Star Trek: 10 Most Overused Plot Tropes
Let's take a look at some recurring plots that've come to define Star Trek!
Star Trek has been around for so long that it's forgivable for it to slightly reuse plots from time to time, such as the Voyager episode Author, Author that plays out very similar to the Next Generation episode The Measure Of A Man, both episodes featuring an artificial lifeform (Data and The Doctor) fighting for their freedom as sentient beings, not the property of Starfleet. In Star Trek: Picard we see the continuation of this story with other synthetic lifeforms.
However, there are certain plot ideas that have been reused so much that they have become tropes. Moments that define Star Trek, and can be found across nearly all shows of the franchise.
From things that prevent their technology from easily saving the day, to rehashed ideas for conflicts, to repeated filler moments, this list will be counting down ten of the most egregious examples of Star Trek plot tropes throughout the franchise's history.
10. Characters Meeting Alternate Versions Of Themselves
Most fans are familiar with the mirror universe. This alternate reality where humanity rules the galaxy with an iron fist and subjugates all alien life has appeared on Star Trek: Enterprise, The Original Series, Deep Space Nine, and Discovery, and shows audiences a darker, more sinister reality devoid of Starfleet's morals.
There are also many other alternate versions of characters that pop up throughout the franchise. In the Next Generation episode, Second Chances, we learn that Riker was inadvertently duplicated through a transporter glitch. His duplicate was left alone on the planet as the ship warped away carrying the other Riker and was forced to survive on his own for eight years. Another example is the clone of Picard, Shinzon, created by the Romulans, who assassinated the Romulan senate and made a plan to annihilate Starfleet.
Other notable copies include Admiral Janeway from the alternate future in the last episode of Voyager, all of the characters from the reboot movie timeline, and many more. This trope appears constantly in Trek and gives us insight into how the characters we know and love would've been different if they'd had different lives.