Star Trek 5 “This Other Eden”

Boy did they made fun of this movie when it came out. It almost destroyed the movie franchises. I enjoy the Edit movie, less comical & more serious . I liked the Klingons where better & tougher. The subtitles were very good. That was a good idea to make the evil god red towards the end. The flashbacks and flashforward was a good idea. The only thing I would keep is the joke song Row Row Row Your Boat. The Audio Editing, Video Quality is good. The Visual is good too. The Enjoyment was fun.

This counts as my first ever viewing of a BionicBob edit. So I admit, I had no idea what to expect going in. I just know that Star Trek V is a film that, for lack of a better word, needs a good fixing. Now that I've seen this one, I can say that this is a much needed improvement over the theatrical release. It may not be suited to my personal taste, but when compared to the original film, it's fantastic!

It's refreshing to see this film without so many of the campy moments this film is known for. The infamous "Row row row your boat" song, the rocket boots escape and Uhura going naked are all gone here. And I also appreciate the restructure done on the Klingon warship subplot. These simple fixes are enough to make a lot of the more philosophical moments about religion easier to understand. I still wish the cat lady fight wasn't around, and I think the whole movie would've been improved if the whole Yellowstone adventure was cut out. But with my criticisms aside, I would still recommend this over the theatrical version in a heartbeat. If all you care about here is a better Star Trek V, this is a worthy fanfix.

However, I must stress what I said in paragraph one: It may not be suited to my personal taste. Why, you ask? Well, here's the deal. This edit takes a TV-style approach rather than a cinematic approach. In a lot of ways, this edit is like a really long episode of the original series. You can even see the points where the commercial breaks are supposed to occur. Reading previous reviews, it's clear to me that this is BionicBob's style of editing. My thoughts on this style are love-it-or-hate-it. If you're a trekkie who loves the idea of seeing these movies converted into TV episodes, then don't make me stop you. However, if you're a hardcore cinephile who wants to re-create the cinematic experience in your own living room and you have a weird love for the smell of 35mm film, like I am, this may not be the edit for you.

Still, I kept an open mind while watching it, and what I got was a satisfying take on what is arguably the worst film to feature the original series crew. And for me that's all that matters. I could complain about the style if I wanted, but that doesn't change the edit as a whole. Bottom line: this is a great edit! It may not be for everyone, but it is a worthy change of pace from the theatrical version, and well worth your time if you're willing to go back to Star Trek's TV show roots.

So, Bionic Bob's "Star Trek: This Other Eden" was fantastic. It fixed nearly all of the problems I had with Star Trek V. All of the bad humor was removed, while still leaving in some fitting whimsical moments. All of the bad special effects were either replaced or trimmed. Some light flashbacks and flashfowards were added to give just a bit more depth at times. Of course, the final act was still too quick and lacking, but it was easier to forgive it. Everything that could've been improved was improved. I wasn't huge on commercial breaks and location cards, but it is what it is. Other than that the editing was fantastic, and every cut was done so skillfully and unnoticeably. I didn't think it would be possible to cut out everything about the Enterprise being in bad shape and nothing working, but he managed to without feeling like anything was missing.
This may not be peak Star Trek, but it's plenty enjoyable. I will definitely revisit this edit in the future.

AV Quality: 7, it's standard DVD quality, not especially good, not bad.
Visual editing: 10, the fixes to the poor special effects really helped, and the cuts were seamless.
Audio Editing: 8, music changes and cuts were perfect, but I found myself constantly adjusting the volume.
Narrative: 10, the narrative is greatly improved, leagues better than the original cut. It's still Star Trek 5, but any left over flaws in the plot were ones that couldn't be fixed, so I don't fault the editor.
Enjoyment: 10, I think this is the most enjoyment anyone could possibly get from Star Trek 5.

At this point my reviews of BionicBob's Star Trek edits are borderline embarrassing, but once again, I enjoyed the heck out of this.
I can't imagine anyone is going to start with this edit instead of watching them in order, so I will just direct you to my previous 4 reviews---they are all great. These are fantastic edits of flawed movies and, in every single case, BionicBob's edit lessens the flaws and makes the movie more enjoyable.
Anyone who is/was a fan of TOS on TV or of TOS of movies will NEED to watch these. I've nothing negative to say, and I have already gushed enough in my previous reviews.
These are awesome; I wish I could share them with every trekkie out there. :-)

William Shatner.

Just saying the name conjures up all sorts of things: good (in some cases, great) and bad (in some cases, very bad).

His Captain Kirk in the original series was for the most part wonderful - and of course has been long part of pop culture.

His performances in the films hit or miss.

So it goes without saying that as actor, writer and director he would bring himself -- the good and the bad (as do we all) to that enterprise (bad pun unfortunately intended...).

"Star Trek V" is still maligned to this day. It's a frustrating view, even for (perhaps mostly for) Trek: the original series fans of which I'm one - because there's a great TREK movie here, hidden amongst some of the woefully clumsy acting, overwrought/clunky direction, hammy acting and mostly - the completely misfired 'comedy' elements.

Bionic Bob, in his iconic 'TV style' editing has turned an off-putting TREK movie into a highly enjoyable TV movie - every original series TREK fan should see what Bob has done here. There are some GREAT surprises for fans of the show.

And after watching Bob's version, you're left scratching your head on why the Paramount suits or Shatner didn't include some of what Bob adds into the film. I never would've thought of these, but upon seeing Bob's version, they are highly pertinent moments that belong in the official version of the film.

Why Bob even makes sense out of the abbreviated, daffy Klingon scenes! Now THAT takes some imagination.

If you love the original series, make time to watch Bob's take here. Great stuff!