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- Ad Astra: Cor Tenebrae edit
Ad Astra: Cor Tenebrae edit
Updated
Faneditor Name:
Original Movie Title:
Genre:
Fanedit Type:
Original Release Date:
2019
Original Running Time:
123
Fanedit Release Date:
Fanedit Running Time:
103
Time Cut:
21
Time Added:
1
Available in HD?
Additional Links:
Brief Synopsis:
Thirty years previously, Clifford McBride led a voyage into deep space, but the ship and crew were never heard from again.
Now his son Roy, an emotionally closed off Astronaut, must travel to the outer edge of the solar system and uncover the truth about his missing father and a mysterious power surge that threatens the stability of the universe. Will Roy find out what it means to be human out there in the Heart of Darkness.
Now his son Roy, an emotionally closed off Astronaut, must travel to the outer edge of the solar system and uncover the truth about his missing father and a mysterious power surge that threatens the stability of the universe. Will Roy find out what it means to be human out there in the Heart of Darkness.
Intention:
My original intention when i left the IMAX Cinema screen was to remove the banal voice-overs and the jarring Moon pirate attack only, but upon purchasing the Bluray and after a re-watch i began to notice some of the dialogue really is inane and had to be cut, that coupled with the sense that the movie is basically Apocalypse Now in Space which itself is based on Joseph Conrad's novella ' Heart of Darkness' i knew i had a task to make Ad Astra a little more palatable by intensifying the premise behind the story. Is the Heart Of Darkness a tangible place i.e. the Lima Project or is it a place that resides inside both Roy & his father and can they both be freed from their (un)emotional prisons. In this modern time of rising mental health issues & awareness you may just find a message in the dissension that comforts you, but if you don't you can use the 103 minutes to escape & meditate to the enhanced Max Richter score and the beauty of Hoyte van Hoytema's cinematography.
Additional Notes:
What i thought would be a quick project turned into a much bigger edit than first anticipated, both in terms of the amount of editing i had to do but i also i found myself contemplating every aspect of the movie, making sure i was getting across the message i wanted to portray . Whether viewers latch on to this thesis only time will tell. The amount of times i nearly hit the final render button were numerous but i am glad i took my time with this process and researched the subject- including re-reading the novella which was barbarous. I contemplated keeping the lunar surface pirate attack in my edit as the protagonist, in the novella, did encounter attacks along the journey but the scene just felt tacked on and out of place with the atmosphere of the rest of the movie and was badly set up through Virgin shuttle announcements and newsreel. The cannibals in the book did not eat human flesh but the monkey attack on the Vesta 9 research ship is a sort of metaphor, so i kept it in. I was also frustrated at the paltry amount of time it took Roy to travel from Mars to Neptune...so with the use of an unused piece of music from the soundtrack and some added planetary footage i think i achieved what feels like a bit more of an arduous voyage which in-turn heightens Roy's isolation and sense of what he has left behind. The ridiculous Hollywood ending was also sent packing over the hills never to be seen again.
Other Sources:
Ad Astra Bluray
Ad Astra - Motion Picture soundtrack by Max Richter, Lorne Balfe & Nils Frahm.
BBC The Planets 2019 Bluray
Freesound.org
Dafont.com
Ad Astra - Motion Picture soundtrack by Max Richter, Lorne Balfe & Nils Frahm.
BBC The Planets 2019 Bluray
Freesound.org
Dafont.com
Special Thanks:
Macmilln for his additional artwork and TM2YC for logo placement.
Release Information:
- Blu-Ray
- Digital
Editing Details:
I took a film labelled Apocalypse Now in Space and went one further by basing my edit on the Joseph Conrad's novella Heart of Darkness (Cor Tenebrae -Latin) which was the inspiration behind Copolla's masterpiece...this coupled with the frustrating under use of maestro Max Richter and friends score sent me on my own sometimes arduous editing journey...
Cuts and Additions:
ADDED: Fanedit.org warning & Logo
ADDED: Last Impression Logo
CUT: Text opening
ADDED: New text
ADDED: New title
CUT: Roy tumbling through space
ADDED: Roy sitting in a coffee shop
CUT: Voice-over
CUT: Roy floating in space
MOVED FORWARD: Roy’s ear piece communication to take a team down and fix the malfunctioning robotic arm,
I mean you would think the space antenna boss would brief him the job guide before Roy was hanging above the
exosphere and climbing down the antenna's ladder.
CUT: Voice-over during the walk of fandom, the cheesy grin(s) and the geezer flipping the bird. Now Roy
just half smiles at the capsule door operator and confirms whilst walking that he is "heading that way"
which was originally said while climbing down the antenna
CUT: Roy saying “ Thanks for that” to the capsule door operator. It was all very well mannered but
had a sarcastic tone to it.
CUT & RESCORED: Voice-over and as much space noise as possible. Where noise couldn't be removed it has been
dulled down and explosions have been slightly muted. When the surge hits - I have built up the tension using
radio communication only and bringing in music 'Ursa Minor - Visions' an unused track from the OST. This is
played throughout Roy's descent. Wind and parachute noise is reincorporated as Roy enters the Earth's atmosphere.
CUT: Voice-over
TRIMMED: News flash. The reporter no longer mentions the surge or that it's coming from outer-space.
ADDED: Part of a deleted scene of Roy looking out of his bedroom window at the moon.
CUT: General Stroud's saying that General Rivas & Vogel flew all the way in from Virginia
just to see Roy. I can't get my head around a couple of General's fanboying a Major
CUT: General Stroud saying "Fair enough"
CUT & ENHANCED SCORE: Removed the photographs of Roy's Dad, Clifford McBride. (In this edit we don't see
Clifford until the end of the film - we will learn more about Clifford's motif during Roy's Journey)
The score has been enhanced during this scene and the music now comes in later when Roy finds out that his father may still be alive'
CUT: Voice-over and photograph of Clifford on the corridor wall.
CUT: Clifford's video message to Roy.
MOVED BACK: Prelaunch quarantine message in order to cover over Roy's voice-over
CUT: Roy holding photo of Clifford.
CUT: Roy placing photo of Clifford on the table
CUT: Voice-over
CUT: Virgin shuttle announcement that the Moon is borderless and in a state of war. Roy no longer
buys a $125.00 pillow and blanket and no longer gets that refreshing hot towel.
ADDED & RESCORED: Roy and Colonel Pruitt 'Endless Void' Deleted scene
CUT: Voice-over
ADDED: Ambient airport noise.
CUT and REARRANGED dialogue and scenes. No war zone stories, Willie Levant now just says "We will get
you to your spaceship" & "Suit up" no need to mention the hazardous journey to the dark side of the moon
as Colonel Pruitt mentioned the danger to Roy about a minute before during the train journey.
CUT & ENHANCED SCORE: Removed Colonel Pruitt mentioning the big blue marble.Enhanced the score during
the lunar surface journey.
CUT: The Moon Pirate attack.
TRIMMED: Captain Tanner's 'son of a legend' dialogue and Roy mentioning that he would be hitching a ride
CUT: Voice-over
CUT: The dishing out of mood stabilisers and cringeworthy conversation.
CUT: Voice-over along with the jarring profile photo's of Clifford and Roy placing the mood stabiliser
in his pocket.
CUT: Voice-over. Roy senses FL Stanford's spacewalk fear, their is no mention of smelly locker room
spacesuits.
CUT: Conversation during the spacewalk to Vesta 9.
RESCORED: 'Erbarme Dich' track added from the OST during the Mars landing sequence
CUT: Voice-over during Mars customs.
CUT: The Photo of Clifford before Roy enters the Mars communication room.
CUT: Voice-over in the comfort room
TRIMMED and REARRANGED Clifford's message at Helen Lantos' residence in order to delay the reveal
of Clifford's identity.
CUT & ENHANCED SCORE: Voice-over during Roy's race to catch the rocket.
CUT: Roy's fight with Yoshida during the hijack scene. Capt. Stanford no longer shoots a gun
inside a spacecraft. The crew now perish because Deavers & Yoshida are propelled through the air during
take off and hit a gas(?) tank which is pierced and ultimately leads to the all of the crew suffocating.
CUT: Voice-over "What have i done" as Roy contemplates the crew's death.
ADDED, CUT, REARRANGED & RESCORED: The journey to Neptune sequence. Removed all visual memories of
Clifford. Rearranged some exterior Cepheus shots. .Rescored with the beautiful track 'Preludium' from the OST.
Added footage of the Cepheus flying past Jupiter, Saturn and Uranus in order for the journey to have sense
of being a long haul.
REARRANGED & RESCORED: The flight recorder communication is brought forward.Added two unused shots from later
in the film as Roy prepares to leave the Cepheus to meet his Dad. Added the 'my solitude ends' speech
because its a beautiful scene and allows the viewer to sense that Roy's attitude towards love & companionship
is changing. Added a few sound effects & rescored with 'The Wanderer' from the OST.
CUT & RESCORED: Removed voice-over. As the shuttle leaves the Cepheus I rescored the scene with the
track 'Orbs'from the OST
CUT: Clifford's line about his cataracts.
NEW ENDING: Rescored with 'Event Horizon' from the OST
ADDED: Text
RESCORED: The closing credits with Tuesday (Voiceless) from OST.
ADDED: Last Impression Logo
CUT: Text opening
ADDED: New text
ADDED: New title
CUT: Roy tumbling through space
ADDED: Roy sitting in a coffee shop
CUT: Voice-over
CUT: Roy floating in space
MOVED FORWARD: Roy’s ear piece communication to take a team down and fix the malfunctioning robotic arm,
I mean you would think the space antenna boss would brief him the job guide before Roy was hanging above the
exosphere and climbing down the antenna's ladder.
CUT: Voice-over during the walk of fandom, the cheesy grin(s) and the geezer flipping the bird. Now Roy
just half smiles at the capsule door operator and confirms whilst walking that he is "heading that way"
which was originally said while climbing down the antenna
CUT: Roy saying “ Thanks for that” to the capsule door operator. It was all very well mannered but
had a sarcastic tone to it.
CUT & RESCORED: Voice-over and as much space noise as possible. Where noise couldn't be removed it has been
dulled down and explosions have been slightly muted. When the surge hits - I have built up the tension using
radio communication only and bringing in music 'Ursa Minor - Visions' an unused track from the OST. This is
played throughout Roy's descent. Wind and parachute noise is reincorporated as Roy enters the Earth's atmosphere.
CUT: Voice-over
TRIMMED: News flash. The reporter no longer mentions the surge or that it's coming from outer-space.
ADDED: Part of a deleted scene of Roy looking out of his bedroom window at the moon.
CUT: General Stroud's saying that General Rivas & Vogel flew all the way in from Virginia
just to see Roy. I can't get my head around a couple of General's fanboying a Major
CUT: General Stroud saying "Fair enough"
CUT & ENHANCED SCORE: Removed the photographs of Roy's Dad, Clifford McBride. (In this edit we don't see
Clifford until the end of the film - we will learn more about Clifford's motif during Roy's Journey)
The score has been enhanced during this scene and the music now comes in later when Roy finds out that his father may still be alive'
CUT: Voice-over and photograph of Clifford on the corridor wall.
CUT: Clifford's video message to Roy.
MOVED BACK: Prelaunch quarantine message in order to cover over Roy's voice-over
CUT: Roy holding photo of Clifford.
CUT: Roy placing photo of Clifford on the table
CUT: Voice-over
CUT: Virgin shuttle announcement that the Moon is borderless and in a state of war. Roy no longer
buys a $125.00 pillow and blanket and no longer gets that refreshing hot towel.
ADDED & RESCORED: Roy and Colonel Pruitt 'Endless Void' Deleted scene
CUT: Voice-over
ADDED: Ambient airport noise.
CUT and REARRANGED dialogue and scenes. No war zone stories, Willie Levant now just says "We will get
you to your spaceship" & "Suit up" no need to mention the hazardous journey to the dark side of the moon
as Colonel Pruitt mentioned the danger to Roy about a minute before during the train journey.
CUT & ENHANCED SCORE: Removed Colonel Pruitt mentioning the big blue marble.Enhanced the score during
the lunar surface journey.
CUT: The Moon Pirate attack.
TRIMMED: Captain Tanner's 'son of a legend' dialogue and Roy mentioning that he would be hitching a ride
CUT: Voice-over
CUT: The dishing out of mood stabilisers and cringeworthy conversation.
CUT: Voice-over along with the jarring profile photo's of Clifford and Roy placing the mood stabiliser
in his pocket.
CUT: Voice-over. Roy senses FL Stanford's spacewalk fear, their is no mention of smelly locker room
spacesuits.
CUT: Conversation during the spacewalk to Vesta 9.
RESCORED: 'Erbarme Dich' track added from the OST during the Mars landing sequence
CUT: Voice-over during Mars customs.
CUT: The Photo of Clifford before Roy enters the Mars communication room.
CUT: Voice-over in the comfort room
TRIMMED and REARRANGED Clifford's message at Helen Lantos' residence in order to delay the reveal
of Clifford's identity.
CUT & ENHANCED SCORE: Voice-over during Roy's race to catch the rocket.
CUT: Roy's fight with Yoshida during the hijack scene. Capt. Stanford no longer shoots a gun
inside a spacecraft. The crew now perish because Deavers & Yoshida are propelled through the air during
take off and hit a gas(?) tank which is pierced and ultimately leads to the all of the crew suffocating.
CUT: Voice-over "What have i done" as Roy contemplates the crew's death.
ADDED, CUT, REARRANGED & RESCORED: The journey to Neptune sequence. Removed all visual memories of
Clifford. Rearranged some exterior Cepheus shots. .Rescored with the beautiful track 'Preludium' from the OST.
Added footage of the Cepheus flying past Jupiter, Saturn and Uranus in order for the journey to have sense
of being a long haul.
REARRANGED & RESCORED: The flight recorder communication is brought forward.Added two unused shots from later
in the film as Roy prepares to leave the Cepheus to meet his Dad. Added the 'my solitude ends' speech
because its a beautiful scene and allows the viewer to sense that Roy's attitude towards love & companionship
is changing. Added a few sound effects & rescored with 'The Wanderer' from the OST.
CUT & RESCORED: Removed voice-over. As the shuttle leaves the Cepheus I rescored the scene with the
track 'Orbs'from the OST
CUT: Clifford's line about his cataracts.
NEW ENDING: Rescored with 'Event Horizon' from the OST
ADDED: Text
RESCORED: The closing credits with Tuesday (Voiceless) from OST.
Trailer
User reviews
11 reviews
Overall rating
9.8
Audio/Video Quality
10.0(11)
Audio Editing
9.9(11)
Visual Editing
9.7(11)
Narrative
9.8(11)
Enjoyment
9.7(11)
Overall rating
10.0
Audio/Video Quality
10.0
Audio Editing
10.0
Visual Editing
10.0
Narrative
10.0
Enjoyment
10.0
Very nice edit. Recommend
User Review
Do you recommend this edit?
Yes
Format Watched?
Digital
S
Overall rating
10.0
Audio/Video Quality
10.0
Audio Editing
10.0
Visual Editing
10.0
Narrative
10.0
Enjoyment
10.0
I sort of stumbled into this edit as I saw a review that was posted. This was a movie I intended to watch for a second time, but was hesitant because I felt it was bloated and filled with too many distractions. I knew there was a solid movie in the theatrical if only much of the excess was removed.
Overall, my review will avoid reiterating almost the exact sentiments of the two prior reviews of this edit by redbeard and jasonflippey. In summary, the editor did an excellent job of condensing the movie to make the focus on internal psychological struggle and the dynamics of difficult family relationships mixed in with a fun space movie. The rescoring of the film helped elevate the emotional impact.
I will discuss in more detail what other reviews did not touch upon - the ending. I fully agreed that Roy surviving by using a nuclear blast was completely absurd. That cut was the correct decision. However, the editor cleverly edited the ending in a craftily ambiguous manner. We see Roy floating in space juxtaposed with images of him reuniting with his estranged wife. Was this meant to convey he survived, or was it simply an illusion in his mind for the ideal life he wished for? Perhaps that open-ended close to the movie was deliberate to allow the viewer to decide. The closing music was also very powerful and gets your emotions swirling. Regardless of the editor's intent, I have always been a huge fan of movies that have these ambiguous endings that really put the viewer in a position to think about different scenarios. Nothing wrong with using your brain!
I want to thank the editor for sharing the edit with me. I enjoyed it and definitely believe others will as well. Strongly recommended.
Overall, my review will avoid reiterating almost the exact sentiments of the two prior reviews of this edit by redbeard and jasonflippey. In summary, the editor did an excellent job of condensing the movie to make the focus on internal psychological struggle and the dynamics of difficult family relationships mixed in with a fun space movie. The rescoring of the film helped elevate the emotional impact.
I will discuss in more detail what other reviews did not touch upon - the ending. I fully agreed that Roy surviving by using a nuclear blast was completely absurd. That cut was the correct decision. However, the editor cleverly edited the ending in a craftily ambiguous manner. We see Roy floating in space juxtaposed with images of him reuniting with his estranged wife. Was this meant to convey he survived, or was it simply an illusion in his mind for the ideal life he wished for? Perhaps that open-ended close to the movie was deliberate to allow the viewer to decide. The closing music was also very powerful and gets your emotions swirling. Regardless of the editor's intent, I have always been a huge fan of movies that have these ambiguous endings that really put the viewer in a position to think about different scenarios. Nothing wrong with using your brain!
I want to thank the editor for sharing the edit with me. I enjoyed it and definitely believe others will as well. Strongly recommended.
User Review
Do you recommend this edit?
Yes
Format Watched?
Digital
H
Overall rating
10.0
Audio/Video Quality
10.0
Audio Editing
10.0
Visual Editing
10.0
Narrative
10.0
Enjoyment
10.0
I came across this fan edit after first seeing the movie in the theater and coming away baffled at how long and how meandering the theatrical versions turned out to be. Moon Pirates? Voice Overs? Space Surfing? This movie had the potential of being a great story about a man being so driven by being abandoned by his father and turning his fear and sorrow into his work to the degree that he lost his ability to touch base with humanity, only to find it again in the solitude of long term space travel in an effort to find and save his father. What he got instead was a overly long movie that didn't know if it wanted to be an action film, a film about losing a spouse due to coldness, or a space adventure.
This fan edit is a wonderful change from the above and created a whole new vision for the film. Now we have an astronaut, so caught up in the pain and loss of his father abandoning him as a child, that he is unable to connect with his wife due to driving that pain and loss into his work. With the opportunity to perhaps find his father, who he thought was dead, and bring him back home, and in the process reconnect with his own humanity and rekindle the relationship with his wife before it's too late, we have a movie that's streamlined and tells a straightforward story.
The fan editing in this edition is utterly flawless. The visuals are perfect as is the audio editing. The choice to rescore the movie for this fan edit was a bold but correct choice and serves it extremely well. Simply put, I feel this is how the movie was meant to be before the filmmakers got sidetracked in the editing room, making far too many baffling editing decisions that lost the focus of the story.
This is now my go to for this film, with the theatrical version being a companion piece only in how not to make the movie. If I could give this fan edit a score higher than 10 across the board, I would, but failing that, I can't recommend this fan edit enough. Well done.
This fan edit is a wonderful change from the above and created a whole new vision for the film. Now we have an astronaut, so caught up in the pain and loss of his father abandoning him as a child, that he is unable to connect with his wife due to driving that pain and loss into his work. With the opportunity to perhaps find his father, who he thought was dead, and bring him back home, and in the process reconnect with his own humanity and rekindle the relationship with his wife before it's too late, we have a movie that's streamlined and tells a straightforward story.
The fan editing in this edition is utterly flawless. The visuals are perfect as is the audio editing. The choice to rescore the movie for this fan edit was a bold but correct choice and serves it extremely well. Simply put, I feel this is how the movie was meant to be before the filmmakers got sidetracked in the editing room, making far too many baffling editing decisions that lost the focus of the story.
This is now my go to for this film, with the theatrical version being a companion piece only in how not to make the movie. If I could give this fan edit a score higher than 10 across the board, I would, but failing that, I can't recommend this fan edit enough. Well done.
User Review
Do you recommend this edit?
Yes
Format Watched?
Digital
R
(Updated: October 02, 2023)
Overall rating
10.0
Audio/Video Quality
10.0
Audio Editing
10.0
Visual Editing
10.0
Narrative
10.0
Enjoyment
10.0
This is a near perfect fix of a movie that I would never have considered re-watching. I found so much of the original to be strange and uncompelling, and I actually wondered if he was autistic rather than abandoned. I mean I suppose it could be both but in this cut his closed off disconnected nature clearly comes from his father's abandonment, as I'm sure it was intended to be.
I have nothing to add regarding the actual editing because it is technically perfect. The only thing I noticed, which I'm not sure if it was in the original, was a reused shot of him kicking his leg floating asleep during the 80-day trip to Neptune.
Putting in the effort to actually go read a book to inform your decisions on the narrative was above and beyond, and it shows. Even your rationalization for keeping the monkey part (a bit which I personally found completely ludicrous) made it somehow valuable to the overall experience. I doubt there would be a way to edit it out anyway given the Captain's fate but somehow it made more sense in your cut.
Also I can't tell you how happy I was to see that you removed the moon pirates. Like come on now, how would they even exist. They just have to wait for a car to come by so they can scavenge air?? Get outta here.
Overall you took a movie that annoyed, bored, and somewhat angered me and you actually made it into something I would watch for a now-third time. Well done!
I have nothing to add regarding the actual editing because it is technically perfect. The only thing I noticed, which I'm not sure if it was in the original, was a reused shot of him kicking his leg floating asleep during the 80-day trip to Neptune.
Putting in the effort to actually go read a book to inform your decisions on the narrative was above and beyond, and it shows. Even your rationalization for keeping the monkey part (a bit which I personally found completely ludicrous) made it somehow valuable to the overall experience. I doubt there would be a way to edit it out anyway given the Captain's fate but somehow it made more sense in your cut.
Also I can't tell you how happy I was to see that you removed the moon pirates. Like come on now, how would they even exist. They just have to wait for a car to come by so they can scavenge air?? Get outta here.
Overall you took a movie that annoyed, bored, and somewhat angered me and you actually made it into something I would watch for a now-third time. Well done!
User Review
Do you recommend this edit?
Yes
Format Watched?
Digital
J
Overall rating
10.0
Audio/Video Quality
10.0
Audio Editing
10.0
Visual Editing
10.0
Narrative
10.0
Enjoyment
10.0
This was near perfection for me… What an experience the film becomes, with this edit!
Other reviewers have talked here about the plot changes, which definitely worked for me. I’d highlight the removal of the pirate attack (why and how would that even work…), the gun firing (they should know why that’s a bad idea in the first place…) and the rest of the scene around it, because the way it’s edited now changes the character building for the better.
Most importantly, the removal of the “shock wave surfing” at the end, which was baffling for me. I mean, do the original authors even though for 1 second about physics… And the new ending, it really works like this.
The highpoint of the edit is, without a doubt, the score. It reminded me of another fanedit, “Annihilation - Noitalihinna” (by The Scribbling Man) which was also trying to rescore the film to recover the theme of the original story/book.
The audio experience is now, throughout the entire film, haunting, melancholic, evocative, poignant, discomfiting, ethereal… It both elevates and guides the story and the feelings evoked by it.
Let me say it: when I watched the original film before, I decided that I never needed to watch it again, it had too many flaws in-between the good parts. Now, I predict I’ll rewatch this version a number of times, probably after any sci-fi film that tries and fails to do what this fanedit now does: to tell a science fiction story that is more about looking thoughtfully to ourselves than anything else.
Other reviewers have talked here about the plot changes, which definitely worked for me. I’d highlight the removal of the pirate attack (why and how would that even work…), the gun firing (they should know why that’s a bad idea in the first place…) and the rest of the scene around it, because the way it’s edited now changes the character building for the better.
Most importantly, the removal of the “shock wave surfing” at the end, which was baffling for me. I mean, do the original authors even though for 1 second about physics… And the new ending, it really works like this.
The highpoint of the edit is, without a doubt, the score. It reminded me of another fanedit, “Annihilation - Noitalihinna” (by The Scribbling Man) which was also trying to rescore the film to recover the theme of the original story/book.
The audio experience is now, throughout the entire film, haunting, melancholic, evocative, poignant, discomfiting, ethereal… It both elevates and guides the story and the feelings evoked by it.
Let me say it: when I watched the original film before, I decided that I never needed to watch it again, it had too many flaws in-between the good parts. Now, I predict I’ll rewatch this version a number of times, probably after any sci-fi film that tries and fails to do what this fanedit now does: to tell a science fiction story that is more about looking thoughtfully to ourselves than anything else.
User Review
Do you recommend this edit?
Yes
Format Watched?
Digital
G