Star Trek (NuTrek) Fan Edits [WIP/REL]

Overview

Beginning in the spring of 2020, I’ve made a considerable effort to re-edit each season of the live-action NuTrek series with the goal of producing something a bit more cohesive and similar in tone to the 90s shows that I grew up with. While these edits will certain not satisfy all detractors, they have greatly enhanced my viewing experience and caused me to enjoy rewatching shows that I would otherwise never revisit. The editing process has also helped me to gain a greater appreciation for the details and intentional heart that lies buried in much of the vanilla content. My hope is that these edits allow that good to shine more brightly. After multiple passes, rewatches, and the soliciting of private feedback, I’m happy to make this project a bit more public.

As always, please support CBS/Paramount+ by purchasing hard copies of the vanilla content or paying for a subscription with their service. Fan edits could not exist if the studios didn’t produce the raw material, and we all want them to keep doing that.

These edits will not:

• Remove the socio-political agendas present in the vanilla content
• Make Michael stop being an integral part of each DSC season plotline
• Make Picard a perfect person who has never made mistakes and has no regrets

These edits will:

• Make DSC and PIC somewhat more episodic
• Maintain major events and character arcs to ensure future continuity
• Heavily rearrange and trim scenes in order to reduce plot holes and inconsistencies
• Trim scenes to tighten pacing and improve the flow of each episode
• Moderate melodrama (excessive moodiness, insubordination, and/or supportive compliments)
• Trim select images and lines in order to maintain a PG-like rating (similar to 90s Trek)
• Standardize the length of all NuTrek seasons at 9 episodes ranging from 30-60 minutes in length

I wish that these edits could:

• Include footage that was never recorded to fill in some remaining plot and character gaps
• Include finished versions of some deleted scenes
• Include a host of new VFX shots to change certain ship designs and costume details to increase universe-wide continuity (not within my skillset or budget)

Bottom line: If you hate NuTrek, you still probably won’t like these edits. If you find NuTrek tolerable but wish that it made a little more sense, was a little more family friendly, and wasn’t quite so melodramatic, these edits might significantly improve your viewing experience.

Please note that these edits are not professionally created. All changes have been painstakingly made using Apple’s default Quicktime and iMovie applications. The content has been created using a combination of screen-recorded from a legal source, mkv ripping from official BluRay disks, and incorporation of additional audio from the official soundtracks. The files that I currently am making available contain visual compression issues, especially in darker backgrounds, which may be especially noticeable on higher-definition screens. In the future, as I gain more experience and have access to better hardware, software, and hosting bandwidth, I intend to redo these edits at a higher quality level, using programs like Topaz and DaVinci Resolve to enhance these specific shots, but that is probably at least a year away.

Finally, I would be remiss if I did not publicly thank the following people/organizations for their inspiration, feedback, and/or direct contributions to this ongoing effort:

• DeepHomage (on YouTube)
• Big Screen (on YouTube)
• Wraith (on FanEdit)
• BionicBob (on FanEdit)
• Trekyards and Sam Cockings (on YouTube etc.)
• FanFilmFactor (on Fanfilmfactor.com)
• Jammer’s Reviews (on Jammersreviews.com)
• Nathaniel Booth

Editing Samples

DSC 2x06 - Discovery Jumps to Section 31 Headquarters
(link at https://drive.google.com/file/d/1N8DIRo_b-ftFPlxXkx6aVK1dopYhL7-9/view?usp=sharing)

In the original version, Discovery warped to Section 31 headquarters. In my edit, the spore drive was disassembled following season 1 and they haven’t used it since, but the urgency of the situation causes Pike to order its reactivation. This is the most complex set of scenes that I have put together and involved splicing audio and visuals from three different episodes into a cohesive sequence. This video shows all three vanilla scenes, followed by my final amalgamation.

PIC 1x02 - Admiral Clancy
(link at https://drive.google.com/file/d/1fJdMrv-N5ssHTi_xGsV3kAOrxRFt60yy/view?usp=sharing)

In this infamous scene, Picard asks Starfleet for help in finding Bruce Maddox and is rejected by an angry admiral who “talks like a sailor.” In my edit, the admiral listens as Picard makes a more organized case, then rejects him a more diplomatically but still firmly. This video contains both the almost-vanilla (censored) and edited versions for comparison.

PIC 2x04 - Meeting Guinan
(link at https://drive.google.com/file/d/10hZGm-TcTLUvL8FQjy9AUZ48Fw6LHD_L/view?usp=sharing)

In the original version, Picard beams in, sees the sign for 10 Forward Street, realizes where he is, and enters the bar. Since this will be the first appearance of Guinan in my edit, I wanted to make it more nostalgic, so I added a flashback, much like the one that season 3 uses with Data whistling from “Encounter at Farpoint.” This video shows the vanilla sequence, three flashback approaches that I considered, and what I ultimately used. Additional footage is from the remastered version of TNG; additional music is from the PIC season 2 soundtrack.

Released Edits and Biggest Changes (PM for more information)

DSC season 1

• The Klingon scenes are greatly reduced.
• There is less melodrama and fawning over certain characters.
• There is no Harry Mudd. While I liked him, taking that plotline out greatly streamlined the season.
• A certain character doesn’t get murdered.
• The war is resolved in Discovery’s absence, and Starfleet doesn’t consider using genocide to win.
• Future VFX may swap out some ships for more traditional designs seen in ENT and SNW.

DSC season 2

• The spore drive gets turned off until it’s actually needed mid-season.
• A certain not-murdered character doesn’t get resurrected in a way that makes little sense.
• The threat is from the present, not the future (it only grows to become apocalyptic in the future).
• There are no quasi-Borg fake outs.
• The second Red Angel is only responsible for the signals that follow the events of “Perpetual Infinity.”
• Kelpians do not suddenly know how to fly starships.
• Future VFX may reduce the number of unmanned drones in the final battle to make it less busy.

DSC season 3

• There are no references to the 32nd century and a few are changed to place the season in the 28th.
• There is no Grey rebirth. While I appreciate the intent, and “Forget Me Not” is lovely, I never understood why he is the only host who ever got to come back to life, and he also doesn’t do much.
• The seed-ship adventure is gone in order to streamline the season.
• The Burn is solved by chance proximity, not research that should have been done by others 100 years earlier.
• The ensign is an ensign, not somehow also the XO.
• There are no turbolift roller coasters.
• Future VFX may replace random 23rd century background ships, modify the ensign’s uniform to remain consistent, and use AI vocals to solidify the new 28th century setting.

PIC season 1
(full changelog at https://drive.google.com/file/d/1uHUnvk3iaxKlBtvknul1aqg8VYze0bCO/view?usp=sharing)

• Picard’s illness/mental issues are present throughout the season, not just at the start and end.
• Soji and Narek’s relationship is more of a slow build instead of a quick-start and plateau.
• The cube gets some use.
• There are no tentacles, and instead a there is more Trekian resolution.
• There is no random wrap-up sequence to end the finale.
• Future VFX may heavily reduce the number of ships in the Starfleet and Romulan fleets, add a bit of diversity to those fleets, and restore a couple of battle shots of La Sirena but without holographic duplicates. It may also revisit and refine the de-aging of Data, especially in the first scene.

In-Process Edits

PIC season 2 (initial edit complete - this edit is being revisited to recontextualize it)

• The plot builds at a more even pace, with fewer and shorter interruptions.
• Q is implied to be, or directly is, responsible for more of the coincidental story elements.
• The search for Jurati happens in a single episode to convey more urgency.
• There are no stretches where important characters randomly disappear in the midst of their stories.
• There is no last-minute drama surrounding the launch.
• The FBI side-plot is repurposed.
• Q’s interventions are clearly tied to his TNG appearances with white light and the “Q Flash” sound effect.
• Hints of the First Contact soundtrack are sprinkled throughout to amplify the Borg vibe.
• Future VFX may create a partially de-aged Q to help distinguish his initial tampering with his current presence in the 21st century scenes. It may also enhance the Borgified look of the assimilated soldiers.
  NOTE: This season has been moved back to “In-Process” because it will be getting a major rework to position it after the events of season 3. With this new ordering, Picard will be focused on his childhood in part because of his new identity as a father, these Borg will truly be a new direction following the final defeat of the Borg we knew, and Rios will have rejoined Starfleet in part because they lost so many senior officers during the Frontier Day massacre. My ultimate hope is to use VFX to combine the closing Ten Forward scenes from seasons 2 and 3 into a final sequence that pays homage to all of the major TNG and PIC characters.

DSC season 4 (rough edits through episode 4 of 9)

• There is still no Grey rebirth. This is making the Zora arc a challenge, but I’m not giving up.
• The second half will be very compressed. One of my biggest goals with the season is to improve the flow while trimming roughly half the episodes in the second half. I’m trying to essentially merge every two episodes. We’ll see if that works out.

SNW season 1 (brainstorming - on hold while I see how season 2 expands the myriad season 1 storylines)

• Implement minor tweaks for better cohesion with my edit of DSC season 2.
• Rearrange episodes to spread plot lines across the season (T’Pring, Mbenga’s daughter, Pike’s destiny).
• Tone down the Alien parallels in “All Those Who Wander” while not changing the essential facts.
• Move Una’s arrest to the start of season 2.

Picard season 2 has been finished and is available on request. Like all of my edits, it contains nine episodes, ranging in time from just under 30 minutes to just under 60.

While the edit changes less in plot than season 1, season 2 contains a ton of tiny adjustments to increase cohesion, remove tiny dialogue inconsistencies, and smooth the building of momentum.

In the vanilla season, I found the biggest issue to be one of pacing. There was a constant feeling of urgency but it was interrupted in nearly every episode by slow monologues and side adventures. Even the climactic battle in episode 9 had Picard stopping multiple times while running from bad guys to reflect on and explain things to another character. In this edit, I have made considerable effort to reduce or remove such interruptions, while also pulling each side adventure into a single episode so that it feels more tight. The result is a more cohesive viewing experience where the characters come across as more professional and more deliberate.

The second biggest issue was a sense that Q’s plan didn’t make sense and depended upon too many wild-card factors (for example, the idea that Picard going back in time was his own choice and not part of the plan all along). In this edit, I have removed lines that imply that things are happening outside of Q’s control. I have also added a few Q sound effects and flashes to imply that he is directly involved in elements of the story that were previously thought to be incidental. The result is that Q appears more deliberate, his plans more methodical, and the season as a whole less random.

While I have yet to compile the full change list (easily over five hundred edits), the major highlights are as follows:

• The plot builds at a more even pace, with fewer and shorter interruptions.
• Q is implied to be, or directly is, responsible for more of the coincidental story elements.
• The search for Jurati happens in a single episode to convey more urgency.
• There are no stretches where important characters randomly disappear in the midst of their stories.
• There is no last-minute drama surrounding the launch.
• The FBI side-plot is repurposed.
• Q’s interventions are clearly tied to his TNG appearances with white light and the “Q Flash” sound effect.
• Hints of the First Contact soundtrack are sprinkled throughout to amplify the Borg vibe.

Please note that the edit, while entirely watchable, is not fully HD. Sometime in the next year or two, when I have upgraded my equipment and software, I intend to redo my edits at a higher quality level. The imperfections are most obvious in the background of darker scenes, like those aboard the unpowered La Sirena.

UPDATE TO INITIAL POST.

I’ve continued to work on my Trek projects behind the scenes, but I’ve also taken some time away from them to focus on other things like The Rings of Power.

Here is where my various edits currently stand:

DSC - I took a hiatus to focus on other projects and need to get back to this to finish Season 4. I have upgraded my footage and incorporated relevant deleted scenes into all of my edits.

PIC - I added another deleted scene to season 1 and polished the surrounding sequence. I also got most of the way through a v2.0 polish on season 2 when I realized that I ultimately want to swap the order of seasons 2 and 3. Because of this, I’m waiting on the season 3 BluRay to come out in September so that I can finish editing the entire series the way I want.

SNW - With season 2 now airing, I have a better handle on how I want season 1 to end. I’m hoping to get back on this project soon, but I am also aware that with so many plotlines going on this this show, I may be wise to see all of season 2 before getting into the weeds.

PRO - Just ahead of the sudden cancellation and removal of Prodigy, I managed to screen record all of season 1. I always wanted to edit this show to remove a little of the kid humor and on-the-nose dialogue. In solidarity with the fan attention this series is now getting, I may prioritize that effort. I’m not yet sure what format my version will take. I will probably aim for 9-episode “seasons” like my other efforts, but I’m not sure how many “seasons” I will make from this content or how long the episodes will be.

OTHER - I’ve had it in mind to revisit some of the 90s Trek series to give them a bit of a polish for pacing and tone. I’m also interested in adding some musical cues from some of the newer shows, in order to enhance overall cohesion (can you imagine some of the Dominion track from PIC season 3 getting heard at key points in DS9?). This effort is obviously on the back burner and will either require a lot of advanced remastering work on my part or the availability of remastered footage from another contributor. I currently have no plans to work on Lower Decks; while I have enjoyed that series, I don’t feel strongly enough about it to invest.

NOTE that all of my edits will eventually benefit from some more advanced VFX work, but I continue to budget for a more ideal computer and software that will be able to handle that. Specifically, I’m hoping to get a higher end screen and enough speed/RAM to work well with Topaz and the more advanced AI features of DaVinci Resolve.

Oh I would love to see Discovery and Picard ‘fixed’ like you have mentioned in this thread and watch that from the start again. 😃 Thank you!

ogt said:

Oh I would love to see Discovery and Picard ‘fixed’ like you have mentioned in this thread and watch that from the start again. 😃 Thank you!

PM sent.

My rework project has both grown in scope and slowed down as I am trying to learn a range of new tools I have at my disposal (DaVinci Resolve Studio and Topaz AI in particular). I also lost the hard drive where the iMovie versions were stored, which means that I can’t simply have that open in a separate window and copy each change.

Version 1 of these edits remain very watchable, but version 2 may take a while.