The rumor that Quentin Tarantino is developing a Star Trek film is gaining traction again, now with reports that he’s met with J.J. Abrams and Paramount to work on a script, but It’s all still in super early stages. I have some ideas on what it could lead to, and also a few misgivings on Tarantino taking on a Star Trek film. And do note that I’m a massive fan of both Tarantino and Star Trek.
Tarantino has expressed interest in doing a Trek film before, mostly as a fully fleshed out 2 hour plus version of the Star Trek: The Next Generation episode “Yesterday’s Enterprise,” (I’ll go into that later) which he went into on his Nerdist Podcast episode (relevant conversation starts about the one hour, eight minute mark). Earlier in that episode, he talked about how earlier in his career (I think it was just after Pulp Fiction) he toyed with the idea of doing a Luke Cage film, but he wasn’t confident in his ability to manage fan expectation, as he just wants to make HIS Luke Cage movie. And he’d want to make HIS Star Trek movie. I don’t think Tarantino could make HIS Trek movie while balancing studio notes and fan demands, both of whom are trying to “protect the brand.” So, much like last year’s Tarantino/Deadpool petition, as much as I’d love to see a Tarantino Trek film, two things I love, I don’t think we’d get a Tarantino Trek film, we’d get a Trek film with Tarantino’s name on it. Tarantino and franchises just aren’t a good fit. He’s got too defined a style and vision, that doesn’t jive with the studio goals for franchising films and creating cinematic universes.
That said: A fully fleshed out “Yesterday’s Enterprise” would be fantastic to fill in the holes only vaguely alluded to in the episode/franchise. And if I thought for one second that Tarantino would be allowed to make HIS Trek, I’ll be the first on board and in line to watch it. I think Paramount would do well to maybe do…. I guess an anthology franchise would be the best way to put it. They’ve got this big enormous sandbox of potential stories that have only ever been mentioned in the shows, in addition to a wide range of possibilities for Trek post-Voyager. Give some filmmakers carte blanche to make a Trek film. They don’t even need massive budgets to make it work. Tarantino could probably make a damn good one for $30million. Give the filmmakers a handful of guidelines to stick to so it’s still TREK, but otherwise, be bold.
Maybe test the waters with rebooting or remaking old stories (like “Yesterday’s Enterprise”) so you’re still kind of playing it safe, but going kinda wild with it. And the anthology comes in with “First movie is about this thing, second is about another thing with different characters, third is yet another story with still more different characters.” It’s kinda sorta what Disney/Lucasfilm is doing with Star Wars, kinda sorta what Disney/Marvel is doing with the MCU, but if they approach it right, as in, “Yeah, they’re all connected, it’s a big universe, but no one thing explicitly relies on or feeds into the other. They’re all their own thing.” Don’t make it an event. Just make it exist.
IF, and BIG IF, Tarantino’s talks with Abrams and Paramount do lead somewhere, I would actually love a full “Yesterday’s Enterprise,” movie. Full back story, Yesterday’s Enterprise is about Captain Picard’s Enterprise D encountering a temporal anomaly, with the Enterprise C breaking through from its own time 20 years in the past to join Picard in the present. The Enterprise C scored a decisive, yet sacrificial victory at the Battle of Narendra III, which saved the Klingons from a Romulan double cross. What’s important to note is that at the time of this battle, The Klingons and Romulans were allies against the Federation, but were in the middle of peace talks at Khitomer. The Federation’s sacrifice to save the Klingons, coupled with the Romulan betrayal, led to the Khitomer Accords being signed, aided by Captain Spock and Curzon Dax representing the Federation, and a longstanding peace treaty with the Klingons. But with the Enterprise C removed from that battle due to the aforementioned temporal anomaly, that battle ends differently, the treaty is never signed, and the Federation is in a longstanding war with the Klingons and Romulans.
“Yesterday’s Enterprise” stands as one of the best of that entire series, if not the entire 50 year history of the franchise, and I would love to see it bulked out and expanded on. There is a lot to that story that Tarantino could dive into. Tarantino’s ability to deftly maneuver between multiple story lines, in a fractured timeline, would make this a perfect marriage of art and artist.
Ultimately, I’m skeptical, but optimistically so.
The Empty Theatre 
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