Section 31 Broke A Horrible Rotten Tomatoes Record For The Franchise

“Star Trek” hasn’t always been on the smoothest of journeys. “The Original Series,” the best of “Trek,” only lasted three seasons on NBC before the network axed it due to low ratings. Fans were bereft, but they kept the flame burning for a decade (and made do with two seasons of “The Animated Series”), and celebrated when director Robert Wise brought the crew of the Starship Enterprise back for “Star Trek: The Motion Picture.” But when the movie failed to perform up to Paramount Pictures’ box office expectations (grossing $83 million in the United States on a budget of $44 million), the franchise appeared to be on the ropes again. 

Fortunately, director Nicholas Meyer came along and righted the starship with the more sensibly budgeted “Star Trek: The Wrath of Khan,” which grossed $79 million in the U.S. and set the franchise on a profitable course that made “The Next Generation” viable; from there, the franchise has expanded in fascinating, thought-provoking and entertaining ways. Arguably, “Star Trek” has never been in better shape.

This is a good thing because, last week, the Olatunde Osunsanmi-directed, Craig Sweeny-scripted feature film “Star Trek: Section 31” premiered on Paramount+, and, according to the vast majority of critics and Trek fans, did the franchise a grievous disservice. How bad did it go down? Per review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, it stands shamefully alone over everything that’s boldly come before it.

Several years ago, current “Star Trek” store-minder Alex Kurtzman, in devising ways to build out the popular “Star Trek: Discovery,” considered building a series around Michelle Yeoh’s Philippa Georgiou. “Star Trek: Strange New Worlds” wound up being the spinoff series from “Discovery,” but there was a sense that fans wanted more Georgiou. So Kurtzman pushed forward on a spinoff movie (derived from a previously developed series), and that’s how “Star Trek: Section 31” went before cameras.

/Film’s Jacob Hall described “Star Trek: Section 31” as an agreeable “Den of Thieves”-type caper flick with an action-heavy aesthetic designed to bring casual, less-nerdy sci-fi fans into the fold – if that’s possible. For the most part, however, critics found the film to be unacceptably outside the bounds of what “Star Trek” should be. It’s not about high-minded space exploration, but, rather, down-and-dirty, self-serving fun. According to Rotten Tomatoes reviewers, this was not a winning formula.

Since it detonated in theaters during the summer of 1989, the William Shatner-directed “Star Trek V: The Final Frontier” has widely been considered the low-water mark for the franchise. I think the film has its fleeting charms (Kirk, Spock, and Bones go camping), but the whole bringing-a-starship-to-god plot is utter hooey. It’s bad. Given that it currently rates a paltry 23% fresh at Rotten Tomatoes, it would appear that most of my colleagues agree.

But it is no longer the worst “Star Trek” anything according to Rotten Tomatoes. As of this posting, “Star Trek: Section 31” sits below “Star Trek V: The Final Frontier” at 20% fresh. By this metric, it represents the absolute nadir of “Star Trek.” With a new season of “Star Trek: Strange New Worlds” on the way, I doubt anyone will give this film another thought, whereas we’ll always warmly recall the “Row, Row, Row Your Boat” bookends from “The Final Frontier.” That’s more than I can say for “Star Trek: Insurrection.”