Michelle Yeoh is back in Star Trek’s first direct-to-streaming movie event. Star Trek: Section 31 sees Yeoh reprise her role of Philippa Georgiou, first seen in Star Trek: Discovery. Star Trek is no stranger to the Section 31 organization. While first appearing in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, the secret division of Starfleet had a prominent feature in the second season of Paramount+’s Discovery series. Now, they are back with their own television movie.
Originally designed as a TV series, following Yeoh’s appearances on Discovery, the global COVID pandemic delayed production. After the delay, the first season of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds was prioritized. Section 31 was then redeveloped into a film project and originally announced in April 2023. Now, here we are. Section 31 marks the 14th Star Trek film and the first television film.
It’s important to remember that we try to keep reviews fair between a balance of criticism and praise here at Trek Central. Ultimately, Section 31 is your typical action movie with a predictable plot and little character development. The big issue, though, is that it does not feel or look like a Star Trek movie, which is a big problem for a film in the Star Trek Universe. Visual identity is key, but the movie also misses the mark by not properly exploring who Section 31 is. That said, the movie is enjoyable and has a few laughs. We’ll go over this more in this review.
Paramount+ has embargoed pre-release reviews from talking about major story points, which, of course, we would not want to spoil. Therefore, watch out for our spoiler-filled post-release review to find out why the Section 31 movie is not the best Star Trek movie to beam down.
Stealth Mode with Section 31
I was surprised that Section 31 is the first Star Trek streaming movie. It’s an odd choice. As Trekkies have pointed out, Section 31 is very detached from the typical norm of the Star Trek Universe. Watching the film is both a blessing and a curse, I think. In one way, not having the shackles of being within the United Federation of Planets allows more freedom in the organization’s operations and what goes on. You can almost tell that with the colourful metaphors thrown around.
Unfortunately, the movie did not explore much of the actual Section 31 organization within Star Trek. I was hoping for more of that, personally. That was my big wish for this film. It would have been great if the connection between how we found the organization in Discovery and then Deep Space Nine had been explored. The whole organization is a controversial subject within the Star Trek Universe. Exploring something around that would have been very cool. Yet the movie ignores this.
The film highlights that this is a band of misfits, rounded up to do the dirty work for Section 31 in the shadows. Though, I think it would have been interesting to see more of the regular Section 31 agents. I think the movie highlights the ongoing experiment with Star Trek. This is headed by the current franchise Captain, Alex Kurtzman. Recent shows and this movie prove that experimentation is a key focus. The goal? Attract new audiences to the Star Trek Universe. Is it working? Likely not.
As I’ll explain in the next section, the Section 31 movie seems to not realise it’s within the Star Trek Universe. While exploring outside the Federation is good, I fear new viewers would be confused. If they come, watch, and like Section 31, then they’ll want to explore Star Trek more. The rest of the shows and movies are very different from this movie world. So, will they like them if they like Section 31? Maybe! Ultimately, time will tell.
Forgetting The Star Trek Universe?
The Star Trek: Section 31 also does not seem to establish itself in this era of the Star Trek Universe. Unfortunately, there are very few visual cues to inform viewers where this movie takes place. Yes, there is a stardate shown on-screen, but unless you are a Star Trek expert, it cannot be easy to understand that from the 5 seconds of screen time. If this film had not included the Star Trek: The Next Generation guest character of Rachel Garrett, played by Kacey Rohl, you might have difficulty guessing where it occurs.
I was expecting, for a Star Trek movie, that I would see some familiar-looking Star Trek starships. Instead, I was disappointed. Yes, Section 31 is set outside of Federation space, which perhaps explains this creative choice. Still, I think there could have been more effort made. I will say, the designs of the starships in the movie are actually kind of cool. You can see some connections between Section 31 of the 23rd Century and how we find them here in the early 24th Century.
While watching, viewers will see some familiar Trek species in a type of “Oh, it’s that guy”, but beyond that, it is minimal. There are no significant story connections to the wider Star Trek Universe. For example, during the run-up to this movie, many of us speculated that it could adapt book material to explain some “odd” events during this era of the Star Trek Universe.
Of course, the movie does not need a ton of canon connections or references to make it good. However, with that said, I think some familiar sights would visually aid the movie and also remind people where this movie takes place and what universe. An example that immediately comes to mind is the many Star Wars projects we see. Each one usually contains some similar famous brand identity, like Stormtroopers. This also extended to the sounds and feel. Though I will say, LCARS sounds were great.
The Section 31 Cast
I’ve got to say that while the plot of the movie might have fallen short of my expectations, I really enjoyed the casting. Of course, Michelle Yeoh is perfect in every scene she is in. Yeoh is a master at work in any environment you put her in, and she effortlessly portrays ‘Phillipa Georgiou’. I could easily watch more of her in this role. However, while Yeoh is fantastic, the writing does let her character down. It feels as if this adventure does not massively change her that much. She learns some things, but by the end of the movie, I don’t see her as any different.
The rest of the movie’s cast do well with what they have been given. Multiple times, I enjoyed lines delivered by Robert Kazinsky‘s ‘Zeph’ – the Borg-looking exoskeleton guy. Omari Hardwick‘s ‘Alok’, who operates as the Section 31 mission leader, works well in his role and has a nice backstory that connects with the wider Star Trek Universe. Sam Richardson, Sven Ruygrok, and Humberly González also fit their roles well. Still, it does feel as if they did not have the room to explore everyone properly.
Including Kacey Rohl as ‘Rachel Garrett’, who was a nice choice for the role, but I found myself asking “What was the point?”. It’s great to have this character here, but did we need her? No. It is sad to say that. By no means is that a criticism of Rohl’s acting, she did great. However, it links back to my criticism of the lack of visual cues or connections. Perhaps if we saw Garrett in a Star Trek uniform at some point, it would have given us something, but the movie was missing that opportunity.
Final Thoughts on Section 31
Honestly, the ending of Star Trek: Section 31 left me wanting more from this crew. While the concept of Section 31 is not something I would have chosen first for a direct-to-streaming Star Trek movie, it could work. Life outside of the Federation has not really been explored. We see bits and pieces of this, but typically, we’re seeing things THROUGH the eyes of a Starfleet or Federation person. Section 31 is a bit different as this is a regular person who is not living in its future utopian society.
Ultimately, I feel as if in the attempt to make Star Trek: Section 31 stand out, it may have warped too far away from the core idea of a Star Trek movie. It was fun; I had a few laughs at the screening in London, yet when I think about the movie as a bigger picture, it drops the ball. The lack of commentary and insight into Section 31 is a big disappointment for me. That and the plot, which is just your typical, predictable action movie, make this a disappointment overall.
I still think you should watch it and make up your own mind. I really wanted to enjoy Section 31; it’s a Star Trek adventure, and we all love those. Unfortunately, it did fall short of my expectations. Nonetheless, I encourage you to seek your own judgement.
Star Trek: Section 31 releases on January 24th, 2025, on Paramount+. We’ll need to wait and see what Paramount+ decides to do with their new format of television movies for Star Trek. I think this format could be used to explore characters, topics, and events within the wider Star Trek Universe. What about a Riker (Jonathan Frakes) movie? Or that Janeway (Kate Mulgrew) return fans have been asking for? This area of Star Trek is ripe to boldly go! I hope we get to see more adventures in the Star Trek movieverse.
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