Paramount is doing some corporate synergy to promote Star Trek: Section 31 by bringing star Michelle Yeoh to their CBS late night show, The Late Show With Stephen Colbert. The actress came with a brand new clip from the Paramount+ streaming movie and talked more about her role and love of Star Trek.
The Emperor on Colbert
On Tuesday night Michelle Yeoh was the first guest on The Late Show and her first segment with Stephen Colbert began with a brand new clip from Star Trek: Section 31, before the conversation switched to catching up on some of her other latest projects including her part in the hit movie musical Wicked. You can see the Section 31 clip in the YouTube video below…
In the second part of her guest appearance the topic turned to Star Trek where Yeoh talked about how being cast in Discovery fulfilled a dream of hers, starting with a love of Spock. She also talked about getting killed off and returning to Discovery and how in the Section 31 movie former Emperor Philippa Georgiou is morally complicated.
Friday
Star Trek: Section 31 will premiere on Friday, January 24, 2025, on Paramount+ in the U.S. and international markets where the service is available. It will debut in SkyShowtime markets in Europe on February 7. TrekMovie is still trying to confirm releases in other international markets.
ICYMI, here is the official trailer released in December.
Keep up with news about the Star Trek Universe at TrekMovie.com.
I couldn’t care less about the Empress Georgiou, and would have much preferred a story featuring the prime universe version of the character. But even if this movie turns out to be the worst thing ever I’ll never stop crushing on Michelle Yeoh.
From a Star Trek fan standpoint I am leaning towards skepticism when it comes the S31 movie.
That said, the cast looks great led by Michelle Yeoh and the studio seems to be promoting the movie with a publicity tour and embargoed reviews. I am particularly impressed with Yeoh’s enthusiasm which seems genuine – not just for S31, but for the overall franchise. With me coming from the GTA, her loving Toronto on social media didn’t hurt either lol.
Perhaps it will be a good standalone movie that I can enjoy separate from the franchise. I am anxious to see what the reviews are like when they are released early tomorrow. We shall see.
I’m of the same mind. I’m not going to treat this as a Star Trek movie. I’ll treat it as Star Trek-adjacent, maybe. But that’s how I treat all multiverse content. It’s not the prime universe, so it doesn’t count. Just take it for what it is.
Based on the clip, it appears the production team decided to “borrow” the shield fighting from Dune.
Yes, I’m aware the personal shields were in the original novel, but this looks SO much like how it was done in Villeneuve’s adaptation.
I liked the shields in the lynch version a lot more. But trek always borrows, the jemhadar cloak was very predator as opposed to the usual trek ripple glass look.
SQUARE 1984 DUNE SHIELDS OR NO SHIELDS AT ALL!
Allowing for the crudity of the fx (and I understand that’s a “Besides that, Mrs. Lincoln, how was the show?” kind of ask), I prefer the look of the Lynch version in just about every way possible.
I seem to remember that it took something like 7 months to do the various shield shots, so they were really pushing the state of the optical art on that part of things.
After seeing and crying my way through THE ELEPHANT MAN a couple days back, I almost rewatched Lynch’s DUNE last night … in fact, I started it with the Sammon commentary track, which I’ve never listened to (though it all sounds very familiar, like straight from his old CFQ articles.) But then we decided to continue our ‘old tv’ kick. I’ve re-seen a lot of MCCLOUDs this year (focusing on the ‘Alamo’ episodes and ones I remembered from 50 years back — the show is very very funny, especially JD Cannon as the chief) and even a MCMILLAN (sans wife), but also finally tried to give WISEGUY a go … and we’re very impressed with the first couple hours.
Have you seen SEVERANCE yet? I may be doing an article on it (after pitching some unsuccessfully a few years back before it debuted) and am trying to prep in anticipation of an audition meeting with a site’s whole staff tomorrow … which might be kinda hard given I’ve never yet seen an episode since we don’t have Apple+ and even my writer access to Apple+ screeners (which has been in place for years, since I covered FOR ALL MANKIND s1) never included SEVERANCE.
Remove Star Trek from the title and it just looks like a Sci Fi action movie starring Michelle Yeoh. There’s still no indication of what the film is actually about and there are zero visual cues that it’s in any way related to the Star Trek universe. That may be intentional, of course, to appeal to a wider audience on Paramount+.
Everyone loves Michelle Yeoh and I’m sure that the suits over at Paramount+ felt obligated to do something with Section 31 after she won that Oscar. No Michelle Yeoh, no Section 31 movie.
It’s pretty telling the movie arrives in literally two days and yet there is still a review embargo in place until the day before release. Never a great sign.
It may turn out to be a decent movie but the marketing for it has been bare and they haven’t tried to license it to other countries that doesn’t have Paramount +, which is a lot. They don’t seem to be in a rush to make give this a bigger international push.
And the idea people thought Paramount might show it in a limited theater release for fans but didn’t happen is probably more proof they know they have a turkey on their hands.
Maybe more will end up liking it but everything about it just feels off.
I agree. It was submitted to the MPA for a theatrical rating and then whatever plans were in place were cancelled. A review embargo can often mean a lack of faith in the final product. I handled quite a few high profile shows over the years and we never placed embargo’s on shows until the day of its premiere, even shows we knew were probably going to receive a lukewarm response from critics.
This is likely a one-and-done deal.
So, I’m thinking that, having seen the film, it was kept as secret as possible for a good reason. Leaks just do not get to happen with Trek. Probably because of Nemesis. It does show, in a very entertaining way, just how different things are out of Federation Space. Emperor Georgiou has a way of deploying her vices, and making them into her ‘second job,’ which she has effortlessly slayed, inspired me, and got rich doing it. Good for her.
Great Star Trek happens. These are morally flexible characters who really underscore the need to have both the aptitudes and the foibles to get a serious job done.
I appreciated it all the more because I didn;t know what to think going into it, but I loved it before I saw it.
The tricorders were a bit disappointing. But that’s the only thing; Garret’s phaser is a great, subtle not to fusing the past with the heretofore unseen, and it nicely connects it to the perspective and settings we are used to.
let’s face it. That den of iniquity of a space station Phillips is running is not only fabulous, it’s really gorgeous.
Two days to go and there doesn’t feel like any hype for it. People will definitely watch it but no one seems pent up for it anywhere.
This is definitely not Picard or SNW levels of enthusiasm anywhere I go including here.
Here’s a review from Rolling Stone, which is pretty much exactly what I’d heard from my colleagues who have also seen it:
#11 After a very long wait, Section 31 — in which Yeoh’s Philippa Georgiou goes on a mission for Starfleet’s unofficial black-ops division — is… fine? It ignores the thorny moral questions that were a key part of Section 31 when the group was introduced on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine in favor of a watered-down Mission: Impossible-style adventure, teaming Georgiou with various colorful rogues, including Sam Richardson as a shapeshifter. The fight scenes don’t make particularly great use of one of the greatest action stars of all time, but the movie’s got energy, some decent supporting performances, and does a few fun things on the margins of the Star Trek universe. The movies below it are outright bad. This is at worst harmless.
I’d say ignoring those thorny moral questions means this is far from harmless, because it undermines and dilutes s31. They could have just done a Starfleet Intelligence show if it was a matter of doing a lightweight M:I caper, but NOo, just got to go pee on the IP after eating asparagus.
I love Michelle Yeoh. She has such an incredible range and depth. I love how I see the Captain, and then the Emporor, and the person inhabiting those characters. You really have to work to see any similarities. They both have a sense of humor. It’s a great role, and it’s so lovely the way she wields the situations of each character. I mean, the same actor, playing two people who are versions of one another, and really the first thing they seem to have in common is that they are both inherently, very, very differently funny. They use humor as an a tool for agents of change.
and the Emperor is indeed, one bad, bad bitch. It’s scary. She’s so fantastic, but I’m quite certain that if we met, we’d get along! Except, I’d probably come off as annoying. But I hope that if she were to kill me really, really permantly dead, that she would be furious about it. If I do say so myself.
Haters are gonna hate, I loved 31. It was was beautifully shot, so well paced that two hours felt like 30 minutes. It was funny. And the most delightful thing I have ever seen is how marvelous she is, when’s she’s tripping balls on space LSD.
They’re all smoking hot. They’re great actors, and Olatunde is an amazing director.
She stole the show, and she made me grateful for it.
now, having just smoked a joint the size of a traffic cone, I am going to get into the bubble bath and watch this again.
I’m all about it.