Rehashing story ideas is as Star Trek as the Federation itself
By Chad Porto
If you're new to Star Trek, you may be looking for a show to start watching to better get the franchise as a whole. You may have started watching a series, and are looking for that next great series to watch. The choice can be hard, but we can make it a lot easier (or harder if you're indecisive), it really doesn't matter which series you watch; most of them borrow the biggest story ideas from one another.
That's right, whether it's the Original Series, Voyager, or even Strange New Worlds, just about every series has borrowed a concept, gimmick, plot device, or entire story idea from other shows in the series. Other than the Original for obvious reasons. This may seem lazy, but retelling the same story in different ways is as Star Trek as Star Trek gets.
The franchise has perfected the element of re-telling stories that were already done, and doing so in a different way to further look at the possibilities of how specific stories can verge depending on the interaction of the characters, and the choices made. It's like going back in time, finding one of those Choose Your Own Adventure novels, and doing all the possible outcomes.
That's what Star Trek has been doing for decades, further exploring stories already once told, to see if there's another way that story can be told and if different outcomes can be discovered. This is an idea being explored in other franchises, like the DCEU, who do various re-tellings of various stories but put a different twist on it each time.
Marvel is also doing it, with their What If...? series. Heck, Star Trek itself has further explored the concept of alternate universes, with the Kelvin Timeline exploring several classic Star Trek stories but putting their own twist on it.
Re-examining stories years later is as Star Trek as anything.