Star Trek – Kirkless Generations

I'm reviewing from memory, but I thought this was a lovely edit. Whilst I prefer Kirk in the movie (despite how he was written), this beautifully crafts a final chapter for the TNG era before heading into the later movies. Picard exiting the nexus and the end sequence all work fine, no complaints, although I do agree with everyone about the slow-motion shots, but these were probably unavoidable.

The one thing I miss is the triumphant Generations overture, but the new opening is far more appropriate for this edit.

Nice one!

I rather enjoyed this fanedit. It's much better than the original (since I do not need to see a beloved character be killed for no good reason). But there was an obvious slow-down effect and it was obvious when Kirk hit Soren and not picard.

Review by mullholland665 — July 9, 2010 @ 9:25 am

A really great edit! This works so incredibly well that it got me wondering: was the screenplay originally written without Kirk’s character, only to be inserted in a later draft? The quality of the editing is very smooth too.

With the Kirk character gone, the plot strand about Piccard and his longing for a family instead of the all-consuming Starfleet career was something I found incredibly moving this time around. The film in its original form got distracted from that element due to Kirk’s unnecessary presence in the story. Thanks CBB for turning a flawed movie into what is for me now one of the great ones in the Star Trek franchise.

Review by L8wrtr — May 4, 2010 @ 10:30 pm

Star Trek – Kirkless Generations by CBB

Reviewed by L8wrtr

A fantastic edit from a highly flawed source.

Owning the theatrical version of Generations is more an act of loyalty than any indication of enjoyment, so I had high hopes for this edit. I was not disappoitned.

Video editing
Overall this fan-edit is fairly seemless. There are one or two transitions that felt abrupt, and the slow-motion turn was a bit jarring, but you have to work with what you get in fan-editing so I didn’t have a complaint about this. The narrative that this edit creates is great, particularly when you consider the mess that is the original. The focus on Picard’s struggle is far more believable and his struggle enjoys the proper focus in the film.

My only complaint regarding this edit is the sequence of events once Picard returns to the planet from the Nexus. The original screenplay already suffers from the McFly Time-Travel Blunder, where our hero, able to select any point in time/space chooses to barely give himself enough time. This flaw is exaggerated by this new sequence because Picard chooses to return outside the shield. If not for his serendipitously finding the hole in the shield, Picard would have been unable to stop Soran the second time either.

This sequence would have flowed a lot better (IMO) if Picard’s discussion/attempted persuasion with Soran happened all before the rocket fires, and then when Picard returns from the Nexus, it instantly is right where the action starts on the cat-walk. From that point, the fight sequence is perfect and believable. It is a skillful integration of the original footage into a 2-man fight without Kirk. (Of course, a truly bold solution to the McFly conundrum would be to simply cut out the Nexus all-together, Picard slips into the shield, saves the day, no time travel needed, and the Nexus remains a mystery to us. Unfortunately that would cut out how Picard comes to terms with his grief, which is what makes the scene worth keeping). This however is my only criticism. 9 out of 10

Video Quality
I found no flaws in the video quality, no reason to give it anything other than 10 out of 10

Audio Quality
Overall, quite good, but a few harsh transitions stood out and ruined the seemless flow. I have not watched this movie in years and do not have it memorized, so that I recognized the transitions keeps it from being perfect. 9 out of 10

Overall Entertainment
This edit rescues a very disappointing movie that I watch rarely, and has turned it into a movie that I will actively watch again and will share with friends. 9 out of 10.

Review by Ripplin — May 4, 2010 @ 7:36 am

This idea worked out very nicely! It’s great to have this alternate, 100% TNG version. The audio and video quality are excellent (there a few hard cuts that were a bit unavoidable, I guess, but no problems overall) and it still has a decent length to it. The extra features were ok, though mainly for people who weren’t familiar with the original version or just couldn’t remember it. The nice, easy to navigate menus round out an overall excellent package. Definitely recommended for any TNG fan! I’ll give it a 9/10.