Star Trek: Bugs

This is a fantastic concept and an edit I have wanted to watch for a while, so I was glad to finally stumble across it. One of those ones I was starting to wonder might have been lost to the depths of time.

The visual quality isn't great but is perfectly watchable. Obviously this is quite an old edit and the source is SD.

Visual editing is mostly what exposes the cracks. There appear to be some framerate issues throughout and the dialogue is often out of sync (which may be related). One or two edits are visually abrupt.

Audio editing is largely very good. Sonically, the two worlds blend together quite well and it wasn't normally the audio that alerted me to a cut. There was one instance where an explosion from Troopers was significantly louder than everything else, but otherwise I thought it worked well.

I'm not an uber fan so I wasn't sure how many different episodes were used for this take, but it came across to me as fairly linear and I assumed sourced chiefly from one episode - turns out a LOT were used, so I'm impressed. There are a couple of scenes that feel a little off, or like they are dropping in a fragment of a Kirk character arc that goes unresolved, but for the most part, the events play out in a way that makes sense. I thought there were some interesting thematic parallels between Troopers and the Star Trek footage as well. The ending comes across a bit dark and out of character, but it probably harkens more to the vibe of Starship Troopers.

While I'm more of a purist and generally prefer original FX to the remastered stuff, I do agree with Bionic Bob that the redone CG effects would probably complement this edit, especially as we already have the CG footage from Starship Troopers. I'm half tempted to restore this edit in HD sometime and with the remastered footage, but the list is already long... who knows.

I enjoyed this a lot although I do think it could have been taken a bit further. This is 80% Star Trek and 20% Troopers, the latter mostly using repeated footage (as others have mentioned). But what's there works nicely and is satisfying to see paired together. The edit itself is presented on a DVD and features a few extras, which is a nice touch. I have to admit I didn't understand what the Space Nazis short was meant to be or what the context was, so that was rather lost on me.

I am a big fan of both the original Star Trek show and the Starship Troopers film, so when i saw there was a fanedit that crossed both over, i was weary of the mashing up of both. It's safe to say that this mix of both was surprisingly good and a refreshing idea.

There was a noticeable difference in quality both audio wise and visually between the ST: TOS footage and the Starship Troopers footage, since there was a 30 year difference. The editor also reused some of the footage from Starship Troopers in certain places, but i would expect that from a low budget show like Star Trek, so i was willing to go with it. The only real major problem i had was the Starship Troopers footage seemed to be squished, as if it weren't properly cropped. Maybe some re-editing would help with some of the rough edges.

I was also surprised the DVD came with a short film called "Nazi's In Space" with making of/outtakes and a trailer for Time Messerschmitt. The short was a interesting watch and a neat addition.

Since both Star Trek: The Original Series and the Starship Troopers trilogy are now on Blu-Ray, i would love the editor to come back or have another editor to redo this fanedit done in the style of the blu-ray releases of the original series, and be able to switch between the original effects and the enhanced effects. It would help smooth out some of my complaints.

If i had to recommend this edit, i would. Simply because its an interesting watch.

This was fun. It wasn't perfect, it was obviously edited. It was still fun. You should watch it.

It would be awesome if someone could revisit this with the new/remastered HD sources and a bit of modern technical sensibilities. I imagine that some of the more glaring visual issues could be easily remedied. (Those issues are completely forgivable for this edit, but knowing they could be fixed today makes me want to see it with them fixed, you know?)


The narrative is surprisingly coherent, the cuts make sense and work, by and large. Aside from cutting the two sources together, no real video editing was done. This isn't surprising as this edit is 5+ years old.



Honestly, great edit. Lots of fun. It is inspiring. It took me far too long to hunt down a copy, but it was worth the effort.

Thanks,

Review by bionicbob — October 2, 2010 @ 5:33 pm

Utterly Clever and Charming”

This edit has been on my “I really should watch this” list for years now.
And now I totally regret that I waited so long.

This was so FUN! An absolute joy to watch! I enjoyed every second of it.

I can only imagine the hours and hours and hours that went into this finding the footage to craft this all new narrative. This really must have been a work of love and passion.

If I was to nitpick (it’s what Trekkers do, eh?), I thought the closing “planet joke” came off as a little cold, cruel and out of character, but I totally understand why it was done and it works as a good closer.

And to chirp in on the original footage vs. remastered debate, if another version were ever made, I think using Remastered Clips would only enhance the viewing experience more. But that’s only my imo.

Definitely a good time and I recommend it to anyone who has not seen it and is a Trek fan.

Review by blueyoda — July 1, 2010 @ 8:14 am

*This rating was given before reviews were required*