Star Trek: 10 Things You Didn't Know About Section 31

Love it or hate it, Section 31 definitely made an impact on Star Trek and its fans.

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#StarTrek #Section31 #WalkThisWay

[chriscma]

Years ago, a poster queried who was the head of Section 31. Many were suggested, but, a name put forward as a joke quickly gained traction within the community and made sense. Who was in a place to identify and recruit future members of the organization? The most unexpected and free of suspicion person hiding in plain sight. Who is this hidden director? The groundskeeper at Starfleet Academy: Boothby. An agent working from a place where Starfleet's future best and brightest could be observed.

[ruediix]

Believe me, I used to speed walk everywhere when I was younger. It seemed to be one of the things many people found most off-putting about me. (Especially since I would speed walk at paces other people ran.) It makes you seem unapproachable and some people even find it rude.

[Craxin]

The fact that William Sadler isn't more well known is a terrible shame. He's a very solid actor able to play everything from silly to serious and everything in between.

[cyscott]

Section 31 did seem in line with Gene's vision for TNG. The Borg story line in TNG was designed to show that the Federation was arrogant because they had a long span of peace which fooled them into thinking they finally figured out how to make a utopia. Section 31 ensured Federation peace, by any means.

[pookhahare]

Section 31 could been part of Enterprise Incident. Where Kirk and Spock steal a cloaking device . The orders supposedly came from Federation but even since it showed up in DS9 felt like 31 could be retrofitted to be responsible. And yes add Pegasus to their door step

[davidgrisez]

Since most of Star Trek Deep Space nine was done after the death of Gene Roddenberry, the writers of Star Trek were able write a much darker version of Star Trek that included the Dominion War and Section 31. This showed that the Federation was not squeaky clean, but had a lot in common with the Romulans and the Cardassians .

[athow]

I think that section 31 was involved in the Pegasus incident with admiral pressman

[BlastedOblivion]

One thing I will say, Daystrom Station looked almost exactly how my space stations in Space Engineers looked. A massive solar array with a relatively small station.

[myrkvith]

Kudos for referencing B5--especially considering that Walter Koenig's character, Albert Bester, completely overcame my association of the actor with TOS's Chekhov. Koenig is brilliant in B5.

[ThomasFishwick]

I loved Section 31 during DS9 and it was a nice easter egg (as it was never confirmed to be Section 31, just heavily hinted at) during the last season of Enterprise.
There is a lot of stuff out there in the Expanded media, including the Kirk Cabal, a group of Starfleet captains and high ranking officers "in the know" of Section 31 that active work against it, that I also found interesting.
Sadly Discovery, Lower Decks, Picard and Strange New Worlds all seem to forgotten the Clandestine idea. Resulting in this "thing" we have now where everyone another brother seems to know about section 31 and its actions. I suspect the way out of this is for Section 31 to officially disband and then continue in secret. A true rogue faction hidden within Starfleet.

[NicRankin]

I like to think that after the Discovery/Control incident, Section 31 was transferred from Starfleet to the United Federation of Planets. This would explain why S31 was well known during the mid 23rd century but barely known/rumoured by the mid 24th century. Being referred to as part of Starfleet Intelligence in the 24th century is part of the subterfuge and clandestine nature of the organisation. It would shield Starfleet itself from direct criticism from S31's activities.

[BrianD]

I thought Section 31 was a good addition to the franchise. It would be silly if an organization as vast as the Federation didn't have a covert agency. I also like the moral implications because it gets people discussing whether or not Section 31 were justified in their actions (just like we question Sisko's actions in "A Pale Moonlight"). DS9 also helped make Star Trek feel more real by breaking this silly Utopian idea.

[brentbarr]

4:38 LOLOL I see what you did there Seán you cheeky devil! ;)

[StephenLeGresley]

Nice shout out to Babylon 5. It's even more twisted that Psi-Corps version of section 31 had an initiation ritual where you had to kill a non-telepath to prove your loyalty as poor Byron found out and lucky Lyta found out about early on and quit as a result.

Also, the sinister Mr. Bester brought to life by the insanely talented Walter Koenig was obsessed with death and the possibilities of using preprogrammed corpses as agents for clan destine plots.

Lyta even states how Bester's little group is very much feared even among other Psi-Cops seen as a looming spectre of sorts.

[examinerian]

Whoa - only 10 things...? That's got to be the least secretive secret service in existence.

Or...

That's just the 10 things they WANT you to believe you didn't know.

[danpattyboucher]

It's fun to think Picard's Enterprise D kept getting into trouble because Section 31 was operating against it. The Pegasus incident, the brainwashing game, the Romulan brainwashing Geordi with his visor, there's a rich background there.

[BobbyCoolBreeze]

Captain Sisko put aside his morals and ethics to the side in a certain episode during the dominion war. He was able to live with it so he should be able to live with the existence of Section 31

[KalijahAnderson]

I played a character in my friends Star Trek Table Top Role Playing Game that was Section 31. One of the most fun characters I've ever played.

[Wolfgang-Schnaufer]

"People sleep peacefully in their beds at night only because rough men stand ready to do violence on their behalf." Section 31. One of the most believable things in all of Star Trek.

[artfulgamer]

DS9 is my favorite, I may have started with TNG, DS9 shown that it wasn't perfect in the utopia, but yet the people had to fight to keep that idea alive, it stands true for a lot of what's happening in the world even now.