Review Detail

An absolutely delightful edit. I haven't yet managed to convince my wife that there's a good movie hidden inside TMP, but I have at least proved it to myself. I watched the original once more simply to make sure I knew what I was losing, and I don't think I will ever watch it again. This is a superior product, for all the many reasons others have enumerated.

I gave a few points off in the audio department, because a number of the sfx the editor added were wrong -- really, really wrong. Why is an Enterprise-D beep sequence playing on the bridge? Why is the computer console in Engineering making the beepboops from Voyager? (And not just Voyager, either -- a few of those sfx are from one specific episode of Voyager, though I've forgotten which one, and are never heard again.) I don't expect most other people will notice or care, but I found it profoundly jarring, and I just had to train my ear not to care anymore.

But, before my qualms cause you to hesitate in your decision to watch this edit (and, make no mistake: you SHOULD watch this edit!), you should know that I am a producer for a Star Trek fan audio drama (Starship Excelsior), and so I am more attuned to this sort of thing than sane people are. And you should know that most of the sound effects the editor used were downloaded from TrekCore... which obtained most of their sound library from me in the first place, which is why I know them very, very well. And you should know that it is almost impossible to get this stuff right: even my show sometimes makes a mistake, or simply uses the "wrong" effect because it sounds better in context. We know that only the most anal-retentive Trek audio nerds out there will notice or care, and that's a price we're willing to pay for a rich audio soundscape.

So, if you're not a huge Trek audio nerd, don't worry about it. If you are, just prepare yourself going in for some jarring moments. But don't turn it off the first time it annoys you! You'll get used to the anachronistic fx, and, by the time the Enterprise reaches V'Ger, you won't notice them at all anymore. The important thing about this fanedit is how it streamlines and reshapes the narrative of Star Trek TMP, while staying true to its feel and intent. If you own a copy of TMP, watch this.