Captain Picard wouldn’t approve. Thankfully, he isn’t right here but to touch upon Star Trek: Episode 31, the 14th movie within the collection and the primary made for streaming. Set in 2333 — within the so-called Misplaced Period between the unique movies and Picard’s Star Trek: The Subsequent Technology collection — this everything-and-the-kitchen-sink film is stuffed with so many neurotic mutants and ulterior motives that even the staunch Jean-Luc would wrestle to retains them straight.
Pity the poor viewer then. Centering on an extravagantly dressed and costumed Michelle Yeoh as Philippa Georgiou, the erstwhile ruthless ruler of a dehydrated parallel universe, the motion shifts from camp to cartoon and again once more. A brief prologue reveals Georgiou’s disgusting previous conduct; now she is among the many Federation’s most needed and Starfleet’s Part 31, a black ops spy company, has 24 hours to search out and neutralize a brand new, unspecified menace.
And so they discover her operating a nightclub on an area station far, far-off from Federation oversight. It is instantly clear, nonetheless, that Georgiou wants a little bit greater than platform boots and a Nosferatu manicure to defeat his enemies—even these, like some Part 31 operatives who change their look extra typically than Chapel Roan. Amongst them is a nasty little microbe encased in a Vulcan exoskeleton, performed artfully by Sven Ruygrok in an inexplicable Irish accent. (It gave me flashbacks to Dr. Who’s naked daleks) There’s additionally a nervous shapeshifter (lovable Sam Richardson from “Veep”), a so-called human enhancer (Omari Hardwick) and a physique mod addict (Rob Kazinski) whose unlawful mechanical add-ons have turned him right into a strolling scrap yard.
The movie may, for instance, query why the supposedly ultra-virtuous and idealistic Federation runs what seems to be a demise squad.
“Starfleet would not commit homicide,” declares Lt. Rachel Garrett (Casey Rolle), the Division’s uptight science officer and (as Subsequent Technology followers know) future starship captain. Sadly, it is a ethical gauntlet that the writers of the sequel (promised by a significant superstar on this movie’s coda) must take. As Picard would say, “Make it so.”
Star Trek: Episode 31
Rated PG-13 for neurotic aliens and nostril invasion. Period: 1 hour 40 minutes. On Paramount+.
