The Founding of the Federation: I can see a temptation to, after seven seasons, have the finale portraying the founding of the Federation... in 2158, three years early. Of course, it may well turn out that Enterprise seasons need not exactly equal years, and we can stretch the series a bit, but I wouldn't count on it.
Subspace Radio: This one is questionable. I'm willing to bet that the Enterprise is equipped with subspace radio, or will be soon. As we saw in the original series, the concept of having the ship completely independent and not in contact with command doesn't last long. On the one hand, this seems to contradict "A Piece of the Action," which suggests that the radio was invented after 2168. On the other hand, "Balance of Terror" had subspace radio in use before 2167, at the end of the Romulan Wars.
Phasers: "The Cage" and "A Matter of Time" suggest these were invented in the twenty-third century. Early script reviews of "Broken Bow" have indicated that the crew uses "phase pistols," which are clearly a predecessor to the phaser, but not actual phasers. However, those were early reviews, and true phasers might be invented during the series if they aren't already called such in the final script.
Nuclear weaponry: "Balance of Terror" has ships of the era using nuclear missiles. We don't know yet what the Enterprise packs, so it could be a contradiction. The again, having the Enterprise not armed with nuclear weapons doesn't mean they aren't in use by the Earth Starfleet at large. Again, we just have to see what happens.
Finally, I'd like to touch on one point that Enterprise can't contradict, even though many people might believe otherwise.
The Romulan Wars: According to "Balance of Terror," the Wars were one hundred eyars before that episode, which would put them circa 2166. Mike Okuda violated his own rules to put the wars a full decade earlier, based on a facet of dialog that was ignored in all other cases. Many post-Federation ships (including the Enterprise NCC-1701 herself) were called "Earth ships," Federation representatives called "Earth ambassadors," and so on... but nobody questions that they are affiliated with the Federation. In other words, not showing the Romulan Wars during the run of Enterprise fits in better with canon! I wouldn't rule it out yet, though. So far, the producers seem to be big on the idea of putting in as many references to future continuity as possible... we have yet to see if they're big on executing that idea.
[ July 15, 2001: Message edited by: Ryan McReynolds ]
Perhaps that's the reason for their chronic isolationism: they've been planning something like this for centuries, and they knew that any interaction with outsiders would cause the changes to the past to affect them, as well. A bit of a stretch, I know...
I wonder: if the writers are intending the identity of Future Guy to be some major secret in the series, how are they gonna feel if we've figured it out three months before the show even airs?
Another thing that really shouldn't exist is the replicator. However, what would be in place of the replicator? Are we going to see food synthesizers or a galley setup? One also has to wonder about the computer technology. Isolinear optical chips are a big no-no and duotronic technology from The Original Series aren't going to be in existence yet, either. That was created by Richard Daystrom and he hasn't been born yet. But would transtator technology be available yet?
That's an interesting theory on the Roluman War, Ryan and Omega. There'll probably be howls of outrage from a certain segment of the Trek fan population, but there hasn't been mention of the Romulan War leading directly to the founding of the Federation on-screen. In my mind, it would make more sense for the Federation to be formed prior to the outbreak of hostilies. It would be a prudent move for Earth and her allies to combine their efforts in the face of a growing threat. Real world example? The North Atlantic Treaty Organization was formed with the purpose of defending Europe against invasion by the Soviet Union. NATO was formed in the face of a growing threat and not at the conclusion of armed conflict between the two parties.
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Originally posted by The359:
Just because they said 100 years in the episode doesn't mean it was EXACTLY 100 years ago. I mean, they were probably just approximating. The difference between 2157 and 2166 isn't exactly much. In fact, he may have been talking about the end of the war, so it's even closer. 2161 vs. 2166.
Of course, and that's exactly my point. We don't know when the war is, so it's not a contradiction even if Enterprise makes no mention of Romulans.
And I only mention the idea of the war being exactly one hundred years before the episode because that is the basis of Okuda's dating scheme. The Horizon was at Sigma Iotia II in 2168 because that's exactly one hundred years before the episode, even though they were probably rounding. The same goes for almost every reference... except for the Romulan War. There's no logical reason for an exception.
I'm sorry, but keeping with continuity really isn't that hard. I mean, what the hell do the people at Paramount DO that takes up so much time? Seriously, would it be so impossible to have like two or three people on staff in the Star Trek division, who were required to check over the scripts being created, to ensure that they followed some well written rules?
For example, why has the registration number fiasco never been formalized? Anyone who worked with Trek could have said (and can still say) "Okay, all ships from here-on-out will be numbered like this: Galaxy classes have registration numbers 'x' numbers long and begin and end in this range. Nebula classes have registration numbers 'x' long and...", right? So then we say: "Writers of scripts should always leave the registration numbers blank. The appropriate number will be filled in during script editing." So these two or three continuity people look in their little "Continuity Book" and find the page for registration numbers. They see that the writer has decided to put in a Nebula class ship that has never been seen in an episode before. So they give it a high number, in the number scheme set out.
That's not exactly rocket science. We don't even need to say that those "continuity checkers" were exclusively hired for that! Any script editor could go through and check specific variables like registration numbers, or stardates, to ensure they fall in the correct ranges.
My entire point is: Paramount CAN make us (hard core trekkies) happy. It's not a matter of "We'll never make them happy so let's not try." That's not true. It's simply that they barely put any effort into it, and then they compound the problem by making stupid decisions. Case in point: 'Enterprise'. As we all know SPOCK was the first Vulcan in the Federation. Why does 'Enterprise' have a Vulcan on the bridge? Don't give me any BS about it not being the Federation yet.
It all comes down to Berman and all his cronies deciding that a pre-Federation show was the best choice. Where did he get this idea? It was obvious that the Excelsior campaign had a lot of steam, and beyond that, the fodder for stories would have been a lot better. But instead of going for what the fans wanted, they decided to NOT do what they wanted, and take a middle-of-the-road approach by DISTANCING themselves from the Trek genre (ie- dropping "Star Trek" from the title to make it look less like Trek).
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I mean, what the hell do the people at Paramount DO that takes up so much time?
I dunno. Run a multibillion dollar international entertainment company? Yeah, childsplay.
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As we all know SPOCK was the first Vulcan in the Federation.
That must have been news to his father, a Federation ambassador.
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It was obvious that the Excelsior campaign had a lot of steam, and beyond that, the fodder for stories would have been a lot better.
So, are they still making Kindred: The Embraced in your timeline?
You know, I'm still waiting for someone to find me the exact quote that states this. What episode or film was it said in? Huh?
I was making a feeble attempt at humor. 
ENT may be contradicting a lot of things we've accepted about Trek history for a long time, but this isn't one of them.
