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You Only Live Twice: The LS Cut
Updated
Faneditor Name:
Original Movie Title:
Franchise:
Fanedit Type:
Original Release Date:
1967
Original Running Time:
117
Fanedit Release Date:
Fanedit Running Time:
108
Time Cut:
9
Subtitles Available?
Available in HD?
Additional Links:
Brief Synopsis:
You Only Live Twice - the film where Bond becomes Japanese. Hmmm, I've always struggled with that one. There's loads to enjoy in what was supposed to be Connery's swan song as 007, but it's also a film which has not aged particularly well, primarily because of the awkward plot line which sees Bond literally undergo a cosmetic procedure to look Japanese. It never really worked back in the 60's, but now it just comes across as uncomfortable and insulting in some ways.
On the plus side however, this is a gorgeous looking film, with incredible production design and a proper travelogue feel to it.
On the plus side however, this is a gorgeous looking film, with incredible production design and a proper travelogue feel to it.
Intention:
To remove the plotline of Bond becoming Japanese. Now, he just trains as a ninja and takes a Japanese wife so that he can be more convincing in his undercover attempts to continue his mission to uncover the Spectre base. Have also trimmed back and altered various other scenes, some for pacing reasons, others because some of the jokes haven't aged that well. The emphasis here is on moving the plot forward, whilst maintaining the travelogue nature of the film.
Special Thanks:
Sophie Welch
BionicBob
TM2YC
DwightFry
Toodles
and everyone who has shown an interest in the edit on the forum
BionicBob
TM2YC
DwightFry
Toodles
and everyone who has shown an interest in the edit on the forum
Release Information:
Digital
Special Features
Audio Commentary
Cuts and Additions:
- As Bond chase Aki on foot and falls through the trap door to meet Tanaka, have removed the couple of poor rear projection shots
- Trimmed scene of Tanaka and Bond bathing and being looked after by many Japanese ladies – kept the dialogue relevant to the plot, but dialogue about Japanese men coming before women and Japanese women being fascinated by Bond’s hairy body have gone
- When Aki takes over massaging Bond, ended the scene when she says “no-one will disturb you tonight”, thereby removing the line “I think very much I will enjoy serving under you”
- Altered scene where Bond poses as a buyer and meets Osato, a Spectre agent. In the original version, Osato’s secretary Helga Brandt gives Bond a glass of champagne whilst Osato comments on Bond needing to quit smoking, as they’re very bad for his chest. This is purely to set up a gag where Brandt serves Bond his drink, and she says “Mr Osato believes in a very health chest”, to which Bond looks at her chest and says “really?”. In the fanedit version, Brandt no longer serves Bond a drink and we can just get on with the plot without a pretty terrible joke.
- After Tanaka’s men literally pick up Osato’s henchmen who are pursuing Bond and Aki in a car chase, with a giant helicopter magnet, have trimmed sequence so we don’t see the car dropped into the ocean – reason for this is that somehow we are meant to believe that this is being filmed so Bond can see it live on a small TV monitor in his car.
- Removed some poor rear projection shots as Brandt attempts to kill Bond by jumping out of the free diving plane and leaving him seemingly trapped inside.
- Entire sequence where Bond is supposed to undergo a transformation to make him look Japanese and then get married has been very substantially trimmed. The transformation is now not mentioned or seen, and the wedding is not seen as it purely a charade so Bond can remain undercover. Now, we just see Bond train as a Ninja and take a wife (Kissy) to enable him to go the island .. time to move the story forward! Plus, Aki lives in this cut.
- Removed shot of Kissy being shot at by the helicopter. By this point we know she’s gone back to get Tanaka and his men to attack Blofeld’s Volcanic base, and it just feels a little superfluous
- Removed a couple of the volcanic eruption shots due to poor compositing. This leaves just the one shot of the volcano erupting after Bond, Kissy, Tanaka and his men have escaped
- Removed the awkward jump cuts timed with the music, as we see Bond and Kissy in the dingy.
- Replaced the reprise of Nancy Sinatra singing the theme, with an instrumental version.
- Extended credits to include fanedit credits and some stills/posters from the movie
- Trimmed scene of Tanaka and Bond bathing and being looked after by many Japanese ladies – kept the dialogue relevant to the plot, but dialogue about Japanese men coming before women and Japanese women being fascinated by Bond’s hairy body have gone
- When Aki takes over massaging Bond, ended the scene when she says “no-one will disturb you tonight”, thereby removing the line “I think very much I will enjoy serving under you”
- Altered scene where Bond poses as a buyer and meets Osato, a Spectre agent. In the original version, Osato’s secretary Helga Brandt gives Bond a glass of champagne whilst Osato comments on Bond needing to quit smoking, as they’re very bad for his chest. This is purely to set up a gag where Brandt serves Bond his drink, and she says “Mr Osato believes in a very health chest”, to which Bond looks at her chest and says “really?”. In the fanedit version, Brandt no longer serves Bond a drink and we can just get on with the plot without a pretty terrible joke.
- After Tanaka’s men literally pick up Osato’s henchmen who are pursuing Bond and Aki in a car chase, with a giant helicopter magnet, have trimmed sequence so we don’t see the car dropped into the ocean – reason for this is that somehow we are meant to believe that this is being filmed so Bond can see it live on a small TV monitor in his car.
- Removed some poor rear projection shots as Brandt attempts to kill Bond by jumping out of the free diving plane and leaving him seemingly trapped inside.
- Entire sequence where Bond is supposed to undergo a transformation to make him look Japanese and then get married has been very substantially trimmed. The transformation is now not mentioned or seen, and the wedding is not seen as it purely a charade so Bond can remain undercover. Now, we just see Bond train as a Ninja and take a wife (Kissy) to enable him to go the island .. time to move the story forward! Plus, Aki lives in this cut.
- Removed shot of Kissy being shot at by the helicopter. By this point we know she’s gone back to get Tanaka and his men to attack Blofeld’s Volcanic base, and it just feels a little superfluous
- Removed a couple of the volcanic eruption shots due to poor compositing. This leaves just the one shot of the volcano erupting after Bond, Kissy, Tanaka and his men have escaped
- Removed the awkward jump cuts timed with the music, as we see Bond and Kissy in the dingy.
- Replaced the reprise of Nancy Sinatra singing the theme, with an instrumental version.
- Extended credits to include fanedit credits and some stills/posters from the movie
Fanedit Trailer
User reviews
7 reviews
Overall rating
9.9
Audio/Video Quality
10.0(7)
Audio Editing
10.0(7)
Visual Editing
10.0(7)
Narrative
9.7(7)
Enjoyment
9.9(7)
Overall rating
10.0
Audio/Video Quality
10.0
Audio Editing
10.0
Visual Editing
10.0
Narrative
10.0
Enjoyment
10.0
I will keep this short and concise. This is an absolutely outstanding fan edit, I cannot over praise it. I was bitterly disappointed with the theatrical version with the obvious flaws, all potential wasted. Terrible editing, woeful pacing, pathetic one liners, insulting sexual innuendo and racism, ruining a great character by a wasted death scene and so on. This is the film that should have been released. It solves all of these major problems and is now one of the best James Bond films, on par with Sean Connery's exceptional first 4 films, it serves as a fitting swansong to his tenure. The pacing, editing, and tone is masterful here, it was like watching a completely different film, I wholeheartedly agree with all changes especially the death scene and Japanese makeover. Greenscreen shots are massively improved. This is 100% the definitive cut of the film. It cannot be flawed, perfection.
User Review
Do you recommend this edit?
Yes
Format Watched?
Digital
G
Overall rating
9.6
Audio/Video Quality
10.0
Audio Editing
10.0
Visual Editing
10.0
Narrative
9.0
Enjoyment
9.0
The A/V quality of this is excellent and the edits made certainly improve the film. However, I think there's only so much that can be done to improve such a deeply flawed script. The blatant racism and sexism has been toned down, but the villains are still ludicrously stupid. Unfortunately, I don't think anyone could salvage this film from being a disappointment.
This is certainly the best version of this film available though
This is certainly the best version of this film available though
User Review
Do you recommend this edit?
Yes
Format Watched?
Digital
B
Overall rating
10.0
Audio/Video Quality
10.0
Audio Editing
10.0
Visual Editing
10.0
Narrative
10.0
Enjoyment
10.0
This edit is excellent. Plain and simple. YOLT is one of the my favorite, if not THE favorite, of the Connery films; but there's just no denying that the film does kind of drag during the whole process of Bond donning the Japanese disguise and going through the sham marriage and such. Before and after that entire sequence, the film is fairly solid. What LastSurvivor did here was mostly trim that specific sequence, and the edits are, for the most part, simple and straightforward; but as "simple" as it was, it undeniably made the film vastly superior to the original. An edit that made a solid film even more solid.
Fully recommend!
Fully recommend!
User Review
Do you recommend this edit?
Yes
Format Watched?
Digital
T
Overall rating
10.0
Audio/Video Quality
10.0
Audio Editing
10.0
Visual Editing
10.0
Narrative
10.0
Enjoyment
10.0
I enjoy the movie. I saw it 3 time the past few days. First the original movie, the Ls edit then the commentary, That's good got rid of Bond being Japanese, as looking Scottich 6 2. foot tall back then and getting married in public. I know its in the book but if he was short maybe it would work. I was surprise Aki was not dead. That was nice she was not dead I like her. Switching Kissy at the boat was a good idea. I only thing I did not like too much was when the helicopter got the car and it did not dropped in the ocean, it was so funny, You could not have Aki & Bond not say anything or see it in the on the little monitor screen. But that's just a little thing in the movie. I also like the commentary you made talking about Editing, different Bond movies, and your opinions. The editing the visual is sharp and audio is so good. I had fun. Im looking forward for your next movie.
User Review
Do you recommend this edit?
Yes
Format Watched?
Digital
M
Overall rating
9.8
Audio/Video Quality
10.0
Audio Editing
10.0
Visual Editing
10.0
Narrative
9.0
Enjoyment
10.0
Removing the transformation scene and wedding greatly improves the pace of You Only Live Twice. In addition to the Transformation being offensive both it and the wedding were just plain stupid. A spy wanting to keep a low profile should not have a big wedding where Bond and the bride are the centre of attention and Connery barely looks any different after his makeup is applied.
Other changes I really appreciated: The sunset shot of Kissy on the boat looks great now, was very distracting before. Removing the back projection shot of Brandt parachuting ( although her plan to kill Bond is still needlessly convoluted.)
The one change I did not like was the cutting of the assasination of Aki. I like the scene and although I would have liked for Aki to remain the Bond girl for the whole film, having her killed increases the sense of jeopardy and for me would have been preferable to her just dropping out of the story.
Other changes I really appreciated: The sunset shot of Kissy on the boat looks great now, was very distracting before. Removing the back projection shot of Brandt parachuting ( although her plan to kill Bond is still needlessly convoluted.)
The one change I did not like was the cutting of the assasination of Aki. I like the scene and although I would have liked for Aki to remain the Bond girl for the whole film, having her killed increases the sense of jeopardy and for me would have been preferable to her just dropping out of the story.
User Review
Format Watched?
Digital
P