Imagine 'Star Trek,' Tarantino Style: Nerdist Video Mashes It Up

That's a bingo! Amid news that director Quentin Tarantino ("Pulp Fiction," "Inglorious Basterds") is involved in the pitch for the next "Star Trek" film, Nerdist Presents put together a PG-13 video that imagines what a Tarantino-style Trek flick would look like. 

Tarantino's films are frequently loaded with graphic or over-the-top violence, so the fake trailer features fight scenes from "Star Trek: The Original Series," done Tarantino-style. The fictional film is subtitled "Voyage to Vengeance," which would be a rebranding for the typically peaceful Trek franchise.

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"They meant to bring peace to the galaxy. They brought their pieces instead," the narrator of the Nerdist spoof video says amid a soundtrack of music from "Pulp Fiction" (1994). "It's a galaxy of green blood, green women and Nazis," the narrator adds. In between are shots of the 1960s-era cast using every weapon imaginable to fight their way through menacing enemies of the 23rd century. 

There are clips of Sulu (played by George Takei) putting on his best menacing fencing pose — a scene originally featured in the episode "The Naked Time" from 1966. Another clip shows Capt. James T. Kirk (William Shatner) shooting his way out of a prison cell with an old-time gun. Even the peaceful half-Vulcan, half-human Spock (Leonard Nimoy) looks menacing in the montage; the narrator calls him "a full killing machine."

"There's just one thing I want," Kirk says to Spock as the two crouch behind a rock, in a clip taken from the 1967 episode "Friday's Child." 

"Revenge, captain?" asks Spock.

"Why not?" Kirk responds.

Kirk fires his weapon on an enemy in the transporter room, and the USS Enterprise fires phasers on a Klingon D7 battle cruiser. To paraphrase one of Tarantino's protagonists, Django: We like the way they die.

"For weeks now, we here at Nerdist have been haunted day and night by a single probing question: What on Earth—or, more appropriately, what beyond Earth—would a Quentin Tarantino-directed Star Trek movie look like?" a Nerdist representative wrote in a blog post introducing the video.

"Fans of the 'Pulp Fiction' director’s ultraviolent oeuvre and of Gene Roddenberry’s decades-spanning sci-fi staple have been vexed and intrigued by the promise of such a curious union," Nerdist added.

Tarantino is reportedly quite busy these days, so if a "Star Trek" Tarantino film is in the works, it may be years before it hits theaters. Tarantino's current project — which looks at the year 1969 and the infamous Charles Manson murders — is set for release on Aug. 9, 2019, according to TrekMovie

In a recent video interview with director Kevin Smith on The IMDb Studio, "Star Trek" film star John Cho (who plays Sulu in the new Trek movies), called the idea of a Tarantino film "very exciting."

"I am a big fan of Quentin's," Cho said in the video, which was filmed at the Sundance Film Festival in Utah. "I suspect that the reason he wants to make it is he doesn’t want to do 'Pulp Fiction' in space. He wants to make a 'Star Trek' film. And, if that is the case, I would be so excited to see what he brings to the table, because I think he has such a great sense of character and drama."

"Star Trek" is a 50-year-old franchise that remains popular among sci-fi fans. While the original "Star Trek" series only ran for three seasons, the franchise has spun off multiple follow-on TV series, films, comic books and fan tributes in the decades since. 

The most recent "Star Trek" series of films (the first of which premiered in 2009) brought back characters from the original series, with a new cast and new storylines. The last film was "Star Trek Beyond" in 2016. A new Trek TV series, "Star Trek Discovery," debuted on CBS All Access in 2017; a second season was ordered very early in its run.

Editor's Note: This article has been updated with corrected Trek trivia.

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Elizabeth Howell
Staff Writer, Spaceflight

Elizabeth Howell (she/her), Ph.D., is a staff writer in the spaceflight channel since 2022 covering diversity, education and gaming as well. She was contributing writer for Space.com for 10 years before joining full-time. Elizabeth's reporting includes multiple exclusives with the White House and Office of the Vice-President of the United States, an exclusive conversation with aspiring space tourist (and NSYNC bassist) Lance Bass, speaking several times with the International Space Station, witnessing five human spaceflight launches on two continents, flying parabolic, working inside a spacesuit, and participating in a simulated Mars mission. Her latest book, "Why Am I Taller?", is co-written with astronaut Dave Williams. Elizabeth holds a Ph.D. and M.Sc. in Space Studies from the University of North Dakota, a Bachelor of Journalism from Canada's Carleton University and a Bachelor of History from Canada's Athabasca University. Elizabeth is also a post-secondary instructor in communications and science at several institutions since 2015; her experience includes developing and teaching an astronomy course at Canada's Algonquin College (with Indigenous content as well) to more than 1,000 students since 2020. Elizabeth first got interested in space after watching the movie Apollo 13 in 1996, and still wants to be an astronaut someday. Mastodon: https://qoto.org/@howellspace