Star Trek: Section 31

 

Star Trek: Section 31—A comprehensive guide in 2025

Star Trek: Section 31

Almost forty years have passed since ‘Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home,’ and Star Trek: The Next Generation has spanned a wide gamut of ups and downs with its many hundreds of offerings for Star Trek fans. In the summer of 2014, fans of the show and its movie and sequels are in for a treat with numerous episodes and sequels that ranked high by EMAP-OSF data, ranking the greatest episodes in the history of TV series. There is also a point that, as mentioned at an earlier point, this franchise has been experiencing some issues within the most recent years of operation.

The Premise: A Confusing and Contrived Narrative

The first part of Section 31 shows flashbacks of Georgiou’s brutal rise to power in the Mirror Universe, followed by her current life outside Federation space after Discovery (2017). Her former employer, Section 31, reimagined as a ragtag group of galactic outlaws, is in the crosshairs of her dark moss green lighted, trendy space lounge, running a Rick’s Café Américain type of place. When Georgiou's club goes under, Jamie Lee Curtis' character leads a team to break into the club in order to stop an illegal weapon trade.

In the plot, a parade of generic characters enters: an aloof leader (Omari Hardwick), a quirky shapeshifter (Sam Richardson), a gruff mecha brute (Robert Kazinsky), a mysterious Deltan (Humberly Gonzalez), and a wacky Vulcan (Sven Ruygrok). Also a Starfleet observer is Rachel Garrett (Kacey Rohl), a future captain of the Enterprise, which hardcore fans will recognize, but the presence of Garrett causes confusion for fans and breaks the narrative cohesion in half.

They try to kill the arms trade, but the film doesn’t play into this or their character or the stakes for that matter. Weak action scenes, coupled with ridiculous dialogue heard in the movie, do not help in keeping the audience interested in the movie.

An Abandonment of the Star Trek Ethos

As painful as it is, the disdain (and one would hardly say this is disdain; it is prejudice) of Section 31 for the core values of Star Trek: exploration, optimism, and pursuit of a better future. The slight lack of imagination is what distinguishes Section 31 from the rest of Star Trek’s legacy; its mindless action and contrivances provide no philosophical dilemmas, social issues, or scientific exploration to engage in. There is no discussion on what is right and wrong, which is common in Star Trek, and it is replaced with quick-witted and funny remarks that are similar to Guardians of the Galaxy.

With the possibility of exploring the morally gray world of Section 31, the film goes the cheap thrill route instead of the thoughtful approach. In the film, Georgiou is shown as the self-reflective antihero of sorts, one who has been a ruthless tyrant in the Mirror Universe, but there is never any emotional weight given to how past actions shaped her in any meaningful way. Instead, Section 31 goes for bland and shallow characterization that does not do justice to Georgiou’s fascinating backstory.

Weak Performances and Direction

The rest of her performance feels removed from the material, while Michelle Yeoh’s fight scenes are incredibly impressive. When she is given the lead, she does not make her husky, dry, haughty delivery work (once effective in Discovery), and it is grating. Most of the characters, coming off as one-dimensional clichés, fare much worse, and the rest of the array is not much better. The best Sam Richardson can do is a few moments in which the film lifts, but direction fails to develop any real energy into the proceedings. CGI is clumsy in the action scenes, and character interactions are nerveless, which could have made a good story.

Section 31 also suffers from disjointed editing and poor pacing, so even the most basic plot points will be impossible to follow. There’s a pop culture feel to the film, where each and every pop culture reference as well as each meme and meme gimmick of the dialogue is being thrown in our face, as if they’re trying to appeal to the younger audience, but to me it’s been removing the long-time fans who have watched Star Trek for the depth and nuance it provides.

Conclusion: A Misstep for the Star Trek Franchise

In the end, Star Trek: Section 31 ends without having fulfilled any of the promises it had set up. Star Trek is as beloved because it has the intellectual rigor, the optimism, and the engaging characters lacking in this film. It is, instead, an action movie that is shallow and forgettable, not an important new chapter of the franchise.

To the Star Trek fan, Section 31 serves as a chilling (and painful) reminder that not all of the franchise is worth mining in. Luckily for us, other parts of the franchise continue to give us a true sample of Star Trek—Strange New Worlds and Lower Decks still embrace the spirit of exploration and optimism that fans of the franchise have come to know.

FAQs:

What is Star Trek: Section 31 about?

Section 31: A: In this, Section 31 follows Philippa Georgiou, a Star Trek: Discovery character, as she is recruited by the black ops organization to stop a dangerous arms trade. The ragged collection of characters and the mission that generally follows them isn’t particularly deep or does much philosophical exploration that you expect of Star Trek.

Does Section 31 feel like classic Star Trek?

No. In superficial terms, Section 31 bears some parallels to the Star Trek universe, but it wholly abandons the fundamental values of exploration and optimism—intellectual engagement that are core tenets of the franchise. Instead, with humor and action, it is more derivative and uninspired.

Who are the main characters in Section 31?

The main characters are Philippa Georgiou (Michelle Yeoh), a former emperor now working as a Federation spy, and a group of operatives—a shapeshifter, a mecha brute, a Deltan, and a mystifying Vulcan.