Section 31: I hope it still happens.

[Unicron]

This, a million times over. Every single “complaint” about Michael being Spock’s adoptive sister somehow “contradicting” past canon/continuity told on themselves, because Spock not volunteering personal information about his family is in fact entirely in character, supported repeatedly with his previous actions onscreen in every instance of meeting one of his family members.

‪‪‪I love the addition of Michael and Spock’s relationship to Spock’s history and character, and the first time ‪‪I watched TOS’s Operation: Annihilate after the end of Discovery’s second season, ‪‪I couldn’t help but think when Spock empathized with Kirk who was reacting to finding his own brother dead, saying “Captain, I understand how you must--” before Kirk cut him off, that Spock was recalling the loss of his own sister when she travelled into the future at the end of Such Sweet Sorrow, Part 2.

‪‪I know it didn’t have the same impact for eveyone else, but Michael’s familial connection to Spock was never an error or contradiction that required explanation.

Speaking for myself, I'm kind of the opposite. I like the idea of Michael being a human who spent part of her life on Vulcan, but I personally think making her a member of Spock's family who's conveniently avoided mention (until now ) was a mistake. It introduces a whole lot of variables into the continuity that don't need to be there and have the potential to get messy, as I believe it is at times.

I totally agree that Spock is a rather private individual, but for me that's irrelevant as far as Michael never getting a reference. She was raised by one of Vulcan's best known citizens (Sarek) and later served in Starfleet, as Spock chose to do. Not only did she succeed in becoming an officer, but she's the officer who helped start the war with the Klingons after apparently rebelling against her captain. If anything, I think she'd be rather infamous instead of the opposite, never minding the idea of Starfleet trying to conveniently classify everything related to Discovery. I'm rather skeptical that information of that type stays secret for any length of time, since it's not uncommon in Trek for things to happen as the plot requires. But also I think we've seen on many occasions where intelligence divisions (and groups like Section 31) have little difficulty finding what they need and exploiting it as they see fit.

I have the same issue with elements of Star Trek: Enterprise, because that series had no small amount of executive meddling. They wanted the show to have iconic elements of past Treks and weren't overly interested in the quality of storytelling or continuity, because in their minds that was secondary at best. Hence we wound up with a new USS Enterprise that somehow gets left off the main list and a crew who accomplished feats that would seem almost legendary in later series - like helping the Federation get started. But somehow any references to them are fairly sparse, it seems.

That's not to say ENT is bad, by any means - I genuinely enjoy parts of it and some of the prequel elements (like the Andorians) are handled really well. I just wish the show had been given the freedom to be more creative and original and had less meddling from upstairs, among other things.

 

[fireproof78]

I'd rather a Section 31 series tie into the series that created Section 31 in the first place and the only series that it makes sense to have it in. DS9 obviously. Go down the route of Bashir being the reluctant head of 31.

If it means seeing Bashir again I could be intrigued. Personally, Section 31 is enough for me, regardless of who the actors are.

 

[Mx_MossBall]

I'd only be interested if they portrayed section 31 as unambiguously evil. Maybe a lighter shade of dark grey, but I don't really like the lionization of unaccountable spy agencies in my trek.

 

[fireproof78]

If it was a Garak series no one would bat an eye at spycraft, evil deeds and shady dealings in the name of the greater good.

 

[dupersuper]

If it was a Garak series no one would bat an eye at spycraft, evil deeds and shady dealings in the name of the greater good.

Sure, but Garak and the Cardassians aren't Federation members, thus no besmirching of our utopian future.

 

[fireproof78]

Sure, but Garak and the Cardassians aren't Federation members, thus no besmirching of our utopian future.

If evil admirals of the week didn't besmirch the precious utopia Section 31 won't either. And the utopian Federation Starfleet worked with Garak too, aiding in putting him in a position of power on Cardassia after supporting an insurrection agaisnt the government.

Utopia is nice until you have to fight for it.

 

[Ragitsu]

Just what Star Trek of all franchises needs...a heaping dose of wet-work. A giant middle finger to all the optimism.

 

[fireproof78]

Wet work has been a part of Trek since Season 3 of TOS.

 

[dupersuper]

If evil admirals of the week didn't besmirch the precious utopia Section 31 won't either.

There's a world of difference between the odd rogue nut who gets foiled by the end and a vast cabal of dark ops.

Utopia is nice until you have to fight for it.

Thus we lose Star Trek to cynicism...

 

[fireproof78]

There's a world of difference between the odd rogue nut who gets foiled by the end and a vast cabal of dark ops.cynicism...

Not really when TNG showed a number of admirals doing such things. I'd prefer the cabal than Starfleet having a true structural problem of admirals going rogue because...reasons.

Thus we lose Star Trek to cynicism...

Nope. Not by a long shot. Its just not always pretty.

 

[STEPhon IT]

How interesting a Section 31 series could be if Kurtzman decided to branch it closer to PICARD and have it set several years after the Dominion War? There's still more stories to tell before the aftermath of Nemesis and Spock/ Picard's Romulan crisis.

 

[Yistaan]

How interesting a Section 31 series could be if Kurtzman decided to branch it closer to PICARD and have it set several years after the Dominion War? There's still more stories to tell before the aftermath of Nemesis and Spock/ Picard's Romulan crisis.

Random Federation citizen: The Dominion only surrendered due to being nearly eradicated by Section 31's bioengineered plague. Section 31 was right.

 

[dupersuper]

Random Federation citizen: The Dominion only surrendered due to being nearly eradicated by Section 31's bioengineered plague. Section 31 was right.

Sounds like those Federation citizens are watching the faux Fox News channel from Picard...

 

[Cyrus]

According to the TrekMovie article the S31 showrunners Boey and Erika have left the Discovery staff to work on a Netflix series. So if the series is still alive it must be on life support.

 

[JoaquinSlowly]

According to the TrekMovie article the S31 showrunners Boey and Erika have left the Discovery staff to work on a Netflix series. So if the series is still alive it must be on life support.

The authors of said TrekMovie article must have not have noticed the CBS Studios press release about Alex Kurtzman & Jenny Lumet’s 25 Stories and their overall CBS/Viacom production deal, from back in October.

When they cover the Star Trek franchise’s current productions they listed Section 31 as in currently development and named its present showrunner as Craig Sweeney, who worked previously on The 4400 (the original, not the current reboot on The CW), as well as Elementary, and Discovery, amongst other shows.

 

[dinzy]

According to the TrekMovie article the S31 showrunners Boey and Erika have left the Discovery staff to work on a Netflix series. So if the series is still alive it must be on life support.

Just like Discovery didn't go any where after Fuller left. This is the Golden age of TV and that means talent is in demand. Had the show been in actual production, maybe these people wouldn't have left, but I am sure Netflix is paying them well to write a show that will be cancelled after 1 season.

This S31 show must have had everything turned on its head due to both Covid and Yeoh's rising demand as an actor. I still have hopes for it.

 

[STEPhon IT]

Sounds like those Federation citizens are watching the faux Fox News channel from Picard...

Hahaha it's the reason why Chris Cuomo helped his brother Disgraced NY Governor Andrew Cuomo from sexual harrassment allegations by using his connections from CNN to discredit the accusers. Yep! I am sure Fed citizens are watching the faux Fox New Channel than FAKE NEWS CNN.

 

[XCV330]

Random Federation citizen: The Dominion only surrendered due to being nearly eradicated by Section 31's bioengineered plague. Section 31 was right.

When a military loss is an existential threat, all options must be on on the table. I thought DS9 did a good job of trying to show that. Section 31 is an organization though that would have to have oversight or it would get out of discipline and make the incredibly poor decisions of Season 2 DSC. It might be best as a small team of operatives seen in DS9 and ENT, capable of calling on outside resources when needed, and able to disappear the rest of the time. It shouldn't be a shadow-military with its own fleet.

Thus we lose Star Trek to cynicism...

How so? This is the same Star Trek that had its captains authorized for General Order 24, the same one that would execute its own citizens simply for VISITING Talos.

 

[fireproof78]

It might be best as a small team of operatives seen in DS9 and ENT, capable of calling on outside resources when needed, and able to disappear the rest of the time. It shouldn't be a shadow-military with its own fleet.

And that's probably what it learned after the Control debacle. It only takes one leader to get ambitious and overstep only to realize that is not in the best interests of their mission to operate so big of a fleet.

 

[Lynx]

I realize I’m probably in a minority on this, but I hope the Section 31 series is still happening. I wouldn’t be surprised if it ended up being pulled, given the lukewarm-to-negative responses it seemed to bring on this board, compared to the enthusiasm (which I share!) for Strange New Worlds, plus the difficulty of making anything in the current situation. But I hope not; there’s a lot of story potential in a show whose protagonists might embody, at different times, both the dubious immoral underside of the Federation and honest attempts to protect it. Something along the lines of Spooks/MI-5, as opposed to “hero spy” shows like Alias.

(Of course I’m also just greedy, always want more Trek than less, and would have been fine with Star Trek: The Adventures of Captain Michelle Yeoh in Space Starring Michelle Yeoh in any event. Even if she never comes back from the far future, they can just clone her from stored DNA, since they knew how to do that in Enterprise.)

A Section 31 series looks very interesting. Maybe what Star Trek need now.

I could also imagine a Starfleet NCIS series set in the 24th century, shortly after the Dominion War ended.