Star Trek: 10 Episodes That Are UNWATCHABLE Now

3. Section 31

Star Trek: Section 31 is a lesson in why committing to a deadline, regardless of the cost, can often result in a mess rather than a success. Fresh off the back of Michelle Yeoh’s deserved Oscar win for Everything, Everywhere, All At Once, production on this tv film began in earnest. Section 31 had originally been touted as a series, though Yeoh’s lack of availability killed that idea. The ideas that would have informed that series were then cobbled together into this scant hour and a half release, resulting in a poor attempt to deliver on the premise and losing a lot of goodwill for Secret Hideout along the way.

Calling this a feature film would not be accurate, nor too would it be to call it a backdoor pilot. Perhaps there was a chance, somewhere along the way, that this could have led to more stories featuring Georgiou, Sahar, and Garrett, but the audience reaction immediately cleared up any uncertainty there. The film was panned by critics and audiences alike, citing a wildly inconsistent tone, hammy acting, and the barest hints at a connection to the larger Star Trek universe. 

This was hardly a surprise to those who were involved in the production as the Trekkies in the cast were aware of the reception that awaited them. While it is never a bad thing to try something new in an ongoing franchise, this was simply too far away from what Star Trek had espoused in the six decades of its life. This sadly felt more like a cash grab than a serious attempt to tell a new story, outside the borders of Federation space. While Michelle Yeoh looked to be having the time of her life on screen, the audience was having anything but.

As the film doesn’t really connect to any ongoing series, it is easy to skip it in any rewatch. There are certainly those who enjoy it, and rightly so. To every project, an audience. To each, their own.