Quentin Tarantino’s Star Trek Movie That Never Happened
Jodorowsky’s Dune for the modern generation? Not quite.
Star Trek is coming back to the big screen. In what form we’re not quite sure yet, but one thing’s pretty much certain: It won’t be Quentin Tarantino’s next movie.
Indeed, a Praxis-like shockwave rumbled through the fandom in late 2017 when it was announced that the iconic Hollywood auteur, known for making very different movies to the Trek variety, was in the early stages of developing a treatment for a new installment in the franchise.
And it was pretty serious too, apparently, with reports of numerous conversations between Tarantino and representatives from JJ Abrams’ Bad Robot production company.
Details aren’t fully known, likely being withheld for a Jodorowsky’s Dune-esque documentary one day, but what we do know what the idea involved the Kelvin crew, time-travel, Earth-based action involving gangsters, and a hard R rating — a previously unthinkable concept for a Star Trek movie.
As soon as the news went public the idea started to cool, with Tarantino’s involvement rapidly reducing from director/writer/producer, to writer/producer, to just producer. By 2020 the idea was dead, save for Tarantino’s offers to add some polish to whatever Bad Robot’s hastily assembled writers’ room had come up with.
The whole saga was but a brief love affair, but it was quite astonishing how seriously the idea was taken. Predictably there was resistance from some quarters, with critics pointing to Tarantino’s less desirable traits and perceived problematic tendencies. Others were worried what a radically different vision would mean for their beloved franchise and over 50 years of a mostly protected continuity.
But there were many who entertained the idea, and truly believed a Tarantino-directed Star Trek movie was going to happen.
It was never going to happen.
I repeat: It was NEVER going to happen.
Here’s why.
Bursting violently onto the scene with the seminal indie classic Reservoir Dogs in 1992, and topping that with the all-time great Pulp Fiction two years later, Tarantino quickly established himself as one of the world’s premier filmmakers, a reputation that hasn’t diminished in the two-plus decades and seven further releases since. Tarantino is a powerhouse, an elite-level artist whose movies are treated as culturally significant by many more than just a loyal niche fanbase.
To put it simply, and perhaps a little bluntly: Tarantino is above Star Trek.
This revelation is strengthened by Tarantino’s insistence that his next, and tenth movie will be his last. Wanting to avoid making what he calls “horrible movies”, sullying his filmography in the same way filmmakers such as Dirty Harry ‘s Don Siegel had. On the subject Tarantino said in an interview:
“If he had quit his career in 1979, when he did Escape from Alcatraz, what a final film!”
“What a mic drop.”
Why on Earth then would Tarantino want to bring the curtain down on such an acclaimed career with Star Trek 14? It doesn’t make any sense, and that’s why almost everyone with a slither of rational thought knew it was never going to happen.
To be fair this situation hasn’t been helped by sensationalist media outlets and the content equivalent of fast food restaurants, who used the reports to create countless articles and lists and videos on YouTube that all probably went a long way in legitimising the concept in the minds of some fans.
The reality of the situation is likely this: Tarantino, a fan of early TOS movies and a lover of 60’s cult television wrote a couple of ideas for a story on a cocktail napkin whilst watching an old reel of ‘A Piece of the Action’. Ever the creative and highly connected in Hollywood, Tarantino passed the idea to Abrams, who tried turning it into something with commercial potential before running into roadblocks, probably due to budget and Tarantino forgetting the idea and moving on with Once Upon A Time In Hollywood.
Is the dream of a Tarantino Star Trek completely dead? No — there are always possibilities. Hopefully with the successful relaunch of the movie series, and the ever-growing potential of new Trek projects on Paramount+ maybe it could still find life. Tarantino, with more eclectic credits as a writer and producer, might yet be a part of a potential production.
Just don’t put money on it being him being the one in the director’s chair.
It was a nice fantasy while it lasted. The documentary might be fun though.
