edward@ukecc.UUCP (Edward C. Bennett) (09/27/85)
In article <1668@umcp-cs.UUCP>, gasarch@umcp-cs.UUCP (William Gasarch) writes: > > In which episodes did they violate the prime directive? > > Commentary on whether they should have done so, or consistency > to when they do apply it should spark some discussion. > _________ Quite a few of them I'd say. Take "Friday's Child" for example. Here we have the Cappelans (sp?) happily killing each other on thier own little planet. They are probably totally unconcerned about the possibility of life elsewhere in the galaxy. And all of a sudden here come strange-looking beings, wearing strange clothes, carrying weapons that shoot beams of light, materializing out of thin air and talking about mining treaties. To me, just beaming down in full view of the inhabitants of a planet violates the PD. Furthermore, not wearing native clothing and the use of phasers further complicate matters. Now of course there are episodes where they do things right. In "Bread and Circuses" they beam down outside the city to avoid being seen. Even though I can't think of any episodes where they outfit themselves in native costumes BEFORE making contact, they do refit to blend in several times. The clothes-stealing scene in TCOTEOF comes to mind here. The use of phasers was an issue in "A Private Little War". (You'll recall how Nona saw McCoy use his phaser to heat rocks to keep Jim warm.) To carry this to extremes raises this problem. If your most strict rule is non-interference, how do make friends with alien cultures? There are times when 'mutual benefit by the exchange of knowledge', "Spock's Brain" is a good example, is referred to, either explicitly in dialogue or implicitly in the plot. Doesn't this violate the PD? Somewhere you must draw the line between interference and friendship. To me, this is on of the major questions that WE are going to face when we finally start venturing beyond our solar system. -- Edward C. Bennett UUCP: ihnp4!cbosgd!ukma!ukecc!edward /* A charter member of the Scooter bunch */ "Goodnight M.A."
brown@utflis.UUCP (Susan Brown) (10/02/85)
In article <648@hou2g.UUCP> scott@hou2g.UUCP (Racer X) writes: >>In which episodes did they violate the prime directive? >In which episodes did they NOT violate it? :-) >Here goes an off-the-top-of-my-head stab at a list: > 1. Omega Glory > 2. A Piece of the Action > 3. Patterns of Force > [these three were actually attempts to UNDO damage] > 4. The Apple [possibly the most blatant example] > 5. Friday's Child? > 6. A Taste of Armageddon > 7. Return of the Archons > 8. The Cloud Minders > 9. For the World is Hollow... [Perhaps only marginally] > 10. Mirror, Mirror [The Halkans in the mirror universe, > and perhaps by counseling rebellion by the bearded Spock] >As you can see, I'm beginning to reach. (Sorry if I can't remember all >78 episodes off the top of my head...). I'm positive there are at >least 5 or so more that SOMEONE in the Federation would consider a violation. How about Gamesters of Triskelion and Spock's Brain? Although the feds were playing by the gamesters rules in the former.
ccrrick@ucdavis.UUCP (Rick Heli) (10/06/85)
The only time they mention the Prime Directive is just before they are about to violate it. -- --rick heli (... ucbvax!ucdavis!ccrrick)
cipher@mmm.UUCP (Andre Guirard) (10/30/85)
In article <264@ukecc.UUCP> edward@ukecc.UUCP (Edward C. Bennett) writes: > Here we have the Capellans >happily killing each other on thier own little planet... >And all of a sudden here come strange-looking beings, wearing strange >clothes, carrying weapons that shoot beams of light, materializing out of >thin air and talking about mining treaties. To me, just beaming down in >full view of the inhabitants of a planet violates the PD. > > Now of course there are episodes where they do things right. >In "Bread and Circuses" they beam down outside the city to avoid being >seen. Even though I can't think of any episodes where they outfit themselves >in native costumes BEFORE making contact, they do refit to blend in >several times. > > To carry this to extremes raises this problem. If your most strict >rule is non-interference, how do make friends with alien cultures? > > To me, this is on of the major questions that WE are going to face >when we finally start venturing beyond our solar system. > It's a little hard to tell when the Prime Directive is being violated because we are never given the full text of it. Kirk and McCoy recite part of it in "Bread and Circuses". In another episode, Kirk justifies his apparent violation of the PD by saying that it "applies only to living, growing cultures." Presumably the PD has numerous clauses detailing special cases where it can be violated, as for instance to save the entire population of the planet in question, or else to correct damage already done by other spacefaring races (as for instance in "Bread and Circuses", "A Private Little War", "The Organian Treaty", etc. etc.) Also, the Prime Directive probably does not apply to races more technologically advanced than the Federation ("The Gamesters of Triskelion", for instance), or perhaps it even exempts all races of a sufficient level of technology (perhaps capability of interplanetary travel is the criterion, as e.g. the episode whose name I forget, with two planets carrying on a computerized war). Does one of the numerous Star Trek books out contain the exact wording of the Prime Directive? I would be interested to see it. Please reply by e-mail.
tainter@ihlpg.UUCP (Tainter) (01/07/86)
> In article <264@ukecc.UUCP> edward@ukecc.UUCP (Edward C. Bennett) writes: > > To carry this to extremes raises this problem. If your most strict > >rule is non-interference, how do make friends with alien cultures? > living, growing cultures." Presumably the PD has numerous clauses > detailing special cases where it can be violated, as for instance to > save the entire population of the planet in question, or else to > correct damage already done by other spacefaring races I suspect the PD has a very simple statement in a very few clauses and many, many precedent cases (all from the Enterprise? :-)). --johnathan a. tainter Wealth is a disease easily overcome. Great Wealth is incurable; and often fatal.