The original premise was conceived before the jump to the 32nd century, so presumably it would have been DIS-era.
Spoilers STAR TREK: SECTION 31 - Grading & Discussion
- Thread starter Commander Richard
- Start date
I do not trust people who strap themselves to the name of a famous dead person to try and make their opinions seem in the same caliber as Ebert's reviews.
It's been a site that pays contributors for reviews for over a decade, so it's had time to build its own reputation as a review site rather than a reviewer.
I hear
Right, it’s how Ebert set his site up before he passed away, giving upstart writers a chance to write their own reviews.
He reminds me of what "Every Frame a Painting" said about Michael Bay, that his style is that he thinks to make a great movie, you need to make every individual shot great, too, with "great" meaning dynamic, vivid, and technically complex. I hadn't known/remembered Osunsanmi was doing S31 until I saw the full trailer when it came out a month or two back, but I could tell immediately, because he has the same "leave it all on the field" energy. He uses every trick and flourish he has whenever remotely possible, and it just ends up being numbing.
I like the idea that Galaxy Quest is the secret tenth Star Trek movie so it threw off the cycle. Not that I subscribe to the even-odd theory.
These reviews aren't pretty. I mean, I was thinking about watching it just to have something to talk about, even though I still haven't started season 3 of Discovery primarily because evil!Georgiou is such a hate-to-hate-her character for me that I don't even want to muscle through the handful of episodes before she's written off, but I'm not sure it's worth it when the "even when Star Trek is bad, it's still pretty good" people are tearing this apart.
Good Lord. I'm not surprised the geek press is crucifying it, I kind of expected that, but when mainstream sites join them you know it's bad.
What’s this? A pretty decent review https://www.theverge.com/2025/1/23/24340743/star-trek-section-31-review-paramount-plus
I have low expectations, but I love Michelle Yeoh. It lands on my birthday, I was looking forward to a fun bit of escapism, even if it “isn’t Star Trek”.
I have low expectations, but I love Michelle Yeoh. It lands on my birthday, I was looking forward to a fun bit of escapism, even if it “isn’t Star Trek”.
- end result is a mixed bag, with varying levels of success, a fleeting bit of entertainment
- At times you can almost feel the formulaic design behind the scenes, awkwardly mashing up elements of more successful recent sci-fi movies
- many elements and moments that work
- moral contemplation has been swapped for action-adventure
- updated present day “smartphone” looking tricorders with TNG tricorder sound
Early Thoughts On ‘Star Trek: Section 31’ (Spoiler-Free)
Anthony, Matt, and Laurie share some of their initial thoughts, with a detailed review coming on Friday.trekmovie.com
Anthony Pascale (TrekMovie) is trying so so so hard to say anything positive about Section 31.
"There are certainly elements and moments that work"
I.e.most elements and moments don't work.
"some clever sci-fi concepts"
I.e. most concepts are not clever.
Why do people hate Alex Kurtzman? Hmm?
Why the hate for Alex Kurtzman?
Then what is the point of any of it? I’m fairly loose where continuity is concerned, but a franchise does have to respect its history and get the broad strokes right. To me, this gets to the rub and what I see as the contradictions in the attitudes about the issue. On the one hand, people will...
www.trekbbs.com
Why Why Why?
I especially hate him for 5 great seasons of Lower Decks and that terrible run of good Prodigy episodes.
(Okay 4 great seasons, that last one was a bit dodgy).
(Okay 4 great seasons, that last one was a bit dodgy).
This is the first Star Trek thing I might have to force myself to watch. I'm out of town now and probably won't get around the watching it until Sunday at the earliest, but these reviews are somehow shocking and not shocking at the same time. I think the only thing that excited me about this was it being set in the Lost era and we have Rachel Garrett but I read one review basically saying that they didn't do much with the character at all.
I will form my own opinions, but when you have mainstream media almost echoing the nardrodics and critical drinkers of the world, that's a big yikes.
I will form my own opinions, but when you have mainstream media almost echoing the nardrodics and critical drinkers of the world, that's a big yikes.
When I see it I’ll know if it’s Star Trek or not and if I need to charge the flamethrower. Since I don’t frequent review sites, I’ll limited my targets to local. It may very well be Star Trek and suck like a black hole. Insurrection was a Star Trek episode writ large and sucked. (A low bar indeed)
Anthony Pascale (TrekMovie) is trying so so so hard to say anything positive about Section 31.
"There are certainly elements and moments that work"
I.e.most elements and moments don't work.
"some clever sci-fi concepts"
I.e. most concepts are not clever.
Why do people hate Alex Kurtzman? Hmm?
Why the hate for Alex Kurtzman?
Then what is the point of any of it? I’m fairly loose where continuity is concerned, but a franchise does have to respect its history and get the broad strokes right. To me, this gets to the rub and what I see as the contradictions in the attitudes about the issue. On the one hand, people will...
Why Why Why?
The only people who hate Alex Kurtzman are people with nothing better to do with their time than to tell complete strangers on the internet how much they are butthurt.
Ok? A producer making a bad film is a reason to hate someone?
Does a bad film negate the good things he's made? Things like Lower Decks, Prodigy, and Strange New Worlds that are near universally liked don't matter, but a bad film is enough to crucify someone.
I sincerely and honestly don't understand hating someone for making something you don't like. The film could be absolute trash on a stick. You know what a sensible person does? You accept that it's clearly not a film for you and move on. Mark it as a loss.
The fact that this apparent loss is going to fuel the hatred from the toxic parts of the fandom. The fact that I know they're going to go on and on and on about it. That's what is going to bother me the most about this whole thing. The inability to dislike something in a objective, and mature manner.
Did Kurtzman make those things though? I see Kurtzman as the modern era Rick Berman. He does the business side of things, but he isn't the showrunner for each of the shows. Mike McMahn was for Lower Decks, and the Hagemans were for Prodigy. Unless I'm wrong about how the whole chain of command thing works.
I've tried to avoid that thread, mainly because I don't have an opinion on him. He's done good things, like Bring Trek into the modern streaming era and greenlighted shows like Prodigy and Lower Decks. He's also done things I haven't been a fan of like Discovery. Like I said, he's a modern day Rick Berman.
It is gatekeeping.
Define Star Trek. Ask a dozen fans and you'll get 32 answers.
This.
The lack of maturity I see around Trek circles disturbs me. The wish for harm on Kurtzman and his house is problematic.
If this movie is this bad (doubtful) then ignoring it is the most mature thing to do.
You're clearly not a true Trek fan. If you were, you'd know to say there are 47 answers, not 32.
