STAR TREK “Perdition’s Flames”
 a TRUE FANEDIT by bionicbob
A new take on the most beloved installment of the original cast Star Trek movies; Wrath of Khan. By introducing classic TOS sound and music cues and restructuring the movie to be told from James T. Kirk’s point of View, we are given a fresh look at a classic. member ratings: |
(13 votes, average: 8.46 out of 10, rated)
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TAGLINE: The KIRK P.O.V. Cut
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INTENTION:
The intent of this edit is NOT to create a better movie. Wrath of Khan already rocks!!!
Instead, I set out to create an alternative, and hopefully, entertaining viewing experience.
Wrath of Khan is probably hands down the best, and most popular, of the Original Cast Trek Movies. It has stood the test of time fairly well, with few weak/bad scenes and very little fat. I have often described it as a lean, mean, econcomical story machine.
But after many, many viewings over the years, the thing I always found the most facinating about the movie is the two main characters of KIRK and KHAN never actually physically meet through the entire movie.
And that got me thinking, could a person still tell the same story by completely (or as much as possible) removing KHAN from the movie? Thus, a Fan Edit was born!
EDITING DETAILS & CUTLIST:
With the exception of the Opening Teaser, I have attempted to recut the remaining movie from the Point of View of Admiral James T. Kirk. Thus, the viewer experiences the adventure as Kirk does. The audience only learns details as Kirk learns them. Furthermore, the audience only sees or hears KHAN when KIRK is present.
Along with flashback clips from the Original Series, TOS music/FX and a few other surprises, PERDITION’S FLAMES will be a fresh and enjoyable viewing experience for the Trek Fan who has watched WRATH OF KHAN on more occasions than they like to admit.
CUTLIST:
–modified TOS opening credits from V’GER edit
–cut all Regula One scenes featuring Carol and David Marcus
–cut Khan introduction and torture of Terrell and Chekov
–cut all Reliant/Khan scenes
–cut all scenes featuring Spock in Engine Room
–added flashback to Space Seed episode
–restructured Spock’s funeral scene
–modified new closing credits from V’GER edit
–added TOS music and sound f/x
–plus one or two other surprises!
SYNOPSIS:
THE SECOND FIVE YEAR MISSION BEGINS…
Sins of the Past return to haunt Admiral James T. Kirk…
A minor training cruise turns into a desperate fight for survival
as an old enemy from Kirk’s past returns to extract his revenge.
Entangled in this web of vengeance is an inexperienced new crew,
a long lost son and a startling new scientific creation.
A creation, that in the wrong hands, could become the most powerful weapon in the galaxy!
Relive the adventure from an entirely new perspectiive!
Release : NTSC SL DVD – 4:3 letterboxed (2.35:1)
Disclaimer: You must own the original movie before acquiring any FanEdited movie. We here at FanEdit.org respect the company’s copyrights, and don’t want to infringe on any company’s rights. Thank you, FE!
Maybe downloadable from Fanedit.info (enter and download at your own risk and responsibility)
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This review is based on my opinions and my viewing experience. Nothing is meant as an attack. Spoiler warning.
AUDIO: Audio quality sounded fine on my 2.0 system. when the Reliant is coming around Regula to chase the Enterprise the audio transition between the two pieces of music did not work right, but it may have been the only option. The shot of the Reliant coming at the camera (just before spock says “they are reducing speed”), the music looping there could have been better. I felt that certain scenes were too quiet and others were too loud. When chapter 8 came in the music builds and then almost immediately dies off, the music there could have been left out entirely.
7 out of 10
VIDEO: The picture is letterboxed, but me and my regular tv didn’t mind
. Image quality did not seem on par with the special edition dvd. I noticed a blip frame at around 1:12:52 between the shot of Uhura looking at the viewscreen and the shot of the damaged Reliant.
7 out of 10
Editing: When Chekov comes onto the bridge near the end offering assistance and the music continues, that worked very well. The first attack of Reliant towards Enterprise was excellent. The original series music worked wonders for the edit and helped make me believe i was watching a trek episode. It would have been nice to see a bit more khan, not seeing very much of him now he loses some of his depth, but just hearing his last words over the comm was great. The cut where Sulu says “reliant in this sector and slowing” felt a bit forced.
8 out of 10
Entertainment: I very much enjoyed this edit of the wrath of khan, it was fun. The black and white footage seen throughout from space seed ect. was very cool. Awesome title/credit sequences. Spocks funeral was classic trek, again made me feel like i was watching a genuine episode, but if it was shorter around 50-55 minutes it would have been even more convincing.
9 out of 10
Overall 8 out of 10.
On a side note, there was something about this edit, i don’t know what it was, but it reminded me of what originally attracted me to the film when i was a kid, all the fun and excitement that i had. I remembered what it was like watching it for the first time. It brought back forgotten memories of Lego Wrath of Khan re-enactments, making my friends watch the movie for the upteenth time. For that brief time i was a kid once again, a person i thought was lost, so thank you very much for that bionicbob.
Sincerely. Rogue.
Review by Rogue-theX — August 28, 2010 @ 6:53 pm
I agree with most of Rogue-theX review.
I never was a Trek fan but this edit did it to me. I can understand that less Khan can be a letdown to some but to me it was nice. I prefer the story to reveal bit by bit what happened. Hitchcock said that suspens is when the audience knows more than the protagonists, but sometime I just prefer to be in the characters shoes and discovering things along with them. That was the point of view of most of the original series episodes IIRC and I think it is well done here.
(and to be frank, even if Ricardo Montalban is an awesome actor and plays Khan in a very “high in color” way, I never took his character too seriously to be a really good vilain, but it’s just me)
The funeral was quite touching, new music along the edit works quite good (and stay after the end credit: nice little found here!)
The edit could have been even shorter though, I think.
My only major problem is technical and deals once again with the 4:3 letterboxed (2.35:1) ratio, but as the first “V’ger” edit also was presented this way I guess I need to take it as a continuity thing and just thanks bionicbob for making once again a Trek edit that I liked!
Review by TMBTM — September 21, 2010 @ 10:41 pm
A very cool edit, even though less Ricardo Montalbán means less of his impressive performance, but this is not the goal of this edit.
Perdition’s Flames really feels like a great two-episode finale of a star trek tv-season and if they would have presented a story like this in the star trek series it would have definately become a legendary entry.
With cutting the Khan scenes out and just focusing on Kirk the story progresses without many of the redundancies that the original suffers. The scene with Chekov discovering Khan’s vessel is a great opening and bionicbob manages to make it feel like a tv-opening, everything is there, the captain’s log voiceover as the starship flies by ending with the beaming sound of the away mission, there are dramatic fadeouts and fade-ins, one very very cliffhangery freeze frame
with about half an hour cut this is a very quick and exciting ride. it doesn’t replace wrath of khan, this was never the intention it just gives us a new take on an old classic
8/10
Review by Sunarep — September 24, 2010 @ 1:50 pm
I really enjoyed this edit and it was a great send off for me since I just finished watching all of the episodes from the original series.
I have not seen Khan in years, but the creative editing take to keep it the focal point from Kirk’s view as much as possible worked pretty darn well.
Though I do believe (as well as many others) Khan as the best of the Star trek film’s I really need to watch it again in whole with consideration to the vast jump in age since I had previously seen it.
I think many will find your edit very interesting
Review by tranzor — September 28, 2010 @ 1:08 am
So I had the privilege of seeing an early cut of this and found it very enjoyable. Bob’s trademark TOS flavor was already in place, and he had gone quite a long way in creating the Kirk only point of view. At the time I quite enjoyed it but still felt that I would return to the theatrical as my go-to DVD.
After having watched the final version, I have reversed this position, this is now my go-to version.
Visual Quality
Like Bob’s previous edit, the V’ger incident this edit suffers from less than ideal video quality. There are compressions in certain reds, and it is as most who follow Bob’s edit’s know, the letter-box aspect. From a purely evaluational standpoint I have to give it a 7/10 for visual quality. Personally, this doesn’t bother me, but I do hope that Bob at some point is able to revisit this edit with improved software capabilities as this is the ONLY aspect that holds this edit back.
Audio Quality
This is one of the shining gems of the edit. Infusion of TOS sound effects and music is seamless and if you had not seen this movie before, or didn’t know what the big deal was, I suspect most wouldn’t be able to identify what was added. I could detect no hard or startling audio cuts or transitions and in particular, the sequence where the Reliant first attacks the Enterprise was handled very well. Audio levels did not seem out of line with the original DVD. I see no reason to give anything other than 10/10.
Editing
On the technical front there were no flaws, no flash-frames and no visual mismatches. Like the audio, I would say that if you were not familiar with the subject matter, or the original story a view would be hard placed to find where the Bob made his edits. His presence is only noticeable because so much has been added, modified and/or removed. 10/10
Story/Film improvement
Surprisingly, and quite contrary to my expectation, the shift to Kirk’s Point of View actually does, at least for me, makes this a better movie and a true example of Less is More. I can certainly be counted among those who absolutely love Ricardo Montalban’s performance as Khan. He has some of the juiciest lines and dramatic performances in the movie. Yet when his scenes are highly redacted, we see a classic Trek story emerge. This is no longer Khan’s Revenge. It’s a Star Trek story, which means it’s a story about Kirk, Spock and Bones, and it highlights the human struggle and issues of mortality that Kirk faces.
**SPOILERS AHEAD!!!**
Of particular joy for me was the Reliant attack on the Enterprise, and the battle of the Nebula right through Spock’s death. The way Bob was able to cut Khan’s prepatory lines from the lead-up were masterful, and the manner in which the attack came off was truly that of a surprise attack and makes it believable that they got the jump on Kirk, but even more impressive was excising Spock’s fixing the Mains – the power of the moment when Kirk looks at Spock’s empty chair is ratcheted up so much more from this angle and makes the emotional payoff of when he first sees Spock hit home even more. And the goodbye montage, much as I was against it in the initial copy I saw, worked very well. 11/10
Extras
) but I don’t mark down for menus, I’m here to watch an edit after all.
The DVD menu is a default template and not terribly exciting (and repetitive if you’re watching more than one of his edits at a time
He does provide a nice little ‘About this movie’ bit that is enlightening and fun.
And as other’s have said, watch all the way through the credits.
Overall
This was a highly enjoyable edit that is a great example of what a Fanedit can be. It is one thing to take a crappy movie that missed the mark and make it better, but to take what is considered the best movie of a franchise and create something new and and enjoyable, that is truly an impressive feet.
The only thing that holds this back from a perfect 10 is the video quality, which drags this down to an 8.5 out of 10 so rounding up I give this a 9/10. This is a fantastic edit and simply a fun movie to watch.
Review by L8wrtr — October 26, 2010 @ 1:41 am
The only thing missing was more Khan facetime. But, the intent of this edit made that unnecessary. I did love the last transmission from the Reliant… good way to keep the line in there. =)
All in all, I loved this rendition!
10/10
Review by ionvox — December 27, 2010 @ 10:28 pm
Less Khan???? “KHHHHAAAAN! KHHHHHAAAAN!” I was both looking forward to and dreading this edit after I D/L’d it.
I certainly do not believe in any of “sacred cow” of movies that shouldn’t be edited. I believe all movies are fair game. BionicBob’s intentions for his Trek series is a prime example of this. He has not only done what I term, cut all the junk from his trek movies, he takes his edit in a new direction. This movie is, for me, THE star trek movie that all others (except Star Trek 2009) must measure up to.
I was worried about the “less Khan” intention, but was really excited to see the “story told form Kirk’s viewpoint” aspect. I was not disappointed by either. This is almost a different movie for me. It almost seems like a “Director’s Cut” of Star Trek 2.
There are some issues video issues with this installment, like the others, but the movie is so damn enjoyable I just don’t care. I agree with L8wrtr about this as well.
I haven’t mentioned this before, but being a part of FE and watching edits is mainly for me, the actual edit. The DVD presentation, extras etc are great if an edit has them, but not terribly important to me. I usually D/L this to my network and stream them to my TV, or extract just the movie to a USB etc and watch them via my TV or blu-ray (my TV and blu-ray USB connections for doing this sort of thing), so I typically don’t experience the DVD menus etc until well after I have already watched the edit.
I introduced my “desparate housewife watching” / “sci-fi and especially Star Trek is silly” thinking wife to Trek via the DVD of First Contact. She realized what quality sci-fi can be and then she watched this edit with me and was blown away.
Overall, an excellent edit and one of my personal favorites
Review by UnkwnFactor — January 10, 2011 @ 11:52 pm