Alternate reality (Kelvin timeline) films
After Star Trek: Enterprise was canceled, an 18 year straight run of uninterrupted Star Trek came to a disappointing close. Any number of negative emotions could describe the resulting state of the Star Trek fan base. For the first time in Star Trek history, many fans were calling for the franchise not to be revived at all for fear of the demonstrated drop in quality persisting.
Despite the hostile climate, veteran Star Trek producer and co-creator of Enterprise Rick Berman pitched an ambitious and delightful idea for a new Star Trek film to bridge the gap between Enterprise and TOS called The Beginning which was to finally focus on the Earth-Romulan war. The more details leaked to the press, the better the film sounded. But Paramount was wary of another prequel and wary of trusting veteran producers like Berman who had repeatedly failed in the preceding years to deliver acclaimed stories.
Paramount was right that the fans were clamoring for new people who were more in touch with the fan base. But when Paramount brought in J.J. Abrams and Abrams decided to completely reboot the Star Trek franchise, it bitterly divided fans. While the first reboot film was highly entertaining, the reboot premise was deeply counterproductive.
Fans were delighted that Paramount saw fit to try something fresh with the Star Trek franchise, but when all was said and done, Rick Berman's The Beginning pitch actually sounded a lot more appealing, despite the fact that he was a veteran producer with a spotty track record. Somehow bringing in new people actually did more damage to the franchise than retaining the old people might have.
That said, there is a lot to love about the alternate reality films, also often referred to as the "Kelvin timeline." For starters, the alternate reality does not supersede previous canon. It's sort of like watching a handful of movies set in the mirror universe. In addition, it's hard to deny that the alternate reality is lots of fun. These films, while not deep, are fun for the same reason that Ent: In a Mirror, Darkly is fun. Some decried the reduction of all of Star Trek's grandeur to a series of summer blockbusters, but who doesn't enjoy a good space battle every now and then?