Star Trek II: Wrath of Khan Redux - Fan VFX Replacement Showcase

This was such an enjoyable watch. The redone scenes are edited in wonderfully and the new CGI is well done. It doesn't quite match the effect of the original model shots, but the things the new CGI allowed (more dynamic ship movement, longer, bigger shots, for example) more than make up for it (especially the nebula section!). There are no ridiculous Star Wars Special Edition additions or anything like that. Everything is done subtly to serve the story.
I noticed some errors in my first viewing. Certainly not big issues and I'm sure Wraith and the creators are already aware of them. At 52:38 the visuals stutter for a moment. At 1:21:20 and at 1:32:43 there is a loud single beep sound. At 1:35:33 the torpedo sound effect is possibly too loud? Other than that the sound is flawless, especially the music.
This version will now be my go-to for future re-watches.

For me, this is a "watch once". It is not going to be my go-to version by any means.

However, it was WORTH watching. Go to youtube, you see a million disjointed CGI VFX replacement clips. Wraith has managed it integrate some very intriguing VFX shots into the existing narrative, sometimes replacing conventional FX shots, sometimes adding additional material. The effort is hampered somewhat by the varying quality of the source material, but Wraith sitll manages to pull it all together into a very watchable package.

Will it replace my DC BluRay? No. Was it a fun way to spend two hours? Absolutely.

9.5/10, would recommend.

Having just watched this "experiment", I quite enjoyed it. As Wraith had said it is not perfect it can never be perfect, it is an experiment in adding new Cgi from various sources. There are some issues her and there with the sound and a few scenes with a bit of sluggish transition. I do think this follows nicely if a person who had never seen the original watched this after watching the first Star Trek movie.

Kudos to Wraith for gathering the sources and assembling them together.
he's done a nice job. If you just want to kick back and not be a purist and have fun then I would say you will enjoy the experience.

This edit is a delight. I have seen this movie countless times by now, so the opportunity to watch it again with a fresh coat of paint was a wonderful gift.

However, I'd warn my fellow nerds that such extreme familiarity can also hurt the experience, as certain additions might feel strange or jarring because you are so used to the brisk pace of the original film. There are also certain minor additions, such as the new introduction of the Reliant, that feel wholely unnecessary, and there are one or two VFX additions that are demonstrably worse than what was first created back in the early 1980s.

That said, I don't think the intention of this edit was necessarily to craft the "best" version of this film, but rather to give a showcase to the dozens of fan-made VFX done over the years. In that respect, I think Wrath of Khan Redux is a complete success. And it will no doubt be used as the jumping off point for further fan edits that might chip away at some of the more awkward or superfluous additions to create an even more refined version of what is still the greatest Star Trek film to date.

I cannot recommend this edit enough to fans of Star Trek. It was clearly made with love and affection. The final battle in the nebula is the true stand-out here. My jaw was on the floor for a lot of it. Again, being able to see something so familar with fresh eyes is such a gift.

My sincere thanks to Wrath and all involved. Excellent work!

Audio/Video Quality
I watched the 7gb file and it looked a bit soft and had a large amount of pixelation for a file of its size.

Visual Editing
I was intrigued, but I'll admit I'm not too keen on the added cgi footage. As pointed out in BionicBob's review, the back and forth between cgi and ILM models feels a bit jarring as is the frame rate issues with the differing sources. Unfortunately much of the additional ship scenes feel more like a dvd menu in quality. This is no fault of Wraith, but I'm not sure the quality of the shots were worth the alternate shots in terms of visual continuity. There are a few cgi shots that looked fantastic. The genesis proposal video is vastly improved, but is hindered by the frame rate stutter. When the battle first starts, there's something that just feels off in terms of intensity. I think some of it is due to the cgi shots and the still/smoothness they bring. The action is a bit subdued.

Audio Editing
There seems to be some audio inconsistencies and issues that stuck out. One example is when Spock says "their shields are going up". There is a loud static distortion for a split second. Some of the audio also has some doubling and/or high pitched sounds when inserted/extended scenes return to the original shots and some pops in the audio here and there. I assume these are due to the crossfading. I only point these out as reasoning for the score I gave.

Narrative
The additional lines are interesting and give some added depth to characters, but struggled to establish themselves due to some audio level inconsistencies and their reliance on being added while some of the newer cgi scenes are shown (eg Sulu's mention of his desire to become a captain). The little additions that extend scenes also feel a bit off and take away from the flow of those shots. One such example is when Kirk tells Uhura to signal their surrender and then we get a looped piece of audio and a cgi Enterprise shot. It just feels a bit off in terms of the flow. Seeing that the narrative of this film is very visual and that the intent of this edit was to adjust that visual narrative, I felt it actually slowed the movie down a bit and was at times a bit distracting.

Enjoyment
I have mixed feelings about this. It's a tall order to change/mess with what I feel is tied for the best Star Trek film and one of the better sci-fi movies ever made. I personally felt that the sourced computer generated ships and scenes did feel out of place with the original ILM work. The alternate takes of shots also had some struggle with fitting into the movie seamlessly. Some of the additional ship scenes did look pretty fantastic. My favorite shot is probably when the reliant pops up on screen in the nebula. It was like a Jaws moment with that external shot. It was almost like a jump scare. Unfortunately for me the rest of the lower quality cgi ultimately didn't stand up to the original source models. I also wonder if some more processing could be done to rework some of the fps issues with the cgi to help them gel more fully with the frame rate of the film. A valiant effort and a neat alternative experience.