Spoilers STAR TREK: SECTION 31 - Grading & Discussion
- Thread starter Commander Richard
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Again, I'm not going to belabor this...just clarifying that it's a backdoor pilot in the sense it was a re-jiggered movie, taken from a series, because of logistics...then advertised as a 1-off movie because of Michelle Yeoh. The hidden intention of a pilot for a series is why I call it "backdoor".
No doubt the 10 scripts WOULD have been a starting off point for any potential series.
I re-iterate: A pilot is an episode designed to sell a series. There is no guarantee a series will result and I never said as much. I only stated I thought it would be successful and had a very good chance of being one.
The movie was successful in some ways and not in others, and with the current hubbub going on with Skydance, I don't think it'll make it.
If any of you mis-interpreted that I said the series was a lock just because this was a pilot, and you didn't understand the definitions, then it's your own problem not mine.
Yes, I intend this as the last post on the subject. It's all been said (unless the suit do greenlight it!).
I don't know how much it's a reworked pilot, or how much of the script for the originally intended Section 31 series pilot still appeared in the movie (i.e. compared to the TMP/Phase II situation), but my understanding is that a "backdoor pilot" is one or a couple of episodes in an original show that serve as platform for a spin-off (like Gary Seven in TOS "Assignment Earth").
If I go by this definition, the DSC episodes "Terra Firma, Part 1 & 2" could be considered a backdoor pilot for a Section 31 show (which happened to be shortened down to a one-off streaming movie).
If I go by this definition, the DSC episodes "Terra Firma, Part 1 & 2" could be considered a backdoor pilot for a Section 31 show (which happened to be shortened down to a one-off streaming movie).
The weather is mighty fine for baseball today eh?
If you really intended to let this subject drop you wouldn't have revived it two weeks later just to repeat everything you already said when you know none of us believe you anyway.
I always watch the new Trek shows and try to find things to like even if I don’t like the shows themselves. I have not loved most of the new shows but I can list things I like about all of them. I am glad there are people who enjoy the new iterations and while I do express my opinions, I try not to get roped into the “Nutrek is garbage” debates….its detractors and defenders tend to come at you pretty hard and fast.
But I cannot find a single thing to like about Section 31. The closest I can come to it is that Michelle Yeoh committed to it and her performance was good, the problem for me is that I have never enjoyed that character or the cutesy way the character was handled in Discovery.
The film reeks of the desperate desire to remold Star Trek into something like Guardians of the Galaxy……on a streaming budget…..with cheaper talent both in front of and behind the camera (besides Yeoh).
The result is an embarrassing mix of bland action and unfunny comedy. Though the film is short, its runtime feels stretched out as the audience is forced to endure one quip after another delivered between phaser blasts and explosions.
While I am not convinced a Guardians of the Galaxy style romp is right for Trek, I have no doubt that it could have been done better if they hired screenwriters and comedy writers and a director who was up to the task.
As it stands, If this was not Star Trek it would have come out as one of those direct to streaming rip offs like Cretaceous Park or Atlantic Rim…..maybe it would have been called Caretakers of the Universe.
This is a film that should result in the creatives being “provided with exciting employment opportunities elsewhere”. If no one is fired for this debacle then how much further must they scrape the bottom of the barrel to actually convince the studio that there is a problem?
But I cannot find a single thing to like about Section 31. The closest I can come to it is that Michelle Yeoh committed to it and her performance was good, the problem for me is that I have never enjoyed that character or the cutesy way the character was handled in Discovery.
The film reeks of the desperate desire to remold Star Trek into something like Guardians of the Galaxy……on a streaming budget…..with cheaper talent both in front of and behind the camera (besides Yeoh).
The result is an embarrassing mix of bland action and unfunny comedy. Though the film is short, its runtime feels stretched out as the audience is forced to endure one quip after another delivered between phaser blasts and explosions.
While I am not convinced a Guardians of the Galaxy style romp is right for Trek, I have no doubt that it could have been done better if they hired screenwriters and comedy writers and a director who was up to the task.
As it stands, If this was not Star Trek it would have come out as one of those direct to streaming rip offs like Cretaceous Park or Atlantic Rim…..maybe it would have been called Caretakers of the Universe.
This is a film that should result in the creatives being “provided with exciting employment opportunities elsewhere”. If no one is fired for this debacle then how much further must they scrape the bottom of the barrel to actually convince the studio that there is a problem?
That's taking things a bit too far. It might not be that good a movie but there's absolutely no reason to fire anyone over it.
Not that it matters anyway, given the movie's writer and producer Craig Sweeney is currently creator and showrunner on Watson, which has been renewed for a second season, so he's probably not going to be available to do any Star Trek for at least another year.
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I hope Watson runs for 50 years.
Except you keep repeating the absolute falsehood it was aa Backdoor pilot when in fact it USED a majority of the scripts that had ALREADY BEEN WRITTEN for the first season when it was planned as a streaming series.
Section 31 was planned from the start as a streaming series.
What changed was Michelle Yeoh's cot/availability after she won the Academy Award for her performance in Everything Everywhere All At Once.
The fact she still wanted to do this project speaks to how highly she felt about the people behind the current run of the Star Trek franchise.
But yeah, to the point you claim you don't want to belabor:
The Section31 film was NEVER conceived nor executed as; nor is it a Backdoor Pilot in any form.
Let’s give that whole tangent a rest, shall we? I personally agree with those saying that this certainly was not what’s commonly known as a backdoor pilot. But we don’t need to go in circles about it and I don’t want people accusing each other of being trolls.
The fact it was not a good movie is a great reason to fire people when you are in the business of making movies
No, you just stop making vanity project productions for overrated actors.
I was with you until you called Michelle Yeoh overrated. Fail!
You’re welcome to have whatever opinion of her you like. I personally don’t think she’s all that, much less enough to warrant that shit film they produced just for her and that shit character she plays.
Why? Bad movies can still make insane amounts of money. People are only fired over a movie's performance if that bad performance caused the studio to lose money. And while Section 31 clearly didn't help anyone buy a golden bathtub or anything, it must have been profitable enough to satisfy Paramount as if they had in fact lost money on it, there would already have been high profile firings. No one's been fired, the only consequences we can expect from this are not getting anymore streaming Star Trek movies.
Seriously, Section 31 may not be the best movie around, but it is not the disaster everyone makes it sound like, and it most certainly is not grounds to get anyone fired, particularly given everyone involved in the production side of things have proven their wort on other projects, Star Trek and otherwise.
