The Misfire of Star Trek: Section 31
When Star Trek: Section 31 premiered on Paramount+ last week, it did so with a bit of a malfunction—and landed with an almighty thud. The first Star Trek movie (streaming or otherwise) in years was immediately scathed by many critics, and now fan reactions have been similarly unkind, warping Section 31 right into first place on the most unglamorous of lists.
As Forbes reports, Section 31 now holds the “honor” of being the worst-rated Star Trek project, TV series or film, on critical aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, both in terms of both a rating from critics and from user input. Here’s the full breakdown of both film and TV series ratings:
Star Trek Movie Rotten Tomatoes Ratings
• Star Trek: The Motion Picture: 52% critics, 42% audience
• Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan: 86% critics, 90% audience
• Star Trek III: The Search for Spock: 79% critics, 68% audience
• Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home: 93% critics, 88% audience
• Star Trek V: The Final Frontier: 44% critics, 56% audience
• Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country: 86% critics, 90% audience
• Star Trek: Generations: 68% critics, 74% audience
• Star Trek: First Contact: 82% critics, 85% audience
• Star Trek: Insurrection: 63% critics, 68% audience
• Star Trek: Nemesis: 44% critics, 56% audience
• Star Trek: The Motion Picture (2023): 22% critics, 32% audience
• Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan (2023): 14% critics, 24% audience
• Star Trek III: The Search for Spock (2023): 18% critics, 28% audience
• Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home (2023): 20% critics, 30% audience
• Star Trek V: The Final Frontier (2023): 12% critics, 22% audience
• Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country (2023): 16% critics, 26% audience
• Star Trek: Generations (2023): 10% critics, 20% audience
• Star Trek: First Contact (2023): 14% critics, 24% audience
• Star Trek: Insurrection (2023): 8% critics, 18% audience
• Star Trek: Nemesis (2023): 6% critics, 16% audience
Paramount+, leaves Star Trek in a strange place. Star Trek: Strange New Worlds, one of the most warmly received projects of this era now stands with just a handful of upcoming projects, and, as has been the case since Beyond’s release, whatever the hell is going on with Star Trek movies remains so nebulous that Captain Janeway could go look for coffee inside of it all. Star Trek needed Section 31 to prove that it could thrive in the streaming movie format as it navigates this moment of uncertainty—and the final frontier still could, but it would’ve been much better served if it hadn’t started with such a fundamental misfire of an idea.
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