A Unified Time Travel Theory For Star Trek

A starfleet captain in the newest Kelvin Timeline

The Star Trek franchise has a problem with time travel. What started out as an honest flirtation with a classic science fiction premise has exploded into a full blown addiction.

It doesn’t matter what kind of time travel it is — slingshots around the sun, encounters with black stars, mixing chroniton particles with transporter beams (whatever that means) — Star Trek will do it. It's the kind of addiction that perhaps only Doctor Who might appreciate.

Mix this time travel problem with 50 years of Star Trek lore and you get what can be affectionately referred to as a “continuity nightmare.” Any new writer approaching the franchise has to think to herself, “My God, what have they done?”. It’s no wonder that the J.J. Abrams team has chosen to have the new film series set in an alternate timeline.

Think I’m exaggerating? Think again. There are 56 or 57 Star Trek episodes and films that feature time travel as a crucial story component. The franchise puts forth more than one temporal paradox and has regularly rolled in time cops, temporal cold wars, causality loops, time machines and whatever the hell red matter is. It’s a mess, ya’ll. A mess.

So, what’s a fan or a Trek writer to do? Well…there are two approaches. Approach number 1 is to just give up and violate continuity by ignoring whatever isn’t relevant to your current Trek context or head canon. This is the easiest, perhaps. Doctor Who would certainly approve. So would J.J. Abrams.

However, I choose approach number 2, which is to figure out a way to create a functional Unified Theory Of Time Travel For The Star Trek Multiverse. And, by Q, I think I’ve done it (along with some help from Christopher L. Bennett). Follow along with me for a moment…

Kirk and Spock on past Earth for the 3rd or 4th time

In searching for a time travel solution for the Star Trek universe, I first started looking around to see what others had figured out. The best examination of time travel in Star Trek is Christopher L. Bennett’s Star Trek Department of Temporal Investigations: “Watching the Clock”. This book, apart from being really fun, takes Star Trek time travel and attempts to understand it from a quantum physics point of view. Is it perfect? No. But it’s light years ahead of anything the franchise has produced so far in that it tries to marry science fiction with something resembling science reality. Bennett should be working for the new Bryan Fuller Star Trek series, by my reckoning.

In his book, Bennett lays out his Time Travel theory in a set of clever rules. I took the Bennett rules and I applied it to each time travel episode and film in the franchise. I found that while the rules generally did a good job, there were a few inconsistencies that appeared here or there (which is on Star Trek, not Bennett). So, I amended those rules as needed to fit most of the inconsistent situations I came across.

An example timeline sketch I made to play with the Time Travel rules

I present the Bennett rules with heavy amendment by me (possibly, The Bennett-Sullivan Rules, if you’ll allow it) along with a sample episode (DS9’s “Past Tense, 1 & 2”). These rules reflect only a cursory connection with the idea of quantum mechanics, not a full accounting of real world physics. Also, I found during the course of testing these rules that a kind of cosmological map of the Star Trek Multiverse began to emerge and it’s kind of great. I’ll explain everything below. There are 8 rules:

1. Unidirectional Time Travel — A one-way time travel trip changes quantum states, diminishes entropy & starts a new, dominant, order-laden, entropy-lessened timeline. Differences in overall entropy are what keep timelines naturally separate from each other. This is known as a Temporal Divergence.
2. Bidirectional Time Travel — Two-way time travel trips produce timelines that are naturally attracted to each other within the multiverse. This is known as Quantum Entanglement. Only one set of quantum states can survive the entanglement past the time travel incidents. Since a system always tends toward a higher entropy state, the quantum states of the lower-entropy, higher-order timeline will become dominant. Still following? Confused? Keep reading…it’ll click.
3. Metatime Is Unalterable — Metatime is the sequence of time travel events as they occur in the multiverse. This sequence cannot be averted through time travel, as the multiverse is a timeless void outside of the special realm of the timelines. This means that all timelines exist simultaneously (an important and crucial distinction to this whole theory). Which timeline a time traveler will arrive in at any particular moment in time is determined according to which timeline is most order-laden at the time period in question. This is known as a natural landing.
4. Leaving the Universe — It is possible to travel to & from transdimensional, non-time space which exists outside of the timelines but within the overall multiverse. Fluidic space (Species 8472), the transdimensional realm (Sphere Builders) and the Q Continuum are examples of non-timeline areas within the total confines of the multiverse but that also do not exist within a timeline or universe. Entering a timeline from these spaces also changes quantum states and can result in divergent timelines (save for the Q Exception that says that the Q are, somehow, able to avoid this).
5. Temporal Cold War Addendum A — The 31st century Federation time travelers (represented by Agent Daniels in Enterprise) can choose recessive timelines instead of dominant timelines to travel to and from. This is known as an artificial landing and is a crucial element of control in the Temporal Cold War. Other factions of the TCW cannot produce an artificial landing. The organization Daniels represents operates from an observatory that is technically outside time in the transdimensional area of the multiverse and is known by the shorthand Daniels Temporal Observatory, or DTO. The actions of the DTO are also governed by rules 1 & 2 in that their activity can spawn divergent timelines.
6. Temporal Cold War Addendum B — The Temporal Accords (31st century) disallow traveling directly to a timeline. Instead, it allows Quantum Projection, a kind of real-ish holographic projection (maybe), which is safer for the time traveler. However, quantum projection still alters quantum states and creates divergent timelines. This is standard practice for 31st century humanity as well as the Benefactor to the Suliban Cabal from the 28th century. This also explains a lot of the incidents that happen to Agent Daniels (like his many deaths, which are Quantum Projections dying, not the actual Agent Daniels). The DTO and Benefactor make use of quantum projection.
7. Temporal Cold War Responsibility Addendum — In agreement with the Temporal Accords, participating time travelers must “counterweight” their respective travels in order to ensure that the correct timeline remains dominant (see Rules 1 & 2). Agent Daniels is assumed to do this in much of his work, as well as on behalf of other time travel scenarios. This is known as a Induced Quantum Entanglement, or IQE (pronounced “Ike”). This is how you decide which timeline will be dominant.
8. Law of Divergent Universes — Timelines that have been left unaltered by time travel for an unknown, lengthy span of metatime will take up position within the multiverse architecture and become a permanent universe. Once this happens, the new universe cannot be quantum entangled with the old one. The Terran Imperial Universe (Mirror Universe), for example, might have been a timeline that split from our own Prime Universe. When the Terran Imperial Universe was just a divergent timeline, after it diverged from the Prime Universe, it was left unaltered for enough time as to allow it to drift into a position “perpendicular” to the prime universe, which disallows timeline merging, but does not restrict travel. The Kelvin Timeline (Abramsverse or J.J Verse), as a second example, is just a split timeline. If elder Prime Universe Spock never travels back to the future (which he knows not to do, if you’ll note), then the Kelvin Timeline may drift to a “perpendicular” state with respect to the Prime Universe, becoming a permanent universe of its own. When an unaltered temporal divergence becomes its own universe free from entanglement from the parent universe, this is known as a Parallel Universe Bifurcation.

Now, I expect you have some big questions, and once you re-read some of these rules you may have some smaller questions, too. But the biggest question you might be wondering is why time travel at all? If it creates new timelines and the old timelines continue to exist, then doesn’t that defeat the purpose of trying to change time? How does that motivate characters?

It works because of Quantum Entanglement. If someone, who wanted to change time to suit their needs, travels back to make a change, then that someone creates a new, dominant timeline that does not affect the original timeline. If that person makes a return trip to more or less the same point of temporal origin, then the timelines will be mutually quantum entangled, meaning they will eventually merge at the points of travel. And the dominant, order-laden, entropy-lessened timeline (created by the time traveler’s very presence) will become the dominant set of events, thus canceling out the original quantum states past the points of temporal travel. From that point on, the recessive timeline can only be accessed via an Artificial Landing.

Here is a sample of the rules in action using the Star Trek: Deep Space Nine episodes “Past Tense, Part 1” and “Past Tense Part 2”. The different time travel trips are labeled A through J — this is the metatime sequence. The blue and green lines towards the top are time travel trips. The yellow and red lines towards the bottom are various timelines.

Timeline rendered by Nathan Lucero

Here is another example, the Enterprise episodes “Storm Front Part 1” and “Storm Front Part 2”. Dotted lines are Quantum Projections:

And one more, as a back-of-the-napkin sketch, from Star Trek: First Contact:

As I mentioned, this approach reveals a kind of cosmological map of the Star Trek Multiverse. There are timelines branching out and entangled with parent universes all over the place. All of the various universes exist inside the larger multiverse. And there are regions outside the timelines and universes but within the larger multiverse, places like the Q Continuum, the Transdimensional Realm of the Sphere Builders and possibly the Fluidic Space of Species 8472. As far as I can count, there are at least 8 universes, certainly more, all listed below:

1. The Prime Universe — This is the universe where the majority everything happens, from the point of view of the audience.
2. The Elysia Universe — This is an alternate universe from the Star Trek: The Animated Series episode “The Time Trap”. Access to this universe happens naturally in the Delta Triangle region of the Milky Way galaxy. Over the centuries, many ships have accidentally made the cross and become stuck in Elysia. These refugees formed their own Prime Universe-style civilization there, with a ruling council formed in the 13th century. That council represents 123 Prime Universe species, including Andorians, Klingons, Vulcans, Tellarites, Romulans, Humans, Phylosians, Aquans, and Gorn. The Enterprise under Kirk and a Klingon ship under Kor, son of Rynar, visit this universe briefly.
3. The Megas-Tu Universe — The Megas-Tu Universe is described in the Animated episode “The Magicks of Megas-Tu”. This is a universe where the laws of science do not work and where “Magic”, as Federation scientists see it, seems to be the dominant order of the Universe.
4. The Terran Imperial Universe — Also known as the Mirror Universe, which has been visited several times in Star Trek. We cannot label this as the “Mirror Universe” officially, as no character in Star Trek ever calls it that. At best, characters refer to it as “the other side” or the “other universe”. Captain Kirk first bumped into this universe through the Terran Empire, hence the name.
5. The Kelvin Timeline — Also known as the Abramsverse or J.J. Verse. I prefer to label this as the Narada Temporal Divergence, but Kelvin Timeline fits quite well. If we decide that this timeline is its own universe in time, then I think The Kelvin or Narada Universe should be a sufficient label.
6. The Minus Universe — This is referenced in the Star Trek: The Original Series episode “The Alternative Factor” and is an antimatter universe that counters the positive matter universe we inhabit.
7. The Reverse Universe — The Reverse Universe is revealed in the animated episode “The Counter-Clock Incident”. This universe is one where the life cycle of life forms and the flow of time in the universe itself runs counter to that experienced in our Prime Universe.
8. The Crusher Pocket Universe — This little universe is chronicled in the Star Trek: The Next Generation episode “Remember Me”. It was a small universe created by accident as a result of a subspace anomaly. Dr. Crusher becomes temporarily trapped in this universe, which is collapsing around her. Famously, at one point the universe shrinks down to an amazing spheroid structure only 705 meters in diameter.
9. Other Universes — TNG’s “Parallels” clearly articulates a seemingly infinite number of universes, including one where the Borg have famously overrun the Federation. There is a possibility that these are also separate timelines that have not become dominant or had the time to mature into proper universes. The responsible thing to do here is to re-watch this episode and label each universe / timeline Worf encounters and log it in for this cosmological map. We can infer from this episode that many, many unnamed universes are yet to be encountered in Star Trek.

Regarding Other Dimensions — Dimensions in Star Trek are overused. As a result, it difficult to get a total accounting of all of known dimensions that pop up from time to time. To add to that difficulty, consider the difference between an alternative timeline and a dimension, which is to say sometimes there isn’t one. What is the Q-Continuum? Where do the Wormhole Aliens live…inside the Prime Universe or outside in the greater multiverse space?

Then, there are the hard to categorize areas. There are numerous contenders for known dimensional spaces that exist in a kind of undefined grey area. Subspace is clearly something to consider. The interspatial parasites of ENT’s “Twilight” open up another door. The planet Meridian (from DS9’s “Meridian”) shifts between dimensions periodically, from the Prime Universe / dimension to a hidden dimension. There are many, many other instances of dimensional use in Trek. Use of dimensions in Trek is prolific to the point of headache.

Star Trek blurs this line quite a bit and, thus, it is difficult to nail down a precise understanding here. Nevertheless, using these time travel rules, it might be possible to begin constructing a Cosmological Map Of The Star Trek Multiverse. Questionable dimensions and realms can be speculatively placed on this emerging map until further canon can qualify their placements.

So, that’s it. Eight Time Travel rules which leads us to a cosmological map of the Star Trek multiverse that contains eight or more known universes. Perhaps some other fan or writer can do better than this? If so, I welcome the attempt. Star Trek’s time travel addiction needs an intervention. Hopefully, this is a start.

https://youtu.be/O247kVPjwvs