The Prime Directive - Science Fiction Fantasy Chronicles: forums

mnmwmnm · 25th April 2001, 05:56 AM

I used to watch STNG a little bit, but I'm not really a huge fan in general. I suppose I am a ST newbie. I do remember a fiew shows where the Enterprise goes to a system where wars, civel unrest etc are taking place and Picard will cite the Prime Directive".

I was thinking that the Prime Directive is a pretty ill-considered policy. My reasoning here is that if an interstellar spaceship came to this solar system, then just left with nothing more than a "Hello, come join our federation when you get your act togther" it would cause a lot of havoc. Would non-interference not be achieved better if the Federation simply let the developing civilizations come to them and meet them in space (or somthing)?

After all, it all goes down to the Uncertianty Principle.

summershake · 25th April 2001, 06:13 AM

Hi mnmwmnm!
We were dicussing that point in Star Trek Discussion in the "Who is the best captain"-thread. Come and visit us...
Greetings, Summershake:rolly2:

Qwxy · 25th April 2001, 03:24 PM

yeh but think about it
the way they do it they attemt not to interfere until the race has managed to achieve faster than light technology
so if mankind had just achieved that then dont you think that humans as a whole would welcome all the new technology available?
i mean think about it nearly all the things of mayor importance on this planet have been about power better technology and better stuff
but hell the aliens probbabaly would stay the hell away from humans as we tend to have a nack for attacking most things so they would be afraid of what we would do if we ever became as powerful as them right???

Dave · 26th April 2001, 07:22 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by mnmwmnm
... if an interstellar spaceship came to this solar system, then just left with nothing more than a "Hello, come join our federation when you get your act togther" it would cause a lot of havoc. Would non-interference not be achieved better if the Federation simply let the developing civilizations come to them and meet them in space (or somthing)?

I think that this really is the general policy. Whenever, they have gone to more Primitive worlds in TNG they hid themselves: such as in TNG 'Who watchers the watchers' when they hid in a 'Duckblind' hide in a cliff, or it 'Insurrection' ST: IX when they had those red invisible suits.

Only, in both cases something goes wrong, otherwise there wouldn't have been any story to tell!

In Classic TOS they were always fixing up problems that had resulted from before the Prime Directive existed or else by someone not following it: such as TOS 'Bread and Circuses'- the Roman one, TOS 'Patterns of Force' - the Nazi one, or TOS 'A piece of the action' - the gangster one.

In Voyager it is still given lip-service VOY 'Time and again'. But Voyager gets away with breaking it because they are alone, and need to trade to survive, also they have no superior officers to bring them to boot. I would hope that when they get back Janeway is court-martialled for her severe cultural contamination and for her trading of Federation technology.

Qwxy · 26th April 2001, 01:49 PM

the prime directive has been around probabaly longer than the federation i mean think about it the vulcans did not interfere did they??? (ok greys maybe they are careless but no REAL evidence yet

)
the instances in tos where they had to clear up were because of silly little mistakes so the prime directive has been tightened up
also voyager very rarely breaks the primedirective as most of the species they encounter are already in space and all that the only major time i can tink of now of the top of my head is the one where voyager gets trapped above that planet and in the process the race evoles (technologicaly) much faster than they normally would have and they also built much sturdier buildings.

Neo · 4th June 2001, 04:25 PM

Who do u reckon broke the Prime directive more.... JAneway or Picard ????

Dave · 4th June 2001, 04:47 PM

Janeway definitely!

Picard was very careful, in 'Symbiosis' he encounters two worlds where one has enslaved the other by addicting then to a drug, but he still refuses to reveal the truth to the victims because of the non-interference clause. I cannot ever see Kirk or Janeway, or even Sisko, doing that!

Neo · 4th June 2001, 04:54 PM

i see what u mean.... i mean Picard was a bit straight laced at times.. janeway was always one to say 'the hell with it'

Dave · 10th October 2001, 03:14 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Qwxy
the prime directive has been around probabaly longer than the federation i mean think about it the vulcans did not interfere did they???

This is exactly the premise behind 'Enterprise'. No Prime Directive yet for humans, no Federation yet, but the Vulcans do not interfere, and they also believe that humans shouldn't either. But we like to interfere and that results in some stories to tell.

Neo · 14th October 2001, 12:55 PM

Seems like Archer is a noey little man.... So far he has thrown common sense out the window and just gone for it....

Dave · 14th October 2001, 09:32 PM

He seems to do first, then think later, but he has shown some regrets about that, and I'm sure that another arc to 'Enterprise' will be how Humans develop from this 'Cowboy Diplomacy' (to quote Picard) into the Prime Directive.

Neo · 15th October 2001, 12:14 AM

Well that is what they are like right now... 'cowboy Diplomacy'.. hope we do evolve

Dave · 9th February 2002, 02:57 PM

This site is not canon, but it is someones idea of all the Starfleet Directives. I think it's quite good, and would use it in fanfiction and role-playing.

http://www.geocities.com/Area51/Mete.../starfleet.htm

It has a more detailed Prime Directive than the usual one given. No 'Omega Directive' though, the one which supercedes all others, which Janeway invoked in the Voyager episode of the same name.

Qwxy · 10th February 2002, 11:32 AM

well we all know about the vulcans and there things but in 'Unexpected' Archer gets those aliens (cant remember the race) to give the Klingons there holograpic technology, now how does this come under the prime directive??

btw what is the shuttle with the registration N001/CS-07 that appears in the opening sequence of Enterprise??

Dave · 10th February 2002, 11:46 AM

In 'Enterprise' the 'Prime Directive' doesn't exist yet. The 'Federation' doesn't exist yet. But we see some proto-prime directive speeches from T'Pol and the Vulcans, because their philosophy is one of non-interference, where as Archer is all 'gung-ho' 'lets get involved in this' and 'sort it out'!

That picture is the space shuttle 'Enterprise' but not only that, the picture comes from the publicity shots when Gene Roddenberry and the cast of the original series went to visit the shuttle. Neo says you can actually see them in the picture, if you stop the film and enlarge it, but I haven't got the facility to do that.

9th February 2002, 02:57 PM	#13 (permalink)
Dave Wherever I Am, I'm There Join Date: Jan 2001 Location: Greater London Posts: 13,776 Blog Entries: 1	StarFleet Directives. This site is not canon, but it is someones idea of all the Starfleet Directives. I think it's quite good, and would use it in fanfiction and role-playing. http://www.geocities.com/Area51/Mete.../starfleet.htm It has a more detailed Prime Directive than the usual one given. No 'Omega Directive' though, the one which supercedes all others, which Janeway invoked in the Voyager episode of the same name.

25th April 2001, 05:56 AM	#1 (permalink)
mnmwmnm wave function collapse Join Date: Mar 2001 Posts: 15	I used to watch STNG a little bit, but I'm not really a huge fan in general. I suppose I am a ST newbie. I do remember a fiew shows where the Enterprise goes to a system where wars, civel unrest etc are taking place and Picard will cite the Prime Directive". I was thinking that the Prime Directive is a pretty ill-considered policy. My reasoning here is that if an interstellar spaceship came to this solar system, then just left with nothing more than a "Hello, come join our federation when you get your act togther" it would cause a lot of havoc. Would non-interference not be achieved better if the Federation simply let the developing civilizations come to them and meet them in space (or somthing)? After all, it all goes down to the Uncertianty Principle.

25th April 2001, 06:13 AM	#2 (permalink)
summershake Registered User Join Date: Feb 2001 Location: Austria Posts: 2,809	Hi mnmwmnm! We were dicussing that point in Star Trek Discussion in the "Who is the best captain"-thread. Come and visit us... Greetings, Summershake:rolly2:

25th April 2001, 03:24 PM	#3 (permalink)
Qwxy The Star Trek Oracle Join Date: Apr 2001 Location: U.K in Basingstoke Posts: 278	yeh but think about it the way they do it they attemt not to interfere until the race has managed to achieve faster than light technology so if mankind had just achieved that then dont you think that humans as a whole would welcome all the new technology available? i mean think about it nearly all the things of mayor importance on this planet have been about power better technology and better stuff but hell the aliens probbabaly would stay the hell away from humans as we tend to have a nack for attacking most things so they would be afraid of what we would do if we ever became as powerful as them right???

26th April 2001, 01:49 PM	#5 (permalink)
Qwxy The Star Trek Oracle Join Date: Apr 2001 Location: U.K in Basingstoke Posts: 278	the prime directive has been around probabaly longer than the federation i mean think about it the vulcans did not interfere did they??? (ok greys maybe they are careless but no REAL evidence yet ) the instances in tos where they had to clear up were because of silly little mistakes so the prime directive has been tightened up also voyager very rarely breaks the primedirective as most of the species they encounter are already in space and all that the only major time i can tink of now of the top of my head is the one where voyager gets trapped above that planet and in the process the race evoles (technologicaly) much faster than they normally would have and they also built much sturdier buildings.

4th June 2001, 04:25 PM	#6 (permalink)
Neo Red Pixie Boot Wearer Join Date: Mar 2001 Location: North West UK Posts: 4,303	Who do u reckon broke the Prime directive more.... JAneway or Picard ????

4th June 2001, 04:47 PM	#7 (permalink)
Dave Wherever I Am, I'm There Join Date: Jan 2001 Location: Greater London Posts: 13,776 Blog Entries: 1	Janeway definitely! Picard was very careful, in 'Symbiosis' he encounters two worlds where one has enslaved the other by addicting then to a drug, but he still refuses to reveal the truth to the victims because of the non-interference clause. I cannot ever see Kirk or Janeway, or even Sisko, doing that!

4th June 2001, 04:54 PM	#8 (permalink)
Neo Red Pixie Boot Wearer Join Date: Mar 2001 Location: North West UK Posts: 4,303	i see what u mean.... i mean Picard was a bit straight laced at times.. janeway was always one to say 'the hell with it'

14th October 2001, 12:55 PM	#10 (permalink)
Neo Red Pixie Boot Wearer Join Date: Mar 2001 Location: North West UK Posts: 4,303	Seems like Archer is a noey little man.... So far he has thrown common sense out the window and just gone for it....

14th October 2001, 09:32 PM	#11 (permalink)
Dave Wherever I Am, I'm There Join Date: Jan 2001 Location: Greater London Posts: 13,776 Blog Entries: 1	He seems to do first, then think later, but he has shown some regrets about that, and I'm sure that another arc to 'Enterprise' will be how Humans develop from this 'Cowboy Diplomacy' (to quote Picard) into the Prime Directive.

15th October 2001, 12:14 AM	#12 (permalink)
Neo Red Pixie Boot Wearer Join Date: Mar 2001 Location: North West UK Posts: 4,303	Well that is what they are like right now... 'cowboy Diplomacy'.. hope we do evolve

10th February 2002, 11:32 AM	#14 (permalink)
Qwxy The Star Trek Oracle Join Date: Apr 2001 Location: U.K in Basingstoke Posts: 278	well we all know about the vulcans and there things but in 'Unexpected' Archer gets those aliens (cant remember the race) to give the Klingons there holograpic technology, now how does this come under the prime directive?? btw what is the shuttle with the registration N001/CS-07 that appears in the opening sequence of Enterprise??

10th February 2002, 11:46 AM	#15 (permalink)
Dave Wherever I Am, I'm There Join Date: Jan 2001 Location: Greater London Posts: 13,776 Blog Entries: 1	In 'Enterprise' the 'Prime Directive' doesn't exist yet. The 'Federation' doesn't exist yet. But we see some proto-prime directive speeches from T'Pol and the Vulcans, because their philosophy is one of non-interference, where as Archer is all 'gung-ho' 'lets get involved in this' and 'sort it out'! That picture is the space shuttle 'Enterprise' but not only that, the picture comes from the publicity shots when Gene Roddenberry and the cast of the original series went to visit the shuttle. Neo says you can actually see them in the picture, if you stop the film and enlarge it, but I haven't got the facility to do that.