AD
Finder of things, Doer of stuff
So I'm not asking what would you do different. I'm asking a different question... Soon... within the next few years, it's my understanding that the publishing rights to the movie revert to Chris Roberts at which time there's a possibility that given that the funds are available, he could take the existing footage and fix/improve some of the effects and reintroduce deleted scenes and put out a spec. ed. DVD/Blu-ray.
So again, the question is, given that you can't change the actors, ships or set designs, or even the script, what do you think or how do you think you could make the film more agreeable?
I'll preface this discussion by mentioning that a lot of what people hate was done in the editing room. The difference between the workprint and the finished film is somewhat astonishing really. Some of it makes sense considering they removed subplots but some of it is just over edited. Single lines of dialogue are trimmed out here and there and pauses in conversations are trimmed down and glances and expressiveness removed for the sake of a quicker pace. Other lines of dialogue are moved around within the scene making them sound unnatural. Sometimes the extra seconds make a world of difference and other times the trimming is probably justified, but overall some of the little bits that are lost are really tragic loses as far as scene continuity and flow of the scene are concerned.
Some scenes just need time to breath. When blair explains to Angel why he wears the Pilgrim Cross, Angel gets all emotional talking about her parents and Bossman. There's a line in there about her needing to suit up. It's one line. It's not really shakespear either, but that's not the point. They moved the line up in the scene for some reason. So instead of her trying not to bawl her eyes out, and basically signaling Blair to leave her alone at the end of the conversation, the whole thing sounds odd and flat.
When I added the DVD version's scenes into the workprint, my final runtime was a whopping 2h and 5 min including credits. that's a good 25 minutes extra... Some of it is whole scenes, some of it is just a line of dialogue... But get this: The workprint I have is a mess too. Some sections have been edited into a mess already. THere's bits missing here and there where there obviously should be a least a little more dialogue.
Somewhere along the line early on, someone decided that they just didn't have the money to finish the effects of Merlin. So even though they apparently filmed to allow for it, there isn't really any version where it's included. But as soon as they did it it becomes apparent that they must have realized that -no matter how bad an idea Merlin was in the first place - removing Merlin was a royal screw up. So in the workprint you have people like Paladin and Angel speaking Merlin's lines to try and make the traitor stuff make sense without Merlin. It just doesn't work... at all.
Stuff is trimmed odd too. Like they apparently toyed with the idea of the Kilrathi setting a timmed self destruct. But then they don't address it or how they dissable it at all. Originally, the Kilrathi captain on the Concomm is supposed to pray before his sivar idol about sacrificing themselves or something but blair kills him before they can hit the big (not kidding) self destruct button. Overall the whole raid is trimmed up like crazy for no reason. It's all chopped up and just doesn't make sense in the final version. The whole battle is more complex but mostly just flows better.
So, one of my main fixes is a re-edit. Take out some of the awful lines... put in most of what was taken out... (not necessarily everthing. Some bits are fine left out).
So again, the question is, given that you can't change the actors, ships or set designs, or even the script, what do you think or how do you think you could make the film more agreeable?
I'll preface this discussion by mentioning that a lot of what people hate was done in the editing room. The difference between the workprint and the finished film is somewhat astonishing really. Some of it makes sense considering they removed subplots but some of it is just over edited. Single lines of dialogue are trimmed out here and there and pauses in conversations are trimmed down and glances and expressiveness removed for the sake of a quicker pace. Other lines of dialogue are moved around within the scene making them sound unnatural. Sometimes the extra seconds make a world of difference and other times the trimming is probably justified, but overall some of the little bits that are lost are really tragic loses as far as scene continuity and flow of the scene are concerned.
Some scenes just need time to breath. When blair explains to Angel why he wears the Pilgrim Cross, Angel gets all emotional talking about her parents and Bossman. There's a line in there about her needing to suit up. It's one line. It's not really shakespear either, but that's not the point. They moved the line up in the scene for some reason. So instead of her trying not to bawl her eyes out, and basically signaling Blair to leave her alone at the end of the conversation, the whole thing sounds odd and flat.
When I added the DVD version's scenes into the workprint, my final runtime was a whopping 2h and 5 min including credits. that's a good 25 minutes extra... Some of it is whole scenes, some of it is just a line of dialogue... But get this: The workprint I have is a mess too. Some sections have been edited into a mess already. THere's bits missing here and there where there obviously should be a least a little more dialogue.
Somewhere along the line early on, someone decided that they just didn't have the money to finish the effects of Merlin. So even though they apparently filmed to allow for it, there isn't really any version where it's included. But as soon as they did it it becomes apparent that they must have realized that -no matter how bad an idea Merlin was in the first place - removing Merlin was a royal screw up. So in the workprint you have people like Paladin and Angel speaking Merlin's lines to try and make the traitor stuff make sense without Merlin. It just doesn't work... at all.
Stuff is trimmed odd too. Like they apparently toyed with the idea of the Kilrathi setting a timmed self destruct. But then they don't address it or how they dissable it at all. Originally, the Kilrathi captain on the Concomm is supposed to pray before his sivar idol about sacrificing themselves or something but blair kills him before they can hit the big (not kidding) self destruct button. Overall the whole raid is trimmed up like crazy for no reason. It's all chopped up and just doesn't make sense in the final version. The whole battle is more complex but mostly just flows better.
So, one of my main fixes is a re-edit. Take out some of the awful lines... put in most of what was taken out... (not necessarily everthing. Some bits are fine left out).