Some of the TNG movies had the opposite problem of low stakes, like in Generations when Soran plans to destroy some random planet we've never heard of before and never see. Can they just go back to the old "stop the destruction of Earth" routine? It may not be exactly original, but it works as a storytelling device.
I'll admit, I like that about Generations. That it is just some planet, not even of warp people, just some industrial types, and the crew is fighting and putting themselves at risk to save them anyway is a nice touch to the characters.
By now I'm tired of Earth being in danger (especially when you have a set up where there's countless worlds available).
Give me heroes being heroic.
The SW EU had this problem as well. Galaxy threatening stakes and crises, every series.
Part of it, I think is marketing/general audience concerns. A series about characters doing something on a single planet or some local problem or another might interest hard core fans interested in said characters, but its going to struggle to get wide appeal. That isn't to say too low stakes can not be a problem either. The stakes have to be there in some form, else why bother at all?
Sometimes the SW:EU could do localized stories.
Look I'm going to spell it out: it always comes down to character. How you pull those off will determine the rest.
Let's go with a very pulp manga/light novel guilty pleasure of mine: Goblin Slayer. It's a deliberate, on-running gag in the series that we are NOT following the big, prophesied hero on a quest to save the world. That's happening off screen with very brief glimpses and references. Every arc is always a local challenge. We're saving a farm, a city, a village in winter, etc. Yet with these lowest of low stakes, I often find myself more on the edge of my seat than in the last Avengers film. Why? Because I get invested in the characters and the efforts.
Now you may not like Goblin Slayer, may even dislike it, but it's not going to suddenly become captivating to you if we suddenly raise the stakes. If that was true, then Discovery and Picard would be the most captivating TV shows currently being made. Hell Star Wars fans have publicly declared the Mandalorian, a TV show about a stupid baby, far more captivating than the entire sequel trilogy which had the entire galaxy at stake.
Back to the Future is a movie that has held up for decades now and the only thing at stake in it is one high school loser and his siblings.
Character is always the key. Make compelling, interesting characters that the audience gets invested in and you can set ANYTHING as the stakes and they will buy it.
And if your characters suck? Then it doesn't matter how high you set the stakes, it won't change the audience's investment one iota.
