“Star Trek” is a household name when it comes to science fiction franchises and in 2009 the franchise made its return to the big screen in the reboot movie, “Star Trek.” The film garnered critical and audience acclaim and spawned two sequels. A new “Star Trek” movie has been announced and while the release date and plot is relatively unknown, their is one big name attached: Quentin Tarantino

For those unfamiliar, Tarantino is a controversial yet widely celebrated director known for his scenes of extended dialogue, and (more notably) his use of excessive violence and vulgar language as a tool for storytelling. He is most famous for directing the cult classic movie “Pulp Fiction.”

While it may seem that Paramount is out of its mind for hiring Tarantino for the next “Star Trek” project, it was actually Tarantino’s own idea. Surprisingly enough it turns out that Quentin Tarantino is a huge “Star Trek” fan. He boldly stated that certain episodes of the show (namely “City on the Edge of Forever”) could be adapted into a full-length movies. Later, Tarantino would claim that he had come up with a great idea for a Star Trek movie and felt so confident in it that he pitched it to JJ Abrams.

Paramount accepted the idea and worked their hardest to make it not just a reality, but a success. They added successful screenwriters such as “The Revenant”’s Mark L. Smith to add to the teams crack team.

The studio seems to be giving Tarantino creative control as the film has been predicted to have an R-Rating but why is Paramount taking such a big risk? The answer is simply it needs something to take down the sci-fi behemoth that is Disney. By pumping out constant “Avengers” and “Star Wars” sequels that become box office giants, it has taken complete control of the sci fi genre leaving box office under performances such as “Star Trek Beyond” in the dust.

While this is a risk, both Tarantino as well as “Star Trek” bring in a large following of fans confirming it to be a box office smash but how will the film do critically? Changing the formula of a seemingly light hearted series to be far darker tone hasn’t been done before has it? It has, and quite successfully. In 2008 a franchise that had been previously treated as relatively family friendly, released a new movie featuring darker themes and with a left-field director attached. That film was Christopher Nolan’s “The Dark Knight” and it is widely considered one of the greatest films of all time.

Tarantino’s “Star Trek” is a risk, it’s something you definitely didn’t see coming, and it’s something you are probably torn about. However, it’s something new and it has the capacity to bring the Star Trek franchise back in the leaderboards of great film.