Alternate reality
The Star Trek Expanded Universe Database is for fanon and related content. See Memory-Alpha.org for the canon Star Trek wiki.
When two or more outcomes occur as consequence of an event, each outcome can be considered an alternate reality, possibly explained by the fact that some events occur in different timelines or universes. The contradictory events can be considered as alternate timelines (if they are a result of time travel), or as alternate universes (when probability and quantum mechanics make things unfold differently without any travel through time occurring).
| existence of the expanded universe |
|---|
| dimension - history - space - time - time-space continuum - universe |
| alternate reality |
| alternate dimension - alternate timeline - parallel universe - pocket universe - quantum reality - subspace and hyperspace |
- In fan fiction and canon stories alike, an alternate reality can be used as a main story point, or it can simply be created after the fact to explain why events contradict each other.
- For example, the fan series Star Trek: Pendragon is based on a main story point that they are an alternate reality where things happened very differently than they did in the history of Star Trek canon.
- Other series that end up contradicting each other as a result of not being related to each other are usually explained as being alternate realities that differ in superficial ways not related to the story. Example: One ship has different registry numbers in two different fictions.
