by Matt Sernaker, Editor-In-Chief
The world of Star Trek has expanded in new and surprising ways over the last few years. Star Trek: Discovery took us further into the future than we’ve ever seen on screen. Star Trek: Strange New Worlds continues to boldly explore with Captain Pike and the crew of the U.S.S. Enterprise. Star Trek: Picard reunited legendary actors for a final battle against the Borg. Star Trek: Lower Decks creatively celebrated decades of Star Trek history. And last but not least, Star Trek: Prodigy opened up the Star Trek Universe to a new generation of viewers through an incredible second season. With the exception of Strange New Worlds, all of the shows above seem to be done (for the time being), and Paramount+ is ready to launch the first of its new wave of Star Trek endeavors with Star Trek: Section 31.
Official Synopsis:
In STAR TREK: SECTION 31, Emperor Philippa Georgiou joins a secret division of Starfleet tasked with protecting the United Federation of Planets and faces the sins of her past.
Michelle Yeoh (Star Trek: Discovery) returns as Emperor Philippa Georgiou, who joined Starfleet’s clandestine organization after making her way over from the Mirror Universe. This movie also stars stars Omari Hardwick (Power), Emmy® winner Sam Richardson (Ted Lasso), Robert Kazinsky (Pacific Rim), Kacey Rohl (Hannibal), Sven Ruygrok (One Piece), James Hiroyuki Liao (Barry), Humberly Gonzalez (Ginny & Georgia), Joe Pingue (The Expanse), and Miku Martineau (Kate). Star Trek: Section 31 was directed by Olatunde Osunsanmi, with a screenplay by Craig Sweeny and story by Bo Yeon Kim and Erika Lippoldt. Alex Kurtzman, Craig Sweeny, Aaron Baiers, Olatunde Osunsanmi, Frank Siracusa, John Weber, Rod Roddenberry, Trevor Roth and Michelle Yeoh served as Executive Producers.
Before I share thoughts on this release, I want to preface that I have genuinely enjoyed the new era of Trek on Paramount+. Each of the shows mentioned above have been a joy to watch, and while a few took longer than others to find their footing, they ended up finding their way home to become beloved by viewers. With that being said, I genuinely don’t understand what happened with Star Trek: Section 31.
After years in “Development Hell”, the Star Trek concept transformed from a series to become a direct to Paramount+ release as a movie. Take a moment to read the official synopsis again, because that one sentence pretty much covers the narrative as it was paper thin. Star Trek: Section 31 could have been an exciting spy adventure that celebrated some of the outer fringes of the Trek Universe, or even more of a heist film in the vein of Ocean’s 11. Instead, we got the makings of an interesting story in the opening, but one that is quickly abandoned in lieu of a bland story filled with unlikeable and uninteresting characters of what feels like a bad filler episode that really feels like a backdoor pilot for a show that won’t get made. Yeoh remains the standout of the adventure, but even her talented acting couldn’t save this one. All of her character development seems to have been left behind in order to further the narrative choices present here. The CGI ranges from “utterly fantastic” to “what did I just watch” and is completely inconsistent. The audio mixing is also rough and noticeably off at times. (EDITOR’S NOTE: I did receive a screener weeks for the final release date so there is slight chance some of these technical issues will be adjusted before the final release). I went in with excitement for this new project, but by the end, I’m now concerned that this “movie release” will be a one-and-done attempt for Paramount.
I know all of this might sound harsh, but 24 hours later I’m still wondering what it was that I had watched. I’m sad to say that it really wasn’t enjoyable (I was pretty bored) and it just felt like a way to satisfy a contract when they realized that they didn’t have an idea for an ongoing series. I honestly don’t know if Star Trek: Section 31 will find an audience (mainly because I don’t know who will be excited by this particular story), but I’m sorry to say that this is the first time that a Star Trek project was a miss for me. Bigger picture, I hope this doesn’t stop Paramount from exploring new ideas in movie format, but the powers-that-be need to ensure that story and characters are the drivers. How this made it to screen before Star Trek: Legacy is quite baffling…
Rating: 
ComicsOnline gives Star Trek: Section 31 – 1.5 out of 5 missed opportunities.
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