Most of his movies are set either in a gritty present or an equally gritty, hyper-realistic period scenario.Īdd to this the fact that Tarantino’s Trek movie was purportedly going to be–had it gone into production– the first R-rated effort in what had traditionally always been a family-friendly franchise, and it becomes clear that Tarantino would have made a Tarantino movie, dressed in the trappings of Star Trek, instead of lending his formidable talent and energy to the franchise while keeping its basic foundations intact.
Star Trek: Picard Season 2 Release Date, Trailer, and Cast By Kayti BurtĪnd while he has experimented with alternate histories in Inglourious Basterdsand Once Upon A Time… in Hollywood, he has never directed a pure science fiction film. His first five features are all immersed in the world of thugs, criminals, and gangsters, while two of his four subsequent movies feature criminal elements in different environments. The gangster angle would not only rehash “A Piece of the Action” to some degree, but it would also bring Star Trek directly into Tarantino’s wheelhouse, had he indeed chosen to direct the film. Subscribe Why Tarantino’s Star Trek Might Have Sunk the Franchise For GoodĪs we said, “A Piece of the Action” may still be an enjoyable Star Trek episode in many ways, but to hang an entire feature film on this premise–the Enterprise running up against early American gangster culture in a time travel adventure set on Earth–would, we believe, prove to be a disappointment.įor one thing, the Enterprise traveling back to Earth’s past and generating laughs has already been done: the most successful of the original cast’s six features, 1986’s Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home, featured the crew going back to then-modern day San Francisco to save some whales and bring them forward to the future. The episode is fondly remembered as part of a string of second season episodes that leaned in a comedic direction–along with “I, Mudd” and “The Trouble with Tribbles”–while allowing Kirk and Spock to romp around in pinstripe suits and fedora hats as they brandished tommy guns and convinced the rival gangs to “cooperate wid us and, uh, maybe we’ll cut choo in for a piece o’ da action.” Coon, “A Piece of the Action” had the crew of the Enterprise investigating a planet of highly imitative humanoids who based their entire culture around a book left behind by an Earth ship a century earlier–in this case, a book about 1920s Chicago mob organizations. The story seemed to be a direct take on the famous second season episode of the original series, “A Piece of the Action.” Meanwhile, even though he officially withdrew from directing the film, the script based on Tarantino’s story idea still lurked in the background.įor one thing, Variety recently confirmed again longstanding reports regarding exactly what Tarantino’s pitch was, calling it “a largely earthbound story set in a 1930s gangster setting” that involved time travel and did feature the most recent “Kelvin timeline” cast (or at least Chris Pine’s Captain Kirk). Clarkson ( Jessica Jones) were attached at different points, with Matt Shakman ( WandaVision) eventually landing in the director’s chair in mid-2021.ĭifferent scripts were also apparently bandied about, with both a direct sequel to 2016’s Star Trek Beyond (Clarkson) and yet another reboot with a different set of characters ( Hawley) both in the mix. Over the past few years, as Tarantino’s interest in the project faded, directors and writers such as Noah Hawley ( Legion) and S.J. Thus began a confusing, four-year journey through development hell for what might have been as many as three different Trek features. A writers’ room was convened, with different scribes proposing different ways to flesh out Tarantino’s pitch, with The Revenant screenwriter Mark L. One of the most respected (and controversial) filmmakers of his time, the imagination behind modern classics like Pulp Fiction and Inglourious Basterds, wanted to put his imprimatur on one of the most beloved (if creaky) sci-fi franchises of all time?Īpparently that was the case, even if it was unclear whether Tarantino actually wanted to direct the thing himself or just sort of shepherd his story idea to the screen. When the news broke in December 2017 that Quentin Tarantino had approached Paramount Pictures with a pitch for a new Star Trek film, one could hear the collective sound of countless fans’ jaws dropping open.
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