Star Trek: Strange New Worlds’ Nostalgia

By Brandon T. McClure

As soon as Anson Mount swaggered off the transporter pad of the USS Discovery, fans fell in love with his portrayal of Captain Pike. Portraying the second captain of the Enterprise, Mount took on the legacy role originally held by the late Jefferey Hunter throughout the second season of Star Trek: Discovery. Fans immediately began a social media campaign for a spin off show centered around Mount’s Captain Pike and his crew of the USS Enterprise. Paramount heard their pleas and announced Star Trek: Strange New Worlds in 2020 to the cheers of Star Trek fans around the world. However, the show that many were hoping for was not the one they got. Instead, the show seems less interested in telling the story of Captain Christopher Pike, and more interested in setting up his replacement, the nostalgic Captain James T. Kirk. A character who casts a very large shadow over the franchise.

Despite what the general consensus of the internet would have you believe, there's nothing inherently wrong with prequels. They offer a unique opportunity to shed light on characters in ways that could fundamentally change the audience's understanding of said characters. Star Trek: Strange New Worlds found itself in a great position. It was far enough away from the events of Star Trek: The Original Series (I know it’s just Star Trek, but for the sake of my sanity it’s going to be called Star Trek: The Original Series in this piece), which gave it enough room to tell new stories in a familiar setting. Rebecca Romijn and Ethan Peck would reprise their roles as Una Chin-Riley (originally just referred to as Number One) and Spock from Star Trek: Discovery, but there was room to fill the bridge crew with brand new characters for fans to fall in love with. Nevertheless, it didn’t really work out that way.

Number One (Rebecca Romijn), Captain Christopher Pike (Anson Mount), Erica Ortegas (Melissa Navia) and Brad Boimler (Jack Quaid) in Star Trek: Strange New Worlds

While there were new characters introduced like Christina Chong’s La'an Noonien-Singh and Melissa Navia’s Erica Ortegas, most of the principal cast is made up of legacy characters. Jess Bush plays Nurse Christine Chapel, a part originally played by the first lady of Star Trek Majel Barrett, Celia Rose Gooding plays Nyota Uhura, a part originally played by Nichelle Nichols, and Babs Olusanmokun plays Dr. M’Benga, a part originally played by Booker Bradshaw. Like it was mentioned above, seeing these familiar characters isn’t inherently a problem. Afterall, M’Benga only showed up in two episodes of Star Trek: The Original Series and is therefore just as much of a blank slate for the writers as Lt. Ortegas. But after two seasons, the problem lies in how the characters have been used.

For example, Majell Barrett is considered the first lady of Star Trek, not only for her relationship to the “great bird of the galaxy” Gene Roddenberry, but due to the fact that she played three characters in Star Trek including Una Chin-Riley, Nurse Chapel, and Lwaxana Troi from Star Trek: The Next Generation, and then voiced the ship's computer until her death in 2008 (she has a brief vocal cameo in 2009's Star Trek that she recorded beforehand). Although, not many people would consider her Nurse Chapel a well rounded and engaging character. Most of her appearances in Star Trek: The Original Series sees her as Dr. McCoy’s sidekick or fawning over Spock due to her one-sided attraction to him. There’s room for “improvement” so to speak, and a prequel series with her as a lead could lead to a re-contextualization of her character. Even though the first season began to paint Nurse Chapel as a complicated, yet intelligent character, the second season reframed her entire character around her love of Spock. Bringing her back to square one. That’s the real problem, Chapel’s character in the original series centers entirely around other people, namely men. Season two of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds sees Chapel’s entire character arc revolve around other people again, the same men. There is plenty of time for this to course correct, but now that the writers sloppily got her through a relationship with Spock, they’re introducing her future husband Dr. Roger Korby (played by Cillian O'Sullivan). Hell, Chapel’s bisexuality was all but erased in a concerning trend within the once progressive franchise.

In contrast, Dr. M’Benga got some much needed character development in the first season of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds. His arc, especially in season one, is a good example of how this prequel series can positively develop a legacy character that enhances his appearance in Star Trek: The Original Series. In fairness, the writers fumbled his story in season two by forgetting that he was a doctor and focusing on Babs Olusanmokun’s martial arts training. While it’s cool that Dr. M’Benga has another side to him, it was frustrating that the second season focused so heavily on this side that it neglected the important side of him. But regardless, Dr. M’Benga is a step in the right direction for what this show can achieve when it focuses on its own cast of characters. Similarly, Una Chin-Riley has also benefited from being a featured member on this show.

But then, there’s the biggest legacy character of all. The one that the entire franchise revolves around. The future captain of the USS Enterprise, James T. Kirk. Star Trek: Strange New Worlds surprised audiences in the final episode of the first season by revealing that Paul Wesley had been cast in the role, making him the third actor to play Kirk. So far Wesley has shown up in four episodes of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds, but only two as Lt. Kirk (time travel and alternate universes account for the other two appearances) and will definitely show up more and more as the show progresses through its final three seasons. Frankly, the question of whether or not Kirk needed to be in this show has to be asked constantly. Sure, his brother Sam Kirk, played by Dan Jeannotte is part of the crew of Pike’s Enterprise, but Akiva Goldsman (co-showrunner) and his team of writers don’t seem interested in developing Sam and Jim’s brotherly relationship, but do seem very interested in setting Jim Kirk up to take command of the Enterprise.

Captian James T. Kirk (Paul Wesley), Erica Ortegas (Melissa Navia) and Christine Chapel (Jess Bush)

Recently, during an interview for season three, Akiva Goldsman spoke about how the final episode of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds will show Kirk’s first day as captain of the Enterprise, saying “We will take the show to Kirk’s first day of command.” As if the show only exists to set up the events and characters of Star Trek: The Original Series. Which means this show will never be able to stand on its own. Much has been said about Star Trek: Enterprise, but at least it’s able to stand on its own as a Star Trek show first and a prequel show second. Of course nothing exists in a vacuum. Audiences have the original series in mind when watching Strange New Worlds, and it will be compared to it whenever it tries to do something new or different. Star Trek: Strange New Worlds can’t magically come out first. Perhaps in another world where the shows came out in reverse order, an episode like “The Menagerie” would be considered “fan service” and writers would be trying to find ways to shoe horn in Captain Pike every three episodes.

Remember when WB decided that The Hobbit should be three movies and Peter Jackson wrote in a ton of references to The Lord of the Rings films? Legolas isn’t in The Hobbit but he’s all over the film adaptation. His arc ends when his father says he needs to go and find Aragorn. Legolas only exists in that movie to set up his appearance in The Lord of the Rings. He serves no other purpose and is arguably wasting space and taking the attention away from the story being told. That’s what Paul Wesley’s Kirk is doing to the cast and characters of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds. From 1963 to 1994, Captain Kirk dominated Star Trek in both television and film, and then again in 2009 to 2016 when JJ Abrams rebooted the franchise around Kirk and the original series crew. There’s plenty of Captain Kirk. Like Legolas in The Hobbit, it’s fair to ask “why is he here?” In this instance, he overstayed his welcome before he even got there.

It’s only going to get worse. Now that the show has an expiration date, the writers want to “set up” the original series. Scotty, originally played by James Doohan, now played by Martin Quinn (the first Scottish actor to play the character) has now joined the main cast of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds. Rather than developing the resident Chief Engineer, Pelia, the writers have decided in their infinite wisdom that they need to set up Scotty and his relationship to the Enterprise and his future captain. Introducing a legacy character will always take away from the new characters. Always. It almost feels like the writers would have rather have written a reboot of Star Trek: The Original Series and consider this show a back door pilot to that. Which has been all but confirmed in every interview for the new season. It would not be a surprise if Dr. McCoy or Sulu were to show up by the end of season three or four.

The writers of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds seem to be of the opinion that the show's only value comes from how it can set up and lead directly into the original series. As if every story only serves to set up the next. The next story is the only one of value, so every story has to center around it. Rather, the opposite is true. It’s established canon that Kirk and Pike didn’t meet until Kirk took over the Enterprise, but in a world where Kirk’s story is the only one that matters and Pikes only exists to set up Kirk, then that needed to be retconned. This course devalues Pike's story. His crew doesn’t deserve to have a story of their own, rather their story only exists to set up or enhance what came before. It’s a shame, because Star Trek: Strange New Worlds should be able to stand on its own and not be beholden to a show that came out 60 years ago. We aren’t learning about new adventures that Pike went on, we’re learning about a footnote in the history of the Enterprise while Pike kept the seat warm for Kirk. Pike was in command of the Enterprise for 15 years, so surely there should be more reverence put on his tenure. Strange New Worlds should put its value on its crew, and not the set up of a crew that audiences are more than familiar with.

Streaming shows don’t have the real estate that network shows used to have. At the end of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds’ five season run, it will have fewer episodes than Star Trek: The Original Series did in three. The higher production budget that streaming shows get, demands less episodes, which is why serialized television thrives in the streaming era. Episodic television like Star Trek has a harder time. Star Trek: Strange New Worlds was born out of a desire to go back to the episodic nature that the franchise was known for. The benefits of that meant that audiences would be able to spend more time with the characters and get to know them without the writers having to worry about some looming threat or mystery that needs to be set up in every episode. While some characters have benefited from this, like Una Chin-Riley and M’Benga, others have not been so lucky. In 20 episodes, all audiences know about Lt. Ortega is that she “flies the ship.” Perhaps the writers could have cut a Jim Kirk (who’s a guest star at best) episode in favor of an Ortega's (who’s a credited lead) one. But maybe that will change in season three.

The problem is that nostalgia is a hell of a drug. Franchises have made billions on nostalgia, but that’s not what Star Trek is. Star Trek is a franchise about moving forward, learning from the mistakes of the past, actively building a better future for those that will come after you, and the hope that things can get better. It’s about looking to the future, and nostalgia is about looking to the past. Even though Star Trek: Strange New Worlds is a prequel, it can still carry those ideas and forge a new path with new and old characters. Telling stories that are progressive and relevant to today, and not be so focused on setting up a status quo that is, frankly, outdated. A 21st century Nurse Chapel shouldn't look or feel the same as a 20th century idea of Nurse Chapel. Ideas change all the time as we improve ourselves. Star Trek: The Original Series is progressive for its time, but it’s not perfect and Star Trek: Strange New Worlds shouldn’t be actively trying to emulate it. It should be forging a new path so that the characters of Ortegas, La’An, Una, M’Benga, Chapel, and even Pike can stand shoulder to shoulder with Kirk, Picard, Sisko, Janeway, and Archer. Star Trek: Discovery understood this, and while that show was also not perfect, it remains the most bold and progressive Star Trek show to date. 

All that said, there’s ways that Star Trek: Strange New Worlds can use its nostalgia to its strength. If the writers are so insistent that Jim Kirk be a regular guest star, then they should do more to set up his relationship with his brother Sam. That’s a character that was introduced as a dead body in the original series, so there’s plenty of room to form that relationship that can recontextualize the moment in the original show. Season one introduced the beloved Captain Angel, who was working with Spock's brother Sybock. This was a much maligned character when he was introduced in Star Trek V: The Final Frontier, but Strange New Worlds could build a relationship with Spock. Audiences have seen Kirk, they’ve seen Spock wrestle with his emotions, they’ve seen Chapel fawn over a man who doesn’t love her back. But there are still plenty of things they haven’t seen and Star Trek: Strange New Worlds should be focusing on those. It’s not too late either, they have three seasons left to course correct.

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds isn’t a bad show, and it’s certainly not a bad Star Trek show. It’s weirdly regressive, overly reliant on nostalgia and it’s starting to feel like a set up for a show Akiva Goldsman would rather write, and that’s just after two seasons. But it’s not a bad show. Its first season is one of the strongest in the franchise's history, and it’s incredibly well cast with loveable actors that make you forget the writers aren’t interested in developing them. It’s also got some of the most fun episodes the franchise has ever produced, with a crossover with Star Trek: Lower Decks and the franchise’s first musical episode. It just needs to dial up the progressiveness, and dial down the nostalgia. Focus on this cast, this crew, and stop focusing on setting up a 60 year old show.

An Unnecessary Evil - A Review of Star Trek: Section 31

By Brandon T. McClure

The 2025 Star Trek season has begun with the release of the first feature film since 2016’s Star Trek Beyond, Star Trek: Section 31, directed by Olatunde Osunsanmi and written by Craig Sweeny. Originally developed as a TV series by Bo Yeon Kim and Erika Lippoldt, Star Trek: Section 31 was announced as a spin-off of Star Trek: Discovery back in 2019. The Michelle Yeoh centered show languished in development hell until Yeoh’s historic Best Actress Oscar win in 2023 for Everything, Everywhere, All At Once. Shortly after that Oscar win, the show was announced to be redeveloped into a movie. So after six years of development, was the wait worth it? The short answer is that this film probably should have stayed in development hell. 

Originally created for the later seasons of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, Section 31 has evolved into the “dark side of the Federation.” They were an organization that existed outside of the Federation and mostly operated without anyone in the Federation knowing. Luther Sloan, The representative for Section 31 in DS9, claimed that in order for Starfleet and the Federation to exist, there must be an organization that works in the shadows to protect the idealism that it stands for. The important thing to note about this is that Star Trek: Deep Space Nine’s final say on the matter is that Sloan is wrong. There is no place for Section 31 in the Federation, they’re beyond the need for it. To date, of all the shows, and Star Trek Into Darkness, that have used Section 31, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine is the show that has utilized it the best. Alex Kurtzman has seemingly had an unhealthy fascination with the idea of Section 31 for years now. They were the villain of Star Trek Into Darkness, which he co-wrote, and the major villains of season 2 of Star Trek: Discovery, which he was the co-showrunner of. Now Kurtzman’s fascination with Section 31 comes to a point with a film that tries to claim that Section 31 is necessary and, more importantly, cool. This flies in the face of the ideals the franchise presents and creates nothing more than a dangerous message in a time when the ideals of Trek are more important than ever.

The cast of Star Trek: Section 31

In Star Trek: Section 31 Michelle Yeoh returns as Philippa Georgiou, the reformed Empire of the Terran Empire, who was originally from the Mirror Universe. Last seen in Star Trek: Discovery’s third season, she has come from the 32nd century via the Guardian of Forever and placed herself as the owner of a space station outside of Federation space, called the Baraam, in the early part of the 24th century. It’s here where Section 31 agent Alok Sahar (Omari Hardwick) approaches her with a desire to recruit her back into Section 31 with a plan to acquire a macguffin, later revealed to be a doomsday device from the Mirror Universe. What follows is a fairly generic action film that had the Star Trek name slapped on it for branding purposes. This is a film that seems to only exist to capitalize on the star power of its lead actress and has nothing meaningful to add to the decades long franchise.

Indeed, this is the worst thing to come out of the “Latinum Era” of Trek (Or “streaming era”). In fairness, it’s probably not as bad as Star Trek V: The Final Frontier, but that film still has a cast of beloved characters, something that this film lacks. The cast is filled with talented actors in search of chemistry. Star Trek thrives on the chemistry of its loveable misfits who come together to form a family. A crew that boldly goes where no one has gone before. But Star Trek: Section 31’s first failure is its cast of references masquerading as characters.

Of the cast, Sam Richardson’s Quasi comes out the strongest. While the script, from Craig Sweeny, is generic and rather boring, Richardson is able to bring his signature wit to the film and spices up the scenes he’s part of. Trek fan’s will note that he’s playing a Chameloid, a shapeshifting species first seen in Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country. He’s one of many recognizable alien species that are purely there because the producers want Trek fans to point at the screen and go “I get that reference.” Unfortunately, like every alien species in this movie, there doesn’t seem to be any reason why he’s here. As a Chameloid, he’s able to shapeshift into anyone he wants, but outside of a scene at the end, he doesn’t. It’s almost like they forgot he was a Chameloid until the very end. Making you wonder “what was the point?”

Michelle Yeoh as Philippa Georgiou

Contrary to many popular beliefs, prequels can actually serve important roles in stories. Star Trek: Strange New Worlds for example is able to flesh out characters like Captain Pike, Sam Kirk, or Christine Chappel. In featuring these characters on that show, audiences learn more about them which adds to their initial appearances. In Star Trek: Section 31 Kacey Rohl plays Lt. Rachel Garrett, the future Captain of the Enterprise-C, last seen in the Star Trek: The Next Generation episode “Yesterday's Enterprise.” Including this character was very exciting since she was a well liked character who didn’t get a lot of screen time in her initial appearance. But viewers may be left scratching their heads with this inclusion. It’s unclear what, if anything, this story is meant to add to her future appearance. She has a fairly serviceable arc here as someone who starts as a stick in the mud Starfleet officer who learns to loosen up, but nothing in this film would change if you remove her from the story or make her an original character. Her inclusion makes you wonder if Sweeny was playing a “mad-libs” style game with character creation. 

Modern Star Trek has been known to bend cannon to fit the story they want to tell. There’s truly nothing wrong with that, because the story should always come before canon. But a small character in Star Trek: Section 31 breaks canon in a way that will have even the most forgiving Star Trek fans calling fowl. Virgil is a member of a race from the planet Cheron, last seen in the Star Trek: The Original Series episode “Let That Be Your Last Battlefield.” Here, he’s playing the assistant to Georgiou and only gets a few minutes of screen time. The issue is, in the episode that premiered his race, it’s made clear that the entire race had been wiped out due to a racial war (it’s a pretty good, if not heavy handed episode). So how is he here, almost 100 years after the events of that episode? It’s not that another member of that species could survive, it’s that him being here actively undermines that episode and only serves to, once again, make the audience point at the TV in recognition. It’s a soulless attempt at an easter egg.

The final head scratching easter egg disguised as a character is the aforementioned Alok Sahar, played by Omari Hardwick. He delivers a good performance, as you would expect, but his back story raises more questions. It turns out he’s a human augment from the 20th century’s Eugenics Wars (or the 21st century, depending on what retcon they decide to go with). While he seemingly left Earth with Khan and the others, it’s unclear how he made it all the way to this moment, skipping, both the episode “Space Seed” and the movie Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan. He may not be a very interesting character, but it’s hard not to enjoy Hardwick’s performance, especially if you’re already a fan of his. It’s nothing new but it works. Head scratching back story notwithstanding

Kacey Rohl as Lt. Rachel Garrett

The rest of the characters don’t really need their own paragraph, there’s Humberly González as the Deltan female Melle, who doesn’t get much to do here. It’s worth noting that she does get to use her species’ ability before ultimately dying before the film really gets going. She has a memorable death scene, so that’s something. Then there’s Robert Kazinsky as Zeph, who delivers a fairly fun performance, and was clearly very excited to be in the film. Without any pre-existing Star Trek lore to fill out Zeph’s backstory, the script has nothing for him to do, so he ends up being the most underdeveloped character in the story (yes, even more so then the Delton who dies before Act One is over). Sadly with a combination of a short run time, too many characters, and an over complicated plot, there’s just not enough time for everyone to even get the simplest character development. Craig Sweeny relies on the audience's pre-existing knowledge to fill in the gaps, to no success.

As mentioned before, the main plot of the film revolves around Section 31 trying to get their hands on a doomsday weapon from the Mirror Universe. As such, the film flashes back to the Mirror Universe a few times. Beginning with the first scene of the film, the flashbacks show how Georgiou became emperor of the Terran Empire, created her doomsday device, and most importantly set up the villain of the film, San, played primarily by James Hiroyuki Liao. These flashbacks deliver some of the worst acting performances in the movie. From the first, where the future emperor Georgiou delivers a terribly performed monologue while her parents die in front of her, to the reveal that she still loved San even after becoming one of the most ruthless emperors in Terran history.

Sadly, to put it kindly, Michelle Yeoh is not delivering a compelling performance here. To be clear, she absolutely deserved her Oscar win for Everything, Everywhere, All At Once, and her performance here doesn’t change that. She’s also been better as this character. Kurtzman has stated that Yeoh was the driving force to get this movie made because of how much she loves playing the character. She’s clearly having a good time playing a reformed genocidal dictator who still likes to dance in the grey area. However, the schtick only goes so far when she’s the main character, apparently. What was fun to watch in doses on Star Trek: Discovery has sadly overstayed its welcome. On a somewhat related note, It doesn’t make sense how Section 31 knows she’s been redeemed, since her redemption happened almost 1000 years in the future.

While the best Star Trek films are character driven, this one is plot driven. You’ll find yourself asking why certain things are happening, only to realize that they are happening because the plot needs them to. The characters will also spell out the plot multiple times by way of extended scenes where they gather around in a circle and talk to each other. If you’re a fan of scenes where characters stand in a circle, sometimes around a table, and talk about the plot, then you’re in luck, because there are many. The film also quickly ditches the heist element for a “save the galaxy” plotline with a “one of the main characters has betrayed us” subplot so quickly, you’ll wonder what the point of even setting up a heist in the first place was. The character who betrayed the crew is so obvious to the audience that you’ll find yourself screaming it to the screen and wondering how any of these characters can be so stupid to not figure it out.

That brings us to the final character of the film, Fuzz, played by Sven Ruygrok (Spoilers ahead). He plays a new species called a Nanokin, a microscopic alien who is piloting a Vulcan robot suit. While still being underutilized, he’s genuinely the most interesting new idea in the film. However, Fuzz is so annoying and unlikable that the moment even a whiff that someone had betrayed the team, you’re immediately going to know it was him. It’s too bad too, because there’s a good idea in this character that deserves to be fleshed out at some point. This was just not the film that was going to do it.

The biggest issue with the film is that it doesn’t feel like Star Trek. It was certainly a deliberate choice to purge the film of Star Trek’s recognizable iconography, but it was a bad choice. Star Trek: Discovery received much criticism in the beginning for straying too far from the iconic imagery of the franchise, but it was still able to populate the show with imagery that was familiar. But in this film, there isn’t even so much as a combadge. There’s a tricorder sound effect, sure, but the tricorder’s just look like smartphones. The absence of a combage is also noteworthy because Star Trek: Discovery introduced a special Section 31 combage. This film shares more in common with a low budget Netflix sci-fi film, then Star Trek. It’s not even a generic action film with a Star Trek coat of paint, it’s just got the name attached to it so that Paramount can sell it to Star Trek fans with the hope that they’ll watch it. Fans deserve better. Hell, Michelle Yeoh deserves better.

Section 31 as portrayed in Star Trek: Discovery season two

Star Trek: Section 31 brings to light a problem with the current era of Star Trek. A deliberate choice was made early on to modernize everything so that they wouldn’t have to be restricted by the design aesthetic of the 60s. With few exceptions, this hasn’t been a big issue. For example, the Enterprise in Star Trek: Strange New Worlds still, mostly, looks like the Enterprise from Star Trek: The Original Series, and the crew still wear red, blue, gold uniforms. Even though the newer show is a prequel, fans can accept that it’s the same ship, the only real difference is the budget. With this film being set in the early 24th century, there’s an expectation that the universe should look a certain way. But if you weren’t a Trek fan that hyper fixated on dates (I’m calling myself out with that one), then you wouldn’t know that this takes place almost 100 years after Star Trek: Discovery’s second season. Aesthetically speaking, there’s nothing in the set design or even ship design that differentiates this movie from Star Trek: Discovery’s early seasons. The year Star Trek: Section 31 is set in seems to just be an excuse to use Rachel Garret and even then one has to wonder why that was important. Georgiou is from the 23rd century, so why didn’t she go back to her home century? We couldn’t get one monster maroon?

Not to fixate on the year so much, but it calls into question one of the biggest plot holes in the film. San, the villain of the film and former love interest of Georgiou in case you forgot, faked his death before the events of the first season of Star Trek: Discovery. Those events are in the 2250s, so how is San alive? The film chooses not to explain it, almost like the year it was set was an afterthought. Georgiou is alive because of time travel, so it’s possible that San somehow time traveled, but then his plan doesn’t make sense. He wants to take the Macguffin to the Mirror Universe in order to provoke the Terran Empire to invade the Prime Universe (if this movie is meant to appeal to new audiences, then swing and miss). The problem with the plan is that the Terran Empire doesn’t exist in the way it did in the 23rd century. So the plan wouldn’t work even if he succeeded. The characters don’t know that, but it certainly lowers the stakes for the audience. 

Unfortunately this film is also very poorly directed. Olatunde Osunsanmi directed 14 episodes of Star Trek: Discovery but sadly showcases some of his worst impulses here. The sets are big open circular spaces, since they’re utilizing the Volume, and the camera zooms in to peoples faces at random during exposition, obviously in a poor attempt to add some excitement to the scene. The action sequences are poorly shot and choreographed, to the point that during one climactic battle, two ships just magically swap places. There’s also a planet that just keeps spitting out fire from the ground that takes up most of the movie’s setting. Everything Osunsanmi does here is an effort to hide the very poorly written script by Craig Sweeney. It just also has the unfortunate side effect of making the direction equally as boring.

Michelle Yeoh and Omari Hardwick

Just a few years ago, the future of Star Trek looked bright. But with three shows having been cancelled in 2024 and 2025 starting with one of, if not the worst Star Trek movie, the future doesn’t look as bright. With Paramount’s future uncertain at the moment, Star Trek’s Latinum Age might be heading towards its natural conclusion. It’s truly unfortunate because there’s tons of potential in making standalone Star Trek streaming films, and with this film's poor performance, it might be the only one we ever get. A generic action film that accidentally became the very thing the outrage merchants online claimed Star Trek had become. It truly is just Star Trek in name only. Oh, and the music sucks.

Section 31 is just not a concept that works as a standalone story. They don’t work as a “necessary evil” and they don’t work as lovable misfits trying to make the Federation’s equivalent of the CIA look cool. When Sloan says that the Federation needs Section 31, he’s saying that as the bad guy who is wrong. But Kurtzman and the actors of this film think he was right. They believe that the Federation needs Section 31 to exist. Well, they’re wrong. The Federation doesn’t need them and Star Trek fans don’t either.

Star Trek: Section 31 is streaming now, exclusively on Paramount+

Star Trek Needs Star Trek: Legacy

By Brandon T. McClure (@btmcclure @fakenerdpodcast)

It’s a crazy time to be a Star Trek fan right now. Five shows have been released since 2017’s Star Trek: Discovery with a sixth one on the way. Currently Star Trek: Picard is airing its third and final season which sees the return of the cast of Star Trek: The Next Generation. This season has been better received than the previous two seasons and that’s got the fans begging for more. Turns out the showrunner for this season of Star Trek: Picard has plans to continue the story, should Paramount be interested, through a show called Star Trek: Legacy.

When Star Trek: Picard first aired on CBS All Access (Which became Paramount+) in 2020, just before the COVID-19 pandemic hit, the series saw an older retired Jean-Luc Picard now living in his family's vineyard, content with making wine for the rest of his life. But a young being, who claimed to be Data’s daughter, sought him out and set him off on a new journey that took him to new worlds with a new crew. This season was ran by Michael Chabon, who would leave during the production of season 2 due to a massive contract he signed to develop more in the world of Star Trek. This, however, has yet to come of anything. Terry Matalas took over the show and season 2 was released in 2022. That season saw Q return to help Picard come to terms with the death of his mother. As ambitious as those two seasons were, they were generally not loved by the fandom at large. But season 3 had a lot of promise.

After being contacted by Beverly Crusher, Picard reconnects with Captain William Riker to help him find her. While this is going on, Raffi, a character introduced in the first season, is uncovering a plot to destroy the Federation. This is all connected and sets the stage for a story that would be filled with nostalgic callbacks, returning cast, and exciting new characters. Terry Matalas and his crew of writers, production designers, directors, and more, crafted a season that harkened back to the 90s era of Trek, which is commonly referred to as the golden age. Star Trek: Picard season 3 is capable of standing on its own without the support of the first two seasons and operates as a legacy sequel to not just Star Trek: The Next Generation, but Star Trek: Deep Space Nine and Star Trek: Voyager. 

William Riker (Jonathan Frakes) and Jean-Luc Picard (Patrick Stewart) in Star Trek: Picard

With any legacy sequel, there need to be characters to pick up the mantle from the older generation. That’s where Star Trek: Picard truly shines. While some characters already had kids, like Worf’s long-forgotten son Alexander, or Riker and Troi’s daughter Kestra, this season introduces Jack Crusher as the son of Picard and Beverly. What’s more, this season also introduces Geordi’s children in the form of Alandra and Sydney LaForge. The frustrating thing about these characters is that fans like them. They like them a lot and there are not that many episodes left with them (1 at the time of this writing). It’s a good problem to have, certainly, but many fans are wondering if these characters will ever be seen again.

Lt. Commander La Forge (LeVar Burton) and Alandra La Forge (Mica Burton) in Star Trek: Picard

This is where Star Trek: Legacy comes in. Terry Matalas’ proposed spin-off of Star Trek: Picard would pick up after the events of the series and seemingly feature these characters that fans have fallen in love with. Matalas is talking to everyone about this show (except for me) in the hopes of gaining interest in it. When speaking with TrekMovie.com he spoke about how he feels the 25th century, the year that Star Trek: Picard is set, is the present day of the Star Trek universe, and that he would love to explore what the century looks like around the galaxy. “Boy, wouldn’t you want to check in with the Klingon Empire? Wouldn’t you want to check in with Deep Space Nine and The Doctor [from Voyager] and everything that went on with the Berman-verse?” He adds that he would like to “explore the galaxy and sort of get back to the Next Gen roots of storytelling” and that that is the “kind of version of Star Trek I’d like to see, with this group of characters that we’re seeing”.

Strangely enough, this is not new territory for fans. When Star Trek: Discovery aired its second season, it introduced Anson Mount as Captain Christopher Pike, the second captain of the USS Enterprise. Captain Pike took command of the USS Discovery for a mission to search for Spock, whose disappearance was related to a mission that threatened the galaxy. Anson Mount’s Captain Pike and the other two returning characters Spock and Number One were so well received that fans began demanding a series focused on them. Eventually, Paramount+ gave in to fan demand and greenlit Star Trek: Strange New Worlds in May of 2020. When it was released in 2022, it was an instant hit with new and old fans alike. Now, Trek fans are being called on once again to campaign for Star Trek: Legacy. 

Paramount+ has already announced a new show in the form of Star Trek: Starfleet Academy, but that’ll most likely be set in the future of Star Trek: Discovery, which leaves a gap of time not being explored by the franchise. Star Trek: Strange New Worlds is set in the mid-23rd century, just before Star Trek: The Original Series and Star Trek: Lower Decks and Prodigy are set in the early 2380s, which technically makes every Star Trek show on the air a prequel series. There’s still plenty of room for a series set in the early 25th century, the “present” of the Star Trek timeline as Terry Matalas said. The show could continue to explore strange new worlds and pick up characters that fans haven’t seen in ages. Characters from Star Trek: Deep Space Nine like Ezrie Dax, Bashir, or even Miles O’Brien (who let's face it, should have been in this season of Star Trek: Picard). There is plenty of room for a show that deals with nostalgia while also paving the way for the “next generation”.

There is a legitimate fear with Star Trek: Legacy that is worth bringing up. Star Trek has never been a nostalgia machine. It’s always been a franchise that’s more concerned with moving forward than backward. In fairness, this changed with the 2009 film Star Trek, and the current era has been struggling with that ever since. Both the first seasons of Star Trek: Discovery and Picard were less concerned with nostalgia than doing something new and the fans were not receptive to that. Sure, it probably had more to do with creative choices, but studios often take the wrong lessons from these things. Star Trek: Lower Decks is a show built upon reference jokes to past Trek and was very well received when it launched. So Star Trek: Legacy could be more interested in looking backward than forwards. Ideally, that wouldn’t be the case. The show would hopefully not center around nostalgia and only sprinkle it in when the story called for it. For the most part, that is how season 3 of Star Trek: Picard has been structured so there’s no reason to think that Star Trek: Legacy would be any different.

Following a story about the kids of the crew of Enterprise D is incredibly appealing because they’re good characters that fans have enjoyed. Perhaps Kestra Troi-Riker joins the USS Titan with Sydney LaForge at the helm and her sister Alandra in Engineering. Captain Seven of Nine and her first officer/girlfriend Commander Raffi Musiker at the conn. The cast is already there and waiting to explore the final frontier of the 25th century. Hell, maybe they’ll finally remember Alexander. One thing is for sure, if this is the last time we see these new characters, it’ll be a shame.