Star Trek: Section 31
A direct-to-streaming movie that’s a spin-off of Star Trek: Discovery, Star Trek: Section 31 brings Star Trek to brave new lows. Campy, a bit rude, and action-packed, its loose tone is too far off the reservation from the lofty ideals people expect of the Star Trek franchise to begin with.
Philippa Georgiou (Michelle Yeoh) is recruited to join Section 31 to retrieve a briefcase containing a threat to the entire United Federation of Planets. Along the way, we learn more about Mirror Universe Georgiou’s origins, meet her new crew which includes manic Vulcan (or is he?) Fuzz (Sven Ruygrok), decked-out space marine Zeph (Robert Kasinsky), and the rather quirky Quasi (Sam Richardson).
Some of the humor works here and there, but the Quentin Tarantino meets Wing Commander III vibe never completely gels. Some of the backstory is deadly serious, while a lot of the main plot feels like the diet soda cousin of Guardians of the Galaxy. Given its origins as a miniseries before it was shifted into a TV movie, Star Trek: Section 31 still feels rather episodic and turgid.
!!! Spoiler Warning !!!
While it’s admirable this take on Trek is trying for something a little outside the norm, it wrecks whatever goodwill it earns in the beginning with a dark prologue showing a teenaged Mirror Universe Georgiou poisoning her entire family. The overall aesthetic is too sparkly and slick, making this a candy-coated looker in the worst way.
At the same time, the plot tries to milk some pathos as characters get picked off one by one as the Section 31 crew tries to deduce who the obvious mole is. This same sort of plot has been done before for the past few decades courtesy of any of the five (!!!) Ocean’s 11 movies.
A Star Trek entry that would make Gene Roddenberry roll over in his grave thrice over, Star Trek: Section 31 is barely worth it even for the die hards. Often silly and sloppy, Star Trek: Section 31 should have been left back in the brig where it belongs.
Star Trek: Section 31 is currently streaming on Paramount+.