Carl Jung had a theory that all mythos are derived from a common human consciousness. Nearly all societies had mythos of pointy eared elves regardless of whether they had contact with each other. Nearly all societies have a story similar to Noahs Ark. There are many such parallels in mythos throughout time and various cultures. The gaining of power through resurrection is also a common theme (see Jesus).
This suggests that there is some latent psychological "memory" that causes these to persist.
Gene Rodenberry, the creator of Star Trek, was a member of a group who regularly spoke to "Seth". Seth was a being from another dimension who spoke through the body of a human occasionally. Seth spoke of many things about the future, and it was through the inspiration gained form these speaking that Gene Rodenberry decided to write Star Trek. (
http://sethspeaks.org/# )
It is said that he believed that we can create our own reality. He wanted to create the vision of a universe that was positive instead of the gloom and doom about nulcear holocaust that was floating around at the time.
SPock is evidence of this elven mytho popping up again. A wise, long-lived pointy ear'd dude. Add to that him being resurrected throgh the Genesis event and you start to throw in some Jesus mythos on top of that.
We are all just rerunning the same old stories over and over again with a contemporary spin each time. There are a set number of common themes in our mythos and these are the stories that resonate most strongly with us. Successful writers are tapping those mythological themes, maybe unconciously but maybe some on purpose.
We can talk about Star Wars too and Obi Wan, luke, etc.
How about Lord of the Rings? Again a lot of the same themes