I am sure that a great Star Wars film could be made, that utterly ignored the philosophy of Star Wars - it would gain box office acclaim - but would it actually bode well for the health of the franchise if the special spirit that brought about such loyalty in the first place was disregarded?
I know my opinion doesn't matter, only been a fan since 1975. But, I still don't see where the Abrams films ignored the philosophy of Star Trek? Not even a little bit.
Okay, a few brief ideas:
1). Watch an episode like say "The Doomsday Machine". Note how professional everyone behaves (except the man who is under psychological stress). Note how Starfleet is an organization in which hard work, earnest careers, and respect for the chain of command are all important. Note that these are aspects that professional historians argue make or break a successful civilization - it's institutions and organizational capacity. Then compare this composed behavior to the behavior of Kirk and co. in the new films - when taken purely as entertainment, they are alright - but they make Starfleet look like "The Last Starfighter" - a man promoted to Captain right out of the academy - people arguing over each other on the bridge of a starship (a piece of hardware, which like a nuclear submarine, is capable of leveling a planet).
That stood out quite a lot for me - although I am aware that Kirk didn't always behave professionally in the TOS movies.
2). To really write well for a given franchise, you have to respect the philosophical ideals of the franchise. In the case of Star Trek, whether people like it or not, those are the ideals of humanism, secularism, rationality, respect for intellect, respect for civilization, problem-solving, progressiveness, and yes, even a little atheism.
The ideals are not dark and gritty space opera (as much as I enjoy that too), so for example, the dreary cynicism of Battlestar Galactica would be out of place. And, in the case of JJ Abrams, I feel like the franchise was consciously taken away from its humanist and secular roots, and made into something more along the lines of 'Lost'.
Gone was the (often quite good) science present in many previous iterations of Star Trek - in it's place, Doctor Who style Harry-Potter-in-Space techno-magic. Gone was the very sober view of our place in the universe, and instead Kirk "was destined to command Enterprise", despite a butterfly effect of massive proportions having happened.
People imbibe themes whether they notice them or not; and Star Trek, like Star Wars, or Tolkien, was so successful because people 'got' the message it was delivering, and agreed.
