Typically, in Star Trek, the Federation are the good guys. They may even be “The Good Guys”, the platonic ideal of good-guyness. They don’t have money, instead focus on a society built on self-improvement and good works, they are famous for their tolerance and diversity – while most other nations in Star Trek are centred around a single species the Federation is explicitly a coming together of many alien species (if you’re wondering why we see so many humans in the show…makeup costs money). Captain Picard would go off on twenty-minute tangents about human rights, justice, decency and so on. But not everything in the Federation is quite so nice. Deep Space Nine introduced an organisation known as Section 31. They were a secret espionage group tasked with doing whatever was necessary to protect the Federation. They were completely secret, unaccountable and dangerous, doing very un-Federation things. And Star Trek: Section 31 is the next Star Trek project being released, a movie streaming only on Paramount+.
What We Know
Section 31’s main character is Philippa Georgiou (played by Michelle Yeoh); not the Georgiou who was captain of Discovery at the start of that show but rather the evil version from The Mirror Universe (the origin of evil versions always have goatee beards trope), also featured in Discovery. Suffice it to say, there is not time to explain the previous sentence in this article, but fans of Star Trek will be nodding sagely.
Georgiou is recruited to provide some much-needed villain energy to the Section 31 organisation. One member of Star Fleet is specifically part of the team so they don’t get carried away with murdering so it could be assumed that without her they’re going to fail spectacularly at “black ops”. Not much is revealed about the other characters as all the focus is very much on Georgiou.
The Trailer
This does not seem like Star Trek. It is actually reminiscent of trailers for films like Guardians of the Galaxy, Suicide Squad or even the recently released Borderlands. It has fast cuts, modern music and garish colours and could even perhaps be described as “wacky”. There is also the feeling that Section 31 is a team of misfits and people who didn’t fit in elsewhere, perhaps even seen as a bit useless, which is something that has been seen many times but not so much in Star Trek. They are usually supremely competent, professional, and often genuinely brilliant. Problems in Star Trek arise not from a character’s foolish mistake but from moral quandaries, loyalty being pulled in different directions and so on.
This is definitely a new direction for Star Trek. The franchise has always been good at finding different ways to do fun things outside the confines of Star Fleet and the Federation, The Mirror Universe of evil duplicates being a great example. But with unique planets with a strong theme, time travel, holodecks, and more they can have fun and not do too much damage to Star Trek canon. This would be a movie where the central theme runs against how the Star Trek universe is usually portrayed. For all of its numerous faults Star Trek: Insurrection has Picard go off on one of his monologues about the philosophy of the “ends justify the means”, with vehemently stating that is not what he or the Federation believes. Section 31 is possibly torn in too many directions, the central character an evil emperor from a parallel dimension who killed millions is brought into an organisation where they’re told they can’t kill people. It will perhaps not satisfy those looking for a darker Star Trek story as it will not embrace the idea of what a black ops division actually does. The organisation of Section 31 always stood out as an odd anomaly in Star Trek and to make a whole movie about it may tear a hole in the spacetime continuum – or similar technobabble the franchise is rightly famous for.
But for those who are less wedded to the underlying philosophy of Star Trek – people like JJ Abrams for example – what are the good points? First, you have Oscar winner Michelle Yeoh, a great actor clearly giving it 100% in the Alan Rickman style of playing a villain. It looks fun with a great many explosions, space battles and over-the-top costumes. For a franchise that can take itself very seriously, this is perhaps moving more into fun – even containing a fourth-wall-breaking censor-style disclaimer at the beginning of the trailer from Star Fleet media division. It’s worth noting that Lower Decks, a Star Trek animated show, which has a more sillier tone than Star Trek in general has been very successful.
We will have to see if Star Trek: Section 31 can pull off this new direction and if traditional Star Trek fans will go along with it.
Also Read: Five Star Trek Fan Films You Should Watch Right Now
