[horatio]

What if they had shown the actual change of timelines, à la "Yesterday's Enterprise", i.e. we shortly see a TOS-style Kelvin which changes after the Narada comes out of the singularity.
Would it have helped to emphasize the alternate reality aspect or would it only have confused the audience (and let some Trekkers hope in vain that the timeline changes back to TOS-style at the end)?

[kevin]

I doubt it would have confused them since I believe several other films have used similar style transitions and the technique is a relatively well known one - but by the same token I don't believe it was required either.

[OneBuckFilms]

It might have been confusing, and the audience would be wondering "What was that <weird effect> all about?"

The Opening Scene was designed to keep it a mystery as to who/what they were facing, and that would have been lost.

[Commodore]

I think there would have been a collective "Huh?" from the audience in my theatre.

[RabidFan]

Trekkies/trekkers would get it but all the new fans would be confused I think until someone explained it to them. It would have been a treat for us but taken as a whole might detract from the movie and the starting moments as a large chunk of the audience would be confused right from the start and that would be a tragedy as that was one of the best beginnings of a movie I can think of.

[TriggerMan]

Originally Posted by horatio

What if they had shown the actual change of timelines, à la "Yesterday's Enterprise", i.e. we shortly see a TOS-style Kelvin which changes after the Narada comes out of the singularity.

Likely wouldn't if the Narada is a few decades older than a TOS-style ship.

[horatio]

Originally Posted by OneBuckFilms

It might have been confusing, and the audience would be wondering "What was that <weird effect> all about?"

The Opening Scene was designed to keep it a mystery as to who/what they were facing, and that would have been lost.

Good point, OneBuck. I don't think that it would have demystified Nero, but the 1st person perspective / throw you into the middle of the action element of the opening scene would have been lost.

[chator]

Originally Posted by horatio

What if they had shown the actual change of timelines, à la "Yesterday's Enterprise", i.e. we shortly see a TOS-style Kelvin which changes after the Narada comes out of the singularity.
Would it have helped to emphasize the alternate reality aspect or would it only have confused the audience (and let some Trekkers hope in vain that the timeline changes back to TOS-style at the end)?

It's funny how people who have seen the film, even former Trek stars, don't really get that the events in this film have created a new timeline. It was done so subtle that the audience doesn't largely get that the events in this film don't lead to the events in Trek Prime.

[Captain Tom Coughlin]

The movie establishes it's story well, that Nero has changed the destinies of Kirk and co. The opening scene was perfect the way it was.

[TriggerMan]

Originally Posted by chator

It's funny how people who have seen the film, even former Trek stars, don't really get that the events in this film have created a new timeline.

Which former Trek stars in specific have said they didn't know it was a new chain of events? There's a whole conversation in the film discussing how Nero coming back in time created the new chain of events/alternate reality, etc. For someone to miss that means they probably weren't paying attention and warrants a re-watch.