Warning, very long musings ahead...
If I may, I would like to circumvent for a moment the debate on the appropriateness and/or effectiveness of the new film´s Multiverse approach to Star Trek storytelling, in favor of what I personally find equally noteworthy about this particular narrational strategy.
At least from my point of view, the writers´ choice reflects their efforts to (re?)introduce into the larger mega-narrative of the Star Trek world, what, in the jargon of Transmedia Storytelling Theory, is called a state of dynamic equilibrium.
This term defines a writing strategy that strives to preserve certain pre-established and widely accepted elements and motives of a large(r) story-world, while it simultaneously introduces new and unfamiliar developments into the narrative in order to avoid staleness and repetitiveness.
Interestingly, the very approach of creating parallel universes within already well established pop-cultural narratives in order to construct and maintain such a dynamic equilibrium, has been implemented before.
In his MIT master thesis on "Media Expectations Across Entertainment Media" Alec Austin lists and analyzes, among other topics, the narrational strategies of various comic book franchises with regard to this issue.
I find it quite instructive to note how much the Abrams team´s approach to their concept of the diverging Star Trek universes does echo, on a structural level at least, certain methods of storytelling applied by Marvel Comics, particularly with regard to the construction of an in-continuity, off-shoot, parallel narrational space.
In my opinion, it might not be too bold to postulate that Abrams et al. could have based their decision, about how to further develop and manage the Star Trek mega-narrative, on certain FORMAL similarities the property shares with various comic book franchises.
From my perspective, these common traits originate from the often unusual circumstances which have shaped, over time, the presence of Star Trek as a TV/movie narrative and franchise, such as the saga´s very long, almost half a century spanning production history, its existence in multiple incarnations and of course, the sheer amount of the material produced.
On the other hand, Orci and Kurtzman could also have been steered towards their decision to choose the Multiverse storytelling approach more subconsciously, simply because of any previous encounters with this particular narrational strategy as (self-professed) dedicated, longtime fans and followers of various media franchises.
Furthermore, I am also familiar with and would certainly not want to dispute Orci´s own explanation of the writers´ choice as the result of their engagement with what could arguably be interpreted as scientific evidence for a possible, actual existence of parallel universes.
To my knowledge, so far none of the producers and/or writers of the new film have actually stated directly, if and how strongly the principles of Transmedia Storytelling Theory might have influenced the realization of this latest chapter of the Star Trek saga.
But, aside from various intra-textual indications of the creative team´s familiarity with these concepts, I am also aware of several extra-textual factors that seem to lead to the same conclusion.
For instance, ample evidence can be found for Abrams more than passing professional acquaintance with TV-writer (Alias, Lost, Heroes), future showrunner (Day One) and staunch Transmedia Storytelling proponent Jesse Alexander.
Furthermore, Star Trek producer (and co-showrunner of Lost) Lindelof, Alexander and several other industry colleagues all participated in a well-documented brainstorming session on the topic, as has been reported through an article published in Fast Company magazine.
But most intriguingly, the Abrams team offered and actually filmed a Klingon Cameo for the new movie with MIT and USC professor Henry Jenkins (as he himself described in his public blog), who is widely considered to be the founder and most prominent scholar of Transmedia Storytelling Theory.
So, personally, I do see several reasons for Abrams et al., that might have led them to adopt a narrational strategy for Star Trek pioneered originally by the comic book industry.
And consequently, I find it even more tempting to speculate about the possible future intentions of the writers as they relate to the preservation, re-interpretation or erasure of other specific genre conventions informing story content and character building, which in the past have differentiated Star Trek from other pop-cultural mega-narratives.
