[NAHTMMM]

I'm not up on the latest advances in theoretical physics by any stretch, but this:

Anthony: So what happens with the destruction of the Kelvin is the creation of an alternative timeline, but what happens to the prime timeline after Nero leaves it? Does it continue or does it wink out of existence once he goes back and creates this new timeline.

Bob: It continues. According to the most successful, most tested scientific theory ever, quantum mechanics, it continues.

strikes me as a little . . . over-dogmatic? He's taking the many-worlds view and running with it, which is fine, but that's just one view. I'm pretty confident you don't need the many-worlds concept in order to have time travel. Although maybe he or the physics community has bundled something with the basic concept, and I'm thinking of a "naive", "prototypical" formulation.

. . . Hmm, you know, I don't think it matters. If MW had been proven I (or someone here) should certainly have heard about it.

(He is correct about the implications, however, if MW is correct in any meaningful way.)

We are not relying on the time travel element to tell a good story.

Good or bad, I would agree that they didn't rely on the time travel element for purposes of telling a story. It just allowed the first part of the story to connect with the rest.

Bob: I would argue that, yes, any time there is time travel that they created a parallel universe, if they want to conform to our most current and advanced thinking on the matter, which is quantum mechanics.

According to the MW concept, every time they did anything--or failed to do anything--they created parallel universes, each of which, depending on your interpretation of the concept, may or may not have blended into a neighboring universe if the difference wasn't substantial enough.