Synopsis:

Agents of the Earth Council, Valerian and Laureline, are tasked to recover the last know Mül Converter - a creature from a destroyed planet - and become embroiled in a threat against Alpha, the vast space metropolis that is home to millions of individuals from a thousand different planets. The marriage proposal sub-plot has been excised from this cut while leaving a burgeoning romance between the two main characters, and other edits have been made to speed up the pace of the story.

Intentions:

The marriage/honeymoon suggestions littered throughout the film slammed the brakes on the movie every time they reared their head. A large section of the opening planet Mül scenes were also duplicated towards the end of the film which left me feeling “I’ve already seen this” when I watched it in the cinema. There are plenty of really fun moments and some spectacular visuals (especially when viewed in 3D) but they are liberally sprinkled with scenes just really don’t work for me. This edit is an attempt to make a version of the film I can enjoy rewatching.

Change List:

* Added fanedit text notice at start of film * Alien planet sequence and beach scenes excised - we go from the Space Oddity montage > title > astroship jumping in * Removed marriage proposal when disembarking the bus * Removed “haven’t we met?” when first seeing the Pearls * Removed “hey, I’m not running a tea-room here” * Big Market shopping couple man no longer says “Civilised…sure” * Trimmed Laureline dialogue when fixing dimensional hand box, no mention of proposal * Removed mention of dream sequence when examining pearl on astroship * Removed talk of marriage / honeymoon before leaving exospace (1) * Removed “demographics” section of Alpha transit * Trimmed a few “Valerian” calls from Laureline after he crashes - now she acts more quickly and decisively * Trimmed Laureline finding Valerian scene - now ends with peck on cheek, no marriage talk * Trimmed start of scene when Laureline gets "caught" by Boulan Bathors * When Valerian recruits Bubbles the scene ends with “…the best I ever saw” and Rihanna smiling * Trimmed some relationship advice during alien kitchen walk * Removed Bubbles death scene, she now raises and lowers her hand but Valerian doesn't see it * Excised dialogue from bridge * Removed Valerian’s “told you so” when it is revealed he hosts the Pearl Princess’ soul * Inserted crashed ship Mül scene from intro dream sequence into Emperor’s story time * Trimmed argument between Valerian and Laureline about giving up the Converter, no love explanations * Removed Filitt saying a soldier will always choose death * Cut end of hanging Filitt’s shouting so it sounds like he’s about to swear: “Get me down from here, you…” * Removed end scene marriage proposal - it's now a more ambiguous possible engagement ring * Removed "play list" statement from Valerian (1) Note: there is a small continuity error with seatbelts but it is present in the original film as well.

Additional Notes:

A 3D side-by-side version of the edit is available for 3DTVs and VR headsets. The 2D version of this cut was submitted for approval purposes.

Other Sources:

I originally attempted to duplicate the “No Love Lost” edit by Malthus using their change notes, but for a 3D S-B-S rip of my 3D Blu-ray. I was unable to obtain the Malthus version as they were away from the forums for a couple of years however their changelist provided a good guide. After an initial version I decided to maintain some small romance between the two leads as befits their original comic book characters. Also after completely excising the Pearl Princess character in early cuts I was left unsatisfied with several scenes, so she was reinstated and had parts of her post-title sequence moved to later in the film.

Special Thanks:

Malthus - for providing the initial inspiration with their “No Love Lost” cut of the film. TriggeredPuppy - for their help and suggestions during the review process.