Star Trek 1 “The V'Ger Incident”

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8.9 (5)
 
9.0 (20)
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Star Trek 1 “The V'Ger Incident”
Faneditor Name:
Original Movie/Show Title:
Franchise:
Fanedit Type:
Original Release Date:
1979
Original Running Time:
143 minutes
Fanedit Release Date:
Fanedit Running Time:
80 minutes
Time Cut:
63 minutes
Synopsis:
This is a revision of Star Trek The Motion Picture that brings the movie more in-line with The Original Series look, sound and feel.

THE SECOND FIVE YEAR MISSION BEGINS… An Unknown Entity of incalculable destructive power is on a direct course for the Planet Earth!

CAPTAIN KIRK, along with his new First Officer COMMANDER DECKER, must lead the crew of the newly refitted ENTERPRISE on a dangerous mission to intercept the alien intruder and determine it’s true purpose. Along the way, they are joined by the enigmatic MR. SPOCK, who offers to assist them in their mission. But what is SPOCK’s real agenda and can he be trusted? Together, they embark on an adventure that will have unforeseen and long lasting consequences for not only EARTH, but the entire GALAXY!
Intention:
1. Inject some classic TOS energy into movie
2. Shift the story focus away from Decker and back onto Kirk and Spock
Additional Notes:
Version 2 released March 2013.
Release Information:
DVD
Editing Details:
Used iMac 10.5, Mac the Ripper, MPEG Streamclip, Final Cut Express, GarageBand, and iDVD
Cuts and Additions:
***Version 2 changes***

***corrected aspect ratio to 16x9
***adjusted audio levels
– restructured intro of V’GER from Space Station POV with TOS music
– created new opening credits
***restored the Vulcan sequence but moved it to later in the film as a flashback
– removed sequence of Kirk taking back command of the Enterprise
– greatly truncated Enterprise’s journey to intercept V’GER
– downplayed the Decker/Illia romance
– cut nearly a dozen Decker "Hero" shots
***corrected some continuity errors from Version One
***used only the Jerrry Goldsmith score and music from TOS soundtrack
***corrected Spock mind meld scene
***changed the colour lighting of two key scenes
– edited scenes in the style of TOS with dramatic fade to blacks and classic music cues
– created new closing credits
***two new FX were created for this edit by David Kerin
5 Minute Preview

vger_incident_by_Rogue
vger_incident_CD
Vger_disc
Vger_Amaray
Faneditor Name:
Original Movie/Show Title:
Franchise:
Fanedit Type:
Original Release Date:
1979
Original Running Time:
143 minutes
Fanedit Release Date:
Fanedit Running Time:
80 minutes
Time Cut:
63 minutes
Synopsis:
This is a revision of Star Trek The Motion Picture that brings the movie more in-line with The Original Series look, sound and feel.

THE SECOND FIVE YEAR MISSION BEGINS… An Unknown Entity of incalculable destructive power is on a direct course for the Planet Earth!

CAPTAIN KIRK, along with his new First Officer COMMANDER DECKER, must lead the crew of the newly refitted ENTERPRISE on a dangerous mission to intercept the alien intruder and determine it’s true purpose. Along the way, they are joined by the enigmatic MR. SPOCK, who offers to assist them in their mission. But what is SPOCK’s real agenda and can he be trusted? Together, they embark on an adventure that will have unforeseen and long lasting consequences for not only EARTH, but the entire GALAXY!
Intention:
1. Inject some classic TOS energy into movie
2. Shift the story focus away from Decker and back onto Kirk and Spock
Additional Notes:
Version 2 released March 2013.
Release Information:
DVD
Editing Details:
Used iMac 10.5, Mac the Ripper, MPEG Streamclip, Final Cut Express, GarageBand, and iDVD
Cuts and Additions:
***Version 2 changes***

***corrected aspect ratio to 16x9
***adjusted audio levels
– restructured intro of V’GER from Space Station POV with TOS music
– created new opening credits
***restored the Vulcan sequence but moved it to later in the film as a flashback
– removed sequence of Kirk taking back command of the Enterprise
– greatly truncated Enterprise’s journey to intercept V’GER
– downplayed the Decker/Illia romance
– cut nearly a dozen Decker "Hero" shots
***corrected some continuity errors from Version One
***used only the Jerrry Goldsmith score and music from TOS soundtrack
***corrected Spock mind meld scene
***changed the colour lighting of two key scenes
– edited scenes in the style of TOS with dramatic fade to blacks and classic music cues
– created new closing credits
***two new FX were created for this edit by David Kerin
Cover art by Rogue-theX (DOWNLOAD HERE)
image

Cover art by Elbarto1 (DOWNLOAD HERE)
image

5 Minute Preview

Trusted Reviewer reviews

5 reviews
Overall rating
 
8.9
Audio/Video Quality
 
8.5(4)
Audio Editing
 
8.7(3)
Visual Editing
 
9.8(4)
Narrative
 
8.7(3)
Enjoyment
 
8.0(5)
Overall rating
 
8.9
Audio/Video Quality
 
9.0
Audio Editing
 
9.0
Visual Editing
 
10.0
Narrative
 
8.0
Enjoyment
 
7.0
I didn't realize this was fanedit legend BionicBob's first fanedit...it sure doesn't show it!
I have many thoughts on why this is very flawed as a film (here: https://letterboxd.com/nottheacademy/film/star-trek-the-motion-picture/) but the question is if this edit fixes those issues? Well, not really. A great many of them are script-level and can't be changed, or there simply isn't alternative footage. What this edit does well is trim a lot of the scenes not featuring the holy ST trinity of Kirk/Spock/Bones, and pick up the pace a lot.

However, the framework didn't sell me on this being presented as a long TV episode. It was okay, but the thing still has the beats of a movie and doesn't feel like TV. There are also still long, boring stretches focusing on the dated effects and visuals. At this point, even the extraneous characters' scenes would be better to watch than a lot of that dead space, which didn't grab me or create "mood" at all. Also, while many of the cuts were good, some stuff was cut that helps to give the story a cohesive narrative and flesh out motivations. So it's a bit hit and miss.

Overall, this is still better to watch than any previous version of the film, so it's recommended over those. Chock one up in the Win column for BionicBob.

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(Updated: September 15, 2012)
Overall rating
 
8.5
Audio/Video Quality
 
8.0
Audio Editing
 
8.0
Visual Editing
 
9.0
Narrative
 
9.0
Enjoyment
 
8.0
Review by Neglify — March 24, 2012 @ 8:11 am

I only watched Star Trek TMP once and I liked it but thought it was a little too boring for my tastes. I really dug Bob’s edit “The V’Ger Incident”. For me, the pacing was much better and I felt the story flowed really nicely.
There are some technical issues that other reviewers have brought up, such as the audio levels and the letterboxed picture. For me, these didn’t bother me too much, but still factors into it.
Overall Rating – 8/10
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(Updated: September 15, 2012)
Overall rating
 
7.0
Audio/Video Quality
 
N/A
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7.0
Review by TMBTM — June 26, 2010 @ 3:38 pm

This is also a 7/10 to me, and could have been a lot more if not for some technical aspects: 4:3 letterboxed (2.35:1), pixelate red color, dialogue lower than sound effects/music and some added flash light coming over the black bars.
But as some already said, this is a GREAT firstling fanedit, and each fan of Star Trek should watch this one.
The nice new “twist” in the end is very well thought, the pace of the movie is great, the new music and “TV’ series cliffhangers like” are a nice touch.
The DVD menus are beautiful too.
I really wished I could rate this fanedit more but it’s mostly the 4:3 letterboxed (2.35:1) issue that stoped me to do it.
Anyway, Bionicbob is a faneditor to follow, for sure! :)
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(Updated: March 26, 2013)
Overall rating
 
9.2
Audio/Video Quality
 
9.0
Audio Editing
 
9.0
Visual Editing
 
10.0
Narrative
 
9.0
Enjoyment
 
9.0
Review by Dwight Fry — May 30, 2010 @ 9:45 pm, PLUS new comments about version 2 on the bottom.

As it seems, I like Star Trek: The Motion Picture a whole lot more than most people. I think it’s an excellent Sci-Fi film, my fave of the Trek movies actually. I find the way it unfolds to be more mood-creating than “boring”. In other words, adagio can be as valid and beautiful a musical tempo as allegro. So, that means I didn’t prefer this fanedit to the original.

Yet I liked it a lot better than I thought I would. My favorite angle of TMP, the mystery around V’Ger progressively unfolding, develops mostly the same way, and, otherwise, I think Bionic Bob achieved his goal to give a TOS flavor to it pretty well (I’ll leave the minor Trek mythology details to the experts). Focus is back to Kirk and Spock indeed. However, ironically I got the feeling that the reordering of his sequences in the first half pointed out his initial so-called “assholeness” more than the original. On the other hand, from watching this version no one would doubt the movie is and always was all about Kirk. The new pacing works very well mostly, the sole excepcion being Spock’s spacewalk, which I found too fast, seemed like he was continuously reading from a list instead of discovering/realizing things one at a time.

The editing was mostly very well done, except for some of the fades to black, that screamed “artificial” It might be because of the music fading out at the same time, while more of an ending cue would help hiding the stitching. Otherwise I noticed no hard cuts. However, and I understand this is a firstling, several technical aspects left quite a bit to be desired. Red-tinted sequences, as others have mentioned, look badly compressed and pixelated, but to me the biggest letdown was that the DVD was exported in 4:3 non-anamorphic widescreen format, rendering the actual movie as a smallish rectangle in the center of any panoramic screen. Also, the footage inserted into the end of Spock’s spacewalk (which I loved, actually) had fades to white which covered the black bars too, as did the final movie poster still. Some ending inserts were low quality as well (source problems, I guess), and, finally, I personally wouldn’t include the red fanedit warning as part of the main movie, but as a separate video or part of the menu (which, BTW, is very well done, particularly for a first-timer).

Overall, I’m giving this fanedit a 7/10, which would be 8 or 9 if not for technical issues. This shows a very talented faneditor, whose subsequent works I’ll be definitely checking out, and a fanedit which, if a TMP fan liked a lot, people who like Trek but didn’t much care about TMP will no doubt love to pieces.

UPDATE CONTAINING COMMENTS ABOUT V2:

It has been a real blast from the past to get back to a really great firstling from someone who quickly became one of my favorite faneditors on this site. And it's been quite an experience to finally be able to watch it in the technical conditions it deserves. This has gone a long way since the quite subpar 4:3 of version 1, it's now beautifully anamorphic and looks mostly very good. Still, there were a couple of spots which showed similar problems than version 1, particularly the "red" footage in the climax that's not red anymore but, fittingly, in very sixities-like greens and blues, yet still showing the strange pixellation Bob's software maliciously insisted in applying to bright red areas. So it seems that it'll apply it anyway even if you get the red to stop being red... Also, there's a bit of interlacing during the opening credits, which maybe were rescued straight from version 1. Audio was fine, a few music transitions stood out for me but probably because I know the score for TMP so well.

And as for the narrative itself, I liked it even better than in version 1. I still love the mood of the original TMP, but this edit feels a lot like classic Trek. One narrative flaw did stand out for me this time around, though: the cutting back of Decker and Ilia, particularly during the Decker/probe scenes, rendered these characters a bit puzzling. One moment Decker is hating the probe's mechanical guts for killing off Ilia, and suddenly in the climax they're all about making eyes at each other while the love theme plays. Of course, Decker and Ilia's acting is the weakest link of the show and I agree with their cutting back to push our beloved classic characters forward, but still it's kind of a hole. Maybe it might have worked better if I weren't so familiar with the original.

The twist ending is classic Bob, and I absolutely love it. The new David Kerin effects work great.

I'm glad Bob went back to raise the technical quality of this edit up to the level of its artistic merits. This is a classic edit, and one that is as fun to watch as the first day.

And the Bionic adventure is just beginning. :)

User Review

Do you recommend this edit?
Yes
Format Watched
DVD
Comments (0) | Was this review helpful? 0 0
(Updated: September 15, 2012)
Overall rating
 
9.0
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8.0
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10.0
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9.0
Review by L8wrtr — May 29, 2010 @ 4:44 pm

Star Trek “THE V’GER INCIDENT” by bionicbob

Reviewed by L8wrtr

TOS goodness to the rescue

What Bob has done with Star Trek The Motion Picture is for me, the definition of a Fan Edit. He has taken a movie and not only made the story better, but he has given the entire narrative an entirely new perspective, breathing fresh air into an extremely stale movie.

From a story standpoint, BionicBob has refocused the story to what fans of Star Trek care about, Kirk and Spock, and it works very well on this level. Decker is as annoying as ever, perhaps even more so now that we’ve lost the “Kirk has lost his edge” subplot, but fans of the film will understand the first officer’s motivations, which also now highlight the dynamic between Kirk and Spock.

But what really causes this fanedit to stand out, and you see from frame 1 is the TOS treatment. The sights and sounds really help bring this into the classic feel of the original series, at least as much as is possible with with heavily 70s vibe of the set and costuming.

Video editing
The technical execution of the editing is quite good. Choices are logical, transitions are appropriate and the pacing is greatly improved. I find no reason to mark off any points. 10 out of 10

Video Quality
I wish the same could be said for the video quality, but this is not entirely due to the editor. The quality of the original is quite disappointing, however there are heavy compressions going on in the ambient or glowing reds. 8 out of 10

Audio Quality
In evaluating the audio, I will keep in mind that the spirit of this particular fanedit is to emulate TOS. One scene that exemplifies this is the Klingon attack against V’GER. In replacing the music with TOS, we’ve also lost the quiet rumble of the Cruisers, however quite often in the Original Series, ships often glided by on screen with only musical accompaniment, and minimal sound effects like phaser or torpedo shots. While the audio is not perfect, it is in keeping with what we heard on TOS. 8 out of 10

Overall Entertainment
Like CBB’s Kirkless Generations, BionicBob has rescued a film that could, and should have been very good. This movie still has its flaws because the original was itself, terribly flawed, but bionicbob has managed to inject classic Star Trek feel into a movie that I would have been fine never watching again. 9 out of 10.
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(Updated: December 31, 2023)
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9.5
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I bought this on DVD years ago and never managed to watch the full thing. It was just very boring in parts, for starters. I also found it difficult to follow.

This edit, despite cutting out an hour of footage, makes an engaging movie. As a result, I can appreciate other strengths of the movie now too.

I would echo another reviewer by saying that the use of the TV show elements seemed jarring to me. There are two very different feels going on. But it’s the most minor of points.

Thanks to the editor for this. I hope you’ll consider revisiting it in higher definition at some point. Although, that’s no small task!

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carbon based units infest enterprise!!!! This was another one hit thru a blackhole to the other side of the universe. V'ger and I recommend this one and V'ger wants to join with its creator. great job now on to the next one

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Overall rating
 
9.5
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10.0
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9.0
This has replaced the Motion Picture for me! Re-designed to play like an episode of the Original Series, the pacing in this edit is great! Orginal sound effects from the TV show have been inserted to give it a classic trek feel, opening titles that suggest what the planned phase two TV series might have been like.

This edit cuts straight to the story - any background details (Spock leaving Vulcan) are told in flashback - none of that overlong Enterprise porn (camera shots of the starship lasting for days on end) - none of the annoying bickering between Kirk and Decker - in all, a shorter more concise and therefore gripping version of the film. I always felt that the Motion Picture was a padded out TV episode, this proves that - and makes a flawed film that is difficult to watch so much more enjoyable and exciting!

Make sure you get version two of this edit btw!

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9.4
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10.0
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9.0
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10.0
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9.0
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8.0
Star Trek The Motion Picture is not an easy film to watch. The concept is good and I still think the reveal of V'Ger identity is a really awesome idea but the pacing is painfully slow and the characters are not totaly themselves. When the director's edition came out, the movie became more watchable and the pacing was improved.

But now, I have found my go to version. BionicBob has crafted THE definitive edition! There is much to be liked in this. By the way, I have watched the second version of the edit.

First of all, the execution of the new introduction is really impressive and puts us right in the mood! The inclusion of the original series music mixed with the original score works really well. The move feels like a good two parter episode, including the classic fade out. The pacing is way much better and the edit waste no time, launching the enterprise directly into its mission. The pacing slows down a little bit when V'Ger reaches earth but it does not decrease the enjoyment. I must say that I really liked the Spock flashbacks during his mind meld with V'Ger.

I did experience just a little bit of problem with the sound mix during one scene. When Spock wakes up after his mind meld, the background music was great but a tad too strong since it was difficult to understand what Spock was saying.

The relation between Decker and Ilia has been trimmed for the better but it does remove a little bit of motivation in the end scene. Decker is not as present and it feels that the original series characters are now front and center, has it should be. The voyage to V'ger and inside V'Ger have been greatly reduced and because of this, the movie is much tighter and way more enjoyable. It really feels much more in the line with Star Trek!

I wont spoil the finale but it has been modified with two new effect shots which really adds something interesting to the Star Trek mythos.

In summary, this is a fantastic edit!!! If this version was the one shown in theater in 1979, it would have been much more welcomed by the critique and the viewer. Nice work BionicBob!! I look forward to watch your other TOS movies edit!

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This is a great edit, and IMO, a great movie in this form.
It is easy to see why this movie didn't become a blockbuster--there is no finale. There is no big fight scene. The plot doesn't call for it, and what a cerebral plot it is!
This movie doesn't back away from the biggest question everyone faces, the big existential Why Am I Here? Is There A God?
And this plot will always be relevant. Anyone watching Cosmos or Through The Wormhole on TV in 2014 has seen questions like these posed. But because of this plot, instead of a big space battle finale, like Star Wars had, we get Decker hooking up with the bald chick in some glowing lights. Again, I can see how it was perhaps disappointing to the masses, but this is the story they told and I still think it was a damned brave one.
I've watched BionicBob's first 3 Star Trek movie edits in order, but am reviewing this one 3rd because I have virtually nothing to say about this edit other than it is flawless. It is never going to be my fav movie, but this is def my fav edit of the movie. And, of the first 3 Trek edits that Bionic Bob has done, this is my fav. Though I am looking forward to Trek 4-6!

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