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Star Trek: Section 31
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Because no art can outrun the Divine, but that's no guarantee the results are sublime. Three-minute reviews blending wisdom and wit from an intellectual Christian perspective.
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Star Trek: Section 31

2025

Brett Alan Dewing's avatar
Brett Alan Dewing
May 04, 2025

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Star Trek: Section 31
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Wow--Star Trek has gotten very strange! Thankfully, I did see Star Trek: Picard, which was exactly what it should have been. But this TV movie is crazy. Any Trek vibe is very fleeting.

Section 31 is sloppily constructed with strange video game-style exposition and inexplicable chapter names. The feeling is more Doctor Who or maybe Farscape--a lot of concepts (and money) flying around everywhere.

Thankfully, there is Michelle Yeoh, who must carry the whole unwieldy jumble. And make not mistake: Michelle nails it. The first half is much better than the second, because she is given control of the spotlight as an other-dimensional despot "emperor". For a while, she gets to wear the clothes and throw the attitude and own her black market brothel with sheer presence.

Then, there's a plot. An ad hoc crew of colorful characters from various sci-fi traditions: a shapeshifter, a time traveler, a robot, a guy in a mech suit, a microscopic lifeform, an erotic empath... It's just way too much tied ever-so-loosely together. What universe are we in?

But through it all, Ms. Yeoh abides, even if she does become pretty one-note by the end. Still and all, this baffling mad-lib sci-fi is worth watching just for her. (And, really, what other reason would you possibly have for watching?)

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Ranking of Hitchcock Films
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