Warning: SPOILERS for Star Trek: Section 31Star Trek: Section 31 has been lamented as not being ‘Star Trek‘ enough by fans, and the inclusion of a classic starship would have helped the first Star Trek streaming movie’s optics. Taking place on Stardate 1292.4 i.e. 2324, Star Trek: Section 31 sees Emperor Philippa Georgiou (Michelle Yeoh) and a team of Section 31 operatives stopping a possible invasion by the Mirror Universe’s Terran Empire. Section 31‘s main villain, San (James Hiroyuki Liao), ties back to Georgiou’s past when she became Emperor in the Mirror Universe.
San’s villain ship in Star Trek: Section 31 is an unnamed crimson starship that vaguely resembles La Sirena from Star Trek: Picard. To counter it, Section 31 originally had their own starship that also wasn’t recognizable as a Starfleet vessel. After sabotage by Fuzz (Sven Ruygrok), Section 31’s mole working with San, destroyed their ship, Alok Sahar (Omari Hardwick) and his Section 31 Alpha Team resort to piloting a garbage scow to stop San. Section 31‘s climactic starship battle is visually generic as a result, but this could have been remedied by bringing back a ship last seen in the Mirror Universe.
San’s Starship In Section 31 Should Have Been The USS Defiant
Imagine Section 31’s Garbage Scow Taking On The Terran Empire’s Defiant
Star Trek: Section 31 should have brought back the USS Defiant as San’s starship from the Mirror Universe. The original Consтιтution Class USS Defiant NCC-1764 crossed over from Star Trek‘s Prime Universe into the Mirror Universe. It also time traveled to the 22nd century, where the Terran Empire’s Commander Jonathan Archer (Scott Bakula) liberated it from the Tholians in Star Trek: Enterprise season 4. The Defiant was last sighted in Star Trek: Discovery season 1 in service of Emperor Georgiou’s Terran Empire.
The visual of the original USS Defiant, perhaps more heavily armed as a Terran Empire battlecruiser, would have been something tangibly ‘Star Trek’ in Section 31‘s final battle. Further, the Defiant was once a weapon Emperor Georgiou used to expand the Terran Empire, and she learned about the Federation and Star Trek’s Prime timeline from its databanks. The Defiant coming back in Star Trek: Section 31 would have been one more ghost from Emperor Georgiou’s past come back to haunt her.
A Lack Of Visible Star Trek Iconography Hurt Section 31
Section 31 Needed To Be ‘More Star Trek’
In order to be “a new flavor of Star Trek,” Section 31 purposely eschewed most of Star Trek’s iconography since it took place in the unexplored 24th century “lost era” and outside Federation space. However, the lack of traditional and popular Star Trek movie elements hurt Section 31, which came across as more of a generic sci-fi action yarn lacking Star Trek‘s cerebral moral quandaries. Section 31 is the first Star Trek movie not about the Starship Enterprise, but the climactic appearance of the USS Defiant would have delivered a familiar and welcome Star Trek visual that could have enhanced the movie’s violent final battle.
Star Trek: Section 31 needed as much Star Trek as it could have mustered.
None of this is to say the USS Defiant would have ‘fixed’ Star Trek: Section 31‘s issues, but a Consтιтution Class starship with a history that ties into the Mirror Universe wouldn’t have hurt, either. Given Lieutenant Rachel Garrett (Kacey Rohl) is the future Captain of the USS Enterprise-C, seeing Starfleet diehard Rachel battle the Defiant would also have been an interesting twist. The USS Defiant is virtually identical to Captain James T. Kirk’s (William Shatner) Starship Enterprise, and Star Trek: Section 31 needed as much Star Trek as it could have mustered.
