Star Trek: Star Fleet Academy should lean into that premise.
Star Trek technology was always based on dilithium crystals as a power source. The Burn, was a catastrophic event in which all the dilithium crystals became inert. All star ships that were deployed lost power, resulting in the deaths of a vast number of Star Fleet personnel.
Star Fleet personnel were always the best of the best, because in a post-scarcity society, people could pursue any career or endeavor that appealed to them. After The Burn, the best of the best were gone, and their courageous and competent genes were gone too.
A hundred years after The Burn, when Star Fleet is ready to reestablish Star Fleet Academy, all they have left are these theater kids.
