Episodes with terrible edits

[Melakon]

Both of those drive me crazy! I also hate the return from the teaser in Whom Gods Destroy and Spock is just being randomly carried away. Did they want to save money on a phaser effect or something?

Any Phaser beam was very expensive- lighting effects were hand drawn in post production so if there was any way to save money and have it happen off screen they did it.

Assuming that it was done for that reason I suppose it doesn't count as bad editing then since it was actually designed into the episode.

Nimoy once told a story (perhaps in The World of Star Trek) where he argued against shooting a scene where Spock was to be knocked out by someone hitting him over the head. I don't think he specified an episode, but this might explain what happened between the teaser and Act One.

 

[f14peter]

continuity errors abound, as in any film/TV production.

One I can't help but notice: TSFS as Enterprise approaches the space dock and hands over control for entrance/docking, the shot is from behind Kirk and the nav/helm console looking forward at the viewscreen. Light turns blue (Indicating remote control I presume) and both Sulu and the navigator lean back in their chairs. Cut to shot from Sulu/Kirk's left and the navigator is already leaning back, but Sulu repeats his lean-back maneuver.

 

[TOSalltheway]

".....when I came aboard". Charlie X, nuff said.

 

[enterprisecvn65]

Don't remember the specific episodes but there were several where Kirk was in a fight and the close up was of Shatner but then the wider shots where they were actually running into things and picking each other up and so on were CLEARLY his fight double.

BTW you want to see of the funniest mistakes like that in film history watch the scene in Beverly Hills Cop when Axel goes to that fancy club and the bad guy's henchman comes to throw him out and "Axel" throws him across the buffet table.

The throwing the henchman looks about 75 pounds heavier than Eddie Murphy and has a fair sized afro where Murphy had closed cropped hair.

It's so blatant that I cannot believe it wasn't caught in editing.

 

[Nightdiamond]

^^ have to check out that scene just to see what it looks like.

In Generations, the scene right after the Enterprise destroys the Bird of Prey. Data lifts his fist and says, "yes!". Another crew member behind him makes the same gesture and then stops when he sees Data doing it.

In To the Death, the scene where Worf and his team are fighting the Jem Hadar in the corridors. Worf is fighting a Jem Hadar, but a crew men in the rear seems to be stabbing at the air or at his own team member.

Look at all the evacuation scenes in TNG and DS9. Some of the background characters always seem to make odd gestures.

 

[Corran Horn]

The end of "Court Martial" is pretty bad - Kirk's voiceover pretty explicitly covering for an episode that ran over, I guess.

 

[FormerLurker]

Any Phaser beam was very expensive- lighting effects were hand drawn in post production so if there was any way to save money and have it happen off screen they did it.

Assuming that it was done for that reason I suppose it doesn't count as bad editing then since it was actually designed into the episode.

Nimoy once told a story (perhaps in The World of Star Trek) where he argued against shooting a scene where Spock was to be knocked out by someone hitting him over the head. I don't think he specified an episode, but this might explain what happened between the teaser and Act One.

That was The Enemy Within, where he complained that Spock wouldn't just bonk someone over the head when he had to subdue 'evil' Kirk. He, the director, and GR talked it over and came up with the Vulcan Nerve Pinch.

 

[drt]

Speaking of "The Enemy Within" there's that terrible edit where the director moved the transporter room scene where the crew realize that it is making duplicates to take place before the sickbay scene with Janice - as in the aired scene order Spock should already know about duplication, making his "only one conclusion" line idiotic.

 

[Melakon]

Assuming that it was done for that reason I suppose it doesn't count as bad editing then since it was actually designed into the episode.

Nimoy once told a story (perhaps in The World of Star Trek) where he argued against shooting a scene where Spock was to be knocked out by someone hitting him over the head. I don't think he specified an episode, but this might explain what happened between the teaser and Act One.

That was The Enemy Within, where he complained that Spock wouldn't just bonk someone over the head when he had to subdue 'evil' Kirk. He, the director, and GR talked it over and came up with the Vulcan Nerve Pinch.

No, that's not the situation Nimoy was describing. Spock was to be knocked out by someone but Nimoy insisted Spock wouldn't be caught off guard like that and refused to shoot the scene.

 

[MikeS]

A sixth season episode of TNG. Can't remember if it was The Chase or the one with the Klingon/Romulan colony....

Worf fires at a ship to disarm it but ends up destroying it. Picard admonishes him and Worf defends himself by saying the ship should only have been disabled - the phasers weren't strong enough. Puzzlement passes between the bridge crew. A mystery is set up - - - And never explained or mentioned again! Surely there's a badly edited missing scene that was supposed to explain that?

 

[Orac]

The cut at the very end of TMP when Spock says his task on Vulcan is complete and he is looking down, then they cut to a wider shot of the crew and Spock is instantly looking straight ahead/slightly up...or there was something different about his look between those two shots that made the cut seem like a mistake and feel awkward. That cut has always bothered me, especially since it comes at the very end of the film.

Spock and Bones' jackets switch between those two shots, you can tell because one has an orange armband and the other has a green armband. That's the mistake.

 

[Maurice]

IIRC, the only alterations made to the bridge between TMP and TWOK was that the science station - which was originally directly behind the captain's chair - was moved to starboard.

YDRC (You Don't Recall Correctly)

They rearranged four of the bridge wedge segments for TWOK.

1. Science went to where Engineering had been
2. Engineering got moved to where Environmental Control had been (between Chekov and Uhura)
3. Internal Security went to where Science had been (between the turbolifts)
4. Environmental Control went to where Internal Security had been (between Damage Control and where Engineering had been/where Spock's station ended up)

I suspect when they pulled the bridge apart to make it into the Reliant they didn't feel beholden to put it back together as per TMP.

Speaking of TWOK, the edit example I have isn't "bad" because most people don't notice it, but it's a huge continuity glitch. Terrell and Chekov pop from one compartment of the cargo bays to another in the span on a cut because they trimmed out all the footage featuring the Rugrat of Khan and hence the business of them going from one one to the other went with it. When Terrell is kneeling to the lower left as Chekov says "We've got to get out of here, now!", he's not looking at the eel tank (which is in the previous room), he's looking at the kid. If you watch his mouth he doesn't say, "What about the tricorder?" he says, "What about the child?"

 

[tomalak301]

The one episode where I've always had issues with the editing was Star Trek's Friday's Child. It's been a while since I've seen that episode but I remember them cutting to various scenes and it felt so random.

 

[TrekGuide.com]

The biggest editing problems for me are "The Alternative Factor" -- that whole episode made no sense, and in my opinion was the worst Trek episode ever. Maybe there were cut scenes that would have helped it make a little more sense.

Also, in the first J.J. Abrams movie, removing the entire Klingon prison sequence to explain where the time traveling Romulans have been for the past 20 years may have helped with pacing and the length of the movie, but all subsequent references to Klingons battling Romulans later in the movie just raise more questions than they answer. It would be nice to have an extended cut of the movie, with the Klingon scenes added back in. (Home video viewers do not care as much about pacing as cinema audiences.)

 

[drt]

I think that sequence brings up another can of worms, in that if Nero and company are sent to Rura Penthe, it's a little hard to believe they would be able to get Narada back.

 

[Richard Baker]

I think that sequence brings up another can of worms, in that if Nero and company are sent to Rura Penthe, it's a little hard to believe they would be able to get Narada back.

I think if they could just communicate with it they could control it- voice operated computers were common and with advanced transporters it could fly over to them and beam them up. Before capture they probably locked out most of the controls and set it to 'siege' mode so the Klingons would have difficulty trying to control it or learn it's secrets

 

[Catarina]

Some scene don't look so seamless, yes. I see it a lot.

There is one where Chakotay aka beltran seems to either be bored and eyes wandering forgetting the camera is on him or intentionally checking out Kate's rear forgetting camera's on him and next shot he's smiling as if busted.

Another is garett Wang clearly is looking over mulgrew rather than at her and is reading lines taped up behind her.

Q and the Grey wasn't so seamless when they changed angles to allow Q to appear.

 

[erastus25]

Speaking of TWOK, the edit example I have isn't "bad" because most people don't notice it, but it's a huge continuity glitch. Terrell and Chekov pop from one compartment of the cargo bays to another in the span on a cut because they trimmed out all the footage featuring the Rugrat of Khan and hence the business of them going from one one to the other went with it. When Terrell is kneeling to the lower left as Chekov says "We've got to get out of here, now!", he's not looking at the eel tank (which is in the previous room), he's looking at the kid. If you watch his mouth he doesn't say, "What about the tricorder?" he says, "What about the child?"

Wow. I never noticed this. Thank you for pointing it out - especially the line about the child.

The one episode where I've always had issues with the editing was Star Trek's Friday's Child. It's been a while since I've seen that episode but I remember them cutting to various scenes and it felt so random.

They cut to commercial in one scene as Kirk is about to face a death sentence; when they return it's never mentioned. I'm guessing that's what you're thinking of.

The biggest editing problems for me are "The Alternative Factor" -- that whole episode made no sense, and in my opinion was the worst Trek episode ever. Maybe there were cut scenes that would have helped it make a little more sense.

The Alternative Factor is probably the worst produced episode in TOS, but there were some extenuating circumstances going on behind the camera. Doesn't make it any easier to understand, though.

Some scene don't look so seamless, yes. I see it a lot.

There is one where Chakotay aka beltran seems to either be bored and eyes wandering forgetting the camera is on him or intentionally checking out Kate's rear forgetting camera's on him and next shot he's smiling as if busted.

Another is garett Wang clearly is looking over mulgrew rather than at her and is reading lines taped up behind her.

Honestly, I don't think anyone can blame Beltran for checking out as the show moved along. He didn't have a lot to work with (the nice way of putting it)...

 

[TrekGuide.com]

Honestly, I don't think anyone can blame Beltran for checking out as the show moved along. He didn't have a lot to work with (the nice way of putting it)...

I've met Beltran at a convention, and he was a nice guy, but he didn't have anything good to say about the Star Trek producers, or how they handled his character. The only thing he liked about the show was that he was paid very well.

 

[alpha_leonis]

Not technically an episode, but a movie: I was watching TNG's "First Contact" with my mother, who got very confused at the end of Cochrane's warp flight, when all of a sudden they were back on Earth getting ready for the Vulcan visit. That cut wasn't clear to her that enough time had elapsed for Cochrane to turn around, get back to earth, and land.