Review Detail

I've been consistently enjoying The Warlord's TOS edits a lot, but so far I liked them for what they were: fanmixes, alternatives, experiments, alternate universe items. But this is the first one that I feel may be superior to the original episode, and the original episode is one I've always liked. Though, it's true that the "B" side of the plot felt a lot like filler in order to have some screen time for the rest of the characters. When the episode cut to them, I was eager to go back to Kirk almost alone in the "other" Enterprise. In fact, the way the edit presents the story makes it very close to a "Twilight Zone" episode (it reminds me quite a bit of "Where Is Everybody"), to the point that it would have fit in The Warlord's series of "Twilight Trek" edits.

Editing is top-notch. There's a moment that is necessarily hard to solve, which is the cut from Kirk and Odona's kiss to them walking down the corridor. It's not ideal, but what was done here is probably the only thing that could be done. In any other story, we'd have the commodity of an Enterprise bumper complete with fanfare, but putting one here would have been a lie, and putting anything else as an establishing shot would have been a spoiler. The one thing that did feel strange, and could have been easily solved, is the fact that Kirk inmediately recognizes Hodin when they first meet. It is plausible in the sense that he could know who that was from the Federation files, but doesn't really flow right. Otherwise, everything was perfect, as was video and audio quality.

Is it better than the original episode? Probably so. Would it be a replacement for it? Maybe and maybe not, depending on how important the typical Trek structure is for you. In any case, a really great TOS edit that should deserve a lot more attention.