I Enjoyed Star Trek: Section 31, But There's One Issue I Have That's Impossible To Ignore As A Longtime Fan

Warning! The following feature jumps into SPOILERS for Star Trek: Section 31. Stream it with a Paramount+ subscription and read at your own risk!

The reviews are in for the newly-released Star Trek: Section 31, and for those who haven't read what critics had to say about the Star Trek movie, they were not kind. While the movie is finding a few fans as it remains available on Paramount+, I think it's time to address one of the major missteps Section 31 made that's impossible to ignore as a longtime fan.

When I saw the first trailer for Section 31, I went on the record as calling it one of my most-anticipated projects of the year. While I appreciated the franchise's attempt to do something new, and I love the cast, the story fell short for me in one major way, and I continue to wonder why it seems the fans were an afterthought when it came to Philippa Georgiou's return to Star Trek.

Star Trek: Section 31 Being Accessible To All Audiences Is A Major Downside For Fans

You can have seen zero Star Trek projects ever in your life and follow Section 31 from start to finish. While that may appeal for those outside of the fandom just looking for an action movie, it may be a shock to the system for the average Trek fan. After all, almost every movie the franchise has done has required at least some knowledge of the characters and their lore.

It's something I took for granted until seeing a new cast of characters I wasn't familiar with thrown into harm's way. As talented as the cast and crew are, the fact that their lives are in danger means very little to me as a viewer because they might as well be Red Shirts considering how long I've known them. We know that Rachel Garrett, who is pulled into the adventure after an appearance in Star Trek: The Next Generation, has to survive because of the events that come later in TNG, so the one character we can gravitate to most fans know is going to escape unscathed.

The casual audience likely doesn't know any of this and, as a result, was surely far less bent out of shape about it than I and other fans might've been. Still, it seems I was not alone in being just as jazzed as other Star Trek fans to see this movie, especially on the heels of a year that said goodbye to Discovery and Lower Decks. To go through that and be confronted with a movie that deliberately steers away from catering to fans feels like a slap in the face.

The Movie Relies On A Character Central To Star Trek: Discovery, But Shuns The Series And Other Recent Trek Shows

Section 31 tells us all we need to know about Michelle Yeoh's Georgiou in the opening moments. She was raised in the Mirror Universe and eventually became the Terran Empress after slaughtering her own family. She's the hero of the story, though if you're a casual fan, I can see why that may be confusing.

While I would still say that Yeoh's Georgiou is like the Darth Vader of Star Trek, she does show more redeeming qualities in Discovery. Now, I wouldn't expect someone who already committed to watching this movie to then stream Discovery to get the full scope of her character, but I would've expected the movie to show a bit more of why she's at least capable of being good despite her overwhelming track record for evil deeds.

There are surface-level connections to the deeper Star Trek lore, but for a franchise that has spent the past several years pumping out live-action shows and revealing new characters and new stories, none of it is highlighted in Section 31. I had hopes when Strange New Worlds actors were at the film's wrap party, but I should've known that the setting in the Lost Era of Trek would've made cameos from that cast difficult to pull off.

Again, this is not usual to the Star Trek movie experience, and it's something the movie traded in an effort to pull in more people. It seemed odd to make that move rather than serving the built-in audience it cultivated with those shows over the years, but perhaps Paramount saw an opportunity for new viewership, with this being Michelle Yeoh's first Trek project since her Oscars win.

Did The First Star Trek Movie In Almost Nine Years Need To Be For Anyone Other Than The Fans?

While the world at large might not have been counting the days since the last Star Trek film, I can point to many fans who were pointing out that Section 31 would be the first movie for the franchise in almost nine years. This was a big deal in the fandom, and people were legitimately excited not just to see Michelle Yeoh back in the franchise but to see a story centered around the cryptic shadow organization Section 31.

Unfortunately, because the movie is primarily made to cater to a casual audience, all the potential to pull on all the things we love about Philippa Georgiou, Section 31 and other things in Star Trek all ends up being made to feel less than adequate. As I said at the top of this, there's a solid action adventure in here, but it's not the movie that fans were waiting on.

I think that certainly plays on why reviews are so negative from dedicated fans, and I'll concede that perhaps it's a bit unfair to have expected so much from this movie. Even so, the circumstances are what they are, but hey, this wouldn't be the first poorly received Star Trek movie. With Michelle Yeoh wanting to continue as Georgiou, there's even a chance to try again with a sequel, assuming Paramount will be interested in making one happen.

Readers who haven't checked out Star Trek: Section 31 and have Paramount+ should certainly do so. I enjoyed the movie a little more than the average fan, though as mentioned, I can't really overlook the fact that the movie wasn't really constructed for those of us who wanted it most.