STAR TREK "The Khitomer Conspiracy"

[bionicbob]

STAR TREK "The Khitomer Conspiracy"

tagline: "THE FINAL VOYAGE EDITION"

THE KHITOMER ACCORDS.
THE MOST IMPORTANT EVENT IN FEDERATION HISTORY.
AND EVERYTHING YOU KNOW ABOUT IT IS A LIE!!!

REVEALED FOR THE FIRST TIME...
THE TRUTH ABOUT PRAXIS--
THE REAL MASTERMINDS BEHIND THE CONSPIRACY--
THE TEMPORAL COLD WAR CONNECTION--
AND
THE FINAL FATE OF THE CREW OF THE U.S.S. ENTERPRISE-A!

Basic details: Nicholas Meyer's Undiscovered Country is a fun and satisfying final original cast movie for the general viewing public. But for this Life Long Trek Fanboy, the movie reeks of sloppy writing, continuity/character errors and a militaristic tone that does not fit well with the Trek Universe created by Gene Roddenberry. With this bringing my TOS Movie edits to a close, I decided to take a kitchen sink approach, and forge a Fanboy movie that firmly connects this movie with the entire Trek Timeline, both past and future and give our intrepid heroes a more mythic send off.

original film names: STAR TREK THE UNDISCOVERED COUNTRY

new film name : Star Trek "The Khitomer Conspiracy"
film studio name aramount Pictures
edit crew name : Bionic Bob
persons involved: Me
Date Original Film Was Released : 1991
Date Edit Was Released : April 2012
Original Runtime : 113 minutes
New Runtime : 97 minutes
Cut/Add Time: cut 23 minutes
added 10 minutes


Fanedit details:
Intention: Bring this movie more in line with the Trek Franchise Timeline.

Editing Details:
Used iMac 10.5, Mac the Ripper, MPEG Streamclip, Final Cut Express, GarageBand, and iDVD

Cuts removed/added/extended (add list of what was changed):
--new Opening Act
--Sulu/Excelsior/Praxis cut
--trimmed conference briefing and toned down Kirk's bigotry
--trimmed/cut Valeris sign post scenes
--trimmed/altered/cut shipboard investigation
--trimmed prison planet stuff
--added Future Guy
--altered assassination
--new closing act
--music added throughout
--fade to black breaks
--and lots of other little stuff

 

[Dethryl]

Can't wait to get a look at this.

BTW, any chance of getting Perdition's Flames and Full Circle up again?

 

[bionicbob]

Can't wait to get a look at this.

BTW, any chance of getting Perdition's Flames and Full Circle up again?

If my schedule allows, I will try to upload FULL CIRCLE (16x9) version next weekend.

As for Perdition's Flames... I guess it depends if you want me to just re-upload the original 4x3 letterbox version or wait until I have a chance to make a 16x9 version.... though to be honest, with summer arriving, I don't know when I will get to it...:lol:

 

[Menbailee]

Should I be seeing the download link somewhere?

Because, you know, I want this right now.

Seriously, quite interested in what you've done here.

 

[havok1977]

Awesome, I get back from a few days off and this is what I find Congrats on finishing your Star Trek OT Movie series!

 

[bionicbob]

Congrats on finishing your Star Trek OT Movie series!

Thanks. I can not believe I have been Trek edits for almost 2 years... where does the time go?;-)

 

[Menbailee]

The first point I would like to make in favor of this fanedit would be that I found it worth watching, finishing, and now reviewing within a mere twelve hours of its release. This is definitely an edition for Trek fans, not the general public, and for that niche audience it's delightful.

The edit operates on two levels. First, it is a quicker-paced version of Star Trek VI. Second, it uses several small beats to incorporate the movie more fully into the wider Trek canon.

The edits to the pace and plotting of the movie work on almost every level. We get into the swing of the plot more quickly, and we don't suffer from the later introduction of Saavik, Sulu, or all that equipment for gaseous anomalies. Personally, I've always liked Kirk's "Let them die!"--but I understand that Bob feels it conflicts with the ideals of the character too deeply, and we nevertheless get a good sense of Kirk's conflict with his own prejudice.

The prison sequence always felt overlong in the original, and this time it didn't. I missed the line about Kirk kissing himself being his lifelong ambition, but otherwise I have no idea what Bob cut. At no point did the plot feel rushed, and the movie was certainly much shorter than the original. Star Trek VI benefited from quite good writing, so Bob is able to make the most of its load-bearing scenes.

One point of critique: the fades to black are awful. Bad, bad, bad. They feel out of place and sometimes jarring, and they don't even feel like the cuts to commercial they're intended to be. Otherwise, virtually all cuts are smooth.

For the clever edits to the plot, I liked the incorporation of the Dominion. The story already includes one of the only shapeshifters in the Trek canon, and the writers of DS9 always maintained that the Dominion had known about and planned for the threat of the Alpha Quadrant for a very long time.

"This is not Klingon blood!" never made sense in the original. Seriously, they have to put an admiral up there in disguise, and can't find a single Klingon assassin? Ridiculous. A Changeling infiltrator makes perfect sense here. Kudos to Bob for managing a special effects shot.

Adding the temporal cold war felt as if a little too much was stirred into the pot, and Chang does not feel to me like the type to answer to what may as well be a Sith lord. I'm also not clear why Darth Greenius didn't want the Enterprise fired on--Kirk'll clearly send its away team to the surface and spoil the assassination if Chang doesn't stop him. Still, as a shout out to Trek fans, it's fun.

The epilogue is cute and fun. It valorizes the heroes, and that's all well and good for the fans. I noticed several spelling errors! Permanent, phenomenon... it's worth checking this sort of thing. I also would've held back on having "this operative" offer his opinion at the end, since it becomes a little too clear that Bob is writing to us, instead of anyone within the Trek universe.

All in all, though Bob can't be happy that his first attempt at this edit wound up lost to a bad hard drive, I'm almost glad it was, because we wound up with something much more unique and fun than just a trimming of Star Trek VI. Remember when the producers of Enterprise called the series finale a love letter to the fans? This is what a love letter to the fans really looks like.

 

[bionicbob]

Thanks for the review Menbailee.

I think those typos were inserted by Temporal Agents after the edit was uploaded, as we all know Bionic Bob edits never have technical issues!:-D

Sorry you do not like the Fade to Blacks, but they should not come as a surprise, as they are in ALL my TOS Trek edits, and I love them being a child of the 70s. But yeah, most people always seem to have issue with them.... "shrug"...
Besides are they really "awful" and "bad,bad,bad" or are they just not to YOUR PERSONAL TASTE?

But I am glad it was not enough to turn you off and that you enjoyed the overall story.

As for the Temporal Cold War angle, well, I love conspiracies, the JFK conspiracy in particular, and the more you study them, the more convoluted and conflicting they become, often one theory negating another and yet not fully working without both.... if you know what I mean....? That was my approach here, all these sinister forces converging on this key historic event, each with their own private agenda, some working together, some against....

As they said in JFK,

"It's a mystery wrapped in a riddle inside an enigma!"

Besides, it only has a Zimmerman accuracy rating of 99.98%
A lot can happen in that .02%. LOL!

Thanks again for taking the time to post your thoughts. Always appreciated. ;-)

 

[LastSurvivor]

Nice review Menbailee... looking forward to watching this one Bob... although probably have to wait until after I see Through a Glass Darkly.

 

[Menbailee]

As for the Temporal Cold War angle, well, I love conspiracies, the JFK conspiracy in particular, and the more you study them, the more convoluted and conflicting they become, often one theory negating another and yet not fully working without both.... if you know what I mean....? That was my approach here, all these sinister forces converging on this key historic event, each with their own private agenda, some working together, some against....

Ah, I see what you're going for! I wish the footage existed for you to explore that more fully. In that case, I'd almost want to throw in a third power--something left over from the First Contact Borg sphere, the Q, or who knows what.

Tangentially, we talk about how Nemesis wanted to be Wrath of Khan, but it also wanted to be The Undiscovered Country. It wanted to be a pivotal moment in Federation history with the Romulans in the way Star Trek VI was for the Klingons. Too bad the footage doesn't exist for you to make it succeed more at that, or to link the two in some meaningful way.

Sorry you do not like the Fade to Blacks, but they should not come as a surprise, as they are in ALL my TOS Trek edits, and I love them being a child of the 70s. But yeah, most people always seem to have issue with them.... "shrug"...
Besides are they really "awful" and "bad,bad,bad" or are they just not to YOUR PERSONAL TASTE?

I wouldn't use such hyperbolic language if it weren't in context of an edit that I'm clearly admiring in general. The concept of inserting fades to commercial into a movie isn't to my personal taste, but the execution is sometimes awkward, so that they don't feel like fades to commercial as intended, but just sort of strange. This is probably because the movie doesn't give you the visual or musical cues usually found in television for the ends of acts, so you have to do weird things like freeze a frame and have dialogue continue.

It's sorta signature Bob though, and you make it how you like it!

 

[bionicbob]

Thanks again Menbailee.

Hope you don't think I was arguing with you or was unhappy with your review,
as I sincerely appreciate all your thoughts and opinions.

Fan edits are so subjective, both for the makers and watchers. What one likes, another dislikes.
But that is cool. That is the way it is suppose to be.

But yeah, you are right, they don't feel like a traditional commercial break. They are sort of more like mini-cliffhangers. As with all my Trek edits, during the rough cut phase, I did have original TOS music peppered throughout, particularly for the Fade to Black moments... but I just found them too jarring and out of place, as they just did not compliment the later movie scores and so they were removed. And yes, I experimented more with the audio continuing into the freeze frame, as I wanted to try different things, mix it up a bit, be a bit more creative and not just keep doing the exact same thing with each edit, as that would get boring for me. Maybe it did not work as well as I had hoped. Every new edit is a learning experience. C'est la vie.

 

[Nic]

[F]or this Life Long Trek Fanboy, the movie reeks of...a militaristic tone that does not fit well with the Trek Universe created by Gene Roddenberry.

Just out of curiosity, I don't want to derail the thread, but do you think In the Pale Moonlight was a great Star Trek episode, or a terrible one?

 

[Adam Appel-Prater]

I was stunned and excited when I stopped by FE today and saw this had been released. Thanks for returning to the project! I recall the trailers for your first version and now this one. Curious to know, did this fan edit change much from your initial vision of it? Looking forward to watching it tonight.

 

[bionicbob]

Just out of curiosity, I don't want to derail the thread, but do you think In the Pale Moonlight was a great Star Trek episode, or a terrible one?

Always happy to talk Trek and I can see why it would be brought up.

First off, DS9 is my favorite Trek Series after TOS.
TOS created the Trek Universe,
TNG defined it and polished it,
while DS9 expanded it and pushed it bold new directions in terms of structure, character and storytelling.

While DS9 dealt with many of the darker corners of the Universe created by Roddenberry, especially War and the military side of Starfleet, and challenged the notion of "perfect" humans, it never lost sight of the principles that Roddenberry created Trek upon. That we can all improve ourselves and over come our differences to work together towards a common goal.

With all that said, I think "In the Pale Moonlight" is a fantastic episode!
Definitely one of the top ten Trek episodes EVER!
Sisko's conflict is powerful and heartbreaking. A good man forced to do a bad thing for the needs of the many. A decision that will haunt Sisko for the the remainder of the series.

The thing that differentiates the military/war overtones of DS9 from Meyer's UNDISCOVERED COUNTRY is simply better writing and understanding/respect for the foundations of the Trek Universe. Plus, the reality with a television series is you can take your time and develop plot and character arcs that make more sense in the overall texture of the Universe created. In a movie, you have no such luxury. You have to hammer the plot/conflict out in the first 10 minutes to set up the remainder of the movie, whether if fully makes sense or not. So don't get me wrong, Meyer's Trek is a good movie, and contributes many wonderful new elements to Trek Canon, but in the greater tapestry of the Trek Universe it feels 'out of place' at times....

Though I am sure there are many Trek Fans that will disagree with this opinion.
Which is the way it should be....
Infinite Diversity in Infinite Combinations!

;-)

 

[bionicbob]

I was stunned and excited when I stopped by FE today and saw this had been released. Thanks for returning to the project! I recall the trailers for your first version and now this one. Curious to know, did this fan edit change much from your initial vision of it? Looking forward to watching it tonight.

How did it change from the original that burned up on my hard drive and this latest version?

The basic structure remained the same, and luckily a couple of key scenes/fx were saved on my brand new external at the time, so that was a time saver and a stress relief.

I lost my entire Trek Music Library, so many music cues I had planned or created were forever lost and I had to create new alternate cues. But otherwise, I was very locked into my vision of what kind story I wanted to tell and how I wanted it to unfold. So in the end, this edit, more than any other I have done, pretty much remain 99% the same as my original outline.

Hope you enjoy the show!

 

[Nic]

Well, that's a nicely written response. I'm not a huge trekkie (or is it trekker?), so it'll be interesting watching this movie from the fanboy perspective. I'm also curious as to how Future Guy fits in. Speaking of which, to quote the creator of the "FG" nickname, Chuck Sonnenburg/SF Debris, "how sad is it that (his) name is derived from sarcasm?"

 

[DANLAV05]

I did manage to download an watch this movie, and it was really good!

The Undiscovered Country was the first TOS crew film I saw on video back in the early 90s as a kid, so it is still possibly me favourite - even above The Wrath of Khan.

I can see whay it is only for us diehards - there were lots of references peppered in, but in terms of storytelling it seems to work! Involving the Dominion and Section 31, as well as Future Guy (ending his storyline?) was very entertaining, and allows the viewer to look at events in a new light. It's fascinating (OK pun intended) that you've bee

I admit the first 'fade to black' startled me a bit - I was worried about how the DVD download would work, but I rememebred it was a 'TV Edition.' Hence the title sequence!

The events of the opeining and closing are also very satisfying. I'm not gonna drop another spoiler here, but I see you got at least some details from the Memory Beta wiki, as well of course the canonical stuff. I presume the very end of this sequence is your own doing, but the 'photographs' from the very end of each character are smart!

Overall a very enjoyable new way to see an old favourite

 

[bionicbob]

Thanks Danlav05!
I know you are HUGE Trek fan, so you positive review means a lot!

The pics your refer to I found on the internet a couple years back and were definitely part of the inspiration for the new epilogue. I attempted to contact the manip artists, but never received a reply back, but they are credited in the ABOUT THIS EDIT extra.

Yeah, Memory Beta was a great help. I discovering Spock's full name was a cool! Plus, I am a fan of the Shatnerverse novels, so that too inspired the new ending. The histories of Sulu, Uhura, Chekov, Scotty and McCoy are pretty much all from the various Trek novels. Though I believe Scotty recently died (or did he???) in the novel "Indistinguishable from Magic". Spock's history is of course from the newest Trek movie and KIRK? Well, that is I guess my own... fanboy wish fullfillment.

But yeah, this edit is definitely not meant to replace the original in any way. It is just a fun fanboy alternate viewing experience.

 

[TMBTM]

So sorry. I completely forgot to add this release on the main fanedit page..... and to make the article
Will try to do it tomorrow.
Again deeply sorry.

EDIT: will at least add it on the newest fanedits covers at the top, tonight.

EDIT2: Okay, article added. Now I can sleep with a clean mind.

 

[bionicbob]

So sorry. I completely forgot to add this release on the main fanedit page..... and to make the article
Will try to do it tomorrow.
Again deeply sorry.

EDIT: will at least add it on the newest fanedits covers at the top, tonight.

EDIT2: Okay, article added. Now I can sleep with a clean mind.

THANKS TMBTM!!!! ;-)

So you heard the man, go post your reviews on the main fan edit page. Hee hee!