People have been trying to make Star Trek 14 for almost a decade.
At first, it seemed it would be a time travel movie starring Chris Hemsworth as James Kirk’s father. That concept got thrown around from director to director and writer to writer, seemingly no one wanting to take on the project.
Surprise came when, after being developed for nearly four years as a follow up series to Star Trek: Discovery’s third season, Paramount announced in 2023 Section 31 would be Star Trek’s 14th movie.
The cast and crew all promised it would be a new kind of Star Trek.
They weren’t wrong.
Star Trek: Section 31 ultimately feels more like a superhero movie than Star Trek. Seemingly the only thing tying it to the Star Trek universe is the chime of the Tricorders.
Section 31 tries too hard, valuing style over substance- a stale plot and little character development with to much emphasis on a dazzling array of visual effects and costumes.
The movie follows the former leader of the alternate-universe’s Terran Empire– Philippa Georgiou (Michelle Yeoh)- as she rejoins Section 31 for a mission to save the galaxy. Section 31- for those who don’t watch Star Trek obsessively- is a supposedly secret Starfleet-sanctioned intelligence organization first introduced in Star Trek: Deep Space 9, further developed in Star Trek: Enterprise and borderline abused in Star Trek: Discovery.
The movie introduces an array of misfit Section 31 operatives, abandoning the uniform-and-badge centric model Star Trek is known for.
One of those misfits is, however, Starfleet science officer Rachel Garret (Kacey Rohl), an odd choice considering she’s- at this point in the franchise- the future captain of the ill-fated Enterprise-C. Garret is there to supervise the team- “she’s here to make sure we color inside the lines.”
The film takes place in Star Trek’s ‘Lost Era’ spanning between the prologue of Star Trek VI: Generations and before the Enterprise-D is launched at the start of Star Trek: The Next Generation (2290s to 2363).
Star Trek has tried in the past, like Section 31, to break its mold.
For example, Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan broke the traditional Star Trek molds, it’s an action movie- rather than science orientated.
It’s a good movie because it’s more than action. It examined human nature- what Star Trek does best- forcing an aging, but still cocky, James Kirk to not only face a no-win scenario but lose as well.
Deep Space Nine did this as well, exploring themes of war ethics, religion, queerness and more in its seven-season run, while remaining one of the more action orientated Star Trek shows of the 90s.
The newer Star Trek shows embraced action with open arms, not finding a rhythm- Discovery was their guinea pig- until a few years ago with Star Trek: Prodigy (canceled), Star Trek: Lower Decks (also canceled) and Star Trek: Strange New Worlds.
Section 31 certainly feels like early Discovery– campy with a side of “the universe is about to end.”
It is, despite arguably fun moments and amazing costumes, just action with no convincing plot.
Star Trek: Section 31 is available to stream on Paramount Plus.
