Review Detail

I love Star Trek and I am always saying we need more Trek edits (who the heck wants more Star Wars--blah/meh---lol) on the site and now we got one! Actually it is more like 3 in 1, and they are good fun.

I will break my review into a general overview and then get into some episode specifics. And YES, there will probably be SPOILERS, so you have been warned.

Let's start with basic dvd menu design.... and first I want to say THANK YOU MENBAILEE for creating an actual dvd release! I know it is more work, but imo it make the experience more satisfying and authentic.... I am an old fart, so I definitely prefer a fan edit on dvd rather than a video file to be watched on the old computer.

But some minor nitpicks about the menu work.... first, your pre-menu disclaimer/edit info is way too brief. I could not read it all in the allotted time and since it is part of the menu, it can not be paused. It could easily have been a good 15-25 seconds longer. Second, the menu looks awesome (great insertion of scenes from the movies!!!), connecting nicely to the tv series, however it is 4x8 while the three episodes are all 16x9. This just threw me off a bit, it just does not visually flow smoothly. I think for visual continuity either the episodes should have been 4x8 too or the menu made 16x9 (definitely the easier choice). Also, all the episodes start IMMEDIATELY upon hitting play... I think a slight 3-6 second fade in buffer would have been better.

The intent of this edit is to cut each movie down to one hour's length and give it the feel of the television series and for the most part it succeeds. The pre-credit teasers sort of just fade out both visually and audio-wise. It would have felt more like the TNG series if they had been given an iconic Trek music cue at the end of the teaser. The new show titles are nice and work, though I was not a fan of some of the star field overlay shots and thought some different shots of the Enterprise actually going to warp would have been better to match the audio. The opening episode title cards are EXCELLENT and look completely authentic.... fantastic work!!! Could the edits have benefited from commercial breaks? Maybe. It would have felt a bit more real, though many newer cable shows do not have traditional scene breaks anymore.... so I am of two minds on it. The end credits -- here I would have definitely created new end titles in the style of the tv series rather than keeping the movie credits. It just broke the illusion at the end for me.

On to the episodes themselves....

PHOENIX -- Great cut down to 1 hour. First Contact is probably the best of the NexGen movies, so I would not say this version is an improvement and only because Picard's arc is completely lost, thus his performance feels very uneven. But the flip side, Data's character is much better in this one hour format. Surprisingly, the removal of Lilly work pretty good (except in how it weakens Picard's story line) however, you created a couple of visual continuity issues. The viewer sees Lilly on the bridge during the evacuation order. Now based on her clothes and being more in the background, I could accept she was probably just a Starfleet officer banged up by the Borg. Except you again see Lilly in two major shots at the end of the episode, once prominently featured in the crowd shot when the Vulcan ship lands and again in the bar with Cochrane and the Vulcan after the Enterprise has departed. The crowd shot could easily be cut and I would have just ended the episode with the Enterprise going to warp rather than panning down to the bar.

So a good episode, but the uneven Picard arc and Lilly continuity issue, makes me give it a solid 7/10.

HEART OF LIGHTNESS -- by far my favourite edit on the dvd! The original movie feels like a tv episode and by cutting it perfectly down to hour, it now feels like one of the strongest and truest entries in the TNG canon. The new ending is sooooooo PERFECT! I loved it! Yes, this version still has the cringe worthy British Tar scene and though I believe it could have been cut, I understand why for later continuity it was kept. Some of the audio could have been slightly blended better, but I would give this episode a 9/10.

ROMULUS AND REMUS -- Having done my own fan edit of Nemesis, this is the one I was most curious about... and I think works pretty well! In fact, there are some ideas I wish I had thought of and may steal if I ever do a version two! LOL! I have gone on the record that I despise the Troi rape scene (it is the worst kind of ugly, lazy, sexist writing) and really wish you had not used it as I think your new structure would have still worked without it. Also, I think you should have cut the scene of Data offering Picard the emergency transporter, as there is no true pay off for it. I also noticed a minor continuity error where Riker refers to this mission as their honeymoon, except you have moved the wedding to the end of the episode. The new ending works, it is a smart solution, though I thought the cut was a bit abrupt. A very solid episode that I give 8/10.

All in all, an entertaining alternate viewing experience.

Thumbs Up! :)