The bottom line is this: Mr. Tarantino apparently went to J. J. Abrams with a Star Trek movie pitch/idea, the idea was met positively, and as the article’s headline notes, writers are being hired to create a script based on Mr. Tarantino’s ideas.
As someone else might say…
I’m not a huge Tarantino fan but the man, let’s face it, is a talent and can create some great -if often foul mouthed and violent- stuff.
It would seem a man like him is not the person you’d want doing Star Trek but, frankly, I find the concept (here we go again) fascinating.
Frankly, I don’t think this will come to fruition. I’m not trying to be pessimistic, its only that Mr. Tarantino is currently (I imagine) getting things together for his latest film involving the Manson killings of the late 1960’s (the actual plot of the movie is unknown other than it is set in/around that time) and that movie is scheduled to be released in 2019. With that in mind, I can’t help but think if he does go from that to Star Trek, it’ll be a while -if ever!- before we see it.
Still, I’d be lying if I said I wouldn’t love to see a Star Trek film with Mr. Tarantino behind it, if only for curiosity’s sake.
I’ve written before about the very first film I ever saw and realized was telling a story, Duel, waaaay back when it probably originally aired (or very shortly thereafter) in 1971.
It still amazes me that it would be a Steven Spielberg film (his first huge success, too) that ushered in my understanding and love of movies. (In those pre-internet days, it wouldn’t be until maybe 10 years later, in the early 1980’s, when I got a chance to see the film again and was stunned to realize Duel was directed by Mr. Spielberg!).
But what got me into science fiction, and perhaps into television in general, was the original Star Trek series. Like with Duel, I distinctly remember the first Star Trek episode I saw. Turned out, it was the first one originally aired, as well, though when I first saw it the show was already at least 2-3 years post-cancellation…
While I’m certain anyone who sees the episode today will probably not find it all that scary, for me back then -and I couldn’t have been much more than 6 years old when I first saw it- it scared the hell out of me.
There was something so creepy about the alien killer and the way it left its victims that, to this day, still strikes a nerve.
Over the years, I managed to catch all the episodes of the original series. While I still like The Man Trap, my favorite episode of the original 3 year run is this one…
It had it all: Suspense, terror, a formidable (and seemingly indestructible) villain, and what was the episodes coup de grace: the badly damaged starship U.S.S. Constellation.
Why was the ship so important?
Because it was essentially a “sister” ship to the Enterprise and by showing it mauled and clearly at the losing end of a fierce fight, viewers instantly knew the danger the Enterprise faced was a damned serious one.
That alone. however, didn’t make the episode such a standout. The fact is the director Marc Daniels and the screenplay by Norman Spinrad, along with the usual great acting from the cast and crew, make this episode my favorite.
Interestingly, actor William Windom, who played the Constellation’s Captain Decker, stated he didn’t enjoy working on the episode because at the time the relationship between William Shatner and Leonard Nimoy was tense which meant the entire set was tense and, further, he also felt the script was silly.
I’m always fascinated with behind the scene stories like these. What to the viewer may be an impeccably delivered entertainment may be something very different to those who actually participated in it and it would seem this may have been the case, at least in Mr. Windom’s eyes, as the episode was being made.
Regardless, I love The Doomsday Machine and, in honor of Star Trek’s 50th Anniversary, offer a few more of my all time favorite original Star Trek episodes. I’ll try to stick to ones that aren’t super-well known to everyone, though I did just that with the first one listed (oh well).
If you’ve never seen the series, you can do no wrong with the two mentioned above and the 4 (5 if you count the two-parter) mentioned below:
City on the Edge of Forever
This episode was written by noted sci-fi author Harlan Ellison but changes were made which left him bitter about the final product. If you’re interested in reading the original script, it is available for purchase…
Having read it and as an author myself, I’m in the rather uncomfortable position of saying…the TV episode was better. Some of Mr. Ellison’s complaints regarding the changes made are logical (he was bitterly unhappy with the idea of Dr. McCoy “accidentally” injecting himself) but the scripted work, while certainly carrying everything that made the episode itself memorable, also went on some other tangents (there was drug dealing in the Enterprise!) which I didn’t care for.
See the episode and read the script and decide for yourself!
A Piece of the Action
What I liked so much about Star Trek is that from episode to episode you weren’t sure what you were going to get. While The Doomsday Machine and City on the Edge of Forever were suspenseful dramas, the show would feature a good sampling of outright comedic episodes. Many consider The Trouble With Tribbles the best of these comedic episodes (and its a damn good one, too), but I really enjoyed, indeed may well have laughed even more, at A Piece of the Action. This episode featured Kirk and company beaming down to a planet whose population has for reasons unknown (its part of the episode’s mystery) adopted a 1930’s era “gangster” look and tommyguns and gangland murders are the norm.
You wouldn’t think such a setting would be good for comedy but the creators of this episode turn the potentially fearsome setting into one of great hilarity as Kirk and his boys try to adapt to the gangland setting. Very amusing stuff.
The Menagerie Part 1 & 2
The only two part episode of the original Star Trek series was, in actuality, an extremely clever re-use of The Cage, the original Star Trek pilot which featured a completely different Enterprise cast…with the exception of Leonard Nimoy’s Mr. Spock. While The Cage is an interesting episode on its own, its use in The Menagerie, IMHO, takes that “ok” first stab at Star Trek and creates something far more engaging and clever…and does this without bringing back actor Jeffrey Hunter to the original Captain Pike role (the “injured” Captain Pike is played by another actor). Great, great re-use of material!
Spectre of the Gun
As good as the original Star Trek series was, after two seasons and low ratings, the show was cancelled. A letter writing campaign, however, proved strong enough to revive the show at the last minute for a third season. Unfortunately, that final season was weak compared to the first two. This was likely due to budget cuts and staff changes and there are few -perhaps none- who would argue Star Trek’s swan song season had even a fraction of the creativity of the first two.
Having said that, I always liked season 3’s Spectre of the Gun, if only for the wild set up and bizarre (and sinister!) re-creation of the famous Gunfight At The O.K. Corral. In this case, the crew of the Enterprise are forced by an alien entity to re-live that gunfight but their role is that of the doomed Clantons, who will lose that famous gunfight.
As I said, I liked the very 1960’s borderline psychedelic/minimalistic settings. While they most likely could have used a more traditional “western” setting (I’m sure Hollywood had plenty of those back then) they instead had the crew walk through an oddly lit minimalistic set to convey the sense they were in a western yet also trapped within a strange dream/nightmare. Kudos also to those who played Wyatt Earp and the rest of the “law”. They were uniformly sinister in their approach which aided in conveying a sense of doom to the participants.
So there you have it.
There’s plenty more good stuff out there, should you wish to look. Either way, the original Star Trek series had a tremendous impact on me. If you’ve never given it a try, do so. You might be surprised.
Its been many years since Star Trek: The Next Generation came and went, but way, waaaay back in 1987 when the very first episode of it appeared and the concept of a “Holodeck” was revealed (a neat digression: What came first, the Holodeck or the X-Men’s Danger Room?), for the first time I, a HUGE fan of the original Star Trek series, found myself questioning the whole concept of Star Trek’s society’s viability.
The question linked to at the top, whether the Star Trek economy is essentially a welfare state, is a –ahem– logical one to consider. If this society has moved beyond the use of money and all your survival needs are given to you for free (food, lodging, medical care, etc.) then one wonders: Wouldn’t that result in a society of worthless, useless beings who sit around all day playing their music or video games or movies, etc., while doing nothing else that is worthwhile?
And if you add to this society a Holodeck, essentially the ultimate “mind” playground where you immerse yourself into your own movie/video game/wish fulfillment arena, then whatever could make you want to leave it?
These questions have stayed with me for a while. So much so I wrote a short story called “Virtual” a few years back (shameless plug: it can be found in my Shadows at Dawn short story collection) that tackled the issue of getting so involved in a virtual world that you don’t want to face the real one. The key to making this scenario/story work for me was this line:
The virtual world could go on, but only when paid for with real world cash.
The author of the first link states that a Star Trek society could work and isn’t a “welfare one” in the classic sense. But I suspect that it is one that couldn’t work. Mind you, I’m not an Ayn Randian proponent, but I do feel that you have to have a motivation to progress.
Whether you’re literally or figuratively hungry to improve yourself in some way, to find a reward for your actions/work, whether they be monetary solely to keep your alive or more figurative in the sense that you wish to create some work that might be admired by others, money rewards be damned, there has to be some kind of motivation.
And I’m afraid the universe of Star Trek, at least as presented starting with Star Trek: The Next Generation, lacks that concept. In my mind, every one of the adventures presented in all the series could well be on set on a Holodeck, and the entire human race never bothered to leave their living rooms.
…so director/writer J. J. Abrams noted in an interview that the reveal that Benedict Cumberbatch’s character in Star Trek Into Darkness (from now on I’ll refer to it as STID) was Khan was perhaps not handled as well as it should have been:
I think Mr. Abrams states the obvious by this point and, no, I’m not trying to be snarky. In fact, this is perhaps why Mr. Abrams has succeeded as well as he has in a business as cut throat as the one he’s involved in. It shows he’s capable of looking around, assessing, and adjusting.
I’m certain there are plenty of directors who in his shoes would never in a lifetime admit something they did was “wrong” in any way. For that matter, there are plenty of people in many other lines of work who would be loathe to admit they ever did anything wrong (I have yet to hear a mea culpa for anything that occurred during the previous Republican President’s term).
I suspect that those working behind the scenes of STID came into the venture clearly wanting to put their spin on the Khan storyline. Unfortunately, they got so wrapped up in trying to “surprise” their viewers of the character’s identity that they ultimately tripped over their own feet in that reveal.
The fact is that the original 1982 Star Trek: The Wrath of Khan had the villain’s name in its title and yet other than die hard Star Trek fans, few knew who the heck Khan was or why he was all “wrathing” on the Star Trek characters. But the movie filled you in on all the information you needed in very short order. In his introductory scenes, Khan and his group were given a complete backstory that allowed audiences to know he was a very dangerous and clever villain. By the time Captain Kirk and Khan were about to cross paths for the first time, my stomach was in a knot, knowing that Kirk and his crew were innocently walking into a lion’s den…and there was a real doubt as to whether he would be able to survive that first encounter (check out Kirk’s reaction to seeing Khan at the five minute mark).
Excellent, excellent stuff.
But STID tried to hide Khan’s character from audiences until he was face to face with Kirk by the film’s second half. Then, when Khan reveals his identity, actor Benedict Cumberbatch delivers the line as if it is some major revelation…yet in this Star Trek universe, this is the very first meeting between the characters and therefore the whole thing is decidedly anti-climactic.
In The Wrath of Khan, Kirk is surprised, amazed, and more than a little horrified by the return of this very bad man. In STID, however, since the characters haven’t met this person before and have no knowledge of his backstory until he tells them, this big reveal is a big…nothing.
In the end, all that effort to hide the identity of the villain proved useless or, even worse, distracting from the overall film.
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: I enjoyed STID when I saw it in theaters but thinking about the film and the passage of time have certainly dulled my enjoyment and thoughts of the film. I’m not completely down on it, however, but feel that while it did succeed in certain respects it surely did fail in others.
