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Battlestar Galactica The Second Coming
- Thread starter bionicbob
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Yes. You may upload the file again so people don't have to wait for the first one, but as long as it says the file is temporarily unavailable, it will return.bionicbob said:
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So, just watched it. Really enjoyable and well done edit. Love how the classic Stu Phillips themes blend with the images and never seem at odds with the visuals, despite the vastly different style of both BSGs, and at the same time it never feels over-the-top heroic, or cheesy space opera. Also, I like how you streamlined the excess of subplots. This version feels much more like a movie and less like a backdoor pilot with an overabundance of pick-me-up-for-a-series hooks. Nice!
Editing itself was mostly solid, yet I can't help but call out a couple of bad video dissolves. Both have the same problem: they have changing shots once the dissolve has started, which is a big no-no in editing. One happens at 0:27:17, between the Pegasus being bombed and the attack on the colonies, and the other at 1:14:48, after Dualla kisses Billy. Also, some spots show interlacing, particularly the bit during the opening narration that seems taken from Contact, and the slow-motion in the final scene and closing credits. Audio-wise, I noticed a stray bit of music, a low note that seems like the end of a removed bit, at 0:35:38, between "They said it was like somebody just turned off a switch" and "Ready for duty, sir". The rest looked and sounded about right.
All in all, a very solid and very recommendable edit, more so if you get to correct those issues. Good job!
Editing itself was mostly solid, yet I can't help but call out a couple of bad video dissolves. Both have the same problem: they have changing shots once the dissolve has started, which is a big no-no in editing. One happens at 0:27:17, between the Pegasus being bombed and the attack on the colonies, and the other at 1:14:48, after Dualla kisses Billy. Also, some spots show interlacing, particularly the bit during the opening narration that seems taken from Contact, and the slow-motion in the final scene and closing credits. Audio-wise, I noticed a stray bit of music, a low note that seems like the end of a removed bit, at 0:35:38, between "They said it was like somebody just turned off a switch" and "Ready for duty, sir". The rest looked and sounded about right.
All in all, a very solid and very recommendable edit, more so if you get to correct those issues. Good job!
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Thank you very much for the comments Dwight.
I agree there is some interlacing with the Contact footage, I tired a couple different filters with it, and while it smoothed out the pic, the image quality suffered, looked a bit muddy, so I figured to leave well enough be, as I don't find it distracting.
Have to disagree with you on the video dissolves, particularly with Dualla and Billy kiss. This reunion montage is all about movement. Both emotional and physical, moving towards and a part from each other. Dualla kisses Billy and moves away and it cross fades back to Chief and Boomer as they move towards each other. The shot angle may change during the cross fade but it is still the same scene, same characters, and same emotional moment. For me, it totally works. It is actually my absolute favorite scene in the whole edit.
I can see your point with the Pegasus bombing sequence, but again it still the same scene despite the angle change during the cross fade. For me it works, not a big issue.
I don't really think there are really any concrete rules in fan editing. This is all about experimentation. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. What one person likes, another may not. It is all subjective. For example, in this edit I have laid one music soundtrack onto top of another, which many would consider a big NO-NO. (Me, included) But in this instance, I think it works and I stand by it. It is only a rule until you need to break and try something new.:-D
Wow, you have one amazing ear! You are right, there is the end of music note where Starbuck salutes Adama. Just one of those things where the overlap with the music and dialogue is sooooo close, it is hard to isolate one completely from another. Good catch!
So I hope overall you enjoyed the experience. It would not be a Bionic Bob edit with some technical issues! LOL!
I have often stated, I view my edits as fast produced B-Movie Popcorn Fare.
They may not be as polished or technically proficient as many other edits on the site,
but I think they Entertain and Tell Engaging Stories,
which in the end, is the most important thing to me.
I agree there is some interlacing with the Contact footage, I tired a couple different filters with it, and while it smoothed out the pic, the image quality suffered, looked a bit muddy, so I figured to leave well enough be, as I don't find it distracting.
Have to disagree with you on the video dissolves, particularly with Dualla and Billy kiss. This reunion montage is all about movement. Both emotional and physical, moving towards and a part from each other. Dualla kisses Billy and moves away and it cross fades back to Chief and Boomer as they move towards each other. The shot angle may change during the cross fade but it is still the same scene, same characters, and same emotional moment. For me, it totally works. It is actually my absolute favorite scene in the whole edit.
I can see your point with the Pegasus bombing sequence, but again it still the same scene despite the angle change during the cross fade. For me it works, not a big issue.
I don't really think there are really any concrete rules in fan editing. This is all about experimentation. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. What one person likes, another may not. It is all subjective. For example, in this edit I have laid one music soundtrack onto top of another, which many would consider a big NO-NO. (Me, included) But in this instance, I think it works and I stand by it. It is only a rule until you need to break and try something new.:-D
Wow, you have one amazing ear! You are right, there is the end of music note where Starbuck salutes Adama. Just one of those things where the overlap with the music and dialogue is sooooo close, it is hard to isolate one completely from another. Good catch!
So I hope overall you enjoyed the experience. It would not be a Bionic Bob edit with some technical issues! LOL!
I have often stated, I view my edits as fast produced B-Movie Popcorn Fare.
They may not be as polished or technically proficient as many other edits on the site,
but I think they Entertain and Tell Engaging Stories,
which in the end, is the most important thing to me.
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You're welcome! Fear not, I did enjoy the experience a lot. It's just that those crossfades looked... don't know, amateurish, particularly when compared to how well done the rest is, including the music on top of music. Your mileage on what works and what not may vary, of course. And the montage is indeed a beautiful scene overall.
I still consider it a triumph, that definitely entertains and tells an engaging story. Hell, I want to go live in a parallel world in which your "B-Movies" play at drive-ins and matinee theaters! "Let's hang out, go have a hamburger and see Bionic Bob's latest!" ;-)
I still consider it a triumph, that definitely entertains and tells an engaging story. Hell, I want to go live in a parallel world in which your "B-Movies" play at drive-ins and matinee theaters! "Let's hang out, go have a hamburger and see Bionic Bob's latest!" ;-)
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Now, that sounds like an amazing idea... if only. Heck, I would go and see a Bionic Bob fanedit festival
steelio2006
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Definitely would be awesome to get a projector one day and project Bob's fanedits on the wall. Seeing them on a 'big screen' format would be awesome.
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emphatic said:
I know! It was a wonderful, absolute surprise discovery! I had originally planned only to use a couple original music cues, but the music fit so well with so many scenes, that I think I used almost the entire album. It really is a timeless space opera score.
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Emperor Joseph the 2nd said:
"Its one of the greatest fanedits, yet fanedited, my friends."
Eric Gorman
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The Battlestar Galactica 2nd Coming
Edit Kicked some serious ASS...I greatly enjoyed it,
much more than the original it is based upon. Thank you Bionicbob...
Edit Kicked some serious ASS...I greatly enjoyed it,
much more than the original it is based upon. Thank you Bionicbob...
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There are those who believe that the success of the new Battlestar Galactica began in the old, far across the decades, with tribes of writers who may have been the forefathers of the pilot, or "Lay Down Your Burdens," or even the finale. Some believe there may yet be potential for the original series that even now fights to survive somewhere beyond the internet.
I am not one of these people. I regard the original Battlestar Galactica as terrible television, varying between chuckle-inducing cheesiness and outright unbearable schlock. So why on earth am I going to praise Bionicbob's edit to make the new Battlestar Galactica more like the old?
Because it's fun. Bionicbob describes his work as fast-produced B-Movie Popcorn Fare. That's exactly what he's delivered. Battlestar Galactica: The Second Coming works well as the action movie it's intended as. If you like the original BSG, then clearly this is the edit for you, but even if you don't, you can enjoy a good flick.
On a technical level, the movie is nearly flawless, and it tells its story clearly. I join much of the audience and Bob himself in my surprise with how well the 1970s score worked in overlap with the original. This match can't have happened easily; Bob must have put some serious work into finding the sweet spot to make those music and visuals overlap smoothly.
Bob wisely begins with the flashbacks to the original Cylon wars. Bill Adama in a midair melee with an old-series robot always counted among the most cartoonish moments of the new Galactica, so this segment quite superbly sets a different tone from the starting beats of the original, and it also fills the narrative gap left from the excised material.
Speaking of that excised material, Bob's removal of the entire concept of the "skin jobs" gets rid of two scenes from the original that were ham-fisted and poorly done to begin with, specifically the glowing spine and the baby-killing.
The story proceeds fast and furious. Bob makes excellent choices on which threads to preserve and which to jettison. Several moments required extremely careful cuts, and I'm impressed that he managed an emotional resolution between Adama and Apollo given the limits on footage.
Bob has eliminated most of the original pilot's moral ambiguities, which leaves a simple story with heroic heroes and villainous villains. The Cylons have no apparent motives for their actions other than being Evil Killer Robots, and our protagonists consistently respond in the best way available. For me, the complexity and moral ambiguity made the series worth watching, but that's different from what makes the kind of action movie that Bob has produced effective. The Second Coming is a different kind of fun from the original, and it has different goals. It's very easy to like both.
I felt dubious only about showing the devastation of the colonies with footage from The Plan. Although Bob's technical work remains strong--the Final Five, for example, becomes effective as random civilians--the mood set by this segment did not strike me as matching the space cowboy tone of the new movie. In Star Wars, we have a cataclysm in the form of a whole planet going splodey-boom, but showing the people of Alderaan cowering in the moments before their deaths would have hurt the space adventure's tone rather than helped it. B-Movie Popcorn Fare is not intended to be taken too seriously, and especially with the overstated 70s score in this location, we have a mismatch that feels unintentionally callous.
This decision is outweighed by a number of indisputably well-done scenes, including the one-line appearance of Gaius Baltar. I even posted in the Ideas forum about how Bob's concept might conceivably go further than this single movie, and I'm surprised no one has shown interest in brainstorming on that conjecture. Take it from someone who hated the original Battlestar Galactica and loved the new: this edit is B-Movie Popcorn Fare at its best. Enjoy.
I am not one of these people. I regard the original Battlestar Galactica as terrible television, varying between chuckle-inducing cheesiness and outright unbearable schlock. So why on earth am I going to praise Bionicbob's edit to make the new Battlestar Galactica more like the old?
Because it's fun. Bionicbob describes his work as fast-produced B-Movie Popcorn Fare. That's exactly what he's delivered. Battlestar Galactica: The Second Coming works well as the action movie it's intended as. If you like the original BSG, then clearly this is the edit for you, but even if you don't, you can enjoy a good flick.
On a technical level, the movie is nearly flawless, and it tells its story clearly. I join much of the audience and Bob himself in my surprise with how well the 1970s score worked in overlap with the original. This match can't have happened easily; Bob must have put some serious work into finding the sweet spot to make those music and visuals overlap smoothly.
Bob wisely begins with the flashbacks to the original Cylon wars. Bill Adama in a midair melee with an old-series robot always counted among the most cartoonish moments of the new Galactica, so this segment quite superbly sets a different tone from the starting beats of the original, and it also fills the narrative gap left from the excised material.
Speaking of that excised material, Bob's removal of the entire concept of the "skin jobs" gets rid of two scenes from the original that were ham-fisted and poorly done to begin with, specifically the glowing spine and the baby-killing.
The story proceeds fast and furious. Bob makes excellent choices on which threads to preserve and which to jettison. Several moments required extremely careful cuts, and I'm impressed that he managed an emotional resolution between Adama and Apollo given the limits on footage.
Bob has eliminated most of the original pilot's moral ambiguities, which leaves a simple story with heroic heroes and villainous villains. The Cylons have no apparent motives for their actions other than being Evil Killer Robots, and our protagonists consistently respond in the best way available. For me, the complexity and moral ambiguity made the series worth watching, but that's different from what makes the kind of action movie that Bob has produced effective. The Second Coming is a different kind of fun from the original, and it has different goals. It's very easy to like both.
I felt dubious only about showing the devastation of the colonies with footage from The Plan. Although Bob's technical work remains strong--the Final Five, for example, becomes effective as random civilians--the mood set by this segment did not strike me as matching the space cowboy tone of the new movie. In Star Wars, we have a cataclysm in the form of a whole planet going splodey-boom, but showing the people of Alderaan cowering in the moments before their deaths would have hurt the space adventure's tone rather than helped it. B-Movie Popcorn Fare is not intended to be taken too seriously, and especially with the overstated 70s score in this location, we have a mismatch that feels unintentionally callous.
This decision is outweighed by a number of indisputably well-done scenes, including the one-line appearance of Gaius Baltar. I even posted in the Ideas forum about how Bob's concept might conceivably go further than this single movie, and I'm surprised no one has shown interest in brainstorming on that conjecture. Take it from someone who hated the original Battlestar Galactica and loved the new: this edit is B-Movie Popcorn Fare at its best. Enjoy.