Star Trek: The Motion Picture - Director's Edition HD Recreation v3 (1979)
Star Trek: The Motion Picture is a wonderful paradox in the Star Trek cinematic pantheon. It is possibly the most hardcore science fiction story that the franchise has explored and is both simultaneously Trek-like and un-Trek-like. Director Robert Wise and the production team worked hard to deliver a completed film for the scheduled December 1979 release date. However, he felt that the theatrical version was only a “rough cut”. Hence in late 2001 he supervised a Director’s Edition of the film which runs 136 minutes (4 minutes longer than the theatrical release)and reinstates some additional scenes and replaces some of the optical effects with new CGI creations. Critics were divided as to whether the Director’s Edition improved the film overall but Wise felt that this version was much closer to his original vision. The Director’s Edition was released exclusively on DVD in standard definition.
Star Trek: The Motion Picture is a wonderful paradox in the Star Trek cinematic pantheon. It is possibly the most hardcore science fiction story that the franchise has explored and is both simultaneously Trek-like and un-Trek-like. Director Robert Wise and the production team worked hard to deliver a completed film for the scheduled December 1979 release date. However, he felt that the theatrical version was only a “rough cut”. Hence in late 2001 he supervised a Director’s Edition of the film which runs 136 minutes (4 minutes longer than the theatrical release)and reinstates some additional scenes and replaces some of the optical effects with new CGI creations. Critics were divided as to whether the Director’s Edition improved the film overall but Wise felt that this version was much closer to his original vision. The Director’s Edition was released exclusively on DVD in standard definition.
To date, only the theatrical version of Star Trek: The Motion Picture has been released on Blu-ray. The main stumbling block regarding the Director’s Edition appears to be the CGI FXs that were created by Foundation Imaging. There is an ongoing debate over whether the source material still exists (allegedly it does) and whether it is at a sufficient resolution for use in a high definition format. Until these matters are resolved, the Director’s Edition remains conspicuously absent on regular Blu-ray and UHD. However, never underestimate the resourcefulness of fans. I recently discovered a fan edit called Star Trek: The Motion Picture - Director's Edition HD Recreation v3. Created by the delightfully named ElectricTriangle. This is a robust recreation of the Director’s Edition but in 1080p. Like most fan edits it is not intended for commercial sale and is therefore not widely available.
I was fortunate enough to see a Star Trek: The Motion Picture - Director's Edition HD Recreation v3 recently and it achieves exactly what it sets out to do. ElectricTriangle has primarily sourced their fan edit from HDTV, which uses the same transfer as the Director’s Edition. The HDTV version suffers from a degree of low detail and compression but it has superior grain and contrast than the current Blu-ray release. The unique footage from the Director’s Edition DVD has been upscaled and some material color-corrected. To recreate some of the specific changes in the Director’s Edition, ElectricTriangle had to combine HD and upscaled SD footage and create some additional animation to seamlessly join them. There are in fact two finished versions of Star Trek: The Motion Picture - Director's Edition HD Recreation v3. A primary version uses the DE DVD effects when appropriate but also uses the original theatrical unaltered effects to preserve HD quality. And then there’s a purist edition that includes most all of the shots altered for the DE DVD. These have been upscaled. Both versions contain the additional dialogue scenes featured in the DE DVD.
Until Paramount decides to pay for a restoration of the Director’s Edition in high definition, ElectricTriangles version remains the last word with regard to Star Trek: The Motion Picture, unofficially speaking. It is as near as damn it, identical to Robert Wise’s extended cut and looks very handsome in 1080p. However, it should be noted that irrespective of the changes that both Robert Wise and in this case ElectricTriangle have made, the film remains slow and dialogue driven. That’s just the way the film was made and you cannot edit this quality away. However, the sedate pace affords the viewer plenty of time to appreciate Jerry Goldsmith’s sumptuous score, which remains one of the film’s greatest assets. To paraphrase the tagline that accompanied the film upon its original release, “the human adventure is just beginning”. It’s just that it’s not in a hurry.
Star Trek: Beyond the Barrier (1989)
Fan Edits are a curious film sub genre. Some simply reinstate deleted scenes to maximise the running time of a movie. Others will remove footage and seek to reorder events in the name of coherency. But a few are far more ambitious. Rather than just reshape what is there, they will shoot new footage to replace material deemed substandard and seek to totally reimagine a movie. On even rarer occasions a few manage to actually improve upon the original, rather than just offering an augmented version. Which leads me onto Star Trek: beyond the Barrier, an interesting and very enjoyable fan edit of Star Trek V: The Final Frontier by Anti-Matter from deLimited Productions. It attempts to repair many of the problems found in the theatrical release of the movie. Some would argue that such a task is a Kobayashi Maru test in itself. However, the results are surprisingly good and some tongue in cheek humour shows that the creator understands the nature of their task.
Fan Edits are a curious film sub genre. Some simply reinstate deleted scenes to maximise the running time of a movie. Others will remove footage and seek to reorder events in the name of coherency. But a few are far more ambitious. Rather than just reshape what is there, they will shoot new footage to replace material deemed substandard and seek to totally reimagine a movie. On even rarer occasions a few manage to actually improve upon the original, rather than just offering an augmented version. Which leads me onto Star Trek: beyond the Barrier, an interesting and very enjoyable fan edit of Star Trek V: The Final Frontier by Anti-Matter from deLimited Productions. It attempts to repair many of the problems found in the theatrical release of the movie. Some would argue that such a task is a Kobayashi Maru test in itself. However, the results are surprisingly good and some tongue in cheek humour shows that the creator understands the nature of their task.
Star Trek V: The Final Frontier had a troubled production that is very well documented. The film’s Wikipedia page provides a lot of detail but to summarise, the budget was cut during production due to other studio projects under performing at the box office and the contracted effects company failed to deliver acceptable material. The screenplay lapses into self satire, possibly to compensate for the production deficiencies and it diminishes the story’s impact. However, despite these substantial issues, there are some good ideas and several key scenes involving the Trek Trinity (Kirk, Spock and McCoy) which are very good. As ever, Jerry Goldsmith’s score is sublime and does a lot of the “heavy lifting”, dramatically speaking. William Shatner’s direction is far from bad and he certainly got a raw deal on this production. This is what Anti-Matter deals with in Star Trek: Beyond the Barrier.
The theatrical release of Star Trek V: The Final Frontier is 106 minutes. Star Trek: Beyond the Barrier has a leaner running time of 93 minutes. The most noticeable content excised are the humorous scenes. Gone is Kirk falling from the El Capitan, Checkov and Sulu getting lost in Yosemite, Uhura’s “fan dance”, Scotty knocking himself out on a bulkhead and Uhura subsequently flirting with him. All these scenes undermine the characters and the plot. There are some subtle dialogue alterations making Spock’s references to Sybok being his brother more figurative. When the main protagonists finally meet the entity on Sha Ka Ree, some of the scenes are ordered differently. Along with these changes, much of the visual effects footage has been replaced with new CGI material. There are also some wholly original visual effects sequences briefly showing the true nature of the entity, along with its single minion.
Anti-Matter took a crash course in 3D animation to create his new content and although it is clearly generated on consumer software, it is superior to the sub par optical effects that were used in the theatrical release. Despite removing much of the humorous content from the film, he adds a new and rather unique sight gag. Let it suffice to say that Captain Klaa is now shooting at some rather different space junk. Although I like most of the changes they’ve made, I still think the ending is a little muddled. The twist that the entity is evil is now somewhat diluted. However, I like the new additional material inferring its escape along with its minion. Perhaps this edit's greatest success is the way it focuses upon the key scenes with Kirk, Spock and McCoy that work, emphasizing their dramatic power. Overall Star Trek: Beyond the Barrier does not fix all the problems of the theatrical release but it does present its best content more effectively. I therefore recommend it to Star Trek fans and those with an interest in fan edits per se.
Star Wars Revisited (2008)
Back in 2008, I discovered a fan edit of George A. Romero’s iconic Dawn of The Dead and was very impressed with the way that enthusiasts can now re-edit and re-imagine any film of their choice, using commonly available tools. I subsequently spent some time looking into this entire sub-genre further and found that one of the most popular franchises to be fan edited was naturally Star Wars. One of the first fans edits of this kind I watched was a "Grindhouse" version of A New Hope that had been retitled The War of The Stars. It was fun and tried to be different but overall it was simply an amusing diversion. Something that could viewed as a in joke among fans. Not all of the fan edits out there are particularly good and as a genre it can be very uneven. Yet through word of mouth it became quite apparent that one particular Star Wars fan edit seemed to be getting a great deal of attention and praise from both the fan and wider community. Namely Star Wars Revisited by Adywan.
Back in 2008, I discovered a fan edit of George A. Romero’s iconic Dawn of The Dead and was very impressed with the way that enthusiasts can now re-edit and re-imagine any film of their choice, using commonly available tools. I subsequently spent some time looking into this entire sub-genre further and found that one of the most popular franchises to be fan edited was naturally Star Wars. One of the first fans edits of this kind I watched was a "Grindhouse" version of A New Hope that had been retitled The War of The Stars. It was fun and tried to be different but overall it was simply an amusing diversion. Something that could viewed as a in joke among fans. Not all of the fan edits out there are particularly good and as a genre it can be very uneven. Yet through word of mouth it became quite apparent that one particular Star Wars fan edit seemed to be getting a great deal of attention and praise from both the fan and wider community. Namely Star Wars Revisited by Adywan.
Now, I need to impress upon you, that Star Wars Revisited isn't just a case of moving a few scenes around and adding deleted footage from alternate sources. This is a labour of love of unparalleled magnitude. Material has been re-shot, miniatures remade and animatronics reproduced. All of which has then been seamlessly integrated into the film. Certain scenes have been modified to either replace the changes made by George Lucas. Other material has been replaced to improve perceived deficiencies. Star Wars Revisited is more than an attempt to present the movie as it was seen back upon its 1977 release. It is also a revisionist piece of work driven by an inherent love of the source material. It is quite staggering what has been achieved, especially when you consider that this is the work of a member of the public and not a film studio.
Now the changes are far too numerous for me to list here. For those of you that wish to digest them in detail, follow the link to the Star Wars Revisited blog. I've added a few screen captures below to give you a taste of the changes that have been made. NB Star Wars Revisited was created using standard definition source material. Adywan has announced that he will be producing a 720p version.
Imperial Star Destroyers now patrol around the Death Star as well as the sentry TIE Fighters. The infamous "Imperial March" from TESB has been added to the score for this scene.
When the Rebel HQ picks up "enemy fighters" on their long range scanners, we now get to see the incoming squadron sent to engage the Rebels.
Finally, Chewie gets a medal! It's very clever the way the new scene has been edited so that Princess Leia can put it round the Wookies neck.
Because of the viral nature of the internet, Adywan's fan edit has built up quite a following within the Star Wars community. Star Wars Revisited has been well received, so as a result, he has been diligently working on a revisited version of The Empire Strikes Back for the last few years. This has recently been released and I shall be focusing on the specifics of that edition in another blog post. In the meantime, I would recommend readers to seek out Star Wars Revisited. Now there are obviously some copyright issues regarding fan editing, so common sense dictates that we tread around that issue quite carefully. I will therefore not link to it directly. However, Google is your friend. Track this version down and watch it. Then ponder what a resourceful fan has managed to achieve on their own and compare it to the multiple changes that George Lucas has made over the years. I would be very interested to hear your opinion as to which is the better cut of the movie.
Dawn of the Dead: The Extended Mall Hours Cut (1978)
In the last few years I’ve become acquainted with the concept of fan edits. Fan edit are versions of a film that has been modified by a viewer. This involves the removal, reordering, or the addition of new material to create a new interpretation of the film. Fan edits include the removal of scenes or dialogue, replacement of audio and visual elements, as well as adding material from sources such as deleted scenes or even other films. Due to the easy access to pro-quality software and high definition source material, such editions are often very professionally realised. Naturally fan edits often fall foul of copyright law.
In the last few years I’ve become acquainted with the concept of fan edits. Fan edit are versions of a film that has been modified by a viewer. This involves the removal, reordering, or the addition of new material to create a new interpretation of the film. Fan edits include the removal of scenes or dialogue, replacement of audio and visual elements, as well as adding material from sources such as deleted scenes or even other films. Due to the easy access to pro-quality software and high definition source material, such editions are often very professionally realised. Naturally fan edits often fall foul of copyright law.
I was introduced to this sub-genre when I was tipped off about an extended version of George A. Romero's classic Zombie movie Dawn of the Dead. After a little investigation on the internet I discovered Dawn of the Dead: The Extended Mall Hours Cut. This fan edit produced by the intriguingly named Officially Unofficial, uses the 139 minute Cannes Cut of the film and the 117 minute Dario Argento version. Effectively this is the closest approximation of Romero’s original rough cut of the movie and clocks in at a total running time of 155 minutes.
There is quite a lot of extra footage in this fan edit. As well as miscellaneous scenes of violence in the mall sequences, there are various dialogue extensions which enhance the narrative and give more weight to the story. When the bikers arrive at the movies finale, there is an expanded scene where we see them planning their “attack strategy”. There also some extended dialogue between Peter and Stephen after they return from “shopping” the first time. The pair argue over how they would deal with Fran if she was ever bitten. It is a very different version of the film with a more depressing tone to the theatrical cut. The new material is integrated into this edit seamlessly.
Dawn of the Dead is a genre milestone and there is no need to review the films merits here as they’re clearly established. This fan edit does add an interesting new aspect to the movies pedigree, offering a slightly more human perspective to the narrative. There’s a subtle shift in tone which implies a sense of futility to the lead characters fight for survival. I would be most curious to learn what George A. Romero himself thought of this edit, if he were ever to see it.
UPDATE: There is now an official Blu-ray release of Dawn of the Dead called “The Complete Cut” that comprises of all available footage. It effectively replaces the unofficial “Extended Mall Hours Cut”.