[DammitJim]

or space battle for that matter.

a lot of TOS episodes happened planetside with The Big Three and the Enterprise crew seemingly helpless to assist them (Scotty would put in a fair effort, but as my niece once asked "why did Kirk keep Sulu around anyway?? he was never much help!!")

so I was wondering if a TREK sequel set entirely on a planet would work.
for example, the command crew have to deal with a Klingon threat to a pre-Warp world while trying to figure out just where the Enterprise has disappeared to.

could a movie without the ship work??

[Diron Hod]

It could work for me.

[kevin]

If the story set outwith the ship was involving enough, and if that story didn't require a space battle then I see no reason not to give it a go.

[hen88]

Star Trek IV didn't have the Enterprise. They were on a Klingon Bird of Prey the whole time.

[DammitJim]

Originally Posted by hen88

Star Trek IV didn't have the Enterprise. They were on a Klingon Bird of Prey the whole time.

true, put I did mean just the crew without a ship at all.

can anybody think of a story for a planetbound crew or what could be the reason they are without the Enterprise????

[The Saint]

Originally Posted by DammitJim

true, put I did mean just the crew without a ship at all.

can anybody think of a story for a planetbound crew or what could be the reason they are without the Enterprise????

Well, it's been done -- I don't recall whether it's been done in Star Trek, but...

They wake up amnesiac in San Francisco circa 1941. Sulu is seized and taken to an internment camp for Japanese-Americans. Kirk and McCoy are both beat cops. No sign of Spock. Chekov is a foreign correspondent for a Moscow paper, part of an exchange program that had foreign correspondent Walter Duranty in Moscow, but Chekov is Duranty's counterpart over here. Uhura is assigned by the San Francisco Chronicle to be Chekov's translator. At a public launch of a new Naval battleship that Montgomery Scott worked on as part of the U.S./U/K. lend-lease program, with Kirk and McCoy keeping the crowd under control and while Chekov and Uhura are on scene for the paper, a Starfleet shuttlecraft buzzes the ship and the crowd, piloted by Spock. Our Starfleet crew's memories are triggered by the sight of the shuttle but they don't regain them fully. The story kicks into gear with them trying to puzzle out who they are, what they have in common and the meaning of the impossible aircraft they saw -- to figure it out, they go looking for Spock and then have to free Sulu all the while trying to figure out how to get home.

[Scribbler]

Originally Posted by The Saint

Well, it's been done -- I don't recall whether it's been done in Star Trek, but...

They wake up amnesiac in San Francisco circa 1941. Sulu is seized and taken to an internment camp for Japanese-Americans. Kirk and McCoy are both beat cops. No sign of Spock. Chekov is a foreign correspondent for a Moscow paper, part of an exchange program that had foreign correspondent Walter Duranty in Moscow, but Chekov is Duranty's counterpart over here. Uhura is assigned by the San Francisco Chronicle to be Chekov's translator. At a public launch of a new Naval battleship that Montgomery Scott worked on as part of the U.S./U/K. lend-lease program, with Kirk and McCoy keeping the crowd under control and while Chekov and Uhura are on scene for the paper, a Starfleet shuttlecraft buzzes the ship and the crowd, piloted by Spock. Our Starfleet crew's memories are triggered by the sight of the shuttle but they don't regain them fully. The story kicks into gear with them trying to puzzle out who they are, what they have in common and the meaning of the impossible aircraft they saw -- to figure it out, they go looking for Spock and then have to free Sulu all the while trying to figure out how to get home.

Personally I've always thought that stories which revolve around the
characters all having amnesia to be rather contrived. This would fit in very well to with a TV show like Voyager which was quite happy to dress everyone up in WWII costumes and ignore the fact that it made no sense. I don't think this is suitable for a movie as it would confuse the hell out of the audience and most importantly would squander vital opportunities to enjoy watching the characters we're interested in, i.e. the Star Trek ones. I don't want to watch Chekov as foreign correspondent or Kirk as a beat cop. I want to watch the crew of the Enterprise and I want to watch a movie which builds on the success of the previous one. Interesting idea though.

[The Saint]

Originally Posted by Scribbler

Personally I've always thought that stories which revolve around the
characters all having amnesia to be rather contrived. This would fit in very well to with a TV show like Voyager which was quite happy to dress everyone up in WWII costumes and ignore the fact that it made no sense. I don't think this is suitable for a movie as it would confuse the hell out of the audience and most importantly would squander vital opportunities to enjoy watching the characters we're interested in, i.e. the Star Trek ones. I don't want to watch Chekov as foreign correspondent or Kirk as a beat cop. I want to watch the crew of the Enterprise and I want to watch a movie which builds on the success of the previous one. Interesting idea though.

True, a story that involved would be better suited to a novel, and then the superficial appearance of contrivance can go a long way toward mitigated by how the idea is executed. Still -- Star Trek story sans Enterprise. 'twas requested, there's a candidate.

[kevin]

Good point. The story they chose to tell in that film did not require either of the above and worked just fine.

[jla1987]

I'd be in favor of a Trek movie without the Enterprise. It was done on a couple of the TV shows, so why not in a film? I wouldn't mind not having a spce battle as well.