Cover image via Paramount +.

What if the evil empress of the Terran Empire in the mirror universe joined the secret Section 31, revealed in Deep Space 9, and joined up with a Chameloid, Delta, and time traveler from the 21st-century eugenics war? 

If all those words mean something to you, “Star Trek: Section 31” might just be the movie for you. But Star Trek has a track record of every other movie being good, and well, the last one was good.

To say this newest entrance in the long-running sci-fi series is steeped in the lore of the franchise would be underselling it. This is a movie made for Star Trek fans. The trouble is that Star Trek fans are Star Trek fans because they like thinky morality plays about the best version of humanity with only the thinnest veneer of sci-fi action. “Section 31,” on the other hand is a sci-fi action thriller about the most evil human the series has ever made a recurring character.

There is a nugget of something Star Trek purists will love here. Star Trek has been visiting something called “The Mirror Universe” since 1967. It is a universe identical to our own, except all the characters and institutions we know and love are mustache-twirling evil versions of themselves. It’s a concept that doesn’t benefit from scrutiny. 

Many of the Star Trek TV shows have had episodes in this Mirror Universe. But, major spoiler for Star Trek: Discovery ahead: That show leaned into the concept more than most, introducing several characters from the mirror universe into the main Star Trek timeline.

The most prominent of those, Empress Phillipa Georgiou, was a brutal dictator in the Mirror Universe but learned kindness due to her relationship with the Discovery crew. 

“Star Trek: Section 31” serves as Georgiou’s origin story. We see her assent to the empress and what created her moral character. A group of operatives reach out to her for help with another mission, a cataclysmic weapon from the Mirror Universe has made its way into ours, and the group needs her help to rescue it. 

The movie seems to ask if Starfleet’s optimistic values have enough power to change the heart of even Empress Georgiou. And the answer to that question is exactly the kind of exploration Star Trek fans will love. Michelle Yeoh’s ability to find grounding, humanity, and nuance in such an over-the-top character considerably benefits this story.

But that nugget of a story is mostly hidden beneath the video game facade this movie puts on. The film is divided into four “transmissions,” essentially mini quests given by a faceless Starfleet admiral to the “Alpha Squad.” And the storytelling and aesthetic seem to owe at least as much to video games like “Mass Effect” as they do to “Star Trek.”

The film ends as though it is intended to launch a TV series with our characters ready to start a series of adventures. And this could work. Yeoh is a compelling lead, and Sam Richardson, who plays a shapeshifter, makes a particularly good addition to the series. But I could also see Paramount using these Star Trek movies as test balloons to see what stories are compelling to the Star Trek audience. If it’s the latter, I can’t imagine this is the project they bite on. Their willingness to play around with new ideas for the franchise may ultimately benefit them, but when you’re taking big swings, you’re going to miss sometimes. That’s what this is. But if you love Star Trek, you’ll enjoy it for the time it spends playing in the universe you love. 

“Star Trek: Section 31” is rated PG-13. It features superfluous profanity, and our characters run through a room where two aliens are trying to have sex. It’s not a gory movie, but the body cringe, blades slicing skin, etc., that I found the most off-putting. I’d like my kids to watch Star Trek with me, but I can’t imagine showing them this film until they’re 13 or 14, at least.

If you did watch this with kids, I would ask questions about the power of ideals to change our behavior. I would ask them about when and how the ends justify the means, and I would ask them to contrast the methods of the Terran Empire and Section 31 itself. That would likely prompt some worthwhile conversation.

Two out of five stars. “Star Trek: Section 31” debuts on Paramount + on Friday, January 24, 2025.