CBS has finally announced an official name for the alternate timeline that started with 2009’s Star Trek. Given that most of the unofficial ones weren’t particularly complimentary, it’s weird that it took them this long to choose one.
Image: Star Trek (2009), Screencap via Trek Core
It’s the “Kelvin Timeline”, as revealed on a Star Trek Online blog post. CBS Consumer Products’ Holly Amos confirmed the name on Twitter, also giving credit for the name to (who else?) Michael and Denise Okuda, authors or co-authors of almost every Star Trek reference in existence.
@isolinearchick @EnterpriseExtra More than that, we needed an in-universe term since we needed some way to refer to it in the encyclopedia.
— Holly Amos (@hollyamos22) June 21, 2016
@hollyamos22 @EnterpriseExtra @isolinearchick You’re welcome. Denise and I thought long and hard about that one.
— Michael Okuda (@MikeOkuda) June 22, 2016
The universe has been variously called “NuTrek”, “the Abramsverse” and “Alternate Original Series (AOS)”. NuTrek does have a whiff of disapproval, like an old man yelling at kids on his lawn. Abramsverse is both derisive and will be inaccurate once something takes place in the universe without J.J. Abrams’ involvement. And AOS, my personal favourite, ceases making sense the second we start following the adventures of anyone other than the Enterprise NC-1701.
Of course, the latter two can have exactly the same rationale as the “Kelvin Timeline” — they describe the origins of it. Though they do so in a meta way and not an internal way.
I still wish it was the “Kelvin Universe“, though. It would fit in better with the “Prime Universe” and the “Mirror Universe”.