Olatunde Osunsanmi’s new TV movie “Star Trek: Section 31” involves the exploits of Empress Philippa Georgiou, an escapee from a parallel universe and the former ruler of the evil Terran Empire. Georgiou (Michelle Yeoh) is a wicked sadist, mass murderer, and vile cannibal who, thanks to some soul-searching adventures on board the U.S.S. Discovery, proved that she was capable of actual restraint. That was enough for Starfleet to recruit her for Section 31, the black-ops arm of the “Star Trek” universe.
Section 31 is, for many Trekkies, antithetical to “Star Trek.” The organization was introduced in the sixth season of “Star Trek: Deep Space Nine,” and it was always presented as morally dodgy. Why would an ostensibly utopian future based on pacifism, diplomacy, and scientific betterment require a CIA-like order of spies and assassins? Yes, the Federation had rivals and enemies, but throughout most of “Star Trek: The Original Series,” war was to be avoided at all costs. Section 31 depicted Starfleet as an organization that was willing to break its own rules in times of war. It didn’t fit in with “Star Trek” creator Gene Roddenberry’s ideals.
But we have arrived at a Section 31 movie regardless, and the filmmakers — mercifully — took a wise approach to the controversial material. Rather than connect “Section 31” directly to the rest of the “Star Trek” canon, or link it to an extant “Star Trek” story arc (like, for example, a war with the Klingons), it is wholly separate, making only scant references to the larger “Star Trek” universe. This allowed “Section 31” to stand as an independent sci-fi action caper, free from the stuffiness of Starfleet diplomacy. It’s more like a heist movie, featuring mostly new aliens and characters.
So, we have a “Star Trek” movie that doesn’t take place among Starfleet officers, isn’t set on a starship, doesn’t possess any of the franchise’s well-worn utopian principles, isn’t paced like a “Star Trek” show, doesn’t look like a “Star Trek” series, and features a simple action plot that “Star Trek” usually doesn’t do.
Wait. Why is this even “Star Trek?”
Section 31 is a action/heist movie more than a Star Trek movie
“Star Trek,” I have always felt, has functioned better when it eschews action. The more traditionally action-packed “Star Trek” movies, while exciting, seem to be missing the point. “Star Trek” is always at its best when it’s wrestling with ethical dilemmas or presenting really cerebral sci-fi stories. The characters are capable of fighting, and starships are equipped with weapons, but no Starfleet officer or vessel ever charges into a situation with phasers blazing. Action movies present violence as an easy solution to difficult problems; just kill the Bad Guy. “Star Trek,” often refusing to adopt moral absolutes, often tries to transcend simple solutions, seeing every foe as a complex, complete person with their own motivations.
“Section 31” is an action film through-and-through, complete with casual murders, multiple fight scenes, and last-minute escapes. It doesn’t feel very “Star Trek” at all.
But that’s only a tonal issue. Heck, the Kelvin-verse movies had a similar problem. More than anything, “Section 31,” in being so disconnected from the “Star Trek” universe at large, doesn’t feel like it even needs to be “Star Trek.” The characters are broad archetypes and “Section 31” screenwriter Craig Sweeny seems to have created them out of whole cloth. There is a Chameloid (Sam Richardson), yes, but he could have been any random shape-shifting species from any sci-fi story. There is a Deltan (Humberly Gonzalez), but I’ve seen alien sex goddesses before. Rachel Garrett (Kacey Rohl) appears in “Section 31,” but she doesn’t look or behave like the older version of the character Trekkies may remember from “Star Trek: The Next Generation.”
This film could have been released as an original action/sci-fi caper, featuring all-new characters and aliens, and it would have functioned just as well. The “Star Trek” imprimatur doesn’t enhance it or even alter the story one whit.
Star Trek has always had trouble defining life outside of Starfleet
Of course, the main reason “Section 31” feels wholly divorced from “Star Trek” is that it doesn’t take place on a starship. Most “Star Trek” series to date have been workplace shows, following officers who have the most interesting job in the universe: piloting a space vessel toward strange new worlds. There are engineers, science officers, and command officials who, using their professional acumen and interpersonal skills, solve complex diplomatic issues and unlock unusual scientific secrets. Everyone works together and they responded to a chain of command. The military formality of Starfleet is the most vital detail of “Star Trek.”
But it’s been rare for Trekkies to get to see what life is like outside Starfleet. What does an average citizen’s existence look like in the “Star Trek” universe? How does Roddenberry’s utopia appear on a non-military, everyday scenario? The “Star Trek” franchise has never really defined that part of its mythology, at least not very well. “Section 31” opens in a hotel-like space station where people gather to watch nightclub acts and drink. They wear wild fashions and seem to pay using real money. None of the aliens are terribly familiar. When a new character is introduced, they are given a “Suicide Squad”-like rundown of their backstory and characteristics. Here’s the cyber-hulk with a temper (Sven Ruygrok). Here’s the shapeshifter. Here’s the mysterious FBI-like dude (Omari Hardwick). Here’s the microscopic being that pilots a human-shaped android (Robert Kazinsky). I would recommend not getting killed by him.
It seems, though, that the civilian world of “Star Trek” is disappointingly generic. The magical Starfleet utopia hasn’t reached the world of “Section 31,” so it may as well take place anywhere. This could have been a spinoff of “Rebel Moon,” for all the connections it has to “Star Trek.” With a few alterations, it could have even been a “Valerian” spinoff or a “Babylon 5” offshoot. As a whole, “Section 31” is as far from “Star Trek” as “Star Trek” has ever been.
“Star Trek: Section 31” is now streaming on Paramount+.
