Star Trek: A film by Quentin Tarantino

[David]

I mean yeah, its a real possibility:

http://deadline.com/2017/12/quentin-tarantino-star-trek-r-rating-mark-l-smith-the-revenant-drew-pearce-lindsay-beer-jj-abrams-1202222161/

 

 

 

 

[Darth Krawlie]

I like Tarantino. I like Star Trek. I dont like the sound of this at all.

[Poe Dameron]

Maybe they figured they needed someone with a greater range of musical taste than the Beastie Boys. It sounds like a conceptual nightmare. But I do kinda want to see this, even if it turns out to be a mess. Oddly enough, it does kinda work in my mind. Tarantino has that habit of indulging his philosophical side using pop culture references. Is there a franchise allows writers to scratch that itch more than Star Trek?

 

The really odd part is that he's not writing it. Has Tarantino ever directed a movie he didn't write?

[Tank]

He hasn't-- apparently they did a quick week long writer's room to rough out the concept. I'm sure he'll take a pass at the end result.

 

Berenstein Bears, sympathy for Nazis, game show host President-- whatever quantum reality I've ended up in, an R-Rated Tarrantino Star Trek movie...? Sure. Why not.

 

If they were cancelling TNG to do this, maybe I'd lose my mind-- but the current state of Trek isn't exactly stellar, so why not experiment. It's not like it was getting any better.

 

I will say this though-- Tarrantino knows how to make a retro film and invoke a tone and vibe. If he says he's going to make a gritty western, he delivers. If he says he's going to make a 70s chop-socky kung fu film-- he does. He loves the 60s-- his version of the 60s done as Star Trek would be a trip.

[Poe Dameron]

If they were cancelling TNG to do this, maybe I'd lose my mind-- but the current state of Trek isn't exactly stellar, so why not experiment.

 

I'm still of the opinion that they should knock off the experimenting and go back to almost exclusively episodic storytelling in the vein of TNG. But if they must, then why not.

 

Heck, I'd be up for short term run of watching Patrick Stewart himself back on the bridge of the Enterprise for a few episodes before handing off the baton. It's not like the guy ages. He basically hit distinguished middle age on the set of Dune and decided that he liked it so much he'd just stay there. The aging makeup effects from The Inner Light and All Good Things look silly in retrospect.

 

 

Even the de-aging CGI effects in Origins: Wolverine were unnecessary and could have been achieved with via a good makeup job.

[Guest El Chalupacabra]

I like Tarantino. I like Star Trek. I dont like the sound of this at all.

My sentiments exactly.

 

My initial reaction to this article is fake news. Then, there's STD, so nothing surprises me, anymore. I think the best thing that can happen to Star Trek right now is to just...stop. Don't do anything, anymore. The second best thing: CBS/Paramount needs to sell the franchise to Disney, and let them start over and do it right. Right now, you have owners of an IP that have no idea what to do with it, and are just wrecking it. The inmates are definitely running the asylum.

 

 

I will say this though-- Tarrantino knows how to make a retro film and invoke a tone and vibe. If he says he's going to make a gritty western, he delivers. If he says he's going to make a 70s chop-socky kung fu film-- he does. He loves the 60s-- his version of the 60s done as Star Trek would be a trip.

 

 

This ONLY works if the goal is to do a parody/homage film. I would much rather see this done as a tribute to Star Trek, minus the Star Trek moniker.

[Guest El Chalupacabra]

 

If they were cancelling TNG to do this, maybe I'd lose my mind-- but the current state of Trek isn't exactly stellar, so why not experiment.

 

I'm still of the opinion that they should knock off the experimenting and go back to almost exclusively episodic storytelling in the vein of TNG. But if they must, then why not.

 

Heck, I'd be up for short term run of watching Patrick Stewart himself back on the bridge of the Enterprise for a few episodes before handing off the baton. It's not like the guy ages. He basically hit distinguished middle age on the set of Dune and decided that he liked it so much he'd just stay there. The aging makeup effects from The Inner Light and All Good Things look silly in retrospect.

 

 

 

 

 

I honestly wish they would do (would have done) one or two more TNG films. I'd love to see a TNG, or a mixed cast film, and I say that knowing I am in the vast minority with a lot of people (and probably some nightly folks here) ready to bash and accuse me of being an ultra fan boy. So what. Guilty as charged, I guess. I've always felt that though Nemesis bombed, TNG and the Berman era Trek in general, deserved a better send off than Nemesis in the movies, and These Are The Voyages on TV, and they could have made one more movie back around 2005-ish. But that is never, ever going to happen. Sadly, I think the boat sailed on that long ago after the decision to go forward with Star Trek 2009. Plus, in every interview since Star Trek Nemesis, Steward and Spiner at least, seem to indicate they are done with Star Trek, so I doubt they could get them, anyway.

[Tank]

You know what melts my brain? There was only 5 years between Wrath of Khan and Encounter at Far Point.

[pavonis]

The original series went out on "Turnabout Intruder", so I think it's appropriate for Enterprise to have gone out with "These Are The Voyages" and for the TNG films to end with Nemesis.

 

Would this Tarantino film by the next (fourth) nu-Trek film, or a potential fifth one?

[captainbleh]

I wish there had been more Berman era Trek movies too

 

(still not convinced that Trek movies without the whatever of successful TV characters can become classics)

[Guest]

I'll pass on this.

[Guest El Chalupacabra]

You know what melts my brain? There was only 5 years between Wrath of Khan and Encounter at Far Point.

Why does that melt your brain? Just curious.

 

Edit:

 

Here's something that will really melt it:

 

TNG debuted in 1987, and effectively ended in 2002 with Nemesis, which means 15 years of TNG, on and off.

 

It's been 15 years since Nemesis was released.

[Tank]

Melt my brain cause in my heads the TOS and TNG were so separated. Even though I remember TFF and TUC especially happening during TNGs run, TWOK was older and around for so long it just seemed further away.

 

Here's a another one...

 

Star Wars started in 1977. Twenty years later we got the SE in 97. This last year was 20 years after the SE. Which means that in the history of ANH, the SE version has been the official one for the same amount of time as the original ANH was after it was made.

[Guest Robin]

I agree that at first this sounds like a pretty odd pairing, but Tank is right about Quentin delivering on the themes he goes for.

 

Besides think about this... a standard Techno-Oops drops NuKirk, NuSpock and NuMcCoy into Inglorious Basterds. See? They are not that out of place really, especially if the tougher lines of that script are from the humans of that period. Whether a time travel piece or not, I just imagine a Quentin Trek as another extension of the NuTrek vibe.

[Poe Dameron]

Melt my brain cause in my heads the TOS and TNG were so separated. Even though I remember TFF and TUC especially happening during TNGs run, TWOK was older and around for so long it just seemed further away.

 

Part of that time dilation relates to being young I think. Films we might think of as new are impossibly dated compared to the latest horror film that showed up in cinemas last month if you've only been around the sun a few times.

 

I mean, when I was young, I thought of movies like Star Wars, The Godfather, Jaws, etc. as being old movies. Even 80s movies like E.T., Raiders of the Lost Ark, and James Bond movies starring Roger Moore (don't even ask about Sean Connery) felt like forever ago. I think I mentioned once that I was watching the Star Wars trilogy on the Sci-Fi Channel hosted by Carrie Fisher for the 15th Anniversary and being floored by the realization that it had only been 9 years since Return of the Jedi came out (partially because Carrie Fisher had aged so much). That's as long as Iron Man's been out! Those movies, even ones that came out in my preschool years, felt like they were from another time period.

 

To teenagers today, the movies of the 90s and even early-2000s are old movies. The Prequels, The Matrix, Pirates of the Caribbean, Lord of the Rings, Pulp Fiction, Titanic, Forrest Gump, Pixar's early years.

 

Heck, the whole Disney Renaissance is ancient history to them and as much "classic" as Walt's old movies were to us. It kicked off in 1989 with The Little Mermaid. Taylor Swift was born three weeks later.

[Tank]

I feel like an eternity passed between Back to the Future 1 and 2. Like it was a HUGE DEAL they went back to do it. I mean-- OMG it was going to be so retro and weird to relive the 80s!

 

It was 6 years later.

 

But a great example of dilation. A ten year old me in 1985 was EONS in the past for a high school 1991 me.

[Poe Dameron]

Believe it or not, it was even less time than that. Back to the Future: Part II came out in 1989.

[Guest El Chalupacabra]

...and Part III was like 6 months later, if I remember right.

 

 

Melt my brain cause in my heads the TOS and TNG were so separated. Even though I remember TFF and TUC especially happening during TNGs run, TWOK was older and around for so long it just seemed further away.

Here's a another one...

Star Wars started in 1977. Twenty years later we got the SE in 97. This last year was 20 years after the SE. Which means that in the history of ANH, the SE version has been the official one for the same amount of time as the original ANH was after it was made.

Gotcha. I think I felt the same for a few years, but for different reasons....at least until TNG started introducing TOS characters like Sarek, and even then it took a long time and a couple years of reruns for it to sink in (maybe by like 1996 or so?). Then it started to feel more like the same universe. I do remember the big TOS VS TNG divide in the 1980s, especially right after TNG came out. Now, I actually look at TNG and TOS as pretty much the same, because TNG was the last incarnation of Trek actually created by Roddenberry. Time dilation, indeed!

[Tank]

Believe it or not, it was even less time than that. Back to the Future: Part II came out in 1989.

!!!!!

[Tank]

Gotcha. I think I felt the same for a few years, but for different reasons....at least until TNG started introducing TOS characters like Sarek, and even then it took a long time and a couple years of reruns for it to sink in (maybe by like 1996 or so?). Then it started to feel more like the same universe. I do remember the big TOS VS TNG divide in the 1980s, especially right after TNG came out. Now, I actually look at TNG and TOS as pretty much the same, because TNG was the last incarnation of Trek actually created by Roddenberry. Time dilation, indeed!

That was 100% intentional. Gene had lost control of the films. If you look at season 1 of TNG it's clearly more of a sequel to the TOS than the movies. He was getting a nice paycheck as creator-- but he hated the more military slant the movies took and given the chance he'd punch Harve Bennet in the face. It was only after Rick Berman took over TNG in season 3 that there was a concerted effort to tie things together more. The epitome of course being the cross-platform support for Unification and The Undiscovered Country. Nimoy's stunt-casting basically served as a long-form promo for TUC. And in turn, TUC made it clear they were handing the baton to TNG.

 

Back to QT, thinking on it...

 

I've always wanted to see him do scifi, do his mash-up thing with 60s/70s scifi. Imagine a QT post-apocalyptic film that mashes up Soylent Green, 2001, Solaris, Last Man On Earth, Fahrenheit 451... that would be amazing.

 

But if Tarantino were really so enamored with Trek, he would not even want an R rated ST movie, much less make it a stipulation for his involvement. This desire sort of betrays a fundamental misunderstanding of the mythos. I drop several f-bombs a day, and I love QT movies in general... but the one f-bomb in ST: Discovery felt super wrong to me.

 

He can love Trek, and I think his version of it as some sort of send up, or an original take would be awesome. Moreso, I'd love to see a movie he made and describe it as "Tarrantino's Star Trek"... but to actually have it BE Star Trek is a jarring thought.

[Poe Dameron]

That was 100% intentional. Gene had lost control of the films. If you look at season 1 of TNG it's clearly more of a sequel to the TOS than the movies. He was getting a nice paycheck as creator-- but he hated the more military slant the movies took and given the chance he'd punch Harve Bennet in the face. It was only after Rick Berman took over TNG in season 3 that there was a concerted effort to tie things together more. The epitome of course being the cross-platform support for Unification and The Undiscovered Country. Nimoy's stunt-casting basically served as a long-form promo for TUC. And in turn, TUC made it clear they were handing the baton to TNG.

 

Great, now I'll forever see the "Gene Roddenberry: 1921-1991" tribute at the beginning of Unification and find just a tinge of irony in it.

 

 

 

But if Tarantino were really so enamored with Trek, he would not even want an R rated ST movie, much less make it a stipulation for his involvement. This desire sort of betrays a fundamental misunderstanding of the mythos.

 

Fair enough. Though thinking about it, he did direct those episodes of ER and CSI and the franchises remained standing. So he's not completely unfamiliar with running around in other people's playground without wrecking everything. Could be that's why he wanted to hand the writing duties off to someone else.

 

I wonder what an R-rated Star Trek would really mean. It doesn't necessarily have to be a bunch of F-bombs, N-bombs, gratuitous violence, and nudity. Really, First Contact could have been pushed to an R rating without too much effort or changing of the film's tone if that was their desire.

[Ryn]

Glad you brought up "Fahrenheit 451," Tank. Even Francois Truffault gave science fiction a try.

[Tank]

I wonder what an R-rated Star Trek would really mean. It doesn't necessarily have to be a bunch of F-bombs, N-bombs, gratuitous violence, and nudity. Really, First Contact could have been pushed to an R rating without too much effort or changing of the film's tone if that was their desire.

Orion slave dancers and exploding heads is my guess.

 

(though there was an exploding head in a TNG episode...)

[Guest El Chalupacabra]

 

 

Back to QT, thinking on it...

 

I've always wanted to see him do scifi, do his mash-up thing with 60s/70s scifi. Imagine a QT post-apocalyptic film that mashes up Soylent Green, 2001, Solaris, Last Man On Earth, Fahrenheit 451... that would be amazing.

 

But if Tarantino were really so enamored with Trek, he would not even want an R rated ST movie, much less make it a stipulation for his involvement. This desire sort of betrays a fundamental misunderstanding of the mythos. I drop several f-bombs a day, and I love QT movies in general... but the one f-bomb in ST: Discovery felt super wrong to me.

 

He can love Trek, and I think his version of it as some sort of send up, or an original take would be awesome. Moreso, I'd love to see a movie he made and describe it as "Tarrantino's Star Trek"... but to actually have it BE Star Trek is a jarring thought.

See, QT would be perfect for something like a 60s/70s sci fi like the mash up you are mentioning. Or even a Road Warrior type of world. That would be right up his alley. I just don't see his style fitting well with Star Trek. He may be a good writer, but I remain skeptical he is a good fit for Star Trek.

 

And while I didn't see the F-bomb episode in STD, I did read about it, and my reaction is the same...feels way wrong. I just don't imagine a scenario where Star Trek NEEDS to be R-rated, unless it was a straight up Alien-esque horror story, or a graphic war story. STD is doing just that (war story), and I don't like that show at all, but if they had the right writer and did the Earth-Romulan War....I don't know. Maybe? If Star Trek went the horror route, it would probably resemble Prometheus\Alien Covenant a little too much for my liking ( despite David VS Walter is basically like Lore VS Data!), and not feel like Trek at all.

[Poe Dameron]

Heck, I'd be up for short term run of watching Patrick Stewart himself back on the bridge of the Enterprise for a few episodes before handing off the baton. It's not like the guy ages. He basically hit distinguished middle age on the set of Dune and decided that he liked it so much he'd just stay there. The aging makeup effects from The Inner Light and All Good Things look silly in retrospect.

Might someone in Hollywood actually be listening to me for once?

 

The new deal comes as rumblings about another Star Trek series, featuring Patrick Stewart reprising his role as Star Trek: The Next Generation's Capt. Jean-Luc Picard, have been getting louder. Sources say Kurtzman and Akiva Goldsman, who left Discovery after season one, are attached to the Stewart-led reboot. CBS TV Studios declined to confirm the Stewart project as sources say a deal is far from completed and may not happen, despite the fact that the actor recently teased his potential return to the franchise.