Early on in Star Trek: Section 31, Michelle Yeoh’s crafty Emperor Philippa Georgiou is confronted by a visitor with ties to the Federation. She looks the guy over and purrs: “Starfleet... where fun goes to die.” Great line. Ironically, it acts as a kind of foreshadowing of what viewers — especially Trekkies — might experience while watching this long-awaited offering, which started out as a spin-off series for Star Trek: Discovery then morphed into the movie-event iteration we see here. One would never call Star Trek: Section 31 boring, but it’s not altogether all that fun either. That’s because there’s a vital component missing: Star Trek.

Sure, it's easy to understand that director Olatunde Osunsanmi (Falling Skies) and Discovery writer Craig Sweeny wanted to feature a grittier side to the Federation space with a flurry of rebellious characters, but lost in the process are the kind of sci-fi...