None that I am conscious of except of course happy birthday. Surely not the worst of times?
Spoilers STAR TREK: SECTION 31 - Grading & Discussion
- Thread starter Commander Richard
- Start date
Not sure. It looked like your typical Discovery episode. It didnt look especially high budget
The typical Disco episode actually does have quite the impressive budget.
Well whoever does the effects, lighting and sets suck at their jobs.
Kurtzman’s pet project, seven years in the making. And the best he could come up with is Suicide Squad/Mission Impossible in space. With a pinch of Hunger Games, a dash of generic sci-fi, and Star Trek in the title.
Kurtzman was one of the writers on Star Trek Into Darkness. Which also featured a Section 31 sub-plot. Section 31 isn’t Star Fleet black ops. They are not the CIA, OSI or MI6.
We saw through ENT, TOS, TNG and DS9. That StarFleet brass has no problem sending their regular officers and officials to do covert missions for them.
Section 31 is reserved for extreme measures. To do things the Feddies/Starfleet can’t be seen doing.
Kurtzman was one of the writers on Star Trek Into Darkness. Which also featured a Section 31 sub-plot. Section 31 isn’t Star Fleet black ops. They are not the CIA, OSI or MI6.
We saw through ENT, TOS, TNG and DS9. That StarFleet brass has no problem sending their regular officers and officials to do covert missions for them.
Section 31 is reserved for extreme measures. To do things the Feddies/Starfleet can’t be seen doing.
165-225 Million (S1/S2 2017-2019), 11-15 million per episode. That is a high budget. That's a GoT level budget. Of course compared to the budget of a modern Amazon Prime Video or Disney+ show it looks like a medium budget.
Rumors are that Michelle Yeoh got 12 million for this movie.
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Oh, it looked expensive. Expensive enough that they could have turned up the lights a little and footed the power bill. 
I'm trying to think about how I would fix this damn thing, and make it somewhat compelling.
- Reduce the team size considerably. Seven people (including Georgiou) was too many, which is clear given two of them were killed off with little to no real impact. While I like the idea of having some deaths to make the stakes feel real, this could have been done with side characters, extras, or other folks who we didn't have to be subjected to the backstory of.
- Actually have the skills of the team members mean something, other than Rachel Garrett teching the tech to save the day (which anyone in Starfleet can do).
- Establish San being alive right from the first act. Hell, have Georgiou noncommittal about helping until she discovers it's San/realizes what he's after. Then the stakes of her involvement become personal.
- While the idea behind Fuzz's betrayal could have been fine, the way it went down (comprising the entirety of the second act) absolutely sucked. It should have been a third-act twist, which made it seem like all is lost.
- San needed to have accomplices beyond Fuzz, to make the action seem more dynamic, the scale seem a bit bigger, and to give incremental victories which help propel the team forward.
So I am just here to put in my two cents. I haven't dug through the 23 previous pages of reviews, and I don't expect anyone to read this. But in case they do, here's my review.
I honestly was dreading coming into this with the lowest of expectations, and I had two or three of the older Star Trek movies prepped to watch as a palette cleanser. I did not need them.
I cannot find fault with this movie. Was it perfect? I guess not. The action scenes made me zone out a little. But there were only two that caused me to lose attention, and neither time did I zone out to the extent that I couldn't keep up. The Georgiou character was much more likable in this film than in Discovery, and while I can't relate to being a genocidal tyrant, context was provided as to how she ended up as screwed up as she is. I do feel like she had a character arc, unlike some reviews I've read, and while she probably likes the whole murderous despot persona still, she isn't that anymore. And really, what are they gonna do? How do you punish a genocidal dictator from another universe? As Captain Picard once said, "we have no punishment to fit your crime." The best place for her now is Section 31. Not punishment but certainly not reward either.
I LOVE the Rachel Garrett character. I found myself thinking at multiple occasions, "She'll definitely be Captain of the Enterprise someday!" Her sense of humor was contagious, and she was obviously a fine representative of the best qualities of Starfleet. Speaking of side characters, I liked them all, and actually there was not a bad acting job in the entire film; every part was extremely well acted, and everyone looked and sounded like they were having the time of their lives making this movie. I was shocked and saddened when Melle, the Deltan character, was killed, and when Zeph (the guy I called "Robo-Man" at multiple points) was compromised it was genuinely a twist. The only character I didn't like was Fuzz, the robot Vulcan with a little tiny alien pilot. But since he was a villain it worked out fine. Also, going briefly back to Georgiou, I enjoyed seeing her relationship with San develop over the decades, and seeing how each affected the other in powerful ways.
As a matter of fact, for a movie just an hour and a half long, this was PACKED with plot twists and shocks. From the scene where the mysterious operative randomly appears and tries to take the device in the first fight scene of the film, to the revelation of San as the major bad guy, there were a ton of jaw dropping moments where you were left on the edge of your seat.
I really wish this had been an actual series now, as I want so much to see more of this concept. There are so many unanswered questions. I wonder what the fate of the Mirror Universe is in this film? Did the device destroy just the portal to the Mirror Universe or is the Mirror Universe itself reeling from quadrant-wide calamity? How long does Rachel Garrett serve with this motley band of misfits? I would love to see Quasi, Garrett, Georgiou and Sahar in the future of Trek someday. It seems unlikely now, but you never know.
I'm gonna give it a 9 out of 10.
I honestly was dreading coming into this with the lowest of expectations, and I had two or three of the older Star Trek movies prepped to watch as a palette cleanser. I did not need them.
I cannot find fault with this movie. Was it perfect? I guess not. The action scenes made me zone out a little. But there were only two that caused me to lose attention, and neither time did I zone out to the extent that I couldn't keep up. The Georgiou character was much more likable in this film than in Discovery, and while I can't relate to being a genocidal tyrant, context was provided as to how she ended up as screwed up as she is. I do feel like she had a character arc, unlike some reviews I've read, and while she probably likes the whole murderous despot persona still, she isn't that anymore. And really, what are they gonna do? How do you punish a genocidal dictator from another universe? As Captain Picard once said, "we have no punishment to fit your crime." The best place for her now is Section 31. Not punishment but certainly not reward either.
I LOVE the Rachel Garrett character. I found myself thinking at multiple occasions, "She'll definitely be Captain of the Enterprise someday!" Her sense of humor was contagious, and she was obviously a fine representative of the best qualities of Starfleet. Speaking of side characters, I liked them all, and actually there was not a bad acting job in the entire film; every part was extremely well acted, and everyone looked and sounded like they were having the time of their lives making this movie. I was shocked and saddened when Melle, the Deltan character, was killed, and when Zeph (the guy I called "Robo-Man" at multiple points) was compromised it was genuinely a twist. The only character I didn't like was Fuzz, the robot Vulcan with a little tiny alien pilot. But since he was a villain it worked out fine. Also, going briefly back to Georgiou, I enjoyed seeing her relationship with San develop over the decades, and seeing how each affected the other in powerful ways.
As a matter of fact, for a movie just an hour and a half long, this was PACKED with plot twists and shocks. From the scene where the mysterious operative randomly appears and tries to take the device in the first fight scene of the film, to the revelation of San as the major bad guy, there were a ton of jaw dropping moments where you were left on the edge of your seat.
I really wish this had been an actual series now, as I want so much to see more of this concept. There are so many unanswered questions. I wonder what the fate of the Mirror Universe is in this film? Did the device destroy just the portal to the Mirror Universe or is the Mirror Universe itself reeling from quadrant-wide calamity? How long does Rachel Garrett serve with this motley band of misfits? I would love to see Quasi, Garrett, Georgiou and Sahar in the future of Trek someday. It seems unlikely now, but you never know.
I'm gonna give it a 9 out of 10.
I'm hoping for a new OTOY short...
I didn't immediately think of San, but I got really strong Breen-from-Season 5 vibes from his body armor and helmet and figured it might even be a Mirror Universe associate of Georgiou.
The more I think about this the worse it gets…
Georgiou is just them trying to make fetch happen.
So much of the dialogue is cringe.
One good thing is Rachel Garret but it didn’t even matter that it was that character; it could’ve been anyone.
Ooof. What a huge whiff. I can’t decide if this or NEM is worse.
Georgiou is just them trying to make fetch happen.
So much of the dialogue is cringe.
One good thing is Rachel Garret but it didn’t even matter that it was that character; it could’ve been anyone.
Ooof. What a huge whiff. I can’t decide if this or NEM is worse.
Oh, for me it's worse. This is the worst Star Trek movie yet made.
But after even more thought even Rachel is badly done.
Rachel at beginning: I am here to make sure you don’t murder anyone. Starfleet = strict no murder policy
(A few hours later)
Rachel at end: I am a scientist and will use my science powers to murder this little guy
Rachel at beginning: I am here to make sure you don’t murder anyone. Starfleet = strict no murder policy
(A few hours later)
Rachel at end: I am a scientist and will use my science powers to murder this little guy
Saw it. Was ok/meh.
My one suggestion? If they were going to go the route they went, they could have made it so much better replacing the big villain reveal with Lorca.
He survived his stabbing from Georgiou through plot magic and falling into the mycelial core because the blah blah Charon was passing through an blah blah ion storm that spore drived' his body to the Section 31 era where he.. blah blah blah.
My one suggestion? If they were going to go the route they went, they could have made it so much better replacing the big villain reveal with Lorca.
He survived his stabbing from Georgiou through plot magic and falling into the mycelial core because the blah blah Charon was passing through an blah blah ion storm that spore drived' his body to the Section 31 era where he.. blah blah blah.
Lorca would have been a much better villain.
It wasn't really a Trek 'movie'. Felt like a TV pilot
It wasn't really a Trek 'movie'. Felt like a TV pilot
