The Section 31 movie is still Star Trek

San Diego Comic Con saw lots of exciting Star Trek announcements, not the least of which was a teaser trailer for the Section 31 movie starring Michelle Yeoh. The comment sections were, predictably, full of fans very angry at their beloved franchise. This is the time, they are certain, Paramount has gone too far. Speaking as someone who felt this way back in 2017, going so far as to label Star Trek: Discovery “#NotMyStarTrek”, only to see my stance soften over time into a begrudging acceptance, I want to weigh in on the discourse in defence of Section 31 and discuss the frequent allegation that Trek as a whole is somehow drifting perilously far from its roots.

Sometimes I Go Off

Let me start by saying it’s totally fine—natural, even—if certain branches of Trek are not your thing. If you watched the Section 31 trailer and thought, “Not for me,” or you’ve eschewed Lower Decks because you don’t want to watch silly, animated Trek, or whatever—you do you. I’m not trying to yum your yuck.

I’m fortunate in that I am increasingly enamoured of most of NuTrek. I’m still quite lukewarm on Picard (though it had its charms), and Discovery (DISCO), I’ll maintain, truly suffered throughout its run for a lack of coherence in its writing. I had originally wanted to write a post-mortem when that series concluded, discussing all the problems I had with season 5, but I just … don’t have the energy. I also find myself, as I mellow out in my thirties, not wanting to hate as much. Hence this post.

I love Strange New Worlds (nominally my fave of NuTrek, though I hate trying to pick favourites) and Lower Decks, and I think Prodigy is a brilliant foray into making Trek more accessible for young kids while still offering a beautiful story with the return of some familiar voices for older audiences. I am excited to watch the new seasons of all these shows when they come out. I am excited for Starfleet Academy.

And for all my criticism of Discovery in the past, especially its conflict-heavy focus on the Federation–Klingon war in season 1, you would be forgiven for thinking that I would be among the angry commenters (at least spiritually) on the Section 31 trailer. After all, if you haven’t watched it yet, it basically positions this movie as the pinnacle of what I might pejoratively call “Action Trek”—explosions and space battles and phaser fire and a lot of people posturing. Where’s the science? The exploration? The wonder?

To be honest, I kind of expected that to be my reaction too! I was taken by surprised when I watched this sub-two-minute trailer and was immediately obsessed. I’m not sure what it is, whether it’s Michelle Yeoh’s undeniable magnetism as mirror-universe Philippa Georgiou; the trailer’s perfect pick of “Formation” as its soundtrack—whenever Trek ventures into contemporary music it’s a good time—or Kacey Rohl’s sublime hit on the “mur” in “Starfleet is here to make sure no one commits murder” paired with her other line, “You’re a bad bitch.” (We do love a Trek full of women empowering women.)

Whatever the case, I remain obsessed. Two days later, and I can’t stop watching it or thinking about it.

But is it a sign that Paramount has finally ruined Star Trek for good???? (Spoiler: no.)

I Twirl on Them Haters

Here’s my summary of the critical comments on the two official videos released on the Star Trek and Paramount+ channels, respectively. They tend to fall into one or more of the following camps:

1. “This movie is pandering to non-Trek fans and alienating the real fans.”
2. “Section 31 is supposed to be a secret security apparatus!!!111”
3. “Star Trek is about exploring space.”
4. “Star Trek is about a better future for humanity.”

I hope we can all agree to immediately dismiss the first argument as internecine, gatekeeping bullshit. The fandom tent should be as broad as possible; everyone who wants to call themselves a Trek fan is a Trek fan, whether they have watched one episode or the entire canon. Furthermore, at this point it should be clear that nearly everyone who works on Trek is an uber-fan. We are talking people who grew up watching classic Trek now getting to make new Trek, and so much of NuTrek is a love letter to the previous generations’ shows. To say that any new Trek property is dismissive of real fans is insulting. We can be critical of showrunners’ and producers’ decisions—justice for Icheb!—but at the end of the day, we’re all fans. We are all in this together.

What about the second criticism: the movie belies canon? Section 31 as it was originally conceived in DS9 was so clandestine that Captain Sisko had only ever heard rumours about it. This trailer, in contrast, makes it look like it’s operating almost openly, and at least one Starfleet officer—a younger Rachel Garrett, no less—knows it exists.

Look, I don’t want to be that girl who says, “Reserve judgment until the movie comes out, you guyyyyyys,” but … seriously, this trailer is less than two minutes. We know nothing about the plot yet. Let’s at least wait until a proper trailer comes out before we jump on this movie as somehow contravening canon.

Even if it does muck with canon a bit, I increasingly lean towards the very correct opinion of Charlie Jane Anders and Annalee Newitz that maybe we need to stop caring so much about canon. That’s a whole other blog post’s worth of discourse, so I won’t expand on that further (go listen to their podcast!). We’ve already seen all the Trek prequel series—yes, even Enterprise (especially Enterprise) play fast-and-loose with canon when necessary.

The third and fourth arguments, however, I am much more sympathetic towards, so let’s take some more time to discuss them.

Prove To Me You Got Some Coordination

Trek, like so many vast franchises (Star Wars fans seem to have this problem as well) suffers from a form of anti-recency bias where any new installment in a franchise is met with the most vicious antipathy. Unless you are older than me, you don’t actually remember what it was like to see TNG try to step into the very big boots left by TOS. By all accounts, a lot of fans swore off it, especially during those rocky first two seasons. The same story for DS9 and VOY. I am old enough to remember ENT’s premiere, the excitement and high hopes I had dashed within a few episodes, though I clung on tentatively for all five seasons even as others eviscerated it. (To this day, I don’t think I have rewatched ENT more than once or twice.)

Every new vision of Trek has been met with naysayers who believe we can’t bottle the lightning again. And I get it. You love what you love, and you don’t want change.

The brutal truth is that our world is always changing, and good Trek has always tried to acknowledge this. TNG is such a departure from TOS because what worked as a TV show in the 1960s was not going to work in the 1980s. The same is true for ENT in the 2000s, or for DISCO in the 2010s.

Strange New Worlds is replete with case studies of this: it is literally a TOS clone, albeit one with production values of the 2020s. Its aesthetic is as close as you can get to the purest, most original form of Trek without, you know, replicating all that uncomfortable sexism and racism underlying TOS stories.

The only way to make Trek today is to make Trek for today.

And that’s why NuTrek has to change. We are living in a darker timeline, a rerun of fascism and religious conservatism and genocide. Just as TOS responded to the anxieties around the free love, sexual revolution of the 1960s, Trek today has to respond to the anxieties of our decade. Now, I would argue that sometimes this has resulted in a misstep I would refer to as “Gritty Trek,” along the lines of the Kelvin timeline (sigh) or some of the darker parts of Picard. Nevertheless, a movie about Section 31 feels real appropriate right about now.

Of course, if the movie simply leans into the darkness and presents a gritty or nihilistic vision of the future, then sure, let’s criticize the hell out of it for that. I agree with people who say Trek should present an optimistic vision of humanity’s future. I just don’t see that necessarily happening here in this trailer—or at least, I am willing to extend a little more faith to the producers.

Philippa Georgiou is emblematic, in fact, of NuTrek’s approach to vanquishing the darkness. Her character began as a villain, a twisted version of the straight-laced Captain Georgiou who ended up as the emperor of the Terrans in the mirror universe. She is, to quote Rachel Garrett, “a bad bitch.” Yet her arc on DISCO has been one of self-discovery (pun intended) and improvement. It has been a moral journey and redemption. And that, I would argue, is what Trek is all about.

Yes, Trek at its best is often about science and exploration—but reducing it down to science-based stories ignores why that is the case. Trek is science-heavy fantasy because science is a human endeavour to understand our universe. The science isn’t a part of Trek in spite of human stories. The science is part of the human story that is Trek. The science is a vehicle, as it always is in science fiction, to tell stories about humans.

Georgiou is a human from a parallel universe who experienced great trauma, inflicted even more trauma on others, found herself stranded in our universe, catapulted into a far-future time, and then slingshotted back to the future past (dizzy yet?). She has had everything she ever knew torn away from her more than once, yet apparently she is not only surviving but maybe even thriving, according to this trailer?

Um, yes, please. Sign me up. Tell me more.

Star Trek is and always has been about people and people’s journeys, whether that’s stealing a starship to reincarnate your best friend, whose soul is hanging out in the mind of your other best friend; or remembering an entire lifetime of an individual from a civilization extinguished by a supernova. The science has always been in service to the story, as it should be.

Star Trek: Section 31 could very well be a terrible movie. I reserve the right, after I watch it next year, to come back here and say, “I was wrong. This is bad.” Even so, even if it’s bad, it will still be Star Trek. Take the Trek you like; ignore the Trek you don’t. Go off if you want.

Ten years ago, I remember thinking, “This is it, the Kelvin timeline is all we are ever going to get. This is Trek forever now.” And I was mad about it. Well, no, actually I was more sad about it. But that was because it was the only new Trek we had. If Section 31 were the only new Trek we had now, then yeah, I might be a bit ornery. It’s not, though. We have more new Trek coming to us now than we ever had previously in history. It’s a blessing. You won’t like all of it. You might not like any of it, and if that is the case, I’m sorry. But it is all Star Trek, and I, for one, am ready to get into formation.

Cover image photo via Paramount+.