Given how 'Star Trek Beyond' wasn't as warmly received by audiences as the first in the rebooted 'Star Trek' franchise, its future - on the big screen, anyway - is up in there.
On TV, shows like 'Picard', 'Discovery', and the upcoming 'Strange New Worlds' all appear to be hitting their marks pretty well. As much of the industry is in flux right now, Paramount - the studio behind 'Star Trek' - is now reevaluating how to move forward with 'Star Trek' on the big screen.
Per reports in THR and Deadline, Paramount is currently weighing up two possible options for the next 'Star Trek' movie, one with Quentin Tarantino's idea, the other with 'Fargo' creator Noah Hawley. The story goes that Noah Hawley's idea is being pushed back, as it involves a virus wiping out over half the galaxy and Starfleet attempting to combat it. Not exactly ideal given the current situation, you'll agree.
Quentin Tarantino's idea, however, is truly out-there and one that die-hard Trekkies would recognise. According to sources, the Tarantino Trek is based in part on 'A Piece Of The Action', an episode from the second season of the Original Series and saw Kirk, McCoy and Spock beam down to a planet that just so happened to be modelled on '20s Chicago.
Yes, really.
The episode basically follows the crew landing on the alien planet which was visited a travelling ship a hundred years prior. That ship, called the Horizon, left a history book behind on the planet that essentially formed the basis of their society. The book, as it turns out, just so happens to be about Chicago mobs of the twenties, which has now influenced all culture, architecture, fashion and economics on the planet.
It sounds bizarre, but it's really one of the best episodes in the Original Series and the kind of batshit, out-there concepts that made 'Star Trek' so great. It's also kind of telling that Tarantino went for it as an inspiration, mainly because it's an episode that features bloody gang wars, has a silly premise, but really delves into some deep, thought-provoking stuff underneath it.
Previously, Tarantino had backed away from doing 'Star Trek' as his final movie, so the likelihood is that he'd be involved only as an executive producer, and that's if Paramount goes ahead with Tarantino's Trek.
Paramount hasn't yet publicly commented on the rumours, but Tarantino's Trek is one that's been talked about for years and if the studio were bold enough to go with something that inventive, it might just be the way to go for 'Star Trek'.
