Star Trek: Echoes of Lament

Takes a very disappointing, and meandering, original product and turns it in to something much more digestible. The editing was flawless, the scenes reorganized in a way that made more sense. It still doesn't exactly feel like "classic" Trek but if I ever feel the need to revisit season 1 this is how I will be doing it from now on.

Firstly, this is an absolutely masterful edit. Taking ten episodes and turning them into two two-hour-long films would be impressive in any circumstances, especially done at this level of technical quality. But to do that with source material that is so utterly, completely, depressingly abhorrent is a work of skillful artistry that deserves the highest possible commendation.

I avoided watching Picard when it first came out because I hate streaming services, and because I was nervous. That nervousness increased to outright anxiety when spoilers began slipping into my sphere. When I finally bought it and watched it for myself, the emotional experience was something akin to watching a beloved friend beaten senseless, or having your dog drowned. Star Trek was a formative piece of my whole experience of life, and to see it degraded to such a degree (and lauded for that degradation by mindless hoards of critics) was literally and shatteringly depressing.

Coming from that standpoint, to say that I enjoyed even a moment of the material is pretty amazing. As it happens, this first part, Echoes of Lament, turned out to be... if not a *good story,* then at least not the worst. Utter trash was taken, molded, morphed, risen, baked, and turned into a crusty loaf that -- for all its flavorlessness -- was edible.

The story has been altered fundamentally, the cuts give the characters actually believable emotional states - I couldn't believe how different Picard and Raffi's relationship became. Instead of every interaction being a terrible cringe-fest, they felt merely somewhat dramatic. There were even moments where I found myself enjoying the tale - at least as much as any run-of-the-mill weekly episode.

It's difficult to rate a piece like this for enjoyment because of how deeply bad the original material is. If I were to rate on that alone, the "enjoyment" factor would have to be something sub-zero. It's important to illustrate, therefore, that my ultimate enjoyment rating is focused as neutrally as possible on this work alone, as if it really were a stand-alone film.

One major point that could have been addressed was the "brother/sister" incestuous relationship arc, which never served any purpose anyway, and certainly could have been cut out—making the relationship of the terrible twins seem like just a normal jealous relationship between two psychopaths. The choice to retain lines that could have been cut degraded my enjoyment of this piece directly.

I despised the source material but thought it would be at least interesting to see what a fan edit could achieve. Unfortunately I still hated it but I wouldn’t blame the editor for that. Kudos to them for at least trying though. Incidentally I don’t think the title “Echoes of Lament” works very well, it’s sounds awkward, maybe Echoes of Sorrow or Regret would’ve been better? To me it just sounds like it’s the equivalent of saying Echoes of Bemoan or Bewail.

On a technical level, this edit is excellent, but, unfortunately, it still feels like a more truncated version of a series that simply doesn't work. I was hoping that it might work better with the fat removed, but there are too many fundamental flaws to the way the whole season was constructed. The central problem remains that the new cast introduced aren't particularly compelling characters and spending less time with them, as we do in this edit, hasn't really changed that. I'll check out the second fan-edit covering the rest of the season but, honestly, the first part was a real slog to even finish. Despite the clear care and effort that went into crafting this edit, I think this series might be unsalvagable, despite some truly excellent action sequences.

These comments apply to both parts of this fan-edit.

The launch of season 2 of Picard seemed like the perfect time to check out Wraith’s Picard S1 fan edit, spilt into two parts: Echoes of Lament and Means of Redemption.

First of all, I should say, I didn’t hate the broadcast version. Like most people, I thought it was a mixed bag, some nice nostalgia that suffered from too many pointless or repetitive scenes with some unlikable characters. As well, solutions were often thanks to “magic” technology rather than more Trek-like problem solving. What should have been a pretty good full-length movie was stretched into 10 draggy parts. There were also accusations by many fans that the writers had an agenda that came at the expense of good storytelling.

I bring that up because improving the flow seems to have been Wraith’s first mission, and he mostly succeeded. Filler scenes and unneeded exposition have been excised, other scenes trimmed, and many scenes reordered, so the whole thing zips along much more swiftly (and logically). No more magic science. He’s also created a new opening (from a scene that originally aired toward the end) that now rationalizes the conspiracy as it unfolds. Speaking of mystery, Dage’s intro is vastly improved by presenting the attack as a flashback. A number of critical scenes have been improved with selective trims, the meeting with Adm. Clancy for example. She actually comes across as more serious albeit humorless instead of angry and resentful. Indeed, all of the characters are less pathetic and broken.

I had some issues with a few editing choices. For example, I didn’t think the original TNG music worked for the themes. The tone of this series is so different. I would have also lost the crying over Picard’s death and gone straight from his dying to the simulation (although I appreciate that these were good character-building moments.) But I felt those scenes seriously interrupted and undermined the most moving moment in the entire series: Picard's reunion with Data. btw, Data still looks off to me. I think it would be possible to use some of the Deep Fakes that have appeared online. But these are all minor quibbles.

Technically the edit is very good. I didn’t notice any harsh transitions or serious plotting problems because of missing scenes. I echo BionicBob's point about the source material, which couldn't be changed. Nevertheless, the plot is less convoluted now. I did hear some audio pops in a few places but that could be playback in VLC. I haven’t tried it in another player. In any event, the didn't detract from my enjoyment of the edit.

So overall, another great edit from Wraith.