I think they did exactly the right thing. I like the alternate universe bit (which I copped to right away, since it was obvious the romulans were from the future and nobody is supposed to have seen a Romulan before "Balance of Terror"). It's not that they've thrown out the whole cannon, it means that with a new cast they can go new places and do new things without screwing up the story line. So it's a little "Last Season was a Dream." So what? I think it was the best way they could honor the original series and do something new with the same characters.