I love ice cream. I love tortellini alfredo. I love pizza. I don’t necessarily want to stick all three things in a blender and drink it. Not all great tastes taste great together. Enter Quentin Tarantino, J.J. Abrams, and Star Trek.
According to Deadline Hollywood, after rumors about Tarantino being interested in doing a Star Trek movie made their rounds on the Internet, it seems that something may actually come to fruition. Tarantino shared his idea for a take on a Star Trek movie with J.J. Abrams who liked it enough to suggest that they get a writers’ room together to hash out a script. If the script works, they will move forward on a film with Tarantino directing and Abrams producing.
I read that, and my brain short-circuited a little bit. I was not sure how to feel at all. My inner fangirl SQUEED at 1) the prospect of two of my favorite creators working together, and 2) the prospect of them working together on one of my all-time favorite franchises. But then my inner fangirl’s natural skepticism kicked in. You know, the voice that warns n’er do wells to stay away from your precious stories so they don’t mess them up? Yeah, that voice.
I love Tarantino’s work. I love Abrams’ work. I’ve loved Star Trek since I was in elementary school. I don’t necessarily want to stick all three things in a blender and drink it. Not all great tastes taste great together.
There’s some hope to be found in this. While Abrams has been very up-front about the fact that he didn’t grow up a Star Trek fan, and only came to appreciate the franchise through working on the most recent films, Tarantino is a fan, and may do a good job staying true to the spirit of certain things. Then again, his potential take on what a Star Trek film could be sounds like it’s based more in time-travel mechanics than it is in character-driven storytelling.
However, Abrams excels with characters. Say what you will about the plots of his Star Trek films, or how they relate or don’t to canon, he and the writers on those films paid very special attention to Kirk, Spock, McCoy and the rest, ensuring that these people stayed true to their originals. Tarantino and Abrams might be able to balance out each others’ strengths and weaknesses.
What I really, really, really hope, though is that whatever writers’ room they assemble isn’t all cis, straight white dudes. Star Trek fans come in all genders, races, and physical types. I would feel much more at ease if the next Star Trek film had the input of non-white guys. Justin Lin, who’s been a fan since grade school like me, did an amazing job on Star Trek Beyond.
If Tarantino is going to direct a Star Trek film, let him at least be shooting the written work of someone who’s coming at the franchise with a different lens. It will make what might already be a good movie even better.
*crosses fingers*
(image: Gage Skidmore/Flickr)
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