When the Enterprise gets there, the entire planet is divided and run by gangsters, forcing Kirk to put on his best mob boss accent and make them all an offer they can't refuse (basically he points the Enterprise's phasers at them). Starfleet's most sacred commandment has been violated. Buy a cheap copy of Prime Directive book by Garfield Reeves-Stevens. Never being blocked means that you set up your development environment such that blockages don't happen. Kirk and his landing party must prevent themselves from being "absorbed," but Kirk also decides that the computer must go and the society allowed in some way to begin evolving again. Strangely similar to "The Paradise Syndrome," this is also a light violation of the Prime Directive since if the Enterprise boys don't interfere, the Yonada will smash into someone else's planet. First introduced about two-thirds of the way through the first season of the original series, the Prime Directive has cropped up in four of the five Trek series to … Its most honored captain is in disgrace, its most celebrated starship in pieces, and the crew of that ship... Free shipping over $10. (TOS: "A Taste of Armageddon"), Federation citizens did not need an exception as the Prime Directive did not apply to them. The Prime Directive: According to Star Trek canon, it's the guiding principle of the United Federation of Planets and prohibits Starfleet personnel from interfering with the natural internal development of alien civilizations. Picard is often a psychotic ideologue when it comes to the Prime Directive, which makes his frequent breaks with it worth a closer look. Other organizations and cultures outside of Federation had different approaches to matters regarding interference with societies. I have heard more than one pastor claim that Adam and Eve lived in constant communion with God. (VOY: "Prime Factors"). (TOS: "Bread and Circuses") The directive provided guidance on what constituted prohibited "interference" with a society, covering such matters as: The Prime Directive did not apply equally to all societies on all planets at all times. He takes it upon himself to destroy Vaal, saying he'll take his chances with the Feds over violating the Directive. Good agile teams use non-blocking source code control. Rebels are sabotaging the delivery of a rare mineral called zenite to the Enterprise, which makes Kirk so cranky that he decides to stick his nose in Ardana's slowly accelerating civil war. However, there were societies who had similar rules against interference or sharing technology. Others were subject to interpretation, with commanding officers in Starfleet being given great discretionary powers regarding how and whether the Prime Directive would apply to specific situations. The Prime Directive had exceptions and allowed for violations if satisfactory reasons were given. (TNG: "Coming of Age") On very rare occasions, captains could declare that the Prime Directive could be temporarily suspended for a period of time. Again, pretty good advice, though I found many years later a value in letting go of one faith to make room for new ideas and new ways of thinking and living. I must say, Captain, it surprised the hell out of me. Due to issues of security, only Starfleet officers ranked captain and above were privy to knowledge of this directive. (ENT: , "Civilization", "Dear Doctor", "Carbon Creek"), The fundamental principles were an important part of Earth Starfleet procedures as early as 2152, but it did not go into effect as a General Order until sometime after 2168. Both men die, but not before Kirk manages to revive Gill and make him give a speech renouncing the entire situation. The Prime Directive “General Order 1: ‘No starship may interfere with the normal development of any alien life or society.’” - Star Trek - In the Star Trek universe, there are 47 sub-orders in the Prime Directive including exceptions such as the Omega Directive. What is Captain Kirk supposed to do when he beams down to a planet where the local version of the Third Reich is about to launch its own Final Solution on another race of people -- just stand there? In The Drumhead, a Star Fleet Admiral notes that Picard has violated the Prime Directive nine times in just three years. There are many examples of actions during the 23rd and 24th centuries that were either identified at the time as violations of, or could appear to have potentially been violations of, the Prime Directive. Otherwise we'd be staring at a blank screen for most of that hour. (Star Trek Into Darkness; TOS: "Errand of Mercy", "The Return of the Archons", "The Apple") Captain Kirk also at least twice attempted to interfere in the internal affairs of a civilization when he believed that higher ethics compelled or justified such actions. Specifically, they escape being held prisoner by the Ten Tribes (who are also negotiating with the Klingons for the same mining privileges that the Federation wants) and take the pregnant widow of the tribal leader with them -- a woman who was fully prepared to die along with her unborn child. On the planet Ardana, the wealthy and sophisticated elite live in the floating city of Stratos while the laborers (Troglytes) who work the mines on the ground have to tough it out on the planet's rough surface. General Order #1's text is as follows: This phrasing of General Order One has its origins in the FASA Star Trek Role-Playing Game (The Federation sourcebook, p. 5). It would be nice to generate a list of all incidents in which the Prime Directive has been broken. One of the earliest example has been with the Roman Empire conquering less advanced European nations. These ranged from total annihilation of civilizations through assimilation (for example, the Borg), to planetary relocation when the society was endangered on its homeworld (for example, the Preservers), to providing advanced knowledge on an ad hoc basis when the society was deemed ready (for example, the Vulcans), to interfering whenever doing so was seen as vaguely amusing (for example, the Q). (VOY: "Flashback", "Equinox"), Shortly after coming aboard the Enterprise, Spock asked Number One if she had ever considered that the Prime Directive was not only unethical, but also illogical and perhaps morally indefensible. Probably the most benign violation of the Prime Directive ever, this merely involves Kirk and Spock finding a way back inside the obelisk so that they can turn on the mechanism left behind by an ancient race for the specific purpose of deflecting asteroids (how convenient!). Author has 11.5K answers and 19.8M answer views. (TOS: "Journey to Babel") The result was a spectrum of application: the more closely a civilization was tied to the Federation or Earth the greater the amount of interference in that civilization that was tolerated within the Prime Directive. (TOS: "Mirror, Mirror", "For the World is Hollow and I Have Touched the Sky") On the other hand, both Captains Picard and Janeway were prepared to watch whole societies perish from natural causes rather than interfere – even when others were seeking to prevail upon them that Starfleet's role should permit actively saving societies rather than passively watching them die. It's implied that the two planets will work things out on their own. I think scientists should at least study this one. Update your browser for more security and the best experience on this site. (TNG: "Symbiosis"; Star Trek: Insurrection; VOY: "Prime Factors", "False Profits"). Originally Answered: How many times, has Captain James T. Kirk, "broke" the 'Prime Directive'? Later in the same year, an ethical dilemma was faced by Captain Archer and Phlox when the Enterprise NX-01 encountered two species, one with a terminal genetic illness and the other without. (TOS: "The Return of the Archons", "The Apple", "For the World is Hollow and I Have Touched the Sky", "A Private Little War"; TNG: "Conspiracy", "Justice", "Pen Pals", "Who Watches The Watchers"; DS9: "Captive Pursuit"; VOY: "Time and Again", "Prototype") If a decision was made by the commanding officer that could potentially be a violation of the Prime Directive, the conclusions and rationale would need to be recorded and justified to Starfleet through the ship's or station's logs. So he decides to intervene and destroy the computers that run the war. (TNG: "Angel One"), Starfleet as an organization had the greatest respect for and required compliance with the Prime Directive. There is no resource. (VOY: "The Omega Directive") The second circumstance was General Order 24. This prop has text for the first three Starfleet General Orders. RELATED: Star Trek Voyager: 5 Times Janeway Was the Best Captain (And 5 Times She Was the Worst) Captain Janeway would sometimes trade technology for those provisions, in violation of the Prime Directive. (VOY: "Infinite Regress") However, a high-level summary was "no identification of self or mission; no interference with the social development of said planet; no references to space, other worlds, or advanced civilizations." In these cases, however, some violations of the Prime Directive are worse than others. i think it would be wrong to assume The Prime Directive was a Human invention ,since T'Pol in ENT frequently reminds Archer that the Vulcans have certain rules and guidelines when encountering a new intelligent species/culture.And the rules and guidelines sound awfully close to what has been put down into the Prime Directive so what I think is the the PD is largely a copy of those Vulcan directives (with … That order permitted a starship captain, in certain circumstances, to destroy the entire surface of an inhabited planet and thereby eradicate any societies living there. The very first mention of the Prime Directive was in this episode, in which Kirk and the Enterprise crew encounter a society that has been stagnant for thousands of years. This is the only Star Trek episode to feature a shared writing credit by Gene Roddenberry and producer Gene L. Coon (the "other" Gene who was a fundamental part of many of Trek's most successful episodes), so you would think that these guys would get the whole Prime Directive thing right. (TOS: "Bread and Circuses"; TNG: "First Contact", "Who Watches The Watchers") But it also applied to the internal affairs of societies which knew extensively of other worlds (for example, interference in purely internal affairs by Starfleet was not permitted in the Klingon Civil War). End result: Kirk forces the Ardana leader Plasus to dig in the mines himself and enjoy the effects of the gas, making Plasus realize that maybe they've been hard on the Troglytes after all. In fact, under the rules as defined in the Directive in the 24th century, a Starfleet crew was forbidden from forcibly removing Federation citizens from a world, even if they had intentionally and materially interfered with the culture of a world in a way that would otherwise have been prohibited by the Prime Directive.