I know this may come as a surprise to you, but Quentin Tarantino really prefers the older version of a franchise to the modern interpretation. I know, I know. It’s completely shocking that the director has a clear bias towards classic film and TV. All kidding aside, it appears that even though Tarantino is a huge fan of “Star Trek,” he’s not too happy with what J.J. Abrams did to the series with his reboot films that began in 2009. And when he talked about this on the HappySadConfused podcast, he held back nothing.
For added context, it’s important to know that the reason Tarantino is discussing “Star Trek” is because he’s currently developing a film in the franchise that will put his own spin on the classic sci-fi series. And yes, he’s going to use Abrams’ cast from his 2009 reboot film. That being said, the cast is likely the only thing that he’s going to carry over from Abrams two films and the most recent one by filmmaker Justin Lin.
Why isn’t he going to continue any of the storylines that were left off? Well, frankly, he doesn’t care for them at all.
“Now, I still don’t quite understand how—and J.J. can’t explain it to me and my editor [Fred Raskin] has tried to explain to me and I still don’t get it—about… something happened in the first movie that now kinda wiped the slate clean?” said Tarantino.
He continued, “I don’t buy that. I don’t like it. I don’t appreciate it. Fuck that. I don’t like that.”
Tarantino was asked if the main reason he doesn’t like the Original Series timeline being wiped out is because it erases his favorite episodes, he countered and said, “I want the whole series to have happened! It just hasn’t happened yet. And Benedict Cumberbatch or whatever his name is, is not Khan. Khan is Khan. And I told JJ, ‘I don’t understand this, I don’t like it’ and he said, ‘Ignore it! Nobody likes it! I don’t understand it! Do whatever you want! If you want to do it the exact way it happened in the [original series], it can.'”
READ MORE: Quentin Tarantino Is Willing To End His Career Directing A ‘Star Trek’ Film
For many fans, the idea that Abrams gave the filmmaker carte blanche to do whatever he wants and ignore the timeline rules that were introduced in 2009 is a great thing. If there has been one major issue that fans have had with the new films is that they ignore much of what made ‘Trek’ so popular decades ago. And from the sound of it, Tarantino seems ready to inject some of that Original Series goodness back into the films.
Of course, the film actually has to happen first, and that’s still up in the air.