Spoilers

Section 31 needs Phillipa Georgiou to help them find a superweapon before it falls into enemy hands.

To quote Emperor Georgiou: yawn, boring.

Star Trek’s first attempt at a television movie evidently couldn’t decide between Guardians of the Galaxy, The Fifth Element, and The Dirty Dozen for its tone. Alas, it lacks the charm, whimsy, and edge of any of them.

The entire galaxy is once again at risk (ok, more accurately, only a quadrant with thousands of billions of lives is). Only Philipa Georgiou and her team can stop the bad guys and stave off utter catastrophe. Approximately ninety minutes later, all is well.

No mention is made of Georgiou’s previous encounter with the Guardian of Forever. For whatever reason (that is never addressed) she is hiding out on the fringes of the galaxy. Instead we get an opening that leaves nothing but a bad taste when we see young Georgiou murder her family in order to ascend the throne. Severing any and all personal connections which indicate weakness is the final challenge in the contest. Why she doesn’t (also? instead?) murder those wielding such power and running the competition for the throne is also never fully addressed.

Especially in the opening scenes, Yeoh seems to channel DS9’s Intendant Kira with her predatory sexuality. Her team is likewise unremarkable in underwritten roles that do none of the quite-respectable cast any favors. Particularly thankless is Kacey Rohl’s task. Potentially intriguing on paper, her Rachel Garrett (the younger version of Enterprise C’s captain in “Yesterday’s Enterprise”) is the clichéd uptight Starfleet officer who in actually hides a wild side and a yearning to break out. She also looks at best naïve and at worst stupid for her proclaiming “oversight” as if she actually expects any of the others to listen to her.

The Nanokin, a new alien species, also could have been fascinating if we learned more than, they are (shocker) tiny, and have nearly 200,000 progeny at one time–and evidently give each one a name.

Completing the team: a shapeshifter, a Deltan, another “tragic character with a dark past”, and a Mech (cybernetically enhanced – armored – human). This rag-tag, motley crew argues with each other as they fight their way through the show, which is basically one explosion and/or hand-to-hand fight after another.

By the end, we are supposed to believe that these totally disparate and hostile people have bonded so well (not counting the Deltan who dies, and the original Nanokin who was working with Georgiou’s former lover and partner in her rise to power) that they are now a cohesive team that will continue to work for Section 31. We see an amusing cameo by Jamie Lee Curtis giving them their next assignment. Plus, the Nanokin’s spouse has now joined them in search of revenge for being abandoned (with 190,000 new hatchlings, no less).

Overall, a bust. Section 31 would have been a tough sell regardless, as anything less than working to dismantle it does a disservice to Trek and is all too often a crutch for writers. The entire concept – for which I blame Deep Space Nine as it originated there – undercuts the stated ideals of the Federation and Starfleet. To be fair, what Deep Space Nine depicted can easily be considered a tiny bunch of rogue agents. Morphing that into a not just accepted but integral part of the structure of the Federation and Starfleet negates all their principles, establishing that they only follow them when it’s easy to do so.

Verdict: Sadly, a ton of wasted potential despite a cast that could be appealing with better material. Not even the incredible Michelle Yeoh can save it. 4/10

Rigel Ailur

BluetrixBooks.com