With the news that Star Trek 4 is indeed in the pipeline and due to start shooting at the end of the year, many of us are once again finding ourselves getting excited about that little corner of the Star Trek multiverse known as the Kelvin timeline. While you wait for the next movie to release, we recommend you read a comic called Star Trek: Countdown.
While the Kelvin timeline movies are, by definition, in a different timeline to the original Star Trek universe, the creators intentionally wrote it in such a way that they still connected the two. Famously, Leonard Nimoy resumed the role of Spock for the first (and second) movies in this timeline, where we learned that he had been involved in a failed attempt to save the planet Romulus from destruction, which leads to he and a Romulan captain called Nero (and his crew) being sent back in time and ultimately making a new timeline.
It was a really cool way to do a reboot without re-writing what had gone before, but what about those of us who wanted to learn more about the events in the original universe that lead up to the destruction of Romulus? Well, that’s exactly what you get in Star Trek: Countdown.
Not only do you get a greater look at Spock’s involvement in the events that transpired, but you find out that several members of the TNG crew were also involved. Picard, Worf, Geordi and Data (or, more accurately speaking, B4) all make appearances in this comic as well.
On top of all that, it gives Nero a huge amount of character development, showing you how he became the villainous figure he was when we first met him in the 2009 movie. If you love a good villain origin story, then this is the comic for you.
While some may question whether a comic is truly canon with the movies and series, it’s worth noting that Star Trek Online has certainly taken it as canon and followed on from it in some ways, and the comic adaptation of the 2009 movie also treats this as a canon storyline. Although its portrayal of Data/B4 is inconsistent with things learned in Star Trek: Picard, even the shows and movies are inconsistent with each other sometimes, so that’s not reason enough to write this off.
If you’re looking for more Star Trek content during the long wait for the new movie, check out our article on everything we know about Star Trek 4 so far and if you fancy having a bit of a Star Trek binge, here’s our guide on watching all of Star Trek in chronological order.