Tarantino May Turn This Star Trek Episode Into a Movie

Details are scarce on the shape Quentin Tarantino's proposed Star Trek movie will take, although thanks to the director's word himself we may actually have a good idea of which episodes he wants to tackle.Tarantino is attached to develop and possibly direct a new Star Trek movie. Just let that sink in for a moment. Now that a writer's room is being assembled to put the wheels in motion, and with mega-producer J.J. Abrams backing the auteur director's vision for the potential film, it's a genuine possibility that "Quentin Tarantino's Star Trek" is actually on the horizon.Related: Quentin Tarantino's 1969 Project Lands Summer 2019 Release DateWhile nothing is set in stone yet, Tarantino has mentioned his affinity towards the esteemed science fiction franchise in the past. In a 2015 appearance on The Nerdist Podcast, the Pulp Fiction director briefly brainstormed potential ideas for his take on the classic property. In particular, he said, "You could take some of the great classic Star Trek episodes and easily expand them to ninety minutes or more and really do some amazing stuff!" He mentioned two episodes in particular: 1967's "The City on the Edge of Forever" from the classic series, and the 1990 Next Generation episode, "Yesterday's Enterprise."The City on the Edge of Forever (This Page)

The City on the Edge of Forever: Tarantino's Top Pick

Of Star Trek: The Original Series, Tarantino stated, "The only thing that limited them was their '60s budget and eight-day shooting schedule." Now that he's working on a Star Trek film of his own, it's possible he's aiming to adapt the timeless episode, "The City on the Edge of Forever."

Commonly cited as the greatest Star Trek episode, and indeed, one of the greatest television episodes ever made, "City" is a time-travel story that sees Doctor McCoy, accidentally driven mad by an overdose of cordrazine, escape to the past via the mysterious Guardian of Forever. Kirk and Spock follow him to 1930s New York City where they discover he will alter history; by sheer chance, McCoy will stumble upon and save the life of Edith Keeler (played in the episode by the great Joan Collins), which causes a chain-reaction of events leading to Nazi Germany winning World War II. It's up to Kirk to keep that from happening. In the meantime, though, he winds up falling in love with Keeler and is forced to wrestle with his romantic feelings versus the need to save the world from a terrible future.

In the 2015 podcast, Tarantino calls the episode "one of the classic stories of all time." Could he have an eye to turn this time traveling romantic tragedy into the basis of his Star Trek film? A straightforward adaptation could definitely be a crowd-pleasing epic, blending the heavy drama of the episode with fish-out-of-water antics such as those seen in Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home. However, the storytelling potential of the Guardian of Forever is endless, which makes it puzzling that the entity has made only a scarce few appearances; after "City," it went on to play a role in "Yesteryear," an acclaimed episode of Star Trek: The Animated Series, as well a few missions in the ambiguously canonical video game, Star Trek Online. Granted, many other forms of time travel are utilized across the franchise, but The Guardian of Forever deserves another shot.

One element which could put a fresh wrinkle into the story would be incorporating William Shatner, whom Tarantino described as "my key into the series." Perhaps, instead of Doctor McCoy going nuts and traveling back in time, they could find a way to bring back the original Captain Kirk, saving him from his unfortunate (and disappointing) death in the lackluster Star Trek: Generations, only to have him go back in time in an effort to prevent one of the great losses in his life, the death of Edith Keeler. Or maybe, rather than returning to the specific events of that episode, Kirk Prime would try to fix something else, such as the death of his son David (as seen in Star Trek III: The Search for Spock). This, in turn, might change the events of Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country, in which David's death drives his hatred towards the Klingons. Without such personal animosity to overcome, perhaps history would play out differently and lead to an unpredictably worse future. If they wanted to really get crazy with it, they could even find a way to incorporate the controversial Temporal Cold War storyline from Star Trek: Enterprise... But maybe it's best not to kick that particular beehive.

Yesterday's Enterprise: Tarantino's Other Pick

Interestingly, the other episode mentioned by Tarantino in the podcast is "Yesterday's Enterprise," which is a thematic cousin to "The City on the Edge of Forever."

In the episode, a temporal anomaly transports the Enterprise-C twenty-two years into the future, changing history. In the altered present, the Federation of Captain Picard (Captain of the Enterprise-D) is at war with the Klingon Empire; the Enterprise-C was supposed to be destroyed protecting a Klingon outpost from hostile Romulan forces. This act of selfless compassion and fighting honorably against insurmountable odds serves as a diplomatic cornerstone which helps to maintain the tentative peace that had been established in Star Trek VI. Without the sacrifice of the Enterprise-C, a war broke out which took the lives of forty billion people in the altered timeline.

Tarantino praised the episode for "the way it dealt with the mythology" of Star Trek. The only person who realizes that history has been changed is Guinan, played by Whoopi Goldberg, who is able to sense disruptions in the timeline. She must convince this alternate, war-weary version of Picard that the only way to set history right is to doom the Enterprise-C to certain death in the past.

The episode is considered one of the best of The Next Generation, but it seems unlikely that Paramount would want to ditch the rebooted Original Series universe and jump into the era of TNG. Instead, maybe the episode could return to where it all began and feature the USS Kelvin transported into the alternate timeline of the J.J. Abrams movies. Back when the next entry in the new film series was first being developed (in the lead-up to the launch of Star Trek Beyond), it was rumored that Chris Hemsworth would return to play George Kirk, the doomed first officer of the Kelvin. George's death at the hands of the time-traveling Romulan, Nero, created the alternate timeline in which the rebooted films are set.

In 2009's Star Trek, Spock travels back in time along with Nero and gets stranded in the alternate universe which the fans call the "Kelvin Timeline." What if Tarantino's movie takes that theme and crosses it with that of "Yesterday's Enterprise," of setting right what had gone wrong; what if the rebooted Enterprise goes back in time to rescue the Kelvin, ensuring that the Prime timeline plays out the way it's supposed to, but at the cost of stranding the future Enterprise in a universe to which it doesn't belong?

Chris Pine's version of Kirk will have saved his father and preserved the original timeline, but he'd be unable to return to the only universe he ever knew. That is, of course, unless they found a way to travel across dimensions, like the distortion to the Mirror Universe shown in "The Tholian Web" and its Star Trek: Enterprise crossover, "In a Mirror, Darkly." Perhaps Whoopi Goldberg could appear in the film as Guinan, aware that she's in an alternate universe, and conflicted as to whether the Kelvin timeline should be allowed to exist as a separate reality, or if it's an aberration to the timeline which must be corrected.

It wouldn't be a direct adaptation of the TNG story, granted, but it would be true to the spirit of the episode, of dutiful sacrifice in service of the greater good, while bringing the Kelvin Timeline full-circle. Plus, it wouldn't necessarily preclude the possibility of the Chris Pine/Zachary Quinto versions of the crew from having further adventures in the restored Prime universe.

Of course, maybe Quentin Tarantino's plan for a new Star Trek movie is completely different from what he had mused on with The Nerdist two years ago. Maybe he's thinking of adapting a completely different episode; or maybe he has a whole new idea for where to take the franchise which isn't based on a preexisting Trek story. It's also entirely possible he might not be interested in using the established cast of the J.J. Abrams movies, even though Abrams is still developing the film as a producer. Pine, Quinto, and the rest are presumably contracted to appear if called upon, but it's unclear whether or not Tarantino even has them in mind for whatever his version of Trek may entail.

Whatever the case may be, here's hoping that aramount lets Quentin run wild and gives him the creative freedom he needs and deserves to implement his vision for Star Trek.

Next: 15 Abandoned Quentin Tarantino Projects You'll Never See