Rob Kazinsky, who plays Zeph inStar Trek: Section 31, teases what fans can expect from Michelle Yeoh’sStar Trekstreaming movie on Paramount+. Premiering on January 24,Star Trek: Section 31is Yeoh’s comeback as Emperor Philippa Georgiou fromStar Trek: Discovery,now drawn back into a new mission withStarfleet’s black ops division.Section 31’s team of super spies couldn’t be more different from the noble USS Enterprise-D crewinStar Trek: The Next Generation.That makesSection 31unique amongStar Trekshows … or does it?
Rob Zazinsky’s concerns about fans dislikingStar Trek: Section 31are based on just how differentSection 31is fromStar Trek: The Next Generation, even thoughTNGwas also not well-received when it first aired. Being set a century later meantStar Trek: The Next Generationhad to be different fromStar Trek: The Original Series,which was not what 1980s fans wantedfrom a newStar Trek. AfterTNGproved itself,Star Trek: Deep Space Ninealso drew criticism before it aired for being set on a space station; now,DS9is a gold standardStar Trekshow. This cycle has been perpetuated with virtually every newStar Trekseries.
Rob Kazinsky’s “Not The Trek People Want” Tease Actually Makes Section 31 More Exciting
Departing From The Norm Could Make Section 31 Great Star Trek
Rob Kazinsky’s concern thatStar Trek: Section 31is “not the Trek people want” actually makesSection 31more exciting because it signals thatStar Trek: Section 31won’t be afraid to take risks.Kazinsky says “everyone’s always furious that they’re not getting more TNG,” recognizing thatStar Trek: The Next Generationis greatTrek—but the last timeStar Trekstopped taking risks, the franchise fizzled out.Star Trek: Section 31already takes place inStar Trek’s “lost era”, outside the United Federation of Planets, meaning it can fill in unexplored parts of the franchise.
Section 31: Everything We Know About Michelle Yeoh’s Star Trek Movie Team
Star Trek: Section 31 surrounds Michelle Yeoh’s Emperor Georgiou with a new team of black ops agents and familiar Star Trek aliens.
These days,Star Trekis no longer just the story of a single starship crew going boldly.Star Trekis a whole multiverseof stories united by a common philosophy of compassion, cooperation, and hope, now packaged in many different ways.DS9proved thatStar Trekcould stay in one place; more recently,Star Trek: Lower DecksprovedStar Trekcan be a comedy.Star Trek: Section 31’s darker tone and action movie sheen could be an excellent way to show howStar Trekcan evolve to work in a dimly-lit, hopeless corner of the galaxy—where it’s needed most.
Star Trek Can’t Survive Just By Repeating The Next Generation
Star Trek Can Be A Variety Of Stories And Genres
TheStar Trekfranchise can’t survive just by repeating the formula that worked forStar Trek: The Next Generation. There’s something comforting about returning to the familiar aesthetic inStar Trek: Lower Decksand revisiting characters who feel like friends inStar Trek: Picard,butnostalgia can’t beStar Trek’s only selling point.NewStar Trekshowsneed to diversify their storytelling to appeal to a wide cross-section of viewers, and create new fans. Franchises only continue with new fans to keep them alive by watching—and eventually creating—new stories.
Just as today’sStar Trekwriters, likeStar Trek: Lower Decks' Mike McMahan andStar Trek: Starfleet Academy’s Tawny Newsome, are fans ofStar Trek: The Next Generation, kids who started withStar Trek: Prodigycould be the creators ofStar Trekshows in the 2030s and beyond.
Star Trek: Section 31may not be theStar Trekthat most fans believe that they want right now, but that doesn’t mean it’s going to stay that way.Star Trek: Deep Space Nine,Star Trek: Discovery,andStar Trek: Lower Deckswere allStar Trekshows that fans were skeptical about at first, becausetheseStar Trekshows weren’t like what came before, but they found their audiences.There will always be room forStar Trekshows likeTNG, but a movie with a different tone, likeStar Trek: Section 31, expands and improves theStar Trekuniverse.
