The Worst Star Trek Movie, According To Rotten Tomatoes

Unlike "Star Wars," "Star Trek" isn't known for its feature-length films; it's mostly considered a television franchise. Yet, it has 14 films released between 1979 and 2025, spanning different generations and timelines. No matter the medium in which "Star Trek" is presented, the story of humanity's pursuit of knowledge throughout the galaxy, often leading to the discovery of strange new worlds and cosmic phenomena, has cemented itself in pop culture history. But like "Star Wars" fans, not all the movies are beloved by Trekkies. Critics may consider 2009's pseudo-reboot to be the best "Star Trek" film, but between the critics and audience, 2025's "Star Trek: Section 31" was found to be the worst, at least according to Rotten Tomatoes.

But why do Rotten Tomatoes ratings matter anyway? With entertainment being a subjective medium, the only way to get some semblance of objectivity is to look at what the majority is saying — it's not perfect, but it's all cinephiles have. For decades, "Star Trek V: The Final Frontier" had the lowest rating, coming in with a 25% "Rotten" audience score. But now, "Star Trek: Section 31" has dethroned it, with only 15% of users leaving it a positive review.

"Star Trek: Section 31" is a spin-off of "Star Trek: Discovery," which ran for five seasons before Paramount pulled the plug. The story centers around Philippa Georgiou (played by Michelle Yeoh), as she is enlisted by Section 31, a black ops unit within Starfleet, to stop a powerful weapon from falling into the wrong hands. The weapon has a connection to Georgiou's time in the Mirror Universe, where she was the ruthless Emperor of the Terran Empire. Now it has surfaced in the Prime Universe, bringing with it ghosts from her past that could pose a major threat to the Federation.

While "Star Trek: Section 31" was heavily panned by the Rotten Tomatoes audience, mostly for its bad writing and production values, the one thing that got a lot of praise was Yeoh's performance. Interestingly, even the critics seem to agree with the fans' assessment of the film. They loved Yeoh but gave the film a 23% critics score on the Tomatometer, with a consensus that reads, "Beam it out of here, Scotty." "Star Trek: Section 31" was released on January 24, 2025, on Paramount+, and is the only "Star Trek" movie without a theatrical release.