Some obvious examples
- the holodeck gets a fatal software error and people are stuck in a classic novel
- a shuttle breaks down and crashes into a habitable planet
- the federation loses a space battle, but thankfully there's some space jungle (nebula, asteroid field, etc) to hide out in, thankfully within sub light distances
It would be interesting to see a new Star Trek show explore this phenomena and frame it as human supremacism within the Federation considering they're the most important founding species. Would be cool if existing shows already explored this but that would be too much to expect from 90s/00s TV.