Are we sure that terrible damage to the E doesn't happen towards the beginning of the film? Also brainstorming that if it happens in the finale that the big sacrifice of Pike or whomever will be something akin to Spock getting the engines back on line so Enterprise can pull out of its fall and resume orbit saving the day. Thoughts?
I guess it's possible that the damage we see is from the lava from the beginning of the movie and they are trying to break atmosphere but can't and they fall back down to the surface.
Just came across this new mini board game for the movie... http://www.entertainmentearth.com/prodinfo.asp?number=NC70823 http://www.entertainmentearth.com/images/AUTOIMAGES/NC70823lg.jpg [Inline image converted to link. Images posted inline must be hosted on web space which belongs to you. - M'] The description says: "Stop the Klingon assault and save the U.S.S. Enterprise!..." I wonder if the Klingons attack the Enterprise and she can't handle the onslaught. The damage looks extensive enough to have been caused by multiple ships. Maybe Kirk and the crew apprehend Harrison on Kronos, and the Klingons chase them back to Earth. Kirk refuses to hand over Harrison and the Enteprise takes damage in a battle... anyway, just a thought.
I think it happens a little more than half-way through the movie, and there will be a brief time the ship will be out of commission and our heroes will be forced to fend for themselves without her.
I'm surprised if most people were assuming otherwise. The moment I saw that, I connected those shots with the ship crashing through the water and the saucer that is seen slicing through the building. I automatically assumed it had something to do with Harrison's attack, and that this is connected to why Kirk gets busted out of the service. My mind immediately gravitated to the story structure of one of the novels that the writers cited as their inspiration during the first movie's conception. It looks so much like a riff on that book.
It could be at the very end. A desperate suicidal rush from Qo'nos to Earth, through the Klingon fleet, to stop the final part of the Evil Plan. Last time I saw Generations, I was thinking how much more awesome it would have been if Soran were stopped by hundreds of Starfleet officers pouring from the Enterprise, had it crashed near to where Picard and he were fighting. I also thought it would have been much cooler if they crashed into a city... I think JJ Abrams had similar thoughts!