Quentin Tarantino’s Star Trek would’ve harmed the franchise.
People are still talking about Quentin Tarantino’s Star Trek idea as if it was some mythological beast that would’ve saved humanity. It’s a bit odd that a director, who’s never shown to be able to step out of his style of filmmaking, is someone so many people wanted to take on Star Trek.
Let’s be honest, Tarantino can’t make a film without ultra-violence, gore, constant conversations about nothing, and the same repetitive types of characters. If thats’ your jam, cool. Nothing wrong with that. I like a few of his films, but I like them because they are his films.
They aren’t Star Trek, which while yes is a franchise, but is also already its own thing. That’s why Trek has struggled to find a consistent audience since 2009, they keep doing things differently. Some fans do like this, most fans don’t.
Tarantino’s film would’ve hurt the franchise worse than anything that has come out in the last 15 years, and yes, that includes shows like Discovery and Picard.
Quentin Tarantino would’ve turned Star Trek sour
Collider wrote an article talking about the Tarantino project recently, and why it ultimately died a death. Frankly, it died because his ideas were probably way too out there for a Trek-branded film. Heck, his entire idea was to basically re-do the original series episode, “A Piece of the Action”, an episode that not many will claim as their favorite.
It’s an episode whose quality ranges wildly depending on who you ask. It’s not the best foot forward for a Star Trek film and seems like Tarantino wanted to re-do Reservoir Dogs but with Spock as Mr. White and Krik as Mr. Orange.
To see an ultra-violent, Star Trek-mafia film would’ve broken the hearts of so many fans. How can I say this with certainty? Just look at Discovery’s less optimistic tone and Picard’s darker, crueler tone.
They were not well received and they were far more “Star Trek” than anything Tarantino had planned.
Trek is a brand, it comes with expectations. That’s why shows like Strange New Worlds work and are so widely popular at the moment but the other shows haven’t. Fans don’t want their expectations subverted, they want them fulfilled.
Fans who want Tarantino-led Trek films are Tarantino fans first, and Trek fans second. That’s fine, but Trek fans know why Trek works. They know what’s awesome about it. That’s why the tried and true method is still the most popular method.
Stop deviating from what works.