Star Trek 2 “Perdition’s Flames”

There’s never enough time to watch everything… and man, are there loads of fanedits which I need to catch up on! Well, one wet Thursday evening I fancied a bit of Star Trek, and having only seen 2 of Bob’s Trek edits (of the first and fifth movies), I thought it was about time I watched “Perdition’s Flames”.

Firstly, I really like the whole concept of what Bob has done with his TV series approach to the movies. The adding of the series sound effects, music and all the fade to black ad-breaks worked particularly well in “The V’ger Incident” (a few music level problems aside), and I’m pleased to say that the case for Perditions Flames is no different. In fact, as The Wrath of Khan always seemed to feel much like an extended TV episode anyway, the classic feel which Bob adds to this edit seems perhaps more like a perfect marriage of styles this time around. Indeed, it comes as no surprise that flashback footage to the actual TV episode, “Space Seed” is utilised when Kirk realises it is Khan who is attacking the Enterprise. What’s more, it’s nicely executed too, and to me the only aspect of this edit which would make it even better would have been to try and crop the image to 1.85:1 ratio. That being said, picture quality is good throughout and the sound editing this time around is more consistent with no varying levels to speak of.

So, for picture and sound quality I would give this a solid 9/10. Great job Mr Bionic.

In terms of the story, this was perhaps the most ambitious side of the edit, in that Bob tries to tell the story very much from the point of view of Kirk, meaning that we only ever see Khan when Kirk is also present in the scene. Initially I was a bit worried how this would work. After all, some of the best moments in the film are when Ricardo Montalban is chewing up the scenery, but for this edit and its intentions, it works very well. That being said, when it comes to the heroic exploits of a certain Mr Spock and the consequences thereafter, I did feel that there was a little too much missing, even though I fully understood Bob’s intention to keep things firmly fixed on Kirk’s point of view. The use of flashbacks and new music during Spock’s send off though does not work as well for me; not badly executed, it just didn’t seem to fit comfortably for me.

Overall however, the narrative works perfectly well in context of the edit and I wouldn’t hesitate in giving this 9/10

On the visual and audio front, the editing is more or less flawless and as already mentioned the audio side in particular is an improvement on Bob’s first Star Trek edit. So, Visual editing would get 10/10, audio 10/10.

Enjoyment is, as with all Bob’s edits, the aspect which shines through the most. You can tell the amount of enthusiasm and love which he puts into the edit and I was thoroughly entertained from start to finish, as easy 10/10 for me.

Overall then, Perditions Flames continues and in many ways improves on the good work started with The V’ger Incident. If you want to see Star Trek II from Kirk’s perspective then this is the perfect way to do so and you will have a blast; that I can guarantee.

Review by steelio2006 — June 21, 2011 @ 3:29 pm

*This rating was given before reviews were required*

Review by Frantic Canadian — February 22, 2011 @ 1:25 am

*This rating was given before reviews were required*

Review by Neglify — August 2, 2012 @ 6:38 am

What a fun fanedit this was. I never got too much into Trek but I love Wrath of Khan. It was great to watch it in a new way. Bob is the king of Trek edits.

Review by UnkwnFactor — January 10, 2011 @ 11:52 pm

Less Khan???? “KHHHHAAAAN! KHHHHHAAAAN!” I was both looking forward to and dreading this edit after I D/L’d it.

I certainly do not believe in any of “sacred cow” of movies that shouldn’t be edited. I believe all movies are fair game. BionicBob’s intentions for his Trek series is a prime example of this. He has not only done what I term, cut all the junk from his trek movies, he takes his edit in a new direction. This movie is, for me, THE star trek movie that all others (except Star Trek 2009) must measure up to.

I was worried about the “less Khan” intention, but was really excited to see the “story told form Kirk’s viewpoint” aspect. I was not disappointed by either. This is almost a different movie for me. It almost seems like a “Director’s Cut” of Star Trek 2.

There are some issues video issues with this installment, like the others, but the movie is so damn enjoyable I just don’t care. I agree with L8wrtr about this as well.

I haven’t mentioned this before, but being a part of FE and watching edits is mainly for me, the actual edit. The DVD presentation, extras etc are great if an edit has them, but not terribly important to me. I usually D/L this to my network and stream them to my TV, or extract just the movie to a USB etc and watch them via my TV or blu-ray (my TV and blu-ray USB connections for doing this sort of thing), so I typically don’t experience the DVD menus etc until well after I have already watched the edit.

I introduced my “desparate housewife watching” / “sci-fi and especially Star Trek is silly” thinking wife to Trek via the DVD of First Contact. She realized what quality sci-fi can be and then she watched this edit with me and was blown away.

Overall, an excellent edit and one of my personal favorites.