The funny thing is that if they wanted to justify it by putting Kirk on a recreation of the bridge or his quarters and keep him there for the full episode, it would have been far more believable and would have made the show even cheaper to shoot. (Even with existing sets, you lose time and have to pay the crew when you move your lighting, etc. between sets.)
I still don't think the story would have justified it, and there would still be loads of other problems, but it would at least mitigate some of the issues.
I would hate that. Too claustrophobic. The idea of having the whole
Enterprise practically to yourself is this episode's best idea. "The Mark of Gideon" has that, Sharon Acker looking so hot in her costume, and the eerie "window full of faces" bit. And that's basically all.
You can't throw away the "empty ship" concept. It is archetypal. I have
recurring dreams like that, only set in schools and office buildings. It's eerie and cool. [In the dreams, I find a cafeteria laid out with a huge banquet, somehow freshly abandoned, and I dig in because if I don't, who will?]
My idea to re-tool "Gideon": in the teaser, Kirk goes to beam down, but as he steps on the pad, Scotty is the one who vanishes. Kirk rushes over to the intercom and calls around the ship. His echoing voice is heard over shots of the empty sets. Roll main titles.
Then we learn that the
rest of the crew has been abducted. Kirk was missed because our own transporter "had him" at the crucial moment and then let him go, untransported, when Scotty disappeared.
Scenes of our bridge crew on Gideon would cost no more than what we got in Hodin's office as it was. Having
four or so guest actors as alien terrorists stealing the
Enterprise would cost no more than the Kirk and Odona scenes we actually got.
Sharon Acker in a sexy outfit is the main baddie. Kirk defeats the terrorists, re-takes the ship, and rescues the crew.
This would have been a more
sense-making episode for the same money. Note that I am not plagiarizing from
TNG "Starship Mine" because that hasn't been written yet. Damn, I'm good.