Star Trek: Section 31 review – Beloved franchise should have stayed on terra firma

Among the members of this black-ops unit are some recognisable names and races, including a shapeshifting Chameloid called Quasi (Sam Richardson), whose species was introduced back in 1991’s Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country.

And then there’s Rachel Garrett (Kacey Rohl), who as fans of the Next Generation know, will go on to captain the USS Enterprise-C.

But, to be honest, these nods to the wider universe are merely surface dressing, as what we get is a noisy affair in which the optimistic ethos and iconography of Trek are mostly jettisoned in favour of a grungy aesthetic and a bog-standard sci-fi plot about a destructive weapon being put to ill use.

Part of the problem is this stripping away of emblems that many associate with the series, from the pristine uniforms to the gleaming interiors of starships.

Instead, the vessel on which Georgiou and her crew are travelling is described as "a garbage barge", while a sequence in which Garrett searches through a vat of trash has more a feel of Star Wars than Trek.

But perhaps the more pressing issue is the focus on the institution of Section 31 itself. Its origins, for those who aren’t aware, lie in spin-off Deep Space Nine, where it was a very minor player in a series that, at times, explored the compromises the Federation had to make in pursuit of its utopian ideals.

Here, however, where we find Section 31 more untethered from Starfleet, it’s difficult not to come away thinking that its existence conflicts with Gene Roddenberry’s original upbeat 1960s vision of the future. Far from reflecting Kennedy-era idealism, Section 31 feels far more like a shadowy, paranoic Nixonian creation.

Also wrestling with their demons is Georgiou herself, who, amid her many fight scenes, fleetingly soul-searches and attempts to reconcile with her past as a tyrant ruler on a mirror universe version of Earth.

But such concerns, along with a few stabs at humour by Georgiou’s ragtag crew (former EastEnders star Rob Kazinsky being the most effective here as an agent with a mechanical exoskeleton), are drowned out by the whizz-bang explosions.

All too often, orange fireballs are seen screaming across the screen, but rarely are they truly spectacular. And what’s been forgotten is that Star Trek is often at its most effective in quieter moments where philosophy rather than the firing of photon torpedoes is to the fore.

Rather, the obvious aim here is to make a grab for the Guardians of the Galaxy crowd, but neither the script nor the action sequences are nimble enough.

With a built-in audience that’s presumably older than those which follow other fantasy franchises, it’s understandable for Trek to be feeling that, to survive, it must adapt.

But the result is not as much fun as it needs to be to attract newcomers, while long-time enthusiasts may end up wishing they’d stayed on terra firma in the company of their old box sets.

Star Trek: Section 31 arrives on Paramount Plus on 24th January.

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