Alex Kurtzman Says ‘Section 31’ Series Writers Building A “Very Surprising” Star Trek Show

On Wednesday night Alex Kurtzman made another virtual appearance promoting the Emmy nomination for Star Trek: Short Treks. During a Q&A with Variety, the man in charge of the Star Trek Universe for CBS gave a rare update on the Section 31 series, announced the hire of a composer, talked about fan feedback, and more.

Section 31 show may not be what you think it is

During the Variety Streaming Room Q&A, Kurtzman was asked about the Section 31 series in development, which hasn’t had a lot of detail since it was announced in January 2019. He said the origins of the show started with star Michelle Yeoh and went back to before Star Trek: Discovery even premiered in 2017:

The truth is that for Section 31 the idea of doing that show, it was Michelle Yeoh’s. She deserves all the credit for that. She actually came to me about it before we even aired the first season of Discovery. She loved playing the character [Captain Phillipa Georgiou] and she said, “I know that there are a lot of young women who grew up like I did and did not see somebody like me on screen and I want to be that person.” And I said, “That sounds amazing! Let’s do it.”

But we didn’t know if people were going to like Discovery. We didn’t know if Discovery was going to work, at the time. And so I said,” Let’s see how it works, and if we can get there let’s get there.” She killed it. She did amazing work on the show. And then in season two, we really started digging into the mythology of Section 31, which had been dealt with on other shows. And we started seeing a way to do it. And so we got there.

Michelle Yeoh as Philippa Georgiou and Alan Van Sprang as Leland in Star Trek: Discovery‘s “Point of Light”

Recently Kurtzman said that writing was ongoing for the Section 31 series. In the Variety Q&A on Wednesday night he offered some more details on the status of work:

Erika [Lippoldt] and Boey [Yeon Kim], who are two of our writers on Discovery, have been working with Craig Sweeny, who was a writer we worked for a long time and he ran Limitless for us. And they’ve been doing an amazing job building the show. So I’m really excited about where it’s going. And I can’t wait to see Michelle in that part. And I think people are going to be very surprised about the world that it occupies. We’ve seen stuff online where people have guessed certain things, but some they are nowhere even near guessing. So that’s that’s pretty fun.

Section 31 show writers Bo Yeon Kim and Erika Lippoldt with Sonequa Martin-Green on the set of Star Trek: Discovery

Kurtzman’s comments about how the world the Section 31 show occupies will be surprising may be referring to the setting for the upcoming series. One of the big questions about the show stems from how Michelle Yeoh’s character of Section 31 operative (and former Mirror Universe Emperor) Georgiou has jumped forward into the 32nd century with the rest of the Star Trek: Discovery crew for the upcoming third season. It has been generally assumed she will find a way to return to the 23rd century to begin her own adventures in the section 31 series. But perhaps those assumptions are wrong, and the show is set in another time or place.

Promotional image for the third season of Star Trek: Discovery with Anthony Rapp as Stamets; Michelle Yeoh as Georgiou; Mary Wiseman as Tilly; Sonequa Martin-Green as Burnham

“Q&A” composer hired to score an upcoming Trek series, possibly ‘Prodigy’

While discussing the Short Treks episode “Q&A,” Alex Kurtzman revealed that Nami Melumad, who scored the short, has been hired as the composer for one of the Star Trek series in development:

So our composer Nami is amazing, and actually was so good that we hired her to compose one of our Star Trek shows, and I won’t tell you which one it is, but she’s gonna be composing one of our Star Trek shows.

This would make Melumad the first female composer for a Star Trek series, and she’s already the first to score an episode. The 32-year-old Israeli/Dutch composer has an extensive list of musical credits, including scoring the Amazon series Absentia and the new HBO Max film An American Pickle. Kurtzman said when choosing composers for Short Treks, besides the one scored by Oscar-winner Michael Giacchino of course, he sought out young composers “to give them a shot to see what they could do.”

In the case of the score for “Q&A” and how it incorporated the original theme to Star Trek, Kurtzman said:

Nami not only found an incredible way to touch on the feeling that you get from a great Star Trek score, which is this kind of wild exuberance and this joy and the joy of discovery and the joy of science. And obviously, the original Alexander Courage theme is such a big touchstone for anybody who loves Star Trek

So the idea was, how do we touch the theme, render unto Caesar what is Caesar’s, and then give it its own sound. And Nami really found the joy. In fact, the piece that she wrote the plays over the end credits for “Q&A” is one of my favorite pieces ever for anything I’ve worked on in Star Trek.

As “Q&A” was a story set on Pike’s Enterprise, one might imagine Melumad would be scoring the upcoming series Star Trek: Strange New Worlds, but there are other possibilities. She has also worked in animation before, so she may have been tapped to compose the score for CG-animated series Star Trek: Prodigy, which debuts on Nickelodeon in 2021. During the Comic-Con@Home Star Trek Universe presentation in July, Melumad retweeted two tweets from the Prodigy executive producers and one from a Prodigy writer. Those were her only Trek-related tweets during the panel.

Composer Nami Melumad

Reading fan feedback “hurts,” and is “necessary”

When asked about fan discussions online and in social media, Kurtzman confirmed he keeps up on fan feedback and considers it an important part of the process, even if at times it can be difficult to see criticism.

Here is Kurtzman’s comment on fan feedback in full:

I pay a lot of attention. And it took me many, many years to figure out why I had to do it, despite the fact that it made me very uncomfortable. Anybody who goes on the internet and looks at a review of their work is going to see both people loving it and people hating it. It’s just the nature of the internet. And it’s it’s very difficult not to take it personally.

At the same time, what I came to understand about Star Trek is that the fans of Star Trek have kept Star Trek alive for so long. It would have been canceled, and even after it was canceled, they kept it alive in syndication. And it always comes back to the fans, because I think the only two entities that really own Star Trek are Gene Roddenberry and the fans. The rest of us are just carrying it for a while.

And part of being a Star Trek fan is allowed is knowing that there will always be debate about Star Trek. One fan will love Voyager, one fan will love Deep Space Nine, one fan will hate Next Gen, one fan will love Next Gen. One fan will love Picard, one fan will hate Picard. And on, and on, and on. There’s a real democratic quality to that, right?

You know that people are gonna watch it and they’re, they’re going to have different points of view. And it doesn’t mean that someone’s right, and it doesn’t mean that someone’s wrong. Everybody has their own feeling about it. But listening to what people are reacting to is so important to understanding where to go with it. I feel like if you’re at a 50/50 split, you’re doing fine. If you’re at 90/10, and people hate it 90%, you’re in real trouble. Fortunately we haven’t been there yet.

But I know that’s part of it. So once you accept that’s part of it, it allows you to read criticism. And you can separate the criticism that’s just ‘I hate everything,’ from ‘Actually that person had really valid points about why something didn’t quite work for them.’ And that’s something to keep in mind for the next time we do something else in the world of Star Trek. So I see it as a learning tool. It hurts, and at the same time, it’s necessary.

Easter eggs without fan service

Kurtzman also talked about his approach to adding Easter eggs for fans into his Star Trek shows:

The fun thing about Easter eggs is that they’re really great if they pay off in a way that feel satisfying and they’re really disappointing if you’re just throwing them into throw them in there. That feels like fan service that I think can have the opposite impact that you’re intending. I think fans don’t like it when you just throw things in to throw them in. They actually have to have meaning because those Easter eggs are meaningful to them. So that’s that’s always a challenge when you’re hitting an Easter egg is to make sure there’s a reason to do it.

UPDATE: Watch the Kurtzman Q&A

Variety has now released the video from the virtual event.


Keep up with all the Star Trek Universe news at TrekMovie.com.

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Star Trek
1966-2005
RIP.

Star Trek ran for 3 seasons from 1966

Oh, knock it off.

Man, comments like these make it really depressing to come here. How’s this helping, exactly?

Exactly why I don’t come here much anymore. Too many sad old trekkies that can’t change with the times.

People like you who love the current trash are the problem

Wow. Just Wow.

I don’t understand why this kind of trolling is acceptable on this site.

I remember the days of old, when the haters hated ENT, regarded it as neo-Trek garbage… Thank god the neo-neo-Trek has at least allowed ENT in the group of acceptable Trek. I can now watch it without shame. Hopefully Prodigy will do the same for DSC, STP, S31, SNW, etc…

Yep. I’m old enough to remember the “fans” who said that TNG was an insult to Shatner, Nimoy & co. And the “fans” who said DS9 betrayed Gene’s vision, and the ones who said Voyager was just Star Trek:Lost in Space, and the ones who said Enterprise was a tacky, canon-destroying retread…

There’s nothing new under the sun.

False logic alert. Because some fans were harsh to TNG and DS9 at first… … therefore Kurtzman’s Trek is gooood.

I dunno. He might believe that. But it’s not what he said.

I’ve seen youtube videos of them picketing paramount studios over the “insult”.

All this has happened before, and all of this will happen again.

Oh wait, got my shows crossed. :D

-signed, an old Trekkie from the beginning who loves the fact that we’re still getting Trek.

There hasn’t been any Star Trek since 2005

Agree.. RIP

Star Trek never Dies.

It does everytime people accept Kurtzman’s trash

Star Trek
1966-
Boldly go.

Comment sections are so dramatic.

Agreed. I challenge anyone that thinks DIS is Trek in anything other than name to watch this short TNG clip.

https://youtu.be/p3FgJztHqFE

Putting aside the oft-cited embarrassing
writing and shoddy acting, the main issue for me about post 2005 Trek is that it is soulless. I could forgive inconsistencies in canon if it was substantive of structure and had properly crafted character moments that are earned. The single scene you’ve just watched captures Trek’s heart. DIS isn’t fit to come under the same wing as TNG. What they’ve done to PIC is disgraceful and don’t get me started on that animated dross that they’re releasing currently. How dare the current team pass off such low quality television as being Star Trek.

Star Trek was completed in 1969.

GarySeven,

Grab your pen, your kitty, and your time portal. Make a difference again.

Move along home young one.

And I can’t wait to see Michelle in that part. And I think people are going to be very surprised about the world that it occupies. We’ve seen stuff online where people have guessed certain things, but some they are nowhere even near guessing. So that’s that’s pretty fun.

Does anyone have any ideas about what Kurtzman is talking about there regarding what people have guessed correctly about the Section 31 show?

I have no idea what he’s referring to.

Does anyone have any ideas about what Kurtzman is talking about there regarding what people have guessed correctly about the Section 31 show?

It may have something to do with people speculating that Section 31 will be shown as time-travelling in order to do various shady stuff behind the scenes over the centuries.

For what it’s worth, I’ve also suggested here a couple of times that the show could be about S31 secretly meddling in Earth’s 21st century history and deliberately fanning the flames leading up to World War 3, since — in Trek canon, at least — a peaceful united Earth and subsequently the Federation cannot exist unless global war happens first. So in their own minds, S31 would be doing the wrong things for the right reasons. (An added twist, of course, is that this also raises the chicken-and-egg question of whether the only reason Trek’s World War 3 happens at all is because of S31’s actions. Headache-inducing time-loop paradox, as Janeway would say ;))

Along with that, I’ve suggested the link to DSC could be MU Georgiou bringing back 32nd century technology to the 23rd century, which would give S31 (and, indirectly, the Federation) a strategic military advantage and possibly explain some of S31’s advanced capabilities. Foreknowledge of the Federation eventually collapsing would also give S31 a huge incentive to try to change the future by engaging in the much more ruthless stuff established in DS9; as far as S31 would be concerned, they’re averting an apocalyptic fate for their civilisation, by any means necessary. So this would explain the shift from DSC’s “black ops arm of Starfleet that everyone knows about” to the much darker, amoral and covert “deep state” network depicted in DS9 too.

But to answer your question directly: It’s very difficult to know for sure until an official trailer for the show is released.

Thanks, Jai. Those are interesting ideas. I hope that some of them are right! The 21st century idea is cool – what if Gary Seven came back to Earth to stop Section 31 from interfering in Earth history…

There’s no indication that those themes are the ones Kurtzman is referring to at all.

What he’s saying is fan speculation is just speculation. Kinda like when everyone here gets all excited about the new Trek movie, start guessing on the status of the exciting new production, then get bitterly disappointed when reality bites and there’s no movie coming soon.

He did indicate that some of what people have guessed about the show is accurate though.

Right, but that’s literally just 2 possibilities out of Spock only knows hundreds if not thousands of folks putting their speculation online. Kurtzman hinted at nothing beyond some speculation was right, without pointing out any specific details

Kurtzman will shake things up.

Honestly I was never on board with a Section 31 show but I’m willing to accept it if it’s worth my time. Michelle Yeoh is one incredible actress so there is some hope.

Kurtzman is reading fan feedback is nice to know. Maybe he knows who I am. I wasn’t so kind to him earlier. I disagree with Kurtzman on the essence of Star Trek but he is a good man.

“I wasn’t so kind to him earlier.”

You compared him to Trump so I guess it’s fair game to compare Georgiou to Hitler? ;)

Isn’t it fair game to compare mirror Georgiou to Hitler regardless, given that she was empress of mirrorverse Terran empire??

He already has, not in a good way. Klingon orcs ffs.

One good actor means nothing, Picard for example.

If he had been reading fan feedback and responding to it, Disco and Picard would not repeatedly make massive fundamental mistakes.

Vulcan Soul posted:
He already has, not in a good way. Klingon orcs ffs.
^^^
What? Kurtzman wasn’t around when they turned the Klingons into rabid looking dog like aliens in ST:TMP (circa 1979). Klingons haven’t looked ‘right’ since “TOS S3 – “Day Of The Dove”. :P

Well then. I’m glad Disco and Picard aren’t making massive fundamental mistakes.

Trust me, if you stop watching, you’ll stop complaining and he generally happier.

I know about you.

What exactly is your time worth?

 “I know that there are a lot of young women who grew up like I did and did not see somebody like me on screen and I want to be that person.”

Fair enough. So she should just play a different character. Who says she has to play space Pol Pot?

Wow, must you people inject politics into everything?

Why don’t you figure out a way to take politics completely out of TREK and then see if there is anything left to talk about here? Context is what spurs intelligent discussion and debate for TREK, and if you don’t have a relatable context — requiring the human element, and therefore, politics – you have got something even less watchable.

I was just sarcastic, because usally ML complains about being political as soon as someone mentions Trump. I felt the urge to give it back to him just one time. But seriously much respect to him for not going the Hitler routine. I cringe eveytime someone does that. SO WRONG. Sad

If you are going to speak for me then I would appreciate you get it right. If you are going to get it wrong then please abstain. I made the comment you were illogically mocking not “as soon as someone mentions Trump”. I said it that ONE time. And it came after many many comments that bring in politics with no reason out of the blue.

You’re welcome.

It is true that I mocked your comment. What is not true is that I spkoe for you. I made an observation about you, which you might find incorrect or unfair, but I did not put any words into your mouth.

You said I say that thing every time a certain event happens. That is the very definition of putting words in my mouth. Because the fact is I do not.

I do not mind people speaking for me. But only when they speak correctly. Had you said that i wrote the comment that one time it would have been factual and I would not have had to correct it.

Star Trek has always been political – but what’s political about that comparison? She plays a brutal, murdering dictator.

That’s what bugs me about the character – unless I missed something (entirely possible since I had a hard time staying engaged), there’s not much/any depth/complexity there yet. Maybe there will be?

But, yeah, how could the same person be the epitome of a decent starfleet captain in one universe and a one-dimensional murdering dictator in another? Nature/nurture? This has always bugged me about the mirror universe – everyone is scenery-chewing evil, just because they’re in an evil society. What’s it saying about us and our world?

The mirror universe was suppose to be full of caricature evil men and women. It was a way for the actors and viewers to have some fun with the usual good characters. Seeing them act and look completely different. It works perfectly well as a fun gimmick episode, but not as the basis of a complex serious series. And arguably the worst of the worst of the people in the mirror universe, someone who ordered the genocid of whole races, really shouldn’t be the main character of a Star Trek series.

If you are going to try and turn my earlier comment around on me it would work much better if I had actually made a comment worthy of that treatment.

Well, maybe. What shall I say? It was just a joke. It is always a hit or miss with these.

A mean spirited one, at that. One designed to undercut a poster. I guess you are entitled but I am also entitled to call you out for it.

Female space Hitler? Ok.. she is correct.

*cringe*

Neither did young men see somebody like her either.. why only emphase women?

Gonna have to ask Kurtzman. He said it. I was just quoting him.

The problem from an international perspective is that its all based on American politics. Which is understandable, but makes it difficult for Star Trek to connect with most of the world.

There are “types” in politics here and politics everywhere. Dictators have a quality of self-aggrandizement, for example, and are aided in their overblown views of themselves by “yes men” and other toadies. Sadly it’s universal, not just in America.

Still can’t believe they are going through with this…

If it’s as everyone imagines, which is more of the same Disco31 stuff. Nobody wants it. So I assume it’s going to be quite a lot different to what we expect.
Else it will be a car crash

“Nobody wants it.” Uh, I kinda do.

I’m a little surprised, too. My thinking is if Yeoh is in this then PLEASE have her pay a different character and set it in the TNG era.

We need to move on from the TNG era

“She said, “I know that there are a lot of young women who grew up like I did and did not see somebody like me on screen and I want to be that person.””

It’s true that there are not alot of young women out there, “of color” or not, who are g*nocidal c*nnibalistic mass m*rderers, so it’s good to know that Yeoh will give inspiration to that, in a Trek show no less!

“DELICIOUS “, as Kadin put it, probably thinking of the upcoming serialized B-story of Empress Georgiou developing her Kelpien cooking skills!

That’s separate from how wonderful it would be to see an Asian woman headlining a big budget American tv show. That casting is very Star Trek. Mirror Georgiou is not very Star Trek, especially as her character’s overall redemption has not come across as a priority for Discovery. The show’s character work is not great. But that’s still a separate issue.

@Ian I wish there was a like button here.

Fingers crossed Section 31 ends up being “Season 5” of Enterprise, because the 22nd Century feels like the only neglected corner of the Star Trek universe at this point.

You’ve essentially got:

Section 31 – ?

Strange New Worlds – supposedly old school Trek, part reimagined/part TOS prequel, in the 23rd Century.

Lower Decks – cell animation comedy, set in 24th.

Picard Season 2 onwards – surely 25th by now?

Prodigy – CG animation childrens, set unknown.

Discovery Season 3 onwards – set in the 32nd Century?

So yeah, every base covered aside from what is the most interesting… for me, anyway.

If they can change some of the tone of the show and some of the direction that people have had issue with in Disco/Picard, that could work.

TMP era and the gap between Undiscovered Country and TNG are also fertile ground for stories inside established canon

I think Kurtzman tries to make good Star Trek and he tries it full speed and in every direction. I am confident that this will pay off sometime.
I think he knows that he havent hitted the spot right now, but imho not much harm is done neither.
One thing that I think could be better is story quality: the all-you-can-imagine tool in Picard is a nogo. The federation fleet out of nowhere is a nogo. Torture is a cheap thing to get the attention of the audience and its usage devaluates star trek. So nogo.
Also canon isnt important to a true star trek fan. Just tell good stories about good values and ask good questions.

I am confident that this will pay off sometime.”

It’s not supposed to be an experiment. We have a well oiled and working formula for ~50 years. Just follow that instead of Klingon orcs and time spores.

Audiences have been abandoning that “well oiled and working formula” ever since the heyday of TNG.more than 20 years ago.

Plus, these shows are behind a PAY WALL!!! There is no excuse for them to be this bad right out of the gate.

Canon is very important, but I guess you’re ok with Kirk having 3 eyes in one scene and a blue uniform the next without any explanation

variety is the spice of life

I bet its not about S31.
Philippa Georgiou becomes a temporal agent and the “fanservice” is about traveling through the time so we get “Trials and Tribble-ations” -Moments and a reloaded Temporal Cold War..

As someone pointed out, Enterprise season 5..

That sounds like a very expensive series.

Wont go into existing shows, but same time. This can be done quite cheap.

I haven’t been following the S31 stuff too closely, but has it been stated anywhere that it’s for sure Emperor Georgiou and not Captain Georgiou that will be in this new series? Maybe Prime Georgiou was in S31 for some time and this series would flashback to it.

You know what I’d like? If Mirror Georgiou somehow found a way to take the place of Prime Georgiou on the deck of the Sarcophagus ship, and died in her place. That would work to redeem her character, and then Prime Georgiou would have a motivation to remain in the shadows: revealing that she had not been slain by T’Kuvma, as history recorded, could have both political and temporal repercussions.

But that’s probably not going to happen, because the Sarcophagus set has been disassembled and it would probably be prohibitively expensive to rebuild it.

I liked how Section 31 was first explained in DS9 in that they don’t even have a building. Then in Discovery, they have an entire starship with a crew.

This show might be better received if they simply do not name it Section 31. Give it another title!

*not only do they have a starship but they have a fleet of their own starships.
I agree with you, S31 (for me, IMO) was way more interesting as a shadow organization that only top brass knew anything about it.

Just cancel it before it destroys the history of S31 we love. Put the efforts into making SNW something we want that follows the golden formula.

We’re all aware the Discovery takes place long before DS9 correct? I for one am open to see what it is. The constant whining about what “true” Star Trek fans want is ridiculous. Trek fans are turning into Star Wars fan, just bitching about everything. Every single time theres a new series there is bitching it’s not Star Trek. TNG, DS9, VOY, ENT, DIS, PIC, Lower Decks and on and on. Every one of those people complained and whined. Quit making up expectations in your mind and allowing yourself to be let down by what it is simply because it didnt match what was in your head!

Continuity is a big deal. I get that it’s all fiction, but it they are going to say that it’s “Prime Universe” then they should honor what came before. If they want to create these shows so that they are all set in different realities, like what DC does, then that’s fine and things do not have to match. They can then have Khan be a Borg King attacking Major Sisko on the Vulcan D-7 Galor class Cube.

THIS

Quit telling fans of Star Trek to embrace trash

That was of course 100 years later.

Yeach but Enterprise with Malcolm Reed’s interaction with S31 was before Discovery. So, S31 went from shadowy, to large fleets, and back to shadowy. I guess it could happen

Section 31 was more known back in the day but their ships were still top secret. Even in DS9 they still had ships. They kidnapped Bashir had him running around in their ship’s holodeck for days. Sloan was also able to beam on and off DS9 without ever being detected.

“The truth is that for Section 31 the idea of doing that show, it was Michelle Yeoh’s. She deserves all the credit for that.”

Credit for saying “I want to do a Section 31 show with me as the star”.. Yeah, lots of credit? WTF?

OK, glad to see I wasn’t the only one to think that…

Jealous?

Jon Lovitz. Lol

Of?

Ok, I’m officially curious to see what the premise, time period and geographic location for S31 will be.

I’d say that the only two things we know for certain is that Georgiou is the main character and that she’ll be in S31.

I’ve liked Bo Yeon Kim and Erika Lippoldt’s work on Discovery for the most part, and it’s clear that they’ve been working steadily on this for some time (with a detour to help with Discovery S3).

So, with a writing team that I like, and enough time to write a coherent product I’m cautiously hopeful that they can come up with a credible way for Georgiou to evolve beyond what her Mirror Universe environment established in her.

I am really looking forward to the Section 31 series! More Trek is always good! I don’t care how many people dislike Alex Kurtzmans work. I (and my wife)am really happy with all the new series so far and I am really grateful for the expanding Trek universe. I always loved Trek, was so sad with its end in 2005 and I can’t believe how lucky we are with a new golden age of Trek with Alex Kurtzman. I hope they get the international streaming distribution of short treks and Lower Decks soon sorted out because that really pisses all of us international fans immensly off!

“The truth is that for Section 31 the idea of doing that show, it was Michelle Yeoh’s. She deserves all the credit for that. She actually came to me about it before we even aired the first season of Discovery. She loved playing the character [Captain Phillipa Georgiou] and she said…”

Does he even listen to what he says? Captain Phillipa Georgiou which Yeoh liked is of course a great character, but her genocidal mirror universe counterpart shouldn’t be the star of a Star Trek Series, especially as they have already tried in season 2 of DIS to redeem her and make people forget all the horrible things she has done. The character started out as a caricature over the top villain and all their tries to make her more complex made her portrayal not a bit better, because her chararacter development was badly written and felt false and forced.

Also Section 31 is the worst invention of the Star Trek franchise. It was already bad in DS9 and how they handled and wrote that organization got continuous worse until it reached by far its lowest point with DIS. Section 31 should have never been part of Star Trek.

Also if they plan to include Ash Tyler somehow in the spinoff, the only DIS character even worse than evil Georgiou, it would add to the mess this series will be.

Good Captain Phillipa Georgiou was boring. Playing the bad guys is more fun.

I tend to agree. There were some pretty bad ideas to come out of the TNG era. Section 31 was among the worst of them. A little ironic that one of the worst concepts came from the best spin off series. The good news there was S31 was used SPARINGLY.

Actually s31 was a brilliant notion, the Idea of black ops under the supposed utopia of the Fed especially during the dominon war.

Fair enough. My opinion remains unaltered. But that’s OK. I like diversity.

Does no-one any more watch something just for the enjoyment of it. Take it for just the show by itself.. on its own merits.. not say this is part of that or that is part of this. Just watch because they enjoy it. There is a lot of hate here. I enjoyed Star Trek the original. I enjoyed Next Generation. I liked DS9. I enjoyed Voyager. All good shows that I think in some way or another Gene would be proud of his concept and what came from it.

Thanks Marvin, not sure why but it seems to me that the balance on this board isn’t quite what it was a while ago.

I understand that there are many here that have sincerely profound ethical/value concerns about normalizing a mass murderer. However, we haven’t seen what the in-story solution to that might be. I’m waiting to make my judgement until I see the show.

not sure why but it seems to me that the balance on this board isn’t quite what it was a while ago.

Probably because if you state that you like New Trek you’re called a troll by people here that I won’t mention.

Michelle Yeoh vocally supported an oppressive, corrupt, human rights-abusing regime in Malaysia. (Though some theorize she was being extorted to do so.) I dare anyone to find a major American press mention of this since Yeoh’s resurgence with Crazy Rich Asians and Star Trek.

Malaysia is not a perfect country. You want regime change in Malaysia or something. Michelle Yeoh is a good person.

Crazy Rich Asians is a really good movie. She was great in it.

oppressive, corrupt, human rights-abusing regime

Sounds like America.

Bingo.

It’s not much different than pretty much ALL of Hollywood swinging one way and one way only politically, no? Show me one actor who makes it big by being anti-establishment. You can’t bite the hand that feeds you

Can’t wait. Long Live Trek.

I didn’t think much of the other Short Treks in the second batch, but Michael Giacchino’s “Ephraim and DOT” was “delightful” (to use Abrams’ favorite word) and good enough to merit the project an Emmy nom.

E & D was such a hoot! I loved it.

“If you’re at 90/10, and people hate it 90%, you’re in real trouble. Fortunately we haven’t been there yet.”

Star Trek Discovery is probably about an 80/20 split with 80% hating it but it could have easily been resolved had they not made so many poor decisions out of the gate.

1) Klingons look – unnecessary change – way too much of a change.

2) The crew should have started out far future opening the possibilities instead of being restrained by a canon that has already been developed. Nobody would question the technological advances had they come from the 32nd century. You can’t expect a fanbase to believe Discovery’s magic mushroom drive came decades before the failed Excelsior Transwarp experiment (thanks, Scotty).

3) I’m sorry but find some writers who can actually write stories for the bridge crew – whoever the hell they are. Beyond Saru, Tilly and dry as can be Burnham the bridge crew are a bunch of nobodies right now – and that’s totally the fault of bad writers.

Anyone else think that Mariner was once a S31 agent?

No, but I think she’s hot. Yes I admit that’s weird, something must be wrong with me…

I think she’s hot too. I knew I wasn’t the only one.

Hey there you go! I kinda thought I’m probably not the only one too, but no one was mentioning it… so I took one for the team and let the cat out of the bag…

LOL. What’s your thoughts about the Cat doctor?

No. She looks scraggly and mangy and like she smokes 3 packs a day and hasn’t seen a shower for days… Definitely not inviting.

Maybe she has a daughter. 😂

Naw it is not to weird. Tawny Newsome who plays the character is pretty hot so it must just come out through her voice. lol.

So true

Heck, I thought she was hot even before hearing her voice or knowing it was Tawny Newsome! Now THAT’S weird but I’m owning it!

Learning that the original idea was to present Michelle Yeoh’s character as a role model actually makes the Section 31 series way more inexplicable. Captain Georgiou really would have been a great character for that role, but her mirror universe counterpart is explicitly portrayed as a genocidal fascist dictator who is also technically-not-a-cannibal. There’s plenty of quality television centered around despicable characters, but the producers don’t usually say they want kids looking up to them.

It also pretty directly undermines the supposed justification for Section 31, which was that the Federation’s ideals were fundamentally a good thing even if they needed to be upheld using a shadowy interstellar conspiracy of people who routinely disregard them. But Empress Georgiou is openly contemptuous of the Federation and everything it stands for, which makes her a strange choice to put as the lead of a show about people who pride themselves on making tough decisions in service of a greater good. Especially if she’s supposed to be a role model.

The tragedy of this is that, if their real goal was just to give Michelle Yeoh a show, then there’s no reason it had to be about Mirror Georgiou and Section 31. If they were thinking about this since even before Discovery started airing, then they could have come up with with literally anything else. So the failure of imagination there is just staggering.

Maybe Mirror Georgiou does some time-travel shenanigans to yoink Prime Georgiou out of harm’s way, then Mirror Georgiou winds up biting it, then Prime Georgiou finds herself having to play the role of Mirror Georgiou in a ruthless, cutthroat organization and oh look I’ve made myself cross-eyed. ;) Still not hearing anything that’s getting me excited about the Section 31 show, alas, but it’s still in very early stages and will certainly be informed by what happens in Disco S3. So back to waiting.

Ah lol hadn’t seen your post before I posted mine.

Wild theory time:
At some point in season three of Discovery, Emperor Giorgiou will travel back in time to take Captain Giorgiou’s place during Battle At The Binary Stars, just after at the moment when Burnham neckpinches her.
So Emp sacrifices herself for Cap.
Would make the scene between Emp G and L’Rell’s scene where she claims to have picked the meat off her skull foreshadowing… :)

Can’t wait to see the ratings once its airing on CBS. I predict it will start great and fall off like a rock, and never rebound. STD, STP is not for me. I’m all for expanding Star Trek. Maybe I’ll get lucky and find a show/story line, that I can enjoy watching. Maybe Strange new Worlds, if it actualy gets made.

I am not very excited about this show.
Not because I don’t like S31 oder I don’t lile a “darker” Stsr Trek.

But coz S31 in DISCO was nothing lile it should have been. S31 should have been a secret organisation without own ships, without official assignments, so secret that not even a historian of the 24th century could find anything but rumors. More like cabal on blacklist.

What would be surprising is if Kurtzman has the guts to portray Section 31 as what it really is: an ultranationalist terror group that is a complete and utter perversion of everything the United Federation of Planets and Star Trek writ large are supposed to stand for.

Our man Bashir!

Please. Just bring ENTERPRISE back and conclude the story.