Back in the 1990s, the Star Trek series didn't have as many bells and whistles as the shows have now. That's partly because they didn't exist. All of the series were expensive to produce for their time, though. The average cost to produce each episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation and Star Trek: Deep Space Nine was $1.3 million while the cost for the pilot of Star Trek: Voyager alone was $23 million. That would be over $47 million in today's funds.
A recent poster on Reddit suggested that Star Trek produce low budget, "carbon copy of 90s trek" today with seven seasons, twenty-four episodes each, in standard definition, and the fans would still be happy. One big problem with that, though, is some of the ways Star Trek was produced back in the 1990s are obsolete. The planets were painted, and now, they are created using CGI. The special effects were limited, and going back to a series using the basics would probably be more difficult than using what is in the special effects departments' arsenal of tools.
I understand what the poster is saying, though. When The Next Generation premiered, it was considered a high-tech show, certainly higher than what was able to be utilized on Star Trek: The Original Series. And with each show, the effects get better. But the cost per episode increases, too.
Making a Star Trek episode with only $1.3 million dollars now would be virtually impossible with the way the costs have risen over the years. Could we have less effects and more character-driven episodes? Yes, but sets still need to be built. Talent still needs to be hired. Then there's wardrobe, makeup, lighting, and so much more. That wouldn't fit in a million dollar budget.
It's fine to look back at a series and long for the nostalgia of the time, but Star Trek has come too far to go back. Everything is more expensive, but we get the benefit of the cinematic scenes and high-tech action. Star Trek can't be made any other way without going back to drawn planets and styrofoam sets.