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Originally Posted by Trollheart
Not to mention that many of the TOS episodes took place on a planet. With the nascent and embryonic state of special effects in the sixties and early seventies, it made financial sense and was just easier for the crew to face, say, cowboys on a planet or gangsters in an alternate reality (ie another planet, ie the same one!) than choreograph complicated space battles or the like. If Kirk were not on the planet, then it would be difficult for him to be in them, unless he was called down, and you couldn't have that happening every week. Shatner surely expected as much screentime as possible and would definitely not "do a Picard" and stay home (though in one or two episodes he did, but then either the show focussed on the ship or he beamed down soon after to the planet).
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I always thought that original Trek did locations well, most location shooting was done in California (nearly always sunny) and when sets were used they really made great use of bright colours and atmosphere with them. Meaning the series really captured the ambient of an alien planet. Just think of scenes with exotic flowers and strange looking skies. It was amazing that this was all done on a small budget. But saying all this a lot of Trek episodes took place aboard the Enterprise to save on costs.
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As NextGen came up, CGI and emerging techniques in effects, together with much tighter and more far-ranging storylines made it eminently possible for a story to take place completely aboard ship and not lose any of its drama, so that the imperative for the captain to be "planetside" was diluted. Also, as was mentioned, NexGen, knowing they would have a pretty rabid (read, nerdy) fanbase knew they would have to make it as realistic as possible, so things like ethics, duty, morality and codes of conduct were explored, making the show a more well-rounded affair.
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Sure the stories based aboard the Enterprise took on more depth, but the also had the use of the holodeck concept which opened up all types of scenarios.
Overall though, Trek was always at its best on alien locations whether they used location shooting or sets.