Paramount PicturesWhen director J.J. Abrams created a new Star Trek timeline, he did so by destroying a starship called the USS Kelvin. Theoretically a scene that took place in a modified version of the regular Trek timeline, the opening of the film depicted a time-traveling Romulan ship called the Narada pummeling the Kelvin, and causing James T. Kirk to be born on a shuttle, rather than in Iowa, and for his father, George, to perish. This started a new timeline with a bang, but now, 16 years later, it seems that his bold moment of destruction is destined for its own, strange demise. As revealed by a Variety report on the future of Paramount and Skydance, it appears that the Kelvin Universe, at least in terms of future cinematic sequels, is no more.How do we feel about this? Since 2016, one year before the explosion of new streaming Star Trek TV shows, the future of the Final Frontier was seemingly still with a sequel to Star Trek Beyond. But, like Lucy pulling the football away from Charlie Brown, the idea of a Beyond sequel featuring the reboot crew began feeling, over the years, less and less likely. Now, it seems it’s all put impossible. And yet, is there a silver lining here? Kirk (Chris Pine) braces for impact. | Paramount PicturesFrom 2009 to 2016, across three films, the Kelvin Universe was divisive among Trekkies. Yes, the movies set new box office standards for the franchise, proving that the Trek brand could perhaps return to its glory, reminiscent of crossover hits in the 1980s — like The Wrath of Khan, The Voyage Home — or the mainstream breakthrough of the early 1990s with the popularity of The Next Generation. Infamously, the earliest trailer for the 2009 Star Trek proclaimed that the movie was “not your father’s Star Trek,” which was both spiritually true and logistically untrue simultaneously. Abrams, along with screenwriters Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci, remade Star Trek with a Star Wars ethos, a sort of tail wagging the dog situation since Star Trek was one influence that emboldened George Lucas to tackle cinematic space opera back in the 1970s. Still, full of frenetic action and close to zero social commentary or contemplative science fiction, Star Trek 2009 became a crowd-pleaser that largely pleased a crowd unfamiliar with Star Trek. This, of course, was okay, and even grumbling fans all found something to enjoy in the film. All respect to Paul Wesley on Strange New Worlds, but Chris Pine’s James T. Kirk alone makes all three Kelvin Trek films worth watching. With Pine, these reboot films were your father’s Star Trek, because the films were about a very specific cultural memory of Captain Kirk, rather than the true Captain Kirk. The collective culture remembers Kirk as a skirt-chaser and ruler-breaker, and so Pine’s Kirk embodies those things with little room for subtlety. To put it another way, Kirk’s bravery and cockiness are valued over his intelligence in the Kelvin films, which, really, is only part of who the canonical character is supposed to be. As Wesley’s Kirk in Strange New Worlds has reminded us, the backstory of Kirk we got from The Original Series suggested he was both cocky and nerdy when he was younger, something the writing of the Kelvin films would never really enable Pine to try out.This Captain Kirk issue is, in many ways, a microcosm for the entire reboot canon. This was a version of Star Trek, half-remembered, but because the details lacked some of the contradictions and subtleties of TOS and the classic films, suddenly, yes, this was not our father’s Star Trek at all. After all, who can imagine Pine’s Captain Kirk reading Dickens or quoting Milton? Chris Pine was great as Kirk. But were there more stories to tell? | Paramount Pictures Throughout all three films, despite their various merits and wonderful moments (Beyond’s climax is particularly good and very true to TOS) the ethos of each film focused on Kirk and crew, quite literally, trying to prove that they were good enough to be the beloved Star Trek crew we know and love. The first film is all about Kirk proving himself. The second film is all about Kirk proving himself (again) after breaking the rules (again!) and losing a father figure. Then, the third film was all about whether or not Kirk and Spock might quit being Star Trekers, sort of demonstrating (again!) that these films could not stop having a meta conversation about whether or not the characters were up to the challenge.Beyond ended on an upbeat note, with the notion that everyone was feeling better now and that new adventures, full of confidence, would await everyone on the newly built USS Enterprise-A. But, obviously, that adventure never came to pass. And it sounds like it never will. In a November 2024 IDW Star Trek comic book — issue #26, “When the Walls Fell Part 2” — Captain Sisko and the USS Theseus briefly team up with the Kelvin Universe crew of the Enterprise-A. This results in Kirk sacrificing his ship to save the multiverse, evoking memories of his father and, of course, the USS Kelvin.Were there more stories to tell in the Kelvinverse? Yes, for sure. And, the various books and comics have done an amazing job charting that territory since 2011. But perhaps because the films tended to be stuck on repeat in terms of character beats, now is a good time to move on and let some other version of cinematic Star Trek boldly step up to the plate.Phasers on Stun!: How the Making — and Remaking — of Star Trek Changed the WorldAmazon -