[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.

[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.

[Samuel]

ST4 needed the ship for much of the movie but not for space battles of course. Without a ship there was no time travel nor any way to get the whales. They could have come up with some other kind of method but since the idea of using a ship was already established they didnt have to spend the time explaining how a different method would work. Certainly whatever method would have to make sure the whales were always in water. So its either a self-contained vehicle or time travel directly within the ocean.

As for Trek 2011, do some kind of battle in the beginning 15 minutes as a setup but thats it. Solve whatever plot complication without needing the ship except in a minimal way only.

[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????

[omegaman]

Big E destroyed and crew marooned on a planet with a race of bio-mechanical weapons that are at war with each other.

[DammitJim]

Enterprise has already been destroyed twice the previous movies.

it just needs to be "out of comission" for a while.