Spoilers STAR TREK: SECTION 31 - Grading & Discussion

[Michael]

Am I the only one who wanted more of Virgil, the sassy Cheron? I thought he was delightful.

I wouldn’t mind if they found a way to somehow have him, Sam Richardson’s Quasi or Kacey Rohl’s Rachel Garrett appear on Strange New Worlds (althoug the latter would probably be harder to do because of the timeline).

 

[Ray Hardgrit]

I've just watched the film myself and I think I've figured out why it's throwing so many reviewers off.

It's a kids movie! A big dumb story for children, with some edgy swearing and characters that 13 year olds would think were badass, mixed with a little bit of 80s family adventure TV. It's not something that adults (or children) can take seriously. The tough black ops team spends most of the time either bickering or learning lessons about how to be better people (sometimes you just have to pick a button), they're trying to stop a football-sized bomb that can blow up the quadrant, Garret blows up a villain's ship with an exploding doll battery while ranting about 'chaos'... but don't think that'll stop him for good, as he'll return one day for revenge!! And they all have drinks at the end while watching the secret briefing in the middle of a crowded bar.

I wasn't bored though. It's campy forgettable trash, with badly filmed action scenes and flame jets, like someone took the dumbest episodes of Discovery and extracted all of the Star Trek to see what would remain afterwards, but it was watchable. I liked the actors enough that I wished that they'd stopped reading out the cringey lines they'd been given and made up some better dialogue instead.

They definitely shouldn't have called it Section 31, as that's baggage the series didn't need and had no interest in dealing with. This was a black ops mission so secret and so illegal that a Starfleet officer was on the team. They should've just made them all Starfleet black ops, then no one would've been a traitor and the mission wouldn't have turned into a complete disaster. Also the characters might have even been likeable.

I'm giving it... 4/10

 

[Jax]

That was awful Sci Fi and even more digusting as a Star Trek property.

Way worse than Star Trek Nemesis - a whole new low bar for the franchise.

 

[eschaton]

I've just watched the film myself and I think I've figured out why it's throwing so many reviewers off.

It's a kids movie! A big dumb story for children, with swearing and characters that 13 year olds would think were badass, mixed with a little bit of 80s family adventure TV. It's not something that adults (or children) can take seriously. The tough black ops team spends most of the time either bickering or learning lessons about how to be better people (sometimes you just have to pick a button), they're trying to stop a football-sized bomb that can blow up the quadrant, Garret blows up a villain's ship with an exploding doll battery while ranting about 'chaos'... but don't think that'll stop him for good, as he'll return one day for revenge!! And they all have drinks at the end while watching the secret briefing in the middle of a crowded bar.

I wasn't bored though. It's campy forgettable trash, with badly filmed action scenes and flame jets, like someone took the dumbest episodes of Discovery and extracted all of the Star Trek to see what would remain afterwards, but it was watchable. I liked the actors enough that I wished that they'd stopped reading out the cringey lines they'd been given and made up some better dialogue instead.

They definitely shouldn't have called it Section 31, as that's baggage the series didn't need and had no interest in dealing with. This was a black ops mission so secret and so illegal that a Starfleet officer was on the team. They should've just made them all Starfleet black ops, then no one would've been a traitor and the mission wouldn't have turned into a complete disaster. Also the characters would've been likeable.

I don't think it's so much Trek for children, as it is Trek for people with double-digit IQs, TBH. Trying to avoid that nerd shit like ideas, and themes, in favor of punches to the face and things going boom.

I mean, Garrett was a friggin punching bag for the rest of the cast, and she was the only recognizably smart character there.

 

[oktay]

Alex Kurtzman isn't going anywhere despite what "people" say. And I'm fine with that.

There are some of the new Star Trek works that I like. There have been some good decisions made by Kurtzman on Star Trek TV shows like Picard and Lower Decks. But Discovery is his weakest work in my opinion and this new movie is terrible. But he will continue. I hope that Skydance will not include Paramount Pictures' planned Star Trek movies for the big screen in Kurtzman's deal with CBS to be in charge of Star Trek TV series. It would be better if the deal was limited to Star Trek TV shows only. Although Simon Kinberg was mentioned for the big screen movies.

 

[Dukhat]

I don't think it's so much Trek for children, as it is Trek for people with double-digit IQs

Then CBS made a huge mistake, because people with more than double-digit IQs are not signing up for Paramount+ to watch dumbed-down Star Trek shows. And they’re also not signing up to watch Michelle Yeoh, despite what CBS might think.

 

[Turtletrekker]

I enjoyed Discovery. It's not even close to my favorite Star Trek, but neither is it close to my least favorite Star Trek.

 

[TRON JA307020]

Am I the only one who wanted more of Virgil, the sassy Cheron? I thought he was delightful.

I wouldn’t mind if they found a way to somehow have him, Sam Richardson’s Quasi or Kacey Rohl’s Rachel Garrett appear on Strange New Worlds (althoug the latter would probably be harder to do because of the timeline).

No. I couldnt stand his chatacter. A total cliché. No characters from this crap fest should ever be filmed again.

 

[thribs]

I thought about giving it a watch but decided on just watching Dragon Ball Daima. I think I made the right choice

 

[DaveyNY]

Gave it an 8.
It's essentially an offbeat 'Mission Impossible' Star Trek story.
Certainly not one of the best Trek Tales, but as far as I'm concerned it's not "Spock's Brain" bad either.

Considering the characters they used, it's an entertaining one-off that doesn't hinder Star Trek's overall quality nor does it detract from anything we've seen in the last fifty-eight years.
The fact that it wasn't boring in any way for me is a plus as well.

 

[The Habs Fan]

5.

I thought it was fine and not worth a lot of the hate. It was entertaining enough.

I am curious though about Erika Lippoldt and Bo Yeon Kim’s original vision for the series. They got a story credit here, so some elements survived. But I do wonder if their show would have had a completely different tone.

A dark Section 31 series or movie that had shades of gray would have worked a lot better than what this ended up being.

 

[Timofnine]

I already posted my thoughts in the Neutral Zone, didn’t realise that there was now a dedicated Section 31 forum or I would have posted in here first instead. For those with access, here is the link:

https://www.trekbbs.com/threads/so-why-are-we-mad-at-star-trek-section-31.317321/post-15042907

I would have copied and pasted or quoted from my original post in TNZ, but I think that is still against board rules?

1/10

 

[Nerys Myk]

I already posted my thoughts in the Neutral Zone, didn’t realise that there was now a dedicated Section 31 forum or I would have posted in here first instead. For those with access, here is the link:

https://www.trekbbs.com/threads/so-why-are-we-mad-at-star-trek-section-31.317321/post-15042907

I would have copied and pasted or quoted from my original post in TNZ, but I think that is still against board rules?

1/10

Quoting would have worked better than the link.

 

[Timofnine]

Quoting would have worked better than the link.

If I get banned for this, then you should metaphorically bend over and take one for the team too. I see no reason why stuff posted in TNZ should not be viewable to all board members anyway, stupid rule IMHO.

The only redeeming part of this movie is that I can now connect a few more of the dots and make this show somewhat canon to a scene from Star Trek: Generations.

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Otherwise, I feel that I now have franchise fatigue and I am more than likely *done* with Star Trek. I never wanted a Section 31 show, but that’s what I got, ironically this is NOT even a Section 31 show, let alone being Star Trek. I didn’t want an Academy show either and it looks like that’s next on the agenda along with a live action comedy show set on Risa, something else that no one wants. I feel like I have just been forced to watch a Star Wars film after being bated by the brand name Star Trek and one of my favourite actresses Michelle Yeoh. I have never even seen Star Wars, I do not like generic sci-fi… but that’s is what this show was. I feel like my mind has been violated by trickery and deception, misled into watching what I can only perceive as being a Star Wars movie hidden under the Star Trek banner and mention of the Roddenberry family via the end credits for authenticity via association.

I am disheartened with the current state of Star Trek, and have low hopes for the future of the franchise. Therefore, I relegate myself to the tier of The God Thing and Stewie and forever banish myself to The Neutral Zone until I eventually get banned for posting Taylor Swift videos or Britney Spears dance porn (also potentially starring myself).

The only way that this show can redeem itself is if it admits that it was more than likely a tax right off considering that less Star Trek was made this year than normal and Kurtzman still had a budget to spend?

To the future… the undiscovered country.

 

[Ray Hardgrit]

You should watch some Star Wars, it's pretty good!

 

[DaveyNY]

If I get banned for this, then you should metaphorically bend over and take one for the team too. I see no reason why stuff posted in TNZ should not be viewable to all board members anyway, stupid rule IMHO.

As a longtime BBS poster, you do realize that you could have just edited your original post here and added the TNZ one into it, right?
You didn't have to create a whole new post to do it.

It's like you are asking for moderator torture.

 

[Timofnine]

You should watch some Star Wars, it's pretty good!

Indeed, I have never seen Star Wars, but I do believe that the Garbage Scow was loosely based on the design of the Millenium Falcum?

 

[F. King Daniel]

Into Darkness is panned widely among fandom (although I love it) and it's review thread was largely positive, scores-wise.

Even digging up old Nemesis polls show they were more positive than this.

 

[JLA]

The Cheronian and the talking plush doll were the best things about the plot of this loud, stupid mess.

The doll was stupid. I really hated the talking doll. Did you hear what the doll said? It was creepy and idiotic.

 

[Tuskin38]

Even TrekCulture isn't liking it much

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Memory Alpha says the events of the movie take place in 2324, twenty years before Garrett's death aboard the Enterprise-C. Take that for what you will. The movie sure didn't bother to tell us a precise time frame.

Someone just translated the Stardate that appears on screen at some point. It apprently turns in 2324

Georgiou at one point says the 20th Century is around 350 years ago.