Star Trek: Section 31 Review

When You Order The Guardians of the Galaxy from Temu

When they were first introduced in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, Section 31 were ghosts, their existence wiped from all Starfleet records. Now, Michelle Yeoh’s new Star Trek movie suggests that all information about Section 31 was redacted by Starfleet because they were really, really embarassed by this whole sorry episode.

Star Trek: Section 31 has had a complicated road from conception to screen, starting life as a Star Trek: Discovery spinoff series focusing on Michelle Yeoh as Emperor Philippa Georgiou. After years in development, Section 31 was retooled as the first (and perhaps last) streaming exclusive Trek movie. Part of this decision was no doubt fueled by Michelle Yeoh’s shrinking window of availability after winning the Oscar for Everything Everywhere All At Once.

Some might say that the shift to a movie rather than a ten-episode streaming series demonstrates a lack of confidence in the concept from Paramount. However, on paper, there’s a decent concept that could depict the Star Trek universe from a new perspective. Section 31 is set in the period between the end of Star Trek: The Original Series’ timeline and the start of Star Trek: The Next Generation. That’s a really interesting time period to explore; the so-called “lost era” of Star Trek’s history. A tentative peace with the Klingon Empire and the Cardassian Border Wars could each provide the perfect context for a Starfleet spy movie.

Sadly, Section 31’s story is more interested in Michelle Yeoh as Emperor Philippa Georgiou. It’s understandable to forefront Georgiou’s character, given Michelle Yeoh is an Academy Award winner and an honest-to-goodness box office draw. However, it’s disappointing that, beyond giving us insight into her childhood, Star Trek: Section 31 is more concerned with answering the same old questions about Emperor Philippa Georgiou.

Questions like: Has Georgiou been able to atone for the horrors she committed as Emperor of the Terran Empire? What does redemption look like for a blood-soaked tyrant? And didn’t we already discuss all of this across three whole seasons of Star Trek: Discovery?

It’s a popular internet pasttime to dunk on anything relating to Star Trek: Discovery. For example, a fun gag about differing Klingon physiology in the recent Star Trek: Lower Decks finale was, predictably, weaponised by the “Star Trek: Discovery isn’t canon” crowd. It’s disappointing, therefore, that Section 31 plays right into the hands of that vocal minority by being completely at odds with what you expect from Star Trek. That’s not necessarily a problem, changing things up is what keeps a near-sixty-year-old franchise alive. The only issue is that Section 31 is more recognisable as a knock-off of Guardians of the Galaxy or Suicide Squad than as a Star Trek movie.

This version of Section 31 aren’t the calculating and nefarious intelligence agents from Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, they’re a mismatched team of rogues and chancers. For example, there’s EastEnders’ Robert Kazinsky as Zeph, half-man, half-machine, who looks like someone who’s cobbled together a Locutus of Borg costume from the contents of their local Poundland. Then there’s The Detroiters’ Sam Richardson, having fun as the snarky and charismatic Chameloid, Quasi. We also have Sven Ruygrok as Fuzz, a Vulcan who appears to have lost all control of his emotions and is tooth-grindingly irritating.

Much like David Ayer’s first Suicide Squad, the combination of big, brash figures and a snarky script can be really quite obnoxious.

Trying to keep things on the straight and narrow is Kacey Rohl as future Enterprise captain Rachel Garrett, Starfleet’s representative, who generally rolls her eyes and shakes her head at everyone. Section 31 were created by the Star Trek: Deep Space Nine team as the antithesis of Starfleet, but disappointingly Garrett, and the movie in general only pays lip service to this central conflict. In Rohl’s defence, she brings some charm to the role, and gives the film it’s only Star Trek-y moment when she has to come up with a scientific solution in the movie’s climactic scenes.

This team of oddballs and misfits is led by Omari Hardwick’s Alok Sahar, another character who, like Georgiou, has origins in a (different) dark period of Star Trek history. This creates a promising kinship with Georgiou which could give future Section 31 movies something more emotionally interesting to work with.

However, with its obnoxious tone, tiresome end of the universe plot and cast of unlikable misfits, it’s probably for the best that the exploits of this particular iteration of Section 31 remain redacted.

(I’m not sure why I’ve expended so many words on the failures of this movie when it becomes apparent that the hero ship glimpsed in the Paramount+ Star Trek ident is a literal garbage scow.)