Hello and welcome to Griddy Films. This
video is gonna be a deviation from my
normal movie reviews. Today, I'm gonna
talk about some entertainment news that
just came out that I found interesting
and want us to talk about. So, it's just
announced that Quentin Tarantino is in
talks with J.J. Abrams to make a Star Trek
movie. Quentin Tarantino approached J.J.
Abrams with a story idea and J.J. Abrams
liked it, took it to Paramount, it sounds
like it's a go. And now they're going to
assemble a writers' room to write the
story. So, what this means is the script
is not gonna be penned by either J.J.
Abrams or Quentin Tarantino but Quentin
Tarantino will get a story by credit.
Even though Tarantino won't be penning
the script, it looks like there's a
possibility that he will direct the
movie. So, with that explanation of what
exactly is going on, let me explain why
I'm completely on board with this
seemingly weird choice.
First of all, Tarantino is a master of
genre and I think his fascination with genre
is really gonna help with something like
Star Trek, particularly because with the
J.J. Abrams movies, it never quite captured
the heart of Star Trek to me. They've pretty
much all so far felt very much like
action movies that happen to be Star
Trek movies and I think with Tarantino
having some influence, either just with
the story or, hopefully, with story and
directing, he'll be able to really take
some of the sci-fi elements, particularly
sci-fi elements from the original which
is much different from more modern
sci-fi tropes. The original series was
really a western in space. I mean, it was
the final frontier. It was all about
adventure and going farther west, so to
speak, than anyone had never been
before and I think that Tarantino will
really be able to pick up on a lot of
those tropes that were used in the
original that have been kind of lost,
even in, like, Star Trek Next Generation,
which is definitely more evolved as far
as genre goes, which is important. You
want to keep with the evolution of the
genre but also pay tribute to what came
before and I really think Tarantino has
an eye for it and I think--I think if
anyone can do it ,yeah, he's a good choice.
In addition to his eye for genre,
Tarantino is a Star Trek fan. J.J. Abrams
was very open when he first started this
that he had, I think he said he had never
seen a single episode of any Star Trek
show, something ridiculous like that. So, I
think he came in with the idea that he
could give a fresh perspective to the
franchise because he had never seen it
before. Which I get and I think to some
extent he was successful in that but,
again, it just, it felt very much like
an adventure movie that happened to be
Star Trek, which I think is because it's
lacking the heart of a fan. I really
think that's--that fandom is important
and I think that with Tarantino growing
up watching and--and studying the way a
future filmmaker would the original Star
Trek show, he's gonna know those
characters, he's gonna know the type of
adventures they should go on, he's--I
think he's gonna be able to bring a
certain essence to a Star Trek movie
that J.J. Abrams isn't able to because
he's not a fan. So, I think that could be
really exciting, too. Quentin Tarantino
also, throughout all of his movies, has a
really sharp focus on characters and I
think that that is also something that
the Star Trek movies could really use. If
the story revolves around the characters
first and plot second, I think we're
gonna get a much stronger, particularly
for fans, a much stronger Star Trek movie
than what we've seen so far.
And I think this is gonna be
particularly exciting because, you know,
with J.J. Abrams, he was able to breathe
new life into the franchise in that
suddenly Star Trek is for the masses. You
know, people who wouldn't normally like
Star Trek went to see Star Trek either
because they like action movies they
like J.J. Abrams, you know, whatever the
case may be. I do think that was an
important starting point for a reboot
but now that everything is established,
now that there's a, you know, both new and
old fan base, I think having somebody
like Tarantino come in and really hone
in on the characters that people love
from the original series, people love
from the Abrams movies. I mean, these
characters are--are so iconic and
so almost universally known and just so
recognizable. So, I think a Tarantino-helmed Star Trek movie can actually be really
exciting for Trekkies who know and love
these characters so much and who want to
see a Star Trek movie that focuses on
these characters as opposed to focusing
on action. And we also know with
Tarantino, he can direct action. Obviously,
he's known for the gratuitous
violence but that doesn't mean he's not
capable of making an action scene that's
pg-13, that's true to the Trek universe.
I think he absolutely is. You know, he's a
fan. I think he's gonna want to be true
to the franchise and true to the
characters and I think we could get a
really interesting story. And I think
it's important to note also that
Tarantino is just a really talented
filmmaker. I mean, yes, he's known for
gratuitous violence and obscene
language but that doesn't mean he's not
capable of making something that doesn't
have those. You know, he's here to make a
Star Trek movie and I think we could end
up with not just a character driven, true
to Trek movie, I think it would also be
just visually appealing and well-made.
It's also interesting to note that this
isn't gonna be the first time J.J. Abrams
has worked with Quentin Tarantino. He
actually starred in four episodes of
Alias. He didn't write or directed
any of those episodes but he did act in
them. You know, it's just kind of
something to keep in mind that, you know,
J.J. Abrams has a little bit of an idea of
what he's getting into because he's
worked with him before. And just on one
last quick note, if you're still not too
sure about Quentin Tarantino working on
a Star Trek movie, I highly suggest you
check out the 1965 Mario Bava movie The
Planet of the Vampires. If you don't know
anything about Mario Bava, he was really
a prolific Italian filmmaker
in, like, the 60s and 70s but he was
extremely influential. Another reason to
watch Planet of the Vampires is that it
inspired Ridley Scott when he made Alien,
which is a fun little tidbit. But a lot
of other filmmakers, including Quentin
Tarantino were extremely influenced by
the films of Mario Bava and with Planet
of the Vampires, the first time I saw it,
ir very much felt to me
like an episode of Star Trek: The
Original Series directed by Quentin
Tarantino. So, what do you think about
Tarantino working on a Trek movie?
Do you think he should just get the
story by credit, do you think he should
direct, do you think this was just a
mistake? Should he not do either? Let me
know what you think, let me know if you
agree or disagree with anything I've
said here, if there's anything I've
missed, anything I've forgotten. Yeah, I'm
curious to know what everybody else
thinks about this groundbreaking Star
Trek news. All right so here's the
situation. I filmed what I said earlier on
Wednesday. By Thursday, news had already
been released that Tarantino's Star Trek
movie is gonna be rated R. I am back to
being a little bit more nervous about
this. I also think with the R rating, it's
a little bit unfortunate because I think
for Star Trek, for so many people, it has
a certain power to it to shape young
minds, I guess, and just to form optimism and
a sense of unity with--within humanity
that I think is lacking in today's
world. By its very nature of having an R
rating, you're gonna limit the number of
young people that will see it. That might
be a reason to, you know, not do an R
rating with this particular franchise.
I know with superhero movies, there's a
lot of, you know, talk right now after
Deadpool and after Logan that we should
be pushing the superhero genre into more
adult areas, which I think it's great. I think
that genre, you know, it's not just for
kids. I think people are starting to realize
that now which is really great. And Star
Trek isn't just for kids either but I do
think it's a little bit unfortunate to
limit young people's exposure to
something that can have a lot of power
for young people so I was a little bit
disappointed by that. However, I do think
if he takes on maybe like a war with the
Federation which could be any number of
things. You know, there's a lot of battles
throughout the series and if he just
took a, you know, a realistic approach to
these battles, that would easily garnish
it an R rating and would still be
true to the franchise so he could
be going in that direction.
So, he has mentioned in previous
interviews, well before this was
announced, that he's interested in kind
of the time travel aspects of Star Trek and
alternate timelines so I think it's
possible we could see, you know, maybe
something of a different era. Maybe even
a new cast all together. We could even
see, I mean, if he's talking alternate
timelines, we could even see maybe
alternate universe. Maybe we'll get some
Mirror Mirror stuff? That could be pretty
cool. So, I mean, who knows what we're
gonna get. It really depends on why it's
gonna be rated R. I'm assuming at this
point it's gonna be primarily for
violence, so if--if the violence is used
effectively to tell a story that is true
to Star Trek I don't think it's
necessarily a bad thing but I am back to
being nervous. So, time will tell.
Let me know your thoughts and we'll see
how else the story develops. All right, so
in part three of what is now becoming
quite the epic tale of the proposed
Tarantino Star Trek movie, it has now been
announced that none other than Captain
Jean-Luc Picard himself, Patrick Stewart,
is interested in participating. So, this
lends a little bit more credence to my
idea that this might not be an Original
Series story or, if it is, that there's
going to be some sort of time-travel
involved, which could be interesting. And
I think having Patrick Stewart so openly
say this early on in the game that, you
know, pretty much if he's asked, he will
participate was kind of the vibe that
I got and that that definitely gives me
a little bit more confidence. Obviously
there's no script yet, he hasn't seen
what he's basically agreeing to. But, I
think this could be a boost of
confidence to a lot of fans and I think
it could be a sign that we're moving
away from the Original Series and into
Next Gen, at least as far as timeframe
goes. This does make me a little bit nervous,
first of all, because I'm not necessarily
sure I want to see the Next Gen cast in
another movie. Part of me does and part
of me things that could go wrong very
quickly. And it also makes me a little
bit nervous because it makes me think
they could be rebooting Next Gen. I
really hope they're not going that route
and this is all speculation at this
point but the idea of a taking place
in a time frame one way or another
where Jean-Luc Picard exists can get a
little bit iffy. They can go a lot of
different directions with it. So, that
leaves a big question of what does this
mean and it might not mean anything
because Quentin Tarantino haven't weighed
on this. This is just, Patrick Stewart
said in an interview, "This--this intrigues
me, I think he's talented, I really want
to work with him, I would come back to be
in a movie that he's directing." So, that's
all it is at this point but I think that
combined with Tarantino's past
interviews about his ideas for what he
could do with the Star Trek movie, it
does beg a question of where is this
movie, like, where in time is this movie
gonna take place? That's kind of where we
are right now with this story. Hopefully,
no more news comes out before I can
finally post this. Hey, thanks for
watching.
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