Star Trek (film)/Background information/Story and script

The original treatment for the film (the initial story outline) was completed in August. By the 24th of that month, writers Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman had begun working on a first draft of the screenplay, which was completed by 12 December 2006. A second final draft was complete by 8 October 2007. In total, the script took approximately four months to write. The final script was about 128 pages long. 
In an interview posted , the writers stated that the "intended title" for the film was always simply Star Trek, without any colons or subtitles. This was to encourage newcomers that they didn't have to watch any other film before it. 
This is the first Star Trek movie since to feature characters from the original series and to feature scenes set in the 23rd century. It is also the first in the film series to be set before the other films.
Co-writer Alex Kurtzman said the script draws inspiration from . He and Roberto Orci hoped to recapture the spirit of The Wrath of Khan for this particular film. Other inspirations for the film include the novels and Spock's World, as well as the TOS episode , the TNG episode , , and the TAS episode . 
The writers said that their goal was for the film to appeal not just to Trek fans, but to new audiences as well. They hoped to bring the feel of the original Star Wars trilogy into the movie, since Abrams has often said he's more a fan of Star Wars than Star Trek. 
Scenes featuring Kirk's former CO, Garrovick, and Kirk's service under Garrovick aboard the are not in the film as first reported. These elements, which were included in early drafts of the script, were removed in rewrites. The character of Carol Marcus was also included in early drafts of the script, but she did not make it into the shooting script, either. 
Rumors that the film's story involved the Guardian of Forever from the classic episode prompted the episode's writer, Harlan Ellison, to demand compensation if elements from his story were used in the film. The rumors ultimately turned out to be false. The script does, however, reference several elements from the original series episode among these Spock's mother recalling when he was taunted by Vulcan boys during his youth, Sarek's recollection of how Spock turned down appointment to the Vulcan Science Academy, and Spock's conversation with Sarek at the end of the episode discussing why Sarek married Amanda (Sarek replying "At the time it seemed the logical thing to do").
According to Roberto Orci, the most difficult characters to write for were the film's villain (Nero) and James T. Kirk. One resource which Orci and Kurtzman utilized during the entire writing process was this website, Memory Alpha. The writers also occasionally referenced Memory Alpha during the film's production. 
Even though this film takes place in an alternate timeline, Orci has stated that any canon changes made in this timeline will not affect the former timeline, arguing that the scientific theory of quantum mechanics permits the existence of parallel timelines and universes, invoking the thousands of Enterprises from various universes seen in to back up this theory. He also believes that this theory allows for the continuance of a timeline even after a change is effected and an alternate timeline is created. In addition, he argues that, although the timeline has changed, the true nature of the characters does not change and that Kirk and company are the same people they are in the original timeline.