Fan edits of Official Films/Episodes

For some time now I've been editing and re-cutting some of the Trek films for the hell of it. So far I've made a 92 minute TMP cut and am currently working on editing The Final Frontier into a 2 episode (TNG-style) story taking out the bits I don't care for where possible. Is there a place people can legally, or pseudo-legally share fan edits? I'd love to see what others have come up with and share my own.

 

fanedit.org

It's not legal legal, just "look the other way" illegal.

 

It is a direct violation of the fan film guidelines that prohibit using pro video.

 

It's also arguably not a fanfilm. I'd suggest fanedits are a completely different beast and not covered by the guidelines.

 

I love fanedits. I often replay the TOS style pilot episode recut of Final Frontier. There are a couple Enterprise fanedits floating around out there, and one that removes the Cage from the Menagerie, and lets it play out without the flashbacks. I would love to check out any of your work!

I have never known easily how to get fanedits; torrents usually have no seeds, and I think I did something wrong when I followed the directions on their site.

i've traded files on an application called soulseek. its a self contained application that can be best described as an old school ftp program combined with IRC combined with p2p file searching ala the early days. really convenient for filesharing.

 

I've looked all over for the STV edits. Where does one find them?

 

There is a low res download link somewhere online. The edit was made by Jack Marshall. I'm not sure if I can post a link to the page with the prologue and link. Its cut like a TOS style TV pilot, and is called "in Thy Image" as an homage to the original Phase II pilot. The page has "Re-imagining Star Trek - The remix of Star Trek V: The Final Frontier above a graphic. Google may help.

 

I've tried looking before. The closest things I could find were links that died back in 2005.

 

I tried to message u. did u get it?

 

I did. Thank you very much.

 

What did you think of it?

 

Unfortunately I can't watch it until tomorrow at the earliest (curse you South African internet!)

 

I wish I had a high res version, but I'll tell you this much; it gives me a whole new appreciation for both TFF and for Shatner.... it has excellent pacing, gets right into the main story with none of the groan inducing bits of the original, and removes any mention of Sybok being Spock's brother. I didn't realize just how much the TOS effects and music matter and change the atmosphere of the movies until I saw this. It makes me wish someone took all 6 movies and cut them up in a similar manner.

 

I'm actually one of the few people who liked TFF so I missed certain scenes, but overall I agree. Although as early TNG shows us, the pacing of an 80's Trek episode would probably have been slower.

One of the things this edit does best is that it really feels like TOS in the 80's. It's probably also helped by the cheaper looking special effects this movie had compared to the previous ones.

I don't know if the others would work as well. TMP maybe because half of it was just actors staring at the viewscreen. But others like TWOK were well paced and I can't think of any moments I'd want to lose.
Overall Jack Marshall did an excellent job. I always liked TFF because out of all the movies it was the only one to have a story focused on exploration and came the closest to feeling like TOS, and this version enhances those aspects while minimizing the less than stellar parts. It kinda makes me wish we had gotten an actual Phase II series.

 

Seeing how healthy Shatner is even to this day, it makes me really sad that we didn't get a decade of Shatner on TV in the 80s and 90s. Phase II could have and should have happened. It could have happened after V. If the thought was that they were too old to carry a movie franchise, that doesn't mean a new TV show with a ton of new younger characters working with the originals wouldn't have worked just as well as any of the 90s spinoffs.

Recutting the other movies wouldn't be so much about removing content, but the atmosphere of the TOS effects and music, the commercial/act breaks, and maybe a to be continued moment to simulate a 2 parter. TWOK wouldn't need to lose any scenes or dialogue, but it would still be like watching it in a brand new way for the first time.

I never hated V, but some of the stuff that is missing is good character moments and introspection, and to me its worth giving up for the streamlined pacing. We are given everything we need to know by skipping right to Uhura recalling the Triad with the shuttlecraft and just like that we're right in the story. We don't need to see them get horses; it cuts right to the action, and again you know everything you need to, to keep the plot moving forward. The editing around the Spock/Sybok scenes is just about perfect. I totally agree with TFF having great TOS moments and adventure buried in it, and this edit brings it all to perfection. Its by far one of my favorite TOS stories/episodes/movies now.

I can't give Jack Marshall enough credit. Kudos.

 

What occurred to me as I was watching it was the piece of advice writers are always given which is that if a story works just fine with a scene removed then it probably should be removed. So when it got to the scene where they needed to steal the horses the writers were struggling to think of a way to distract the guards until one of them joked that Uhura could dance naked and they decided to use that. But it turns out you could just cut straight to Kirk spotting the horses and then the crew riding away.
I think the thing that surprised me most is how not making Sybok and Spock brothers didn't change the story at all. I don't know why they did that because it doesn't add anything to the movie. Having them be childhood friends works just as well.

 

I do fan edits of some things, but I've never tried it on Trek. If I did, the first thing I'd do is take the TWOK Director's Cut and restore the original "Admiral, what about the rest of the inspection?" He read that line much better in the theatrical take.

 

fan edits are awesome, but so hard to find. I have the "adywan" cut of Star Wars, which is almost impeccably perfect... a fan edit that cuts parts of Superman 3 and 4 together into one coherent story (for the most part).... and a pretty damn good Superman returns cut that restores that whole intro space segment. there is a really great version of dark knight that keeps the joker as a mystery until the middle of the movie; great streamlined pacing; its called the rise and fall of harvey two face. i have a "weapon x" cut of wolverine that removes some offending lines while replacing some deleted scenes. i have a couple prometheus edits, but i haven't watched them, since i'm not sure what the definitive fan cut actually is lol. i've been looking for the blade 3 edit for years. haven't ever found any crystal skull edits either.

the day i finally found the marshall / trek 5 edit i was so happy... i had been periodically looking on and off for years.

 

I did an edit on Generations, removing all the TOS elements and trimming out the Nexus scenes. The result is a fairly solid TNG episode. I shared it a couple of times at Shore Leave in the Orion Press con suite to rave reviews.

 

If I had the tools and talent to do fan editing, I think I would start out by trying to make a movie or series of the Arrow Island Flashbacks to see how it flows. If I was trying to do something more creative and involving, then I would go through all the seasons of the simpsons, and take every flashback of "young homer"'s life and try to put them together chronologically and thematically to make a coherent movie out of it all.

I can't watch Ash vs Evil Dead without wondering how a streamlined version without end credits and side trips would work out. Removing most of the female cop's role and a lot of the early side quest to the other girl's parents house and cutting it together more like a movie could be a fun watch. I'm sure some one has already done it, but I would love to see the original evil dead trilogy cut more coherently together without internal contradictions lol.

Hrmm, what else. lol.