romulan war, etc) happen as shown in the prime timeline.

The only notable crossover is Ambassador Spock, also called Prime Spock, who is played by Leonard Nimoy and is confirmed to be the Spock from the prime timeline. This is further explained in the next section.

Star Trek (2009)

In January of 2233, the USS Kelvin encounters a spatial anomaly from which a ship emerges. This ship, revealed to be the Narada and captained by a Romulan named Nero, attacks the Kelvin. George Kirk assumes command of the Kelvin long enough to allow the majority of the crew to evacuate the ship, ultimately getting killed in the process. Winona Kirk, currently in labor, gives birth to James Kirk shortly after reaching one of the shuttles.

In 2255, Jim, now 22, encounters Christopher Pike at a bar in Iowa, and is convinced to join Starfleet. He also meets Leonard McCoy on the shuttle to Starfleet Academy.

In 2258, Jim takes the Kobayashi Maru for the third time, and manages to "successfully" complete the test. This leads to an investigation, and he is placed on academic suspension under suspicion of cheating. During his hearing, Starfleet Command is informed of a distress call from Vulcan. With most of their fleet engaged in another system, multiple ships crewed mostly by cadets are dispatched to aid Vulcan.

Due to his academic suspension, Jim is not assigned to a ship, however, Bones, who had been assigned to the Enterprise, sneaks him aboard. The ship is delayed in launching due to an inexperienced helmsman. Shortly into their journey to Vulcan, Jim overhears discussion of an anomaly similar to the one that happened near the Kelvin, and rushes to the bridge to inform Pike.

The Enterprise arrives at Vulcan, and discovers that the other seven ships Starfleet sent have been destroyed by the Narada, which has also lowered a drill into Vulcan's atmosphere. The Enterprise attempts to engage the Narada, but are heavily outgunned. Nero, recognizing the Enterprise, does not destroy it, but instead invites Pike aboard. Shortly after this discussion, Pike promotes Jim to his first officer, and Spock to acting captain.

While Pike goes to the Narada, he sends an away team to disable the drill. Although the team succeeds in disabling the drill, it has already reached Vulcan's core, which was Nero's intent. The Narada launches a device containing red matter at the planet, then withdraws. The red matter ignites and creates a singularity at the core of Vulcan. Approximately ten thousand out of the six billion inhabitants manage to evacuate, while the rest, notably Amanda Grayson, are killed.

Spock intends to rendezvous with the rest of Starfleet. Jim opposes this plan, wanting to follow the Narada and rescue Pike, and is ultimately removed from the ship. An unknown amount of time later, he wakes up and learns that he is on Delta Vega. He leaves his escape pod and attempts to explore.

During this exploration, he encounters an older Vulcan who apparently recognizes him. This Vulcan reveals himself to be Ambassador Spock, and explains that in 2387, Romulus's sun went supernova, and he had attempted and failed to save it using red matter. The resulting singularity had resulted in both the Narada and the ship he was flying, the Jellyfish, to be pulled into the past and appear in 2233.

Jim and Ambassador Spock meet Scotty, who had been exiled to Delta Vega following a failed transporter experiment with an admiral's dog. Ambassador Spock gives them an equation for trans-warp beaming, which Jim and Scotty use to transport back to the Enterprise. Jim forces Spock to reveal that he's emotionally compromised, and causes him to resign his position as acting captain.

The Enterprise arrives at Earth, where the Narada is again attempting to drill into the planet, and Jim and Spock transport to its cargo bay and start investigating the ship. They locate the Jellyfish and Spock attempts to fly it away while Jim rescues Pike.

The Enterprise successfully disables the Narada's drill, and Jim, Spock, and Pike all transport back to the enterprise. The Jellyfish, still containing the red matter, is set on a collision course with the Narada, and the red matter inside ignites, pulling the Narada into another singularity.

Star Trek Into Darkness

In early 2259, while saving a planet being threatened by a volcano, Jim allows the planet's inhabitants to observe the Enterprise, violating the prime directive. Because of this, Jim is demoted and the Enterprise is returned to Pike's command.

Following an attack on the Kelvin Memorial Archive in London, several of Starfleet's captains and their first officers are summoned to an emergency meeting at Starfleet Headquarters. It's explained that the attack was orchestrated by a man named John Harrison, a Starfleet officer gone rogue.

During the meeting, Harrison also attacks Starfleet Headquarters, killing several people, including Pike. Jim manages to disable Harrison's ship, but Harrison manages to transport away before it crashes.

Shortly after the attack, an investigation reveals that Harrison managed to transport to Qo'noS, and Jim and Spock explain this to Admiral Marcus. Marcus explains that the location in London was not just an archive, but was also a secret weapons development facility for Section 31. This facility had been developing a new, advanced torpedo.

Marcus orders Jim to take the Enterprise and use these advanced torpedoes to kill Harrison. Spock is reluctant, but Jim wants revenge and agrees. Scotty, now the Enterprise's Chief Engineer, attempts to refuse the torpedoes, and when Jim orders him to accept them, instead resigns his position aboard Enterprise. Jim assigns Chekov to fill his place.

While on its way to Qo'noS, the Enterprise abruptly drops out of warp. Chekov announces that there is a coolant leak and that he needs time to fix it. Jim, having decided to take Harrison into custody rather than kill him, takes Spock and Uhura in a shuttle to Qu'noS's surface. They are intercepted by a Klingon patrol. They are forced to land and assume they are going to be killed, but before they can, Harrison attacks and defeats the Klingon patrol.

Upon learning how many torpedoes are aboard the Enterprise, Harrison willingly allows himself to be arrested. While in the brig, he gives Jim a set of coordinates near Earth and tells him to investigate both that and the torpedoes. Jim contacts Scotty, who is still on Earth, and asks him to investigate the coordinates, then brings the Enterprise to a nearby planetoid.

Upon investigating one of the torpedoes, they discover that there is a person inside, cryogenically frozen. Harrison, when asked for answers, reveals that he is actually Khan Noonien Singh, and all of the torpedoes currently aboard Enterprise contain augments. Marcus found their ship shortly after the destruction of Vulcan and awoke Khan.

Khan reveals that he attacked Starfleet because he was under the assumption Marcus had revealed the rest of his crew, and also implies that Marcus had sabotaged the Enterprise's warp core. Before they can continue questioning him, they are informed of a ship at warp approaching them.

Jim returns to the bridge, and finds that the ship approaching them, the USS Vengeance, is captained by Marcus. Marcus requests that they transport Khan to his ship, and Jim agrees, but does not actually send Khan over. Though still damaged, the Enterprise goes to warp. They attempt to send a message to Starfleet, but their comms are down.

Shortly after, the Vengeance manages to catch up to the Enterprise while in warp, and uses a torpedo to force them out of it. The Vengeance intends to destroy them, but their weapons system abruptly goes offline. Scotty then contacts the Enterprise and reveals that he discovered the Vengeance at the coordinates Khan gave and snuck onto it.

Jim enlists Khan's help and, using space suits and airlocks, they manage to get aboard the Vengeance. They sneak to and ambush the bridge, and Khan betrays both Jim and Scotty. He demands the Enterprise allow him to take the torpedoes, and Spock agrees.

The torpedoes are transported to the Vengeance, and Jim and Scotty are transported back to the Enterprise. Khan does not realize the torpedoes are armed until they go off, heavily damaging the Vengeance. Jim is shocked until Bones reveals that he had removed the cryo-tubes first.

The Enterprise is heavily damaged and is caught in Earth's gravity, so Spock calls an evacuation. Jim and Scotty rush to Engineering, only to find that the ship's warp core has been knocked out of alignment. Despite Scotty's protests, Jim climbs into the warp core and forces the housings back into alignment. He succeeds and the Enterprise stabilizes, but he succumbs to the radiation shortly after.

Spock, whom Scotty had called to Engineering to witness Jim's death, is enraged, and transports down to Earth to chase down Khan. Bones, who had previously been experimenting with Khan's blood, finds that it can be used to revive a dead host, and sends Uhura after Spock so they can bring Khan back alive.

An unknown amount of time later, Jim wakes up in Starfleet Medical, and Khan is returned to cryostasis.

Star Trek Beyond

In 2263, roughly three years into the Enterprise's five year mission, the Enterprise is attempting to negotiate a peace treaty between two warring planets. During discussions, an artifact is presented to one of the councils, but is rejected.

The Enterprise leaves the planet, and Jim gives a lengthy captain's log about the previous three years, before finishing with the fact that the Enterprise is on course for a reprovisioning stop at the Yorktown, the Federations newest and most advanced starbase.

While the Enterprise is docked at Yorktown, a damaged ship containing an unidentified alien approached the Starbase. She claims to be from a ship that suffered a critical malfunction while exploring a nearby nebula and begs for help. The Enterprise is sent to investigate.

While investigating, the ship is attacked by a swarm of vessels and suffers severe damage, before being boarded by an unknown alien species. After a failed attempt to escape, Jim calls for a ship-wide evacuation.

After landing on the planet, Jim and Chekov exit their escape pods and find the alien woman, named Kalara who had requested their help. They demand answers, and she reveals that she was forced to do this by a man named Krall.

It's revealed that Krall has captured Uhura and most of the Enterprise's crew. Spock and Bones, who had been in another section of the Enterprise, have evaded capture, but Spock is injured. They treat the injury as best they can before attempting to explore.

Scotty, who evaded capture by hiding in a torpedo housing, encounters a few scavengers, who start to attack him before a different alien approaches. This alien speaks English, reveals that her name is Jaylah, and demands Scotty's help in fixing her "house". Figuring it's the best deal he's going to get, he agrees. Upon reaching Jaylah's home, he learns that it's actually a ship; specifically, the USS Franklin, which has been lost for almost a hundred years.

Jim and Chekov arrive at the remains of the Enterprise and enter it to search for the artifact, which they'd discovered Krall was searching for. They manage to find it, and Kalara attempts to call Krall and tell them she has the artifact, only to realize that Jim had anticipated this and she does not actually have the artifact.

Jim and Chekov attempt to follow the call Kalara had made, but encounter some traps Jaylah had set up around her home. They are reunited with Scotty, and soon after use the ship's scanner and transporter to retrieve Spock and Bones. After treating Spock's injury, they manage to locate the rest of the crew and mount a rescue mission.

Krall, after obtaining the artifact from one of the captured crew members, reveals that it's actually a weapon which he intends to use on Yorktown. The rescue party arrives at Krall's base and manages to free the remaining crew of the Enterprise. They also discover that Krall is actually Balthazar Edison, the former captain of the USS Franklin.

Back on the Franklin, Jim realizes they need to warn Yorktown, and because they have no means of communication, their solution is to start the Franklin and fly her back to the base. This plan succeeds, and they manage to destroy most of Krall's army, but Krall himself reaches Yorktown and attempts to deploy the weapon in the starbase's atmosphere control system, though he is stopped by Jim.

Notes and Fun Facts

This is an abridged version of all three movies, so several scenes and less central plot points have been omitted. Here's a list of some of them that I personally find interesting:

It can be assumed that Jonathon Archer either is alive or was alive shortly prior to the events of Star Trek (2009), because the experiment that got Scotty exiled to Delta Vega involved, quote, "Admiral Archer's prize beagle".

Jim's death scene in Into Darkness very closely mirrors Spock's death in The Wrath of Khan, including Scotty telling the other to rush to engineering and the survivor screaming Khan's name in rage.

Ambassador Spock does appear in a scene in Into Darkness, where he warns the Enterprise that, quote, "Khan Noonien Singh is the most dangerous adversary the Enterprise ever faced".

Presumably due to Leonard Nimoy's death, Ambassador Spock is shown to have passed away early in Beyond.

The last fact is used as the catalyst for Spock questioning his position aboard the Enterprise, as he believes he should help with the efforts to rebuild Vulcan. Similarly, Kirk is questioning his position aboard the Enterprise, feeling life has become episodic. They intend to discuss this with each other, but do not have a chance to do so before the events with Krall. Ultimately, they both decide to remain aboard Enterprise.

Spock and Uhura are actually in a relationship throughout the entire trilogy, but this has very little impact on the story. The time it's most relevant is during Beyond, where the Franklin manages to locate the Enterprise's crew because of an amulet Spock gave to Uhura, which is made of a mineral unique to Vulcan.

Surprisingly, despite joining Starfleet three years after his prime timeline's counterpart, Jim actually became captain of the Enterprise seven years earlier. He also never served aboard any other ship and, assuming that Starfleet Academy follows the same four-year schedule as the prime timeline, did not actually graduate beforehand.

While in the prime timeline, stardates are largely relative, stardates in the Kelvin timeline are quite easy to understand. They are formatted as the current year, followed by the numbered day of the year, so 2233.04 would be January 4th, 2233, 2259.55 would be February 24th, 2259, and 2263.02 would be January 2nd, 2263.

Sources Used

Transcripts

Star Trek 2009

Star Trek Into Darkness

Star Trek Beyond

Memory Alpha pages

Star Trek (film)

Narada incursion reality

Star Trek Into Darkness