James Bond 007 - Never Say Never Again: 40th Anniversary EON Cut

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Original Movie Title:
Franchise:
Fanedit Type:
Original Release Date:
1983
Original Running Time:
134
Fanedit Release Date:
Fanedit Running Time:
110
Time Cut:
24
Time Added:
4
Subtitles Available?
Available in HD?
Brief Synopsis:
Inspired by Blofelds Cat fanedit, 'Never Say McClory Again'. This edit follows a similar path to turn this rogue 007 production into an EON style produced film.
Intention:
I have always liked Never Say Never Again as a Bond film but always felt it was let down by its final presentation. Bad editing, bad score, bad title theme and bad audio. With a new score utilised from non-Bond scores composed by John Barry and interwoven with pre-existing Bond theme motifs, Never Say Never Again now has a unique score and style. The audio has been EQ'd for better clarity as the original version of the film sounded dull and lacking in any dynamic. New SFX has been added to key action sequences and new VFX has been added to certain scenes. A new title sequence has been created and other scenes have been expanded using footage from other films.
Other Sources:
Footage sourced from the following films:
Bat 21 (1988),
The Appointment (1981),
Firefox (1982),
Iron Eagle (1986),
The Pink Panther Strikes Again (1976)
Hunters of the Golden Cobra (1982)
Ice Station Zebra (1968),
and Juggernaut (1974).

Music composed by John Barry sourced from the following soundtracks:
'Thunderball'(1965),
'On Her Majesty's Secret Service' (1969),
'The James Bond Suite'(1972),
'Raise the Titanic'(1980),
'The Golden Child'(1986),
'The Specialist'(1994),
'Star Crash'(1978)
and 'Deadfall'(1968).

Other music:
'Psycho Killer' by Talking Heads
'Never Say Never' by Romeo Void
Special Thanks:
A huge thank you to ArtisDead and ScottCrane for their help and suggestions. To asterixsmeagol, Dwight Fry, svanass, Hymie, ParanoidAndroid, kinnikuman, ccateni, wilhelm scream, hbenthow, Cero, bmurphy4, kaede5108, MightyAttackTribble and LastSurvivor on the forum who gave me positive feedback along the way. Thank you all for your support, guys! And most importantly a massive thank you to BlofeldsCat for inspiring this fanedit, this edit would not exist in the first place without you leading the way!
Release Information:
Digital
Editing Details:
VFX CHANGES

- Burnt-in titles have been removed with AI.
- New Main Title Sequence.
- Added Muzzle Flashes to Bond's Machine Gun during the PTS.
- New Colour grading to the Cruise Missile POV for a more computer-like rendering
- Added new shot of Bond firing his pistol at Fatima from the Balcony.
- New End Credit Sequence with Union Jack waving in the background.

NEW/EXTENDED SEQUENCES

- Extended Pre Title-Sequence. Jet flies over and Bond parachutes near the location.
- New footage of Jack trying hit the brakes when Fatima chucks the snake in his car. Car screeches off course before crashing.
- New footage of the Cruise Missiles crashing into the sea
- Added footage of a Jet Fighter flying over Palmyra fortress and bombing the fortress instead of being shelled by the Submarine.
- New Sequence of White House exterior, cut to a close up of bomb counter before ending on a close up of the ‘Oval Office’ floor.
- Added footage for extended shots of the Tears of Allah caving in and being destroyed by subsequent explosions.

AUDIO CHANGES

- Main Title Sequence with different theme song, 'Mr. Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang'.
- Michel Legrand's score has been 100% removed and replaced with John Barry soundtrack cues from 'Thunderball'(1965), 'The James Bond Suite'(1972), 'Raise the Titanic'(1980), 'The Golden Child'(1986), 'The Specialist'(1994), 'Star Crash'(1978) and 'Deadfall'(1968).
- Dialogue track has been EQ'd for more clarity and gained up in the audio mix.
- Enhanced SFX has been added to key action sequences.
- 'Psycho Killer' by Talking Heads plays on Fatima's radio when she disposes of Jack.
- 'Never Say Never' by Romeo Void plays in the background when Domino dances with her trainer and plays again when Largo spies on Bond and Domino talking.
- New Stereo Mix of the original 1962 James Bond Theme from Dr. No added to End Credits.
- New End Credits Theme, 'The Best Man in The World' from 'The Golden Child'
Cuts and Additions:
CUT LIST

- Added United Artists (1982) Logo
- Added Gunbarrel VFX from NSMcA fanedit.
- Extended Pre Title Sequence. Jet flies over and Bond parachutes near the location. Helicopter surveys the Wargames area throughout. Added VFX to Bond's machine gun for muzzle flashes.
- New Main Title Sequence.
- New Establishing shot of Bank sign from The Bourne Identity (1988) after Main Titles
- Similar truncated edit of Spectre HQ meeting like the NSMcA fanedit.
- Added Establishing shot of MI6 from A View to A Kill (1985).
- Truncated M watching the video playback of Bond's Wargames Assignment. M doesn't wince before Bond gets stabbed.
- Cut Bond's line, "Not too shabby, sir.
- Cut M's line, 'You're dead, 007. Dead!'.
- The M scene ends with Bond saying, 'Then I shall cut out the white bread, sir'. The rest of the scene is superfluous as it's better to show Bond going to the Health Clinic as it soon becomes obvious why he’s there in later scenes. It plays better for humourous effect with Bond coming across as somewhat insubordinate to the new M.
- Cut Moneypenny's reaction after Bond's line, 'I'm to eliminate all free radicals'. We jump cut to Shrublands.
- Cut Patricia's line, 'Mine'.

- When Bond is in his room, we now see the contents of his secret briefcase of fancy food and drink before Pat arrives.
- Cut after Bond opens the door, Pat says, 'I thought I might surprise you, James'. It's better to imply that Pat has come to Bond's room to spend the night with him rather than the farce exchange that followed in the original.
- Cut Bond awkwardly standing outside Jack's room when the blind rolls up and reveals Bond at the window. Bond slides away faster this time.
- Changed the colour grading of Fatima's Night vision goggles to reflect a blue tint.
- Cut Bond exchange with doctor.
- Cut Bond investigating Jack's room and picking up the matches with Largo's insignia. As Bond sees the same insignia on a bag from the night before, we learn nothing new here.
- Similar to the NSMcA fanedit, Count Lippe doesn't choke the janitor or throw him around later thinking it's Bond.

- Add close up of Bond before he kicks Count Lippe's face, correcting the bad jump cut.
- Some minor trims throughout the Bond/Count Lippe fight to speed up the sequence.
- Bond doesn't awkwardly wait for Count Lippe to run down the stairs.
- The Chef leaves the kitchen immediately when Bond is thrown through the window and doesn’t stand around awkwardly watching the fight.
- Cut lines from Bond and M exchange, 'A man did try to kill me, sir'...'Oooh, caught you seducing his wife, did he? ‘...’No, sir, not at all' etc
- After M's rant about the damage to Shrublands, Bond just replies with, 'But in fact, I lost four pounds and God knows how many free radicals'. Plays better to end scene with joke. Jump cut to Swadley Air Base.
- Minor trims to Jack in the computer terminal sequence.
- Minor trim with the warheads being loaded onto the plane.

- Cut Fatima pointing at the road to distract Jack, Fatima just throws the snake at Jack.
- Cut Fatima planting a bomb and detonating it. It makes no sense. There's no mention of a bomb (Realistically, ballistics would discover this). It's referenced later that Jack was killed in a car crash, no mention of a planted bomb. So… no bomb.
- Cut Scene with Henchman and Kovacs. Kovacs' dialogue is badly dubbed and not the actor's actual voice. Plus, it's unnecessary exposition about the Missiles coming.
- Minor trims to Missiles flying over, cut shot of Missiles flying over the beach and the kids not reacting. (Stupid, so stupid).
- Cut ‘out of focus’ shot at Swadley Air Base as the Cruise Missiles go off trajectory.
- Truncated General Assembly meeting with Blofeld’s demands. The sequence ends with shot of Blofeld’s skull camera retracting back and closing after he says, ‘revenge…’. The rest of the sequence is cut out. Too many histrionics from the delegates and Air Force General. Overall, bad dialogue and unnecessary exposition about reinstating the Double-O section at the end too.

- Added footage from Firefox (1982) for Establishing shot of London before we cut to James at the Computer researching Largo.
- Similar edit to the NSMcA fanedit with the M briefing scene taking place before Largo returns to his yacht.
- Largo and Domino scene ends with Largo’s line, ‘Then I’d cut your throat…’ and he leaves the room. Cut Domino’s reaction because she doesn’t come across as disturbed.
- New establishing shot of MI6 from Licence To Kill (1989) leading up to the Q scene.
- Bond doesn’t meet Nigel in the Bahamas (exposition we don’t need and bad humour we can do without). Instead, we go from Bond meeting the lady at the dock scene to Bond inquiring about Largo’s yacht at the bar.
- Minor trims to Fatima waterskiing.
- After Bond and Fatima kiss, jump cut to them diving into the ocean. Like the NSMcA fanedit, no tacky sex scene.

- Minor cuts made to speed up underwater shark attack sequence. One moment was slightly edited to remove a bad jump cut.
- When Bond is rescued by the lady he met at the dock from earlier. No dialogue. She just reacts by looking aroused. Plays better by not repeating the same joke from earlier.
- Bond and lady are not interrupted by Nigel phoning Bond. Again, bad humour, awkwardly ruins the tension of the bomb supposedly underneath the bed.
- Minor trim of establishing shot of the French Riviera and plane landing.
- Cut brief shot of Felix clutching cricket ball.
- Cut Nicole standing awkwardly before running over to meet Bond at the airport.
- Cut crossfade from airport scene to the ocean view from the villa. Also cut crossfade of the car pulling up to the villa.

- Cut Felix saying, ‘Patachi’ similar to the NSMcA fanedit.
- Cut Nicole saying, ‘That’s right, he was her brother…’
- Minor trims to Domino arriving by boat. No crossfades.
- Similar cut to Domino massage scene like the NSMcA fanedit.
- Bond arrives at Casino. He chased after by the Bouncer. We hear Bond punching him off-screen. Jump cut to Bond pushing him into the backroom with the gun. Faster edit, makes Bond look more professional. No awkward looking around and stupid joke as Bond pretends to be aiding a sick friend as the bouncer wheezes in pain.
- Minor trims to Bond introducing himself. He looks more confident here. The original version, he looks almost pained before and after he utters the line.
- Minor trim to Bond and Largo meeting scene.

- When Bond retrieves his cigar case from the Bouncer, the Bouncer doesn’t faint after Bond leaves.
- Similar cut to the NSMcA fanedit when Bond chases after Fatima in the villa.
- Bond shoots from the Balcony but misses Fatima as she drives off.
- Minor trims to Bond preparing the motorcycle as he pursues Fatima.
- Faster cuts to speed up the Motorcycle chase.
- Similar cut to the NSMcA fanedit when Bond is ambushed in the tunnel.
- Moved forward Fatima’s line, ‘Don’t touch him he’s mine!’ to correct a massive jump edit when Bond is wedged between two cars over the bridge. This line precedes that cut. Some slight editing to change the framing of the sequence.
- Similar cut to the NSMcA fanedit when Fatima confronts Bond.
- After Fatima blows up and Bond quips, ‘Not perfected yet….’, the sequence ends on the shot of Fatima’s shoes smoking.
- No Felix turning up, doesn’t make sense.

- Minor trims to Bond and Felix investigating Largo’s yacht underwater.
- Truncated Bond and Largo scene. Bond says, ‘I’m at your disposal’. Largo sniggers. End of sequence.
- Cut Felix coming out of the water. Instead, Felix looks on as the yacht sails away.
- Cut pointless scene of Bond and Domino trying to talk to each other before being interrupted by the steward.
- Largo smashing Domino’s workout studio is trimmed. As Largo smashes the record player, we cut to Bond smirking back. - Jump cut to M’s assistant with Bond’s message.
- Minor trim to Palmyra sequence. Largo does not make Domino drop the statue. Instead, she drops it when he forces a kiss on her. Cut Largo whistling at her.
- Cut Largo’s line, ‘You’ll see….’ After mentioning the view.
- After Bond asks where the second bomb is located, Largo reacts with a ‘shhh’, turns away from Bond and leaves. Largo doesn’t compliment Bond on being a great secret agent and then awkwardly farewells him.

- Minor trim to Bond’s escape from the dungeon. The guard doesn’t look around the room when he enters. He opens the door. Cut to the broken bars, the guard runs straight to the window and Bond pulls him out. No jump cut either.
- Trimmed the horseback sequence for a faster pace. Cut the silly wide shot of the model horse with Bond and Domino falling. Plus, it makes out that the fortress is higher than it should be.
- The submarine does not fire missiles at the fortress. Instead, an Air Force jet flies over and bombs the fortress. Also merged two fortress explosion shots as one edit as they were actually the same take from different angles.
- When Felix rescues Bond and Domino, he does not say, ‘Bond, you’re a hard man to keep up with….’ Instead, Felix is heard saying, ‘Come on…this way….’ And ‘Good show, James’. As they drive away, Bond then says, ‘clear the line to Washington, Felix….’
- Brief sequence of bomb underneath White House.
- Establishing shot of Submarine underwater, when a voice announces, ‘Commander Bond, the Washington bomb has been located and defused’.
- Cut Bond and Domino having a shower together and their conversation – completely cut. Bad writing, bad acting. Kim looks and seems visibly uncomfortable during this scene. Plus, good excuse to cut more of Edward Fox’s terrible performance as M when he comes through the Tannoy.

- Minor trims to submarine sequence when tracking Largo and searching for the Tears of Allah. Less exposition.
- Minor trims to Largo’s underwater fleet making their journey to the Tears of Allah.
- Cut dialogue - Commander Peterson, ‘That’s top secret, how do you know about them?’ Bond, ‘from a Russian translation of your service manual, sorry about that’. Instead, Bond asks about the XT7Bs when Commander Peterson nods and Bond follows behind him.
- Minor trim similar to the NSMcA fanedit, as the XT7Bs land near the coastline.
- Minor trims as Largo and crew arrive at the Tears of Allah.
- Cut Bond signalling Felix that he’s going up through the cave and Felix awkwardly holding his weapon.
- Cut Largo and Kovacs face-timing (lol) Blofeld.
- Trimmed Largo dialogue, ‘Huh! Kovacs!’ after talking about the Tears of Allah.

- Trimmed scene with Bond as he pushes Statue head over the cliff edge. The edit is smoother as the statue head falls to the ground, the original edit was messy.
- Fixed edit with Felix shooting the two spectre henchmen. The original was awkwardly paced. This time they fall as he shoots.
- Truncated the henchman that gets caught on fire for a tighter pace.
- Bond doesn’t just sit around, he exits much quicker than the original edit.
- Truncated Largo and Kovacs arming the warhead and Largo escaping.
- New destruction scene of the Tears of Allah. The original was very underwhelming. This time more explosions, fire, lava and rocks cave it in.
- Similar edit to the final confrontation between Bond and Largo like the NSMcA fanedit.
- Cut Domino reaction shots, Domino doesn’t wave goodbye to Largo or flail at him.
- Bond and Domino turn to each other and swim up.
- The film continues as normal, Nigel turns up and asks Bond to return to service. Bond refuses, winks at the camera and we jump cut to the end credits.
Teaser Trailer (1980's EON style)


Early edit of PTS and Main Titles

User reviews

9 reviews
 
89%
 
11%
5-7 stars
 
0%
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1-3 stars
 
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Overall rating
 
9.5
Audio/Video Quality
 
9.2(9)
Audio Editing
 
9.8(9)
Visual Editing
 
9.5(9)
Narrative
 
9.6(9)
Enjoyment
 
9.5(9)
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Overall rating
 
10.0
Audio/Video Quality
 
10.0
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10.0
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10.0
Narrative
 
10.0
Enjoyment
 
10.0
This edit came out at a good time as I am doing another watch-through of the entire 007 film series. I watched the original "Never Say Never Again" and then this fan edit the next day. I preferred the fan edit and it will become my go-to version of "NSNA." The music, as others have mentioned, is the biggest and most welcome change. The opening scene of the movie is especially improved by removing the annoying song that did not go with the action at all. Kudos to the editor for creating an original opening title sequence that all of the EON Bond films have. We were lucky to get Sean Connery in one final performance as his most famous character and we are lucky that fan editors care enough to revisit a 40-year-old film and make it even better. Recommended.

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Yes
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(Updated: March 08, 2024)
Overall rating
 
10.0
Audio/Video Quality
 
10.0
Audio Editing
 
10.0
Visual Editing
 
10.0
Narrative
 
10.0
Enjoyment
 
10.0
Hey! ‘A View To A Kill’! Yeah! I’m talking to you! Budge up one slot will ya and make room for the new guy because Never Say Never Again: Eon Cut just took your place as 14th in the line of official Bond movie canon.

After I watched this edit, if you will, picture a guy sprawled out on the floor like Sheldon Cooper at the end of ‘The Closure Alternative’; season 6 episode 21 of The Big Bang Theory. Those of us suffering with an Obsessive Compulsive Disorder can now lovingly scan our chronologically ordered shelf arrangement of Bond DVD titles without triggering paroxysms of involuntary tics each time our index finger passes over the spine of our cellophane wrapped, mint condition, original copy of NSNA. World of James Bond’s EON morphing masterpiece will sooth your brow and comfort you as you witness order being restored to the Bond galaxy.

Par excellence!

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Overall rating
 
10.0
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10.0
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10.0
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10.0
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10.0
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10.0
There were so few things I had issues with, I will just get the negatives out of the way first: Yes, the faces are a bit too red in some scenes, but definitely not all. In fact overall the saturated look is great IMO. Only in a few scenes does the saturation make the faces too red. Another very minor thing-- in the opening pre-title scene, I think there needs to be a slightly longer freeze frame of Bond before the credits sequence. (This is one area where I did prefer the Propellerheads with Shirley Bassey song choice from a previous fanedit.) All that is minor, and you can see from my rating that I loved this edit. My biggest quibble is the music during Bond and Domino's dance. It is the one spot where I felt like it was just wrong. I thought I remembered it being a tango, like in Scent of a Woman. But whatever it was, in this it felt like a movie score when it needed to feel like live music being played in the room where they are dancing. Nothing else really stuck out in a negative way. This is a much MUCH better swan song for Connery's 007 than Diamonds Are Forever. This edit easily feels more like official EON Bond than Diamonds too. In fact when watching it to review, it is easy to forget this is not an edit of an "official" Bond movie, because everything about it feels right at home beside all the others. Highly recommended!

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Overall rating
 
9.0
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6.0
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10.0
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10.0
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10.0
Enjoyment
 
9.0
I've always liked "Never Say Never Again", but this version makes it significantly better than the original with improved pacing and multiple elements that evoke the EON Bond movies, most notably an excellent rescore with John Barry music. This is about as close as possible to a definitive version of the movie, in my opinion.

The one drawback is that the visual quality isn't very good. The small file size size is partly to blame for this, as it is far too low of a bitrate for 1080p to look good, especially for a movie that was shot on film. However, the colors also don't look right, with the most notable problem being that the characters' faces are oversaturated in red.

Overall, I still recommend this edit despite the visual issues, as the editing and rescoring are excellent enough to make it worthwhile.

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Overall rating
 
9.6
Audio/Video Quality
 
10.0
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10.0
Visual Editing
 
9.0
Narrative
 
10.0
Enjoyment
 
9.0
The best rescored edit I've seen/heard. Fantastic music choices that feel they were made just for this. I also love the pacing of this version. It feels far more energised than the plodding original. The new titles and removing of the original credits was also a highlight for me.

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