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STAR TREK 5 Final Frontier The Great Experiment Workprint

bionicbob

bionicbob

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FINAL-FRONTIER-WORKPRINT-POSTER.jpg



THE GREAT EXPERIMENT WORKPRINT!

Despite all the criticisms and shortcomings of Shatner's THE FINAL FRONTIER, I genuinely adore this movie.
It is the only Classic Cast movie that feels like a TOS episode.
'Madman steals the Enterprise to find God.' That sounds like Star Trek to me. "The Apple" and "The Way to Eden" instantly jump to mind.

I have edited this movie quite a few times over the years, both publicly (THIS OTHER EDEN) and privately. And I never tire of it. It continues to call to me as I seek to create a definitive cut for myself.

And much has changed over the years. Things about the movie that I used to detest, I now love. ie The Camping Trip.
Three old dudes, life long friends, drinking too much and teasing each other.... to me, now in my 50s, this sounds not silly at all but like Real Life! lol

The other BIG change over the years, is some truly fantastic fan created CGI replacement shots have become available.
So taking inspiration from the ever amazing @Wraith and his cool TWOK fan edit, I have decided to experiment by using these shots to hopefully improve the movie.
This is also a collaborative affair, as I have been receiving help and inspiration from the likes of @phineasbg , @dkerin and @MusicEd921 , who helped upscale several essential sequences to HD.

Though the reality is, Final Frontier is essentially an unfinished film due to a last minute slashed budget and a writers strike. Thus, there are plot holes that can not be filled and narratives that can not expanded upon. But hopefully, with these new fan created CGI shots and some creative editing, I can create something closer to Shatner's original vision in a workprint style format.

Fan Edit clocks in at 1 Hour 32 Minutes.
16 Minutes Cut.
17 GB MP4 File

BASIC CUT/CHANGE LIST:
--Replaced all original FX shots (except for one) with fan created CGI
--Replaced all original Location Title Cards and added additional ones
--Replaced 80s Paramount logo with modern one
--ADDED a Nimbus III Planet establishing shot
--ADDED "Nimbus III" music track
--ADDED "Mind Meld" music track
--ADDED Show J'onn's Pain
--Replaced original credits with all new Opening Titles, travel through the Galaxy to Earth
--ADDED footage of El Capitan at dawn
--Recreated Yosemite title cards
--CUT Kirk's fall
--ADDED "Paradise Saloon" music track
--CUT alien cat tail gag
--CUT/Edited fire side chat, removing references to mountain fall
--Rewrote all Klingon subtitle dialogue
--CUT Scotty & Uhura bridge scene
--CUT Chekov & Sulu lost
--CUT malfunctioning Enterprise subplot
--CUT Admiral Harve Bennet scene
--CUT Uhura's fan dance
--CUT Horse jokes
--CUT Kirk's cat fight
--ADDED Mind Meld music cue to Sulu, Uhura and Chekov scenes
--Trimmed Kirk's fight with Sybok
--CUT Turbo Lift Shaft scene
--ADDED Mind Meld music cue and Heart Beats to McCoy and Spock's Pain scenes
--ADDED Show Kirk's Pain
--ADDED Breaching the Barrier is longer, more difficult
--ADDED Show the God-Thing's Pain
--Cut God-Thing floating energy head incarnation
--ADDED God-Thing Rock Monster incarnation
--ADDED shots of Bird of Prey rescuing Kirk
--CUT Sulu & Chekov wonderful muscles
--CUT Klaa saluting Kirk


A SPECIAL THANK YOU to all the Final Frontier Fan Editors that came before!
Hike Animation, Phineasbg (The Enhanced Edit), Delimited Productions (Beyond the Barrier), JTVFX, Nick Acosta, BL Creative and Dave Kerin.
This Fan Edit would not exist with out you.

PM me if you would like to journey to the Final Frontier.
šŸ––
 
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Some sample clips from the fan edit:

New Opening -- Modern Paramount Logo, added music tracks "Nimbus III" and "Mind Meld", planet establishing shot, show J'onn's Pain, new travel through the galaxy opening credits:


No Turbo Shaft Climb -- Never mind the fact they made the Enterprise almost 100 stories, where did Spock go? How did he come from above?


No Cat Fight -- this is an old clip, the horse Vulcan pinch has been restored
 
Why is it called a "Workprint"?

While I do view this edit as a FANFIX, I opted to go with the subtitle of The Great Experiment Workprint because as I touched upon in my first post, I view FINAL FRONTIER as an unfinished film. And no matter what I add or remove, it is for all intents and purposes still an unfinished movie.

To get this movie to something closer to it's original intended narrative, I have used fan created CGI of varying age and quality, with some of it needing to be upscaled to HD. I am sure the mileage of these new fx will vary depending on the viewer. And because I chose to work under the Workprint umbrella, I made certain technical choices such not adding grain or degrading the CGI shots or adding gaussian blur to the new title cards.

But this still very much a proper fan edit in all the classic terms. The narrative has been altered from it original released version. Scenes have been cut. Music has been added. All done with the intent to create a fun, alternative viewing experience.
:)
 
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A big THANK YOU to @Wraith for not only taking the time to post a review,
but also for inspiring this project with his STAR TREK II FAN FX REPLACEMENT fan edit. :)

The core of this edit is NOT (IMHO) the replecment VFX (created by fans) that have been used ...NOPE. The core of this edit are the judicious trims, rearrangements and extra additions which the editor has skillfully deployed to deliver a choherant and satisfying narrative. Pure joy!
Click to expand...

At the end of the day, it always has to come down to story. Just because something is "pretty", doesn't make it good. So good VFX alone can not save this movie. Luckily, at it's heart, Final Frontier has all the ingredients for a solid, classic Trek tale. It certainly has some the best Trinity moments of the entire Classic Movie Series. So while certain plot elements are still not developed to their full potential, I hope this workprint style fan edit shines a brighter light on what could have been if the Studio had more faith in Shatner's vision.
 
I think you sell this edit short with the ā€œworkprint ā€œ qualifier. For me, this was more polished than the theatrical versionā€¦

Itā€™s already on a blu ray discā€¦ and sitting on my shelf, next to my Trek archiveā€¦.

In a wordā€¦thus edit was ā€œsatisfyingā€!
 
@keithbk THANK YOU very much for taking the time to post a review. :)

I found you observations about Shatner's direction to be very interesting. I can see you point on that. Though to be honest, it never bothered me. It feels very TOS to me, which was very theatrical and melodramatic.

I wholly agree some of the CGI is dated. The climax Rock Monster footage is well over 10 years old and had to be upscaled to HD. But the intent was never to convince the viewer this is a modern FX style movie, but rather serve the story better in order to gives us a hint of what could have been. Hence, the "workprint" subtitle.
 
I get what you did; I wasn't suggesting you create all-new CGI. I think if some of the shots were darkened, it might blend better (hide the "plastic" feel of some of the Enterprise shots, for example). Again, if someone were really skilled in shading/color balance in video, some of the more obvious CGI shots could be aided.

One of the things that also bothers me in the original are the shots inside the Klingon ship interior. Far too bright and not enough "mood." I think if you could color it to be like the interiors of the Deep Space 9 Klingon ships, it would feel more "right."

To be honest, I don't know if Shatner ever really got the Klingons correct in this film. If you compare the Klingons here with both 3 and 6, there is quite the contrast.
 
keithbk said:
To be honest, I don't know if Shatner ever really got the Klingons correct in this film. If you compare the Klingons here with both 3 and 6, there is quite the contrast.
Click to expand...

I completely agree. While there are of course different types of Klingons, Klaa with both his design and behaviour, always felt a little off to me too. It is one of the reasons I slightly altered his dialogue to at least try to make him sound a bit more Klingon and cut him saluting Kirk at the end.
 
THANK YOU @Bored at 3:00AM for your review.
So happy you enjoyed it. šŸ˜

...but there's so much to love for fans of TOS.
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110% agree. My hope is the curiosity of new fan made fx will attract people to check it out, but the original core story will remind them why TOS is so beloved by so many.
 
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Reactions: Mnm
@janderclander14 THANK YOU for you back-to-back Trek reviews! šŸ˜

I found the new title cards a little bit too intrusive (too big/mordern/sharp) and the new VFX scenes could have been integrated better with some additional color gradding/noise/soft effect to make them less artificial.
Click to expand...

Very valid. Mileage here will definitely vary for many. (y)
 
THANK YOU @Mnm for your review. So happy to read you enjoyed it so much.

... what BionicBob did here, is actually teach me that sometimes less is more. Man, how much the cuts in this one actually improve the movie, and give it more dignity.
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One of the great joys of fan editing is finding the diamond within the coal. :)
 
@postindustrialist THANK YOU very much for you review.

... what this does for Star Trek V is nearly everything I didn't know I wanted. It's leaner, stronger; somewhere between a TOS episode and a TOS movie, with a dash of TNG.
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YAY! It was definitely my intention to bring as much of the TOS elements to the foreground as possible. Happy to read that it works for you. :)
 
ā€¦..ahhhhh , the penny just droppedā€¦
ā€œBehold, The Great Experimentā€
 
@djr Thank You for your review.

Grew up on the original and will probably keep watching the original,...
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Nothing wrong with that. I have lost count of how many times I have watched the original. It is a very charming movie. :)
 
Thank You @ParanoidAndroid for posting a review.

The integration of the rock monsters (wonder if Galaxy Quest used the idea in reference to this production) as the beings behind the malevolent force worked really well, as does the extended journey through the Great Barrier which felt massively anti-climactic before.
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If I had one goal, more important than any other, it was trying to extend and heighten the Barrier breach. It is another example of where the original film's slashed budget really hurt it. So I am very happy this sequence worked for you.
 
@AntonioCC Thank You for taking the time and allowing me to be your first review. :)

As always, BionicBob delivers. Unfortunately, I think that this time, he cut too much.
Click to expand...

Could you be more specific? Is there a certain scene you missed or would have like edited differently?
 
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