Spoilers Section 31 General Discussion Thread

[Daedalus]

Choosing to focus on some positives, I'm liking this look for Rachel Garrett.

Being that she seems to be the only member of the cast who is explicitly part of Starfleet, I'm thinking she's wearing some lost era Starfleet tactical gear, complete with our first look at a Starfleet Phaser from this time period.

That's interesting! It's got a hint of that TWOK-esque phaser the Enterprise-C crew were all wearing in Yesterday's Enterprise.

I'm imagining that she is briefed in full Monster Maroon regalia before being assigned to this mission.

 

[Dukhat]

Yeah, but they really didn't try very hard to make it "un-trek like." Really, all they did was take Star Trek outta the title and give it a soft rock theme song. EVERYTHING beyond that was still VERY Star Trek.

Say what you will about Kurtzman, but he definitely put a lot more effort into making the shows "not your father's Star Trek."

As was said, was Enterprise really any different than any other Star Trek? The time it was set was different, but other than that it was still the traditional ship, captain and crew dynamic. And nothing's wrong with that really, but it was what it was.

This Section 31 idea, if they had gone ahead and made it into a series, would have been a different dynamic. Would it have been good or bad? Who knows.

This Starfleet Academy idea, that's obviously going to be a different dynamic than the traditional Star Trek one. I kind of have a feeling it's going to work. And that's probably because I like everything that they're doing so far, but who knows if it'll work either.

If all else fails I guess they can always go with Strange New Worlds and have people turn into Vulcans or whatever.

That's wrong, I shouldn't joke about that show, lots of people like it.

No, ultimately they should try different things. A show set at the Daystrom Institute may be interesting. Or this Starfleet Academy show, maybe they can partner that with a show set at the Vulcan Science Academy? That could be fun... maybe.

You guys are 100% correct. But my point was that the show was *advertised* as anti-Star Trek, as in “the only way we’re going to get viewers is to downplay the whole ‘Star Trek’ aspect of our show” (which, as you pointed out, they did not in fact do other than removing ‘Star Trek’ from the title.) To which I then have to ask: why make a Star Trek show at all if you want your audience to not think it’s Star Trek?

 

[Kamen Rider Blade]

So is this Section 31 Trailer trying to ape:
- Mission Impossible
- Guardians of the Galaxy
- Suicide Squad
I really can't tell which one of those major movie franchises it's trying to mimic.

Section 31 should be closer to "ALIAS" than what I'm seeing.

And "ALIAS" was one of JJ Abrams first TV series.

Yeah, it seems really strange to me that they're so determined to combine 'misfits blowing things up and being rebels' and 'Starfleet conspiracy subverting the Federation's ideals', I guess because a producer likes the name? Section 31 have never been the fun team, they're one step away from being Hydra.

I'd argue Section 31 should be more like SD-6 from "ALIAS", but they work for the benefit of the UFP instead of enriching themselves for their own personal gain.

That was JJ-Abrams first TV series, and one of his best works IMO.

You guys are 100% correct. But my point was that the show was *advertised* as anti-Star Trek, as in “the only way we’re going to get viewers is to downplay the whole ‘Star Trek’ aspect of our show” (which, as you pointed out, they did not in fact do other than removing ‘Star Trek’ from the title.) To which I then have to ask: why make a Star Trek show at all if you want your audience to not think it’s Star Trek?

From what I'm seeing, this feels like a "Budget Sci-Fi Version" of "The Expendables", without a big name cast and only one major name in the cast.

It's an excuse to go around & blow stuff up.

 

[Jayson1]

You guys are 100% correct. But my point was that the show was *advertised* as anti-Star Trek, as in “the only way we’re going to get viewers is to downplay the whole ‘Star Trek’ aspect of our show” (which, as you pointed out, they did not in fact do other than removing ‘Star Trek’ from the title.) To which I then have to ask: why make a Star Trek show at all if you want your audience to not think it’s Star Trek?

I wouldn't be surprised if had something to do with it being a movie instead of a tv show like it was suppose to be. Could be that they knew this movie means nothing for Trek moving forward so you might as well try and sell it as random action movie and see if anyone watches.

 

[Airmandan]

I’d say they realized they didn’t have enough to flesh out a series and just threw something together for a movie. Since a good third of it is doubtless going to be flashbacks it’s probably not going to be a super elaborate plot. Still not sure how they’re going to make Space Hitler a decent character.

 

[Cox of Seagulls]

More than anything, the trailer reminded me of this:

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What a waste of Michelle Yeoh. Regular Georgiou was established as a strong but friendly and likeable and intelligent captain in 2 episodes, but Mirror Georgiou has been an embarrassment since day one. I want to like what I'm seeing, I'm not one of those "all nu-Trek sucks, why can't it be the 90s again?!" dicks, but oof.

 

[TimeIsAPredator]

I have very early memories of watching TOS, puts me around four or five years old. It was something that just fueled my imagination.

As long as I can remember which is around that age.

 

[BillJ]

To which I then have to ask: why make a Star Trek show at all if you want your audience to not think it’s Star Trek?

Try to sucker people into watching, and hopefully, getting them to watch other Trek while paying for a subscription.

 

[M'rk son of Mogh]

You guys are 100% correct. But my point was that the show was *advertised* as anti-Star Trek, as in “the only way we’re going to get viewers is to downplay the whole ‘Star Trek’ aspect of our show” (which, as you pointed out, they did not in fact do other than removing ‘Star Trek’ from the title.) To which I then have to ask: why make a Star Trek show at all if you want your audience to not think it’s Star Trek?

Worked for Andor.

 

[Alexander Corrino]

I love (un)intentionally bad movies (I'm a fan of the Resident Evil movie franchise, what can I say), and the trailer for this reminds me of a lot of such movies. Which means I really like it. But then I'm not a Trekkie. So I'd say they're definitely capturing SOME non-Trekkies. Still not interested enough to consider getting Paramount+ tho. That's... not gonna happen. But, maybe I'll buy the DVD one day.

 

[Dukhat]

Worked for Andor.

How, exactly?

 

[M'rk son of Mogh]

How, exactly?

It was the farthest thing from anything Star Wars had done yet (on screen). No jedi, no light sabers, no swashbuckling heroics, barely a ship dogfight, no real crazy looking aliens, cynical and not very fun.

And the fans seemed to eat it up.

Your mileage may vary but it felt more Blade Runner than Star Wars to me. And that's not necessarily a bad thing.

 

[Jayson1]

Andor feels like Star Wars but just Star Wars that targets older adults. That is the classic Star Wars movies that really didn't really focus on Jedi stuff what with them being stuffy guys and ladies walking around in robes and being serene all the time.

 

[Yistaan]

I know what's bothering me about Section 31 now. When Section 31 was introduced, Julian Bashir was already established as being a fan of cliche spy fantasies (like in "Our Man Bashir") and the show was very keen to point out how Section 31 was an ugly reality, dangerous, and nothing at all like Bashir's spy fantasies.

Section 31 as portrayed in this movie trailer is literally a blow by blow enactment of Bashir's spy fantasies. It wouldn't be out of place if the whole blasted movie ended with Bashir saying "Computer, end program".

 

[Citiprime]

Worked for Andor.

Andor was the exact opposite of this.

The tone of Andor was hyper-realistic, where they kept the aesthetics of the original Star Wars trilogy (e.g., look at the imperial sets, they have black and white monitors that mirror the 1970s visual graphics from A New Hope) but treated the situation and the idea of living under an oppressive authoritarian government seriously.

A Star Trek series that mimicked Andor would just go with the way TOS looked and everything else about it, instead of having to wink at it or "re-imagine" it, but treat the situations within that setting deadly serious instead of having to camp it up.

 

[eschaton]

It was the farthest thing from anything Star Wars had done yet (on screen). No jedi, no light sabers, no swashbuckling heroics, barely a ship dogfight, no real crazy looking aliens, cynical and not very fun.

And the fans seemed to eat it up.

Andor was a critical darling, but a ratings failure. Less people watched it than Mando, Boba Fett, Kenobi, and Ahsoka.

Sucks that the best thing they made got the worst ratings, but thems the breaks.

 

[BillJ]

Sucks that the best thing they made got the worst ratings, but thems the breaks.

*Arrested Development has entered the chat*

 

[M'rk son of Mogh]

Andor was a critical darling, but a ratings failure. Less people watched it than Mando, Boba Fett, Kenobi, and Ahsoka.

Sucks that the best thing they made got the worst ratings, but thems the breaks.

Huh. I did not know that. All of the accolades it seems to get from everyone (online and not) I thought for sure the ratings depicted that. Especially if you'd think the people watching the other shows would just watch that, almost as a "Why not" when they're between the other shows they're fans of.

 

[eschaton]

Huh. I did not know that. All of the accolades it seems to get from everyone (online and not) I thought for sure the ratings depicted that. Especially if you'd think the people watching the other shows would just watch that, almost as a "Why not" when they're between the other shows they're fans of.

I'm guessing it beat The Acolyte. I haven't seen numbers on that yet, but it doesn't seem well watched.

I think the issue is simply that Star Wars fandom wants memberberries and fanservice. No one really cared about Cassian Andor, so less people were tuning in to begin with, so there was a smaller starting audience overall.

 

[M'rk son of Mogh]

I'm guessing it beat The Acolyte. I haven't seen numbers on that yet, but it doesn't seem well watched.

I think the issue is simply that Star Wars fandom wants memberberries and fanservice. No one really cared about Cassian Andor, so less people were tuning in to begin with, so there was a smaller starting audience overall.

What "memberberries" (hate that term, case in point) were in Acolyte?