Quentin Tarantino's STAR TREK Warp Speeds to Pre-Production & HARD "R" RATING

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Eric W.
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Re: Quentin Tarantino's STAR TREK Warp Speeds to Pre-Production & HARD "R" RATING

#16 Post by Eric W. »

I understand the balance but Star Trek was and is supposed to be something for "everybody."

It could handle complex and "adult" issues in a manner that was approach for all ages and so forth. I know family friendly is a phrase that has gotten tarnished to become synonymous with kiddie fare these days but in the truest sense of the term, that's what Trek was and is supposed to be.

It certainly isn't supposed to be kiddie fare, either. That's the other extreme to this disaster in the making that I really hope doesn't happen.

KevinEK
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Re: Quentin Tarantino's STAR TREK Warp Speeds to Pre-Production & HARD "R" RATING

#17 Post by KevinEK »

I guess I’ll be the only one waiting to see what these guys actually come up with before I pass judgment on it.
The tone of the Deadline piece is appropriately sarcastic.
I’ve not been a fan of Tarantino’s movies over the past 15 years, but there was a time when he was an interesting and quirky writer and he may or may not have had a good idea here.

I believe the rating issue to be about the usual issues for Tarantino - language and violence. We’ll have to see what that really means in terms of this script when the movie is released. There has been violence and occasional language in Trek movies before, and there’s certainly been sexual suggestiveness going back to the original series in the 60s.

The other part of this is that Tarantino does not normally spend like a drunken sailor on his productions. Meaning that Paramount is thinking that in addition to getting a better script, they can have a Trek movie that doesn’t need to make 600 million dollars to break even. Which is a lesson I’d like to see the other studios figure out. (Granted, Universal’s mostly been smart on this front already.)

If the movie these guys come up with is a turkey, there is a simple and appropriate response. Don’t see it. I haven’t watched the new Discovery series and frankly have no interest in it. I have a full collection of the original and TNG series and the ten legitimate movies that were made from those shows. If I want to watch DS9 or Voyager, I can still access those through Netflix or Hulu, although I’m betting those shows will be exclusively absorbed into CBS All Access fairly soon. (And watch out for big rate increases on all the streaming services in the new year - I’m expecting price spikes across the board from Netflix and the others, as well as general price increases from the ISPs). So if I want to see an episode of Star Trek, all I need to do is put the disc in the player. It’s what I’ve been doing for two decades now.

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AndyDursin
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Re: Quentin Tarantino's STAR TREK Warp Speeds to Pre-Production & HARD "R" RATING

#18 Post by AndyDursin »

Whether he has a good idea or not (I never said he didn't), it's certainly valid to question the wisdom of taking STAR TREK into "Adults Only" territory with f-bombs (no doubt that's happening) and likely a high body count. That goes regardless of the story and whatever the film turns out to be. There are going to be consequences from this kind of decision and turning a series that's been around for decades into something it's never been, as there's never been an R rated STAR TREK anything before. Whether or not certain episodes had adult themes (and sure some of them did), none of them were of the kind you couldn't watch at least with an older kid.

As a parent of a 3-year-old, I'm noticing this more and more. It's incredible how many franchises that used to be "family friendly" are no longer suitable for kids. I guess Hollywood doesn't care about the fallout from Star Trek, Superman, and Batman being a few of the characters who the "next generation" aren't going to be exposed to because they're appealing to some "aging nerd" niche demographic that thinks 'IT'S AWESOME!' that there's going to be an R-rated STAR TREK film, or that there's an R-rated cut of BATMAN V SUPERMAN or whatever out there. John said it, and he has older kids so he knows especially.

They may care about it years from now when the 35th reboots of these franchises play to a dwindling and increasingly elderly fanbase. Besides, it's one thing for us older viewers to go back to "the real Star Trek" but that doesn't work for most younger viewers (most "kids today" have a film IQ that extends back to about the year 2000), and shutting the door on kids -- especially when it comes to silly popcorn-fare -- is a big mistake the industry may well one day regret IMO.

Eric Paddon
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Re: Quentin Tarantino's STAR TREK Warp Speeds to Pre-Production & HARD "R" RATING

#19 Post by Eric Paddon »

The industry has no sense of self-restraint. That is the reason why a Production Code was not IMO the tyrannical ogre we are always told it was because ultimately the most talented filmmakers learned how to adapt to it and give us storytelling that is far more timeless than almost anything that has emerged from the last several decades with very few exceptions. The Code should have been modified to rid itself of its silliest features that lent it to such easy ridicule (about couples in bed etc.) but I utterly reject the notion that we are better off without it. We had been led to believe the ratings system would act as a brake on the industry to know what lines not to cross but instead it became something where they just looked for any excuse to be more vulgar, more crude, more coarse, more violent etc. etc. etc. in ways that were utterly beyond comprehension but which this industry shoved down our throats as if somehow this was supposed to be for our own good. Hearing the word "****" once or twice in "Jaws" is one thing, and Steve Martin's f-bomb barrage in "Planes, Trains and Automobiles" was one thing because it represented a case of the normal family man pushed over the edge which is what made it funny. But the way it has become used is something that say more about the industry and its "auteurs" than it ever will about the story in the film.

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Re: Quentin Tarantino's STAR TREK Warp Speeds to Pre-Production & HARD "R" RATING

#20 Post by KevinEK »

Andy, I don't disagree about the current mindset of Hollywood. Don't disagree at all that there are plenty of aging nerds who demand Hard R-rated versions of their favorite teen entertainments. I just tend to ignore those guys because, well, I didn't pay that much attention to those guys in the first place.

I still want to wait and see what Tarantino comes up with for a Star Trek story. You could well be right, that it's just an excuse for a bunch of guys to stand around in costume yelling profanity at each other and then phasering each other's heads off in graphic fashion. I hope that's not the case. I frankly don't know who would want to see such a thing other than the aging nerds referenced above. (I think there have probably been fan films done like that and frankly, a fan film would be the best place for such nonsense to happen.) Tarantino has also shown himself to be a fairly good writer of dialogue and story, even without dropping lots of profanity, at least when he's actually worked at it and not just done what he thinks his fan base wants to see. His rewrite on Crimson Tide is still a really strong script that holds up today. The opening exchange in Inglourious Basterds is really a wonderful piece of writing and directing - too bad the rest of the movie doesn't live up to it.

I don't know that the intention is for this potential movie to be "Adults Only". Could well be. Or it could just be that Tarantino doesn't want people to think he's suddenly doing a kids' movie. We won't know what this Trek movie is until we see more information about it. If it's just a competition to see if they can out-curse Scarface, I have no interest in seeing that. On the other hand, if Tarantino presents a smart Star Trek idea, and does so in a way that actually makes people think, that's a good thing. It would certainly be a step way up from what was inflicted by JJ Abrams and company over the past decade. (And we should remember that Gene Roddenberry's original concepts for both Star Trek Phase II and for TNG included a lot of wildly inappropriate sexual material that was thankfully sifted out before getting anywhere near the stage or the television set. There's one great story that DC Fontana has told about how Roddenberry wanted Troi to have a ridiculous number of breasts and wound up being talked out of it, thankfully.)

I agree with you that Hollywood studios are clearly trying to market their movies to niche audiences and demos. Hollywood is also clearly trying to market a steady stream of kids-friendly movies, particularly in the animated realm. Every summer, it seems to me, we have a spray of very expensive movies that are intended to go for the widest possible audience of both kids and adults and just throw a giant spectacle at them - as you noted, usually consisting of superheroes fighting robots. We have a host of would-be franchises (Universal's Monsters attempt, WB's disastrous DC attempt, multiple reboot attempts on Jack Ryan, multiple reboot attempts on Terminator, etc etc etc) (Although I should note that The Terminator was always an R-Rated idea) And then we have a spray of very, very low-budget art-house movies that get put up as Awards Bait during the fall. The middle ground of interesting material has clearly been surrendered to premium cable and streaming services at this point, and it doesn't look like that idea is going to change.

If there's any franchise that's done pretty well by my thinking in not alienating families while still making big popcorn movies, it's the Marvel stuff. They're still releasing colorful, fun, hopeful popcorn movies for the most part. (Deadpool is a different issue, as appears to be the odd idea they're doing with the New Mutants) And the results are telling - those movies are making a LOT of money. Because they're appealing to everyone. At some point, I think they'll have wrung the mop out on it, but so far they're doing fairly well. (And I don't buy the Disney exec discussion about them ending the franchise for many of the characters with the fourth Avengers movie - that's a negotiation ploy to make sure their cast doesn't start asking for even larger salaries, etc)

As for the younger audience today not even knowing about the earlier shows, I still believe there are some solid perennials. The Trek shows have always been so, as have been various others, like The Twilight Zone. When I was a kid and watching Trek, it had already been cancelled nearly 10 years prior. Twilight Zone was a mainstay in my home, and that show had been off the air for 15-20 years while we were watching it. I really do hope that the current generations don't just disregard everything that came before now as "old stuff", as that would be a real loss for everyone. Granted, most of the older shows can be incredibly cheesy when seen today - Six Million Dollar Man comes to mind, as does Space 1999 - but there are really good series that continue to flourish in syndication and are still streamed today. And for anyone thinking that Star Trek has been ruined, even by the JJ Abrams attempts, there's a great story told by Stephen King about a young man complaining to James M. Cain about how Hollywood had changed his books - and Cain responded by reminding the guy that his books were still the same and could still be enjoyed as they were and are. And so it is with the original series of Star Trek.

KevinEK
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Re: Quentin Tarantino's STAR TREK Warp Speeds to Pre-Production & HARD "R" RATING

#21 Post by KevinEK »

Eric P, I understand your revulsion toward film and TV productions, given how the overall culture has coarsened over the past 50 years. (And we should stay mindful that Hollywood is pretty much always BEHIND the curve on that kind of thing. Look at the Hollywood attempts to stay current in the 1960s - many of those movies are cringe-worthy today)

But you do have the option to continue what you've stated multiple times here is your practice: to ignore the current movies and TV shows and just watch the older ones you still enjoy.

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AndyDursin
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Re: Quentin Tarantino's STAR TREK Warp Speeds to Pre-Production & HARD "R" RATING

#22 Post by AndyDursin »

REVENANT writer hired.

http://deadline.com/2017/12/quentin-tar ... 202231379/

Deadline's article is all excited over this because...
“It offers all kinds of storytelling opportunities, and the opportunity to make a scary space movie like the Ridley Scott-directed Alien”
WHAT!?!
:lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :shock: :shock: :roll: :mrgreen:

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Re: Quentin Tarantino's STAR TREK Warp Speeds to Pre-Production & HARD "R" RATING

#23 Post by Edmund Kattak »

I can hear it now:

"..Live Long and prosper you Motherf*****"

At least we won't have to see Travolta in dreadlocks on this show.
Indeed,
Ed

John Johnson
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Re: Quentin Tarantino's STAR TREK Warp Speeds to Pre-Production & HARD "R" RATING

#24 Post by John Johnson »

I wonder which part of his record collection will score the film.
London. Greatest City in the world.

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Paul MacLean
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Re: Quentin Tarantino's STAR TREK Warp Speeds to Pre-Production & HARD "R" RATING

#25 Post by Paul MacLean »

John Johnson wrote: Mon Dec 25, 2017 8:51 pm I wonder which part of his record collection will score the film.
Maybe he will use the end credits from Star Trek: Insurrection (like he did Under Fire)!

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Re: Quentin Tarantino's STAR TREK Warp Speeds to Pre-Production & HARD "R" RATING

#26 Post by Edmund Kattak »

John Johnson wrote: Mon Dec 25, 2017 8:51 pm I wonder which part of his record collection will score the film.
It will be the best composer in Hollywood, according to him.

Ennio Morricone
Indeed,
Ed

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Re: Quentin Tarantino's STAR TREK Warp Speeds to Pre-Production & HARD "R" RATING

#27 Post by AndyDursin »

He can play the UNTOUCHABLES music when Connery is killed over the millionth time the Enterprise gets blown up.

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Re: Quentin Tarantino's STAR TREK Warp Speeds to Pre-Production & HARD "R" RATING

#28 Post by AndyDursin »

Looks like this one is DOA.
Is Star Trek going to be part of that?

I think I’m steering away from Star Trek, but I haven’t had an official conversation with those guys yet.
https://consequenceofsound.net/2019/12/ ... rantino/2/

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