Moonraker Plot, The

I always thought Moonraker was silly, but when rewatching it before seeing Skyfall I realized that the plot was solid, and that it was a good representation of what espionage in (1970s) space would be like. All that needed to be done was to, well, remove Roger Moore from it. Since that's not possible, this is the next best thing. Well done.

Moonraker edited by MusicEd921

Confession first. I always liked this film. Not because it was a great Bond film, but because it was a great “bad” film.
The lavish amount of money tossed at such stupidity remains mind-boggling.

OK, wow, what an alteration.
Moonraker now resembles an actual Bond film. Not top tier, but respectable.
The most noticeable plot restructuring was the minimizing of Jaws. And Dolly! (Whom I kinda missed since I always had the most lurid fantasies about her Swiss Miss kink.)
To my mind, other sequences could have been truncated, but the timing would fall to 90” which most would find too brief for Bond.
Video editing seemed smooth, with no choppy cuts or abrupt jumps.
No problems with any sound.
Recommended to 007 fans, even those who disliked this outing.

This is a tough one for me. As a Bond fan I can enjoy all eras of 007 - including even the so-called "cheesy" Roger Moore period. So, whilst I fully acknowledge that Moonraker took it to the extreme (double taking pigeons anyone?), the one thing which always kept me entertained was Moore's one-liners. He's the best at delivering them and I have to say that the amount which have been cut in the edit is a little disappointing (and not just Moore's humorous quips are gone - some others too from other characters are sorely missing). However, the purpose of this edit is to cut back on as much as the over the top style nature of the piece as possible, so in that musiced certainly succeeds.

Most of the visual edits work a treat, but audio-wise I feel this is a bit less consistent. The added music is at times somewhat ill-fitting (the cable car fight just doesn't work for me) and the replaced key-entry beep sound effects are way too loud. Perhaps a small criticism, but I really think this could have been caught by musiced when he was checking the edit back and adjusted.

By far the best piece of this edit is the much discussed speed boat chase. Very nicely done and the use of White Knight from David Arnold's Tomorrow Never Dies actually works a treat. I'm not sure I would have totally removed Jaws from the scene though, as when Bond meets him soon after, Jaws is clearly soaked through and we have no idea why.

I'm also not sure of cutting the "space battle". As over the top as the scene is, there's some terrific model work going on and the outlandish nature of that scene is so much fun. I was also surpised to see what is probably the worst product placement in Bond history left totally intact (7-up, Marlboro and British Airways all in the space a few frames).

However, I did have fun watching the edit. On the whole it's well edited and does present what it sets out to achieve in making a more serious, less cheesy take on Moonraker. Maybe I just like my Moore a little more humorous and cheesy than other people do?

This was a nice Bond edit. I only watched Moonraker once and quickly forgot most of it. This doesn't save everything for me; I would have cut more of the cheese, but hey I wasn't a fan of Roger Moore Bond films so there's that.

The editing here was good, no harsh cuts detected. After comparing to my DVD, I was quite impressed with the editing in the speed boat chase.

Overall if you're a fan of the Roger Moore era and like your bread to be cheesy, you'll get a kick out of this fanedit.

A/V quality - 9
Editing - 10
Narrative - 8
Enjoyment - 7 (original 6)

Recommended drink: Balls in my Jaws

OK - Not bad at all. You turned one of the sillier Bond films into a fairly capable thriller. With all of the silly quips and puns removed, Bond comes off as a fairly stoic tough guy secret agent. Although the movie does devolve into a mutant crossbreed between Buck Rogers in the 25th Century (the TV one, with Gil Gerard) and Austin Powers, this is no fault of the editor and I believe he did the best he could with the crappy hand he was dealt. I also felt the pacing was very slow, especially near the end. I doubt that this is the editor's fault either, but I have not watched the original recently to compare. The cable car re-score and sound effects felt a little unnatural and noticeable to me.

All in all great job saving a dog. It is one that I would probably watch again.