10 Times Star Trek Dared To Be Different

2. Part Of The Starfleet Charter

Little has been more divisive in Star Trek than Article 13, Section 31 of the Starfleet Charter. Re-read it, you'll find "a few lines that make allowances for bending the rules during times of extraordinary threat". Agree, disagree, abhor, no one could argue that Section 31 — the organisation — didn't dare to differ from Roddenberry's utopia.

We all know the refrain. The galaxy's actually a really bad place. Only cold, hard pragmatism will protect those 'saints in paradise' from all their naïveté. Roddenberry had dared to believe humanity wouldn't continue to stoop so low. Star Trek: Deep Space Nine's fundamental error, though certainly different in its attempt, was to think that realism need be a foundation for fiction, especially one set aboard an alien space station.

Extreme measures should also call for extreme times. The issue with groups like Section 31 is that all times are times of war. Agent Harris said it himself to Captain Archer in Divergence:

Archer: "What threat?"

Harris: "Take your pick. Earth's got a lot of enemies."

From the beginning, Section 31 only had to justify its existence by the imagined threat of its non-existence.

Of course, Star Trek: Section 31, the Long Trek, dared to be different in a wholly different kind of way. Misnamed after the organisation, it largely followed the ex-Emperor instead.