Let me say first that I loved the new Star Trek movie. It doesn't exactly fit in any sort of time-line with the original Star Trek series which premiered in the sixties, even though it features the same characters. Some people call this movie a prequel but that's not accurate! No, the movie begins with the birth of James Kirk and his life as we know it from the tv series and the six movies never happens. The huge Romulan mining vessel which you see early on traveled from the future where james kirk had already lived, led a very successful career in Starfleet and died. The Romulan vessel, led by it's captain Nero (played by Eric Bana) appears in the past and destroys the starship which carried James Kirk's mother and father. James Kirk's mother and the infant James narrowly escape the destruction of the starship. We learn later that the Romulans did this unwittingly. It was just an unlikely coincidence that the Kirks were there when the Romulan ship entered the past.Or perhaps it was fate. However we also learn that the Romulans did travel to the past to destroy Earth and the Planet Vulcan in order to exact vengeance for the destruction of Romulus (the Romulan's home world).
So the Romulans destroying the vessel which had carried the Kirk family (that was James Kirk's dad who piloted the starship on a collision-course with the Romulan vessel), the annihilation of the planet Vulcan (Mr. Spock's homeworld) and the final battle between the Romulans and the Enterprise, means that the entire original series and the first six movies never happened. Or never will happen depending on how you look at it. At least the original series. Possibly the other Star Trek series (The Next Generation, Deep Space 9, Voyager, and Enterprise) would never happen either.
I know it's alot to take in, but just watch Star Trek. Begin with the Original Star Trek. You will see that this movie is a monumental departure for what we know as Star Trek. And i believe it will breath new life into this beloved chronicle of "humanity's bright future".