Star Trek 5 “This Other Eden”

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(Updated: September 15, 2012)
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8.0
Review by FoolsFollowing — January 19, 2012 @ 8:04 pm

Review of Bionic Bob’s Star Trek V “This Other Eden”

First things first I shall declare my colors.

I’m a sci-fi fan but not really a Trekkie, I’ve watched a fair few episodes from TOS, fewer still from Next Gen. I have a lot of respect for the franchise, but I was always more of a Stargate/Babylon 5 kinda guy. Regarding the films, I watched the first five on DVD last year. TMP is my favorite, I love how solemn and serious it is. Wrath of Khan is a bit hammy, but I also love its theatrical side. Search for Spock was ok, Voyage Home was better than I remembered it (it’s the least sci-fi of the original series and rather silly which had generally put me off it in the past), and then we got to Star Trek V: The Final Frontier.

It was an odd film. Simultaneously brilliant and terrible. The premise is wonderful: the pilgrimage of a modern prophet and his ability to heal pain, how the Enterprise get involved, finding God at the center of the galaxy. Bones’ revelation is heart breaking, and the ‘trio’ have a lot of good scenes together.

On the other hand, you have rocket boots. A fat William Shatner and his toned body double climbing a mountain. The fan dance. Rocket boots. McCoy walking into a wall. And a truly dreadful climax. It was like two films mixed together: a profound futuristic religious pilgrimage dealing with faith and existential fear. And Police Academy set-in-space.

I haven’t watched any of BionicBob’s other edits, but after reading the rave reviews for this film and knowing it to be the perfect target for editing, I jumped straight into STV – the worst in the series which had potential to be the best.

The Good:
Well, Bob has certainly made the best of the film. The ridiculous humor is gone, and the fascinating ideas remain. The opening scene in the desert is wonderful, Kirk’s vacation is short and sweet, the hostage situation and the enterprise’s plan works much better now, all of Sybok’s scenes are beautiful, the film is quick and punchy, and the introduction to God is brilliant.

The bad:
The film is still limited in its source material. Once ‘God-thing’ attacks, it all gets a bit messy. The added shaky-cam didn’t work (the box shook around inside WMP, rather than being fixed while the image itself shook. I don’t know why this happened). The Klingon subplot doesn’t go anywhere. The hints at a profundity are left hanging.

The ill-preferred:
This is just personal choice, but I didn’t like the tv/OS style that bionic bob went for. I understand why he did it, but to me it just cheapens it. Perhaps such a style would work with Star Trek IV for example (which is a very silly film) but the plot as it has been tightened and re-edited is a truly cinematic one. A biblical epic set in the future, a man traveling deserts and planets in search of God, a voyage to the true beyond… this film has more in common with the first film than any of the others in the series, and I feel an equally epic style would be more fitting.

Having said that, Bob’s OS-inspired editing is of a high quality. The cheesy freeze-frames are pretty effective, the opening credits are nice, and the title cards seem fitting. It all just feels very non-cinematic. (But as I said: I’m not a Trekkie and I prefer my sci-fi serious. The fact that this film wasn’t made with those intentions isn’t necessarily a bad thing, and I imagine long term Trekkies will really enjoy Bob’s flair!)

So, on the whole it was a good experience. The ending feels a little rushed plot-wise, but that probably can’t be helped. Overall, a massive improvement and some top notch editing

In terms of extras: I liked the ‘about this edit’ section. I would have preferred a bit more information, and the slides move rather slowly so I ended up having to manually skip along the time bar. However the information that was provided was very interesting and is still far more than most fanedits give!

Judging the edit as a film in its own right, I would give it 7.5/10 – the original theatrical version would probably get a 4/10.
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(Updated: September 04, 2013)
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8.0
Review by Captain Khajiit — April 5, 2012 @ 7:27 pm

Bionicbob has released a second version of this edit, in which he includes a fix to one of the technical issues; consequently, I now rate this edit eight stars out of ten, overall. If a member of the administration could add the extra star, please do so. (This was done.)

ORIGINAL REVIEW:

(April 18, 2011)

Bionicbob delivers another B-movie style Star Trek edit. As usual, the cuts are creative, fun and bold, work more often than not, and make for an entertaining ride. The faneditor thinks outside the box and delivers some nice surprises that make the viewer smile.

As has been noted, there are some technical issues, and these might take one out of the film slightly. The faneditor is making progress in this area, and I am pleased to see that he has delivered his first edit in anamorphic widescreen. Well done! Nonetheless, the video encoding could be improved and the audio could be smoother at transition points. The presentation is great overall, and there are some nice special features in which the faneditor gives some insights into the film’s history and explains his intentions.

Video: 7/10
Audio: 6/10
Editing: 6/10
Entertainment: 8/10
Presentation: 8/10

Overall: 7 stars out of 10 Technical isses alone prevent a higher rating. Add a star if you think such issues do not detract from the B-movie inspiration of this edit…

…and whatever you do, watch it.

Review by Captain Khajiit

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(Updated: September 15, 2012)
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8.0
Review by UnkwnFactor — April 19, 2011 @ 12:41 am

Well, I decided to come out of obscurity just to review this, the latest BionicBob Star Trek edit.
Please excuse the verbosity of this review. Based on the above reviews, it also seems that I am the minority opinion of this edit.

Before proceeding, I feel it necessary to state that I am a HUGE fan of BionicBob’s ST edits and have enjoyed them all. He’s taken a well-known and well-worn franchise of movies and created something new and exciting.

I have been waiting in eager anticipation, in particular, for this edit. Of all the TOS crew movies, this is by far the least watchable (in its original form) and seems closest to a TOS episode. Not only in the thematic presentation, but the writing and visual effects.

So it is safe to say, I was really looking for to the “BionicBob treatment” of this particular movie over any of the others (including the upcoming ST6). ST 5 would definitely be improved by using Bob’s edit “intent”. If I have understood BionicBob’s intent from his previous four edits, he wanted to make each movie more like a TOS episode – in look, sound and storyline.

I both like and dislike this edit. Prior to writing this review, I watched this edit twice.

Unfortunately, it seems that Bob has strayed somewhat from his original intent. What makes a BionicBob edit of a TOS movie? 1) the editing of the movie itself – removing as much of the “cheese” / silliness / “groan factors” as possible and keeping/rearranging the material to ensure the new story is truer to the characters; 2) using as much of the original series sound effects as possible; 3) use of as much of the original series music as technically and appropriately possible; and finally 4) his new opening/closing credits and music that evoke, in the viewer, that these edits belong to TOS .

As far as the original movie music, YES, I am a huge fan of it. I own the recently released limited edition 2-disc set that has every score, cue etc. used/unused on it. I love the music. I listen to it all the time. I understand why Bob left the original track in (per his DVD commentary), but I think it is a mistake. On this point alone, this caused me to feel like I was watching just another movie edit, instead of a BoincBob “make it more like an episode” edit.
Sure, there were freeze frames and fade to black commercial breaks, but with the ST 1/TNG opening & closing credit music and the original score remaining, I did not get the feel of watching an episode.

Also, gone was BionicBob’s opening/closing credits from his previous 4 edits. This creates of feeling that this edit somehow doesn’t (or shouldn’t) belong with the others (purple font color? Ugh.). Again, increases the feeling that I am watching a movie edit instead of a BioniBob episode creation.

I found his edits done well and seemed to me seamless. The quality was better than the previous 4 edits.

I liked the idea of the footage from other ST movies to give the Klingons something to attack instead of space junk, but they didn’t resonate with me. They were too quick and didn’t create any emotional attachment for me as a viewer. Who was this human they were pursuing across the galaxy? Why were they pursuing him? I quickly forgot about the scene as the movie went on.
The replaced footage also seemed to quick and jaunty to feel seamless to me. I, however, thoroughly liked Bob’s intent behind why he used them.

I definitely liked the idea of the new subtitles and the style, but I found them to be too intrusive (because of the size of them on the video). I especially liked the Klingon symbol used for the subtitles and the Starfleet Logo used for the informational cards.

The audio, like the previous edits, is still plagued with low dialogue and higher music/sound effects. If this didn’t occur in each edit, then I wouldn’t feel like I was watching BionicBob St edit! ;-)

I agree with everything that has been removed from the original and also agree more could have been removed. The “cat girl” fight with Kirk in the bar, most notably. A lot more of the cheesey one-liners as well. Other reviewers have already mentioned a few other points.

Having watched this edit twice, I definitely can tell the love that BionicBob has for this movie. I think this may have gotten in the way of him truly creating an unbelievable “episode edit” from this movie. Like the original movie, this edit strays too far away from the feel and intent of Bob’s previous edits.

To be fair, I gave this edit 8 stars. Why? Because I feel that I why I disliked/was disappointed in this edit is not what most other reviewers are saying and I didn’t want my lone voice to deter others form experiencing this for themselves.

FINAL THOUGHT: Curiously, I thought the same thing after watching the original ST 5 in the theater, “Well, at least there’s another movie to look forward too.” ;-)
U
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