Star Trek 5 “This Other Eden”

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.

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

Review by LastSurvivor — April 19, 2011 @ 9:11 pm

It’s strange how some films obtain a bad reputation and yet at the same time attract many hardcore defenders at the same time. Or perhaps it isn’t. I for one am rarely put off a film by poor reviews – in fact some might say I actively seek them out to see if they really are that bad. One such movie back upon its release in the blockbuster packed summer of 1989 was of course WIlliam Shatner’s Star Trek V: The Final Frontier. The general opinion then, and indeed now, seems to be that it’s probably the worst of the series.

As the years have gone by it’s become general film knowledge that Shatner’s original vision for the film was severely compromised by various contributing factors; it is quite obvious that Paramount slashed the budget and that the wizards of ILM were not available to perform special effects duty. Yet, upon my first viewing of the film at the cinema I genuinely loved it – warts and all. So, when Bionic Bob reached this particularly chapter in his Original Series Trek Edits, I was very intrigued and excited to see what he would do.

First off, as much as I love the new classic TV style intro which has been seen in BB’s other Trek edits, I was delighted to see a new intro which whilst still obviously intended as a TV series intro, retains the wonderful Jerry Goldsmith score. I loved seeing all the various shots of the Enterprise and Bob timed it perfectly with the music. Hopefully this intro will be retained for the final Trek BB edit to come shortly.

Indeed, watching this edit reminded me just how amazing Goldsmith’s score is – I’d forgotten how good it really is and I truly think it stands alongside The Motion Picture as his best Trek score. As soon as we arrive on Nimbus III I knew I was gonna love this – Bob uses Jerry’s original score for the superbly staged pre-credits sequence and I immediately had a beaming smile on my face. The trimming of the shore leave sequence works a treat, particularly the cut of the awful green screen rock fall sequence. I must admit I kind of missed “row, row, row your boat” but by keeping the discussion about Bones’ secret beans recipe in there, I’m more than willing to forgive

Indeed, the one thing I am glad about is that Bob decided not to try and cut all the humor out of the movie. For me, the interplay between the main trio of Kirk, Spock and McCoy is at its absolute best here. Director Shatner deserves massive credit for this (along with his script writers of course!), and I still believe this is a quite beautifully directed Trek movie.

The idea to rescript all the Klingon dialogue with new subtitles (nice Starfleet title cards btw) works absolutely fine. I’ll admit I can’t remember how different it is to the original, but if the intention is to make the Klingon’s as ruthless as we knew them previously, then Bob definitely succeeds.

Uhura’s fan dance is not missed at all, neither is the turbo shaft/rocket boots from the jailbreak. Only thing I thought was that it’s strange that Scotty appears and then in the next scene is just gone without us knowing what he’s up to, but I think it still works well enough. What’s more, the turbo shaft scene always felt like an added scene – at least the humour certainly did. By removing it and getting on straight with the story as Kirk, McCoy and Spock have to face their pain, the movie is all the better for it. Ah yes, the pain. Have to give Bob massive credit here, as when he announced we were going to see Kirk’s pain for the first time I was somewhat skeptical as to how he would achieve this. Well, the clips he used from the classic series and the preceeding movies are superbly chosen, not to mention how skillfully he intercuts them with the scenes on the observation deck. I’m sure he worked on it for some time and it’s one of the best moments in the edit for me. Also, by adding music to the scene it seems to lend even more emotional weight.

One aspect I wasn’t too keen on were the flash forward scenes where Kirk foresees his death. I can see what Bob was trying to do, but the placement of the scenes just feels jarring and don’t work that well for me. I know that Bob states it ties in with his last Trek fanedit, which I have to admit I haven’t viewed yet, so it may well work better if one has seen that first.

All the colour correction on the God planet works without distracting, and I liked the new Klingon gun sound effects – very nice. As for the earthquake filter effects, for the most part they work surprisingly well. It was only when I noticed that the actual 2.35:1 framing was moving as well as the image inside the frame that it became distracting. A shame, as I thought it worked really well otherwise and is a great idea.

The freeze frame style fades, as if going to an advert break, mostly work very well. There was just the one on the observation deck where we hear Sybok continuing to speak after his image is frozen that didn’t work for me. Otherwise, all good.
The picture quality is very good throughout and for the most part the audio is far better than the previous BB Trek edit I watched, The V’ger Incident. However, there are still moments where the background sound/music overpower the dialogue somewhat, which is a shame, but I have to say it certainly doesn’t lessen the impact of the edit.

Most importantly of all though is how good the actual fanediting is here. BB has done a brilliant job and if you hadn’t seen the movie before you would never know where the editing was to tell the truth. I still love the original theatrical version, turbo shaft scene and all. Yet, for the most part Bionic Bob’s This Other Eden has the edge and would now be my go to version, as the saying goes.

I now look forward to seeing Bob’s other Trek edits, and it will be kinda sad when he finally leaves the Trek universe upon the completion of his fanedit of Star Trek VI. However, at least it opens the pathways for Cyborg, his long awaited Six Million Dollar Man edit… now that’s one I really can’t wait for.

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.” ;-)

Review by DwightFry78 — April 18, 2011 @ 5:13 am

Ah, Star Trek V. The one nobody seems to like. However, for all that’s wrong with this movie, it has a more than intriguing premise and a lot of interesting ideas within that have made me have a soft spot for it, warts and all. And so does BionicBob, who in this newer entry of his TOS-ized Trek film series removes a lot of contrivance and stupidity, and about all of the really offensive material of the theatrical cut, to deliver an excellent edit that’s one of his best and makes up for the slight disappointment that was his version of IV, which I still liked a lot, just not as much as the previous three. Interestingly, I tend to like the odd-numbered entries in the Bionic Trek saga better than the even-numbered ones, unlike what most Trekkers seem to feel about the official cuts.

Gone is the Uhura/Scotty romance, gone is the dance of Uhura’s body double, gone is the belching Klingon, gone is Scotty hitting his head, gone are the worst FX shots, and gone are all the inconsistences that could be removed without the aid of deleted scenes. I expected that Sybok would no longer be Spock’s brother in this version, but he still is. Not the worst of problems with STV, anyway. The overall result? Pretty solid Trek that streamlines the best The Final Frontier had to offer.

This time around the excellent Jerry Goldsmith music is kept, and for good reason as it’s by far one of the best Trek scores. We also get a different TV-style intro than the one in the previous edits, which is somewhat controversial apparently, but I personally love it. A celebration of the Enterprise that’s a comeback to the classic TOS intro, plus the amazing Goldsmith theme. What’s not to like?

On the downside, Bob left in some silly and overly comedic bits, with lines like “I ought to knock you on your ass” and moments like Spock nerve-pinching a horse, while I would have preferred the feel to go further towards the serious, as I think the material in question demands that (but hell, I’m the guy whose favorite ST film is the deadly serious TMP and would like a similar treatment being applied to this one, so most people will no doubt disagree). Also, Bob added a tiny flash-forward near the beginning and reprised it near the end. I understand why he has done it and have nothing but respect for his decision, but I think both sequences (particularly the first) worked better without it. It’s a bit too obvious, and a bit of overkill. On the other hand, I loved the “Kirk’s pain” sequence. One of the best TOS montages by Bob.

Technical stuff… let me joyfully shout it: IT’S 16:9 ANAMORPHIC! :D And no interlacing either! Finally! This is how all of Bob’s edits deserve to look like. Other people have pointed out technical problems, but I haven’t noticed much other than some slight blocking in one shot, and maybe the music being a bit too loud during the characters’ walk through the Sha-Ka-Ree desert. The audio level problems in IV bothered me much more. Yet keep in mind I have watched the edit on a computer, so in a proper Home Cinema system there may be more noticeable flaws.

Overall? I’ll just say: someone send the Shat a copy of this edit! Let him see how good his maligned movie can actually be. I think he… would… love… it. 9/10

Looking forward to VI.