Review Detail

A fascinating experiment that enhances several scenes, but for me doesn't quite hold up over it's two hour runtime.

Full disclosure: Around the one hour mark I started to skim through the file rather than let it play out in real time.


A/V QUALITY

Audio and visual quality is good, though the image seemed a little waxy and missing fine details. There's an impression of grain, but I think it has largely been lost in this encoding. The file I watched was 5GB. A less compressed offering in the 8-10GB range could look better.


VISUAL EDITING

For the most part, the adjusted visual effects look great and feel effective, but there was a moment at 31:31 that pulled me out of the experience. On the cut to the exterior shot of the Enterprise, it seems like there is a 2-4 frame zoom in that seems like an editing mistake. The change log says, "Added a slight zoom out", but I'm not sure if this was the intended effect.


AUDIO EDITING

There is a lot of music replacement here, and it largely works very well. The editor has a good handle on volume level; when to ease in, when to ease back, when to let the scene breathe without music. Many of the pieces felt well timed to what was happening on screen.

I noticed a few minor things in the first hour;

* A slight hitch at 27:15
* Several pops and crackles at 36:14 to 36:30

Regarding the material itself, I think the Fallout score works well in places, but it seemed very repetitive to me. By the 45 minute mark, I felt as if I had heard the entire thing. From that point on, I started noticing the same themes repeating. Fallout is one of my favorite movies, and I love the score, but it never feels repetitive to me there. I can't tell if the editor used the same selections in multiple places, or if it really is that way in the source. By the one hour mark I found myself getting tired and started to skim through the movie.

There were two moments (maybe more?) where the original music moved in. First at 38:00 with the Star Trek theme, and again at 46:00. It's possible the editor couldn't find a gentle bit of "romantic" music for that scene.

Aside from the repetition of the Fallout themes throughout, the other thing that caught my attention and pulled me out of the experience was hearing the main Mission Impossible theme at 48:51. Lorne Balfe's score is somewhat faceless throughout, and I can understand why the editor felt it would be a good source to slot in here, but the Mission Impossible leitmotif is too singular, and has too strong an identity to be repurposed for another franchise (in my opinion).

Some music moments I felt worked really well:

* During the wormhole sequence, and in particular the fade out on Chekov's "we're out of it".
* The build at 48:00 as Spock approaches.
* The light strings at 1:05 as the tension builds.
* That moment at 1:30:50...
* The intense horns at 1:37:45


NARRATIVE

As far as I can see, the main narrative hasn't been changed.


ENJOYMENT

I apologize for marking this down significantly, but the new music was too repetitive to keep me engaged, and I ended up skimming through the second half.