In a bizarre development, even for 2017’s lofty standards, it seems Quentin Tarantino and JJ Abrams are working on a Star Trek movie together. At least in some sort of capacity.
According to the story from Deadline, Tarantino pitched an idea to Abrams, who is busy working on Star Wars Episode IX. Not to mention the fact that QT is working on his ninth film, the one about 1969 but not specifically Charles Manson, at Sony. These dudes are all over the place, but still apparently have time to pitch an idea strong enough that a writer’s room is being put together to try and make this concept a reality.
Who knows if this will ever go beyond mere spitballing and brainstorming late nights in writer’s rooms. Quentin Tarantino and JJ Abrams working on a Star Trek story together feels like a mismatch made in heaven. Abrams can bring his Spielbergian sense of wonder back to the table, and Tarantino can inject some life into the words and the actions. The two almost teamed up many years ago for a Speed Racer film, but that wound up in the lap of the Wachowski’s.
Think of this pairing as sort of the milquetoast version of Tony Scott and Quentin Tarantino’s partnership on True Romance.
Stay tuned for details on this story, and to see if any of your other Mad Libs come true.
Star Wars: The Force Unleashed was the story of Galen Marek aka Starkiller: the secret apprentice of Darth Vader himself. Marek was the surviving son of Jedi slain right in front of him by the Emperor’s loyal enforcer during the great purge. Even as a boy, he showed himself to be in tune with the Force, disarming Vader as the cyborg strangled the boy’s father. Perhaps the Dark Lord of the Sith saw something of himself in him, a remnant of the man that was Anakin Skywalker, or maybe it was pure ambition. Whatever the reason, Vader abducted the boy and trained him in the Dark Side of the Force proving that the Rule of Two was more of a guideline than anything else. Honing him like a precision instrument, Vader sent his assassin to hunt down any remaining Jedi that dared to defy the Empire. It was on this journey that Starkiller met the elderly Jedi, Rahm Kota, and the love of his life, Juno Eclipse. It was a journey that would see Vader’s acolyte question his convictions and find himself tempted towards the Light Side. Starkiller would eventually shed that title and reassert himself as Galen Marek. In an act of self-sacrifice, Marek confronted his former master and nearly brought an end to the Emperor’s regime. Although lost to the nether-realm of the force, his death inspired inspired the very rebellion that he once vowed to destroy from within. The Alliance would honour his memory by taking his family symbol as their own.
Starkiller had a skill and knowledge of the Force that eclipsed anything that we had seen on screen. Powerful beyond imagination, this destructive understanding of the force informed the gameplay as much as it did the story. Previous Star Wars games featuring Force-users tended to focus on the Jedi as a
As tropey as the “secret apprentice” cliché may seem, Star Wars: The Force Unleashed turned out to be one of the last great hurrahs for the struggling Lucasarts after a number of years of dwindling popularity. It was a game about nature vs nurture and about destiny itself. There are some thematic parallels between his character and that of Kylo Ren, especially in the game’s Dark Side ending, but the influence of Galen Marek’s tale on the franchise has only begun to be seen. It was the story of a man struggling for whatever agency he could scrape together in a universe that wanted nothing more than turn him into a tool of one side of the Force or the other. Marek was raised to be a weapon, but he found peace in being able to die as a man. The less said about the sequel the better.
