Star Trek: Mission Directive Prime, Explained

Key Takeaways

• The Prime Directive protects pre-war society from the intrusion of advanced technology.
• The Prime Directive mission aims to covertly correct violations in order to preserve natural development.
• Violations of the Prime Directive occur in rare cases to prevent social harm.

One of the main ideas in the Star Trek the whole point is that each society should be allowed to develop on its own, at its own pace, without interference from other cultures. Gene Roddenberry, creator of Star Trekinsisted that Starfleet should not be involved in “policing the galaxy”, spreading its belief system and enforcing its laws throughout space. To make sure Starfleet doesn't interfere with other cultures, the mind behind it Star Trek issued an order called General Order One, which was later called the Prime Directive.

The Prime Directive says:

Starfleet crews will comply with the following with civilizations that have not reached the appropriate level of technological and/or social advancement. […]

1. There is no identity or mission.
2. There is no interference with the social, cultural, or technological development of this planet.
3. There is no mention of space, other worlds, or advanced civilizations.
4. The exception to this is if the community has been exposed to the ideas listed here.

The Prime Directive provides clear guidelines that help Starfleet members avoid exposing pre-war society to technologies and ideas they have yet to discover, so they are left to develop advanced technology on their own. and space travel these societies. This last part, about how the Prime Directive doesn't apply to pre-war societies that have been exposed to “space, other worlds, or advanced civilizations,” is where the Prime Directive gets tricky.

Follow the Prime Directive during Prime Directive Missions

Like there is Star Trek as fans know, Starfleet missions don't always go as planned. Sometimes, the actions of Starfleet officers create situations where members of pre-warp society can see, or actually see, evidence of advanced technology, aliens, or space travel. When this happens, Starfleet often has to send in a secret team to intervene. These are called Prime Directive missions.

Prime Directive missions usually fall into two categories. In some cases, advanced technology or aliens end up on the planet before the war, and Starfleet sends officers to try to get the technology or alien off the planet before the population notices. In others, members of pre-war society have encountered advanced or alien technology in some small way and Starfleet sends officers to try to explain the situation without offending Prime. Directive. In each of these situations, the goal is to constantly correct the situation without confirming to the members of the society in advance that advanced technology and aliens are real.

To achieve this goal, Starfleet often sends its officers to planets disguised as alien cultures to interact with. Officers conduct extensive research on the cultures they visit, becoming familiar with their social structures, laws and customs. They often undergo surgical procedures to appear native to the planet. In theory, this would allow them to enter the pre-war society without concern and correct any threat to the Prime Directive.

But things rarely go as planned. Often, at least one person in the pre-war community becomes suspicious of the undercover Starfleet officers and either discovers their identity or encounters the technology or aliens they are trying to hide. . In these circumstances, Starfleet officials are required to ensure that only a few members of the pre-war community know the truth, and ask them to keep their knowledge for them.

Violating the Prime Directive

In rare cases, Starfleet officers sent on Prime Directive missions decide to violate the Prime Directive. This occurs when a large part of the pre-warp society discovers the presence of advanced technology, space travel, or alien culture, or when the pre-warp society faces severe damage or total destruction. .

Episode: “Who's Watching the Viewers”

An example of the first scenario played in the Star Trek: The Next Generation section “Who is watching the audience.” After some Mintakans discover a hidden Federation observation station on their planet, the Enterprise-D crew is sent to erase the memories of these Mintakans to ensure that the Prime Directive is not violated. However, one of the Mintakans remembered what had happened and told everyone in his village.

Counselor Troi and Commander Riker rush in disguised as Mintakans to try to explain the situation, but when they arrive they find that some of the Mintakans are already convinced that Captain Picard is God who should he will honor. The situation gets so out of control that Picard has to take the fall and convince the Mintakans that he is not a god by showing them Starfleet technology and explaining space travel.

Episode: “Home”

The second scenario occurs in the LPG episode “Homeward.” The world of Boraalan, where Worf's half-brother Nikolai Rozhenko happens to live as a secret Federation observer, was on the brink of ecological collapse when it arrived. the orbit of the Enterprise-D. Worf asks to come down to see his brother, and Picard agrees – with the caveat that he descends to the planet and transforms into Boralan.

Nikolai reveals that he joined the society disguised as Boraalan because he couldn't bear to watch them die in his posts. He pleads with the Enterprise-D crew to save the Boraalans, but they cannot, as it would violate the Prime Directive. So, Worf's brother decided to force his hand. Before destroying the planet, he beamed several Boraalans into the ship. The team had to develop an elaborate holodeck program to convince them that they were still on their planet, migrating to a safer area. In fact, they stayed in the holodeck until the Enterprise-D took them to another habitable planet. Although the Boraalans were generally ignorant of space travel, advanced technology, or aliens, the crew of the Enterprise-D was forced to violate the Prime Directive in rescuing them.

How did the Prime Directive mission affect the Trekverse?

The mission to repair a possible violation of the Prime Directive resulted in major changes throughout the Alpha, Delta and eventually Gamma Quadrants. Star Trek universe. In a few cases entire societies learned about space travel and aliens before the war, and had access to advanced technology long before they discovered any of these things, which completely changed the development of his world. More often than not, a few members of pre-war society are forced to keep great secrets for the rest of their lives. It usually doesn't have any negative effects, but it can. In “Homeward”, a Boraalan who learned of the company's role in emigrating his people chose to kill himself rather than lie to his people for the rest of his life.

In the few cases where the Prime Directive mission finds possible violations of the Prime Directive, the ethical lapses of the order are often apparent. In the LPG The episode “Pen Pals”, Dr. Beverly Crusher erases the memories of the Enterprise-D victim Dreman and all technology, and the Enterprise-D crew leaves Dreman to die from environmental damage. Even though they had the ability to save an entire species by helping them relocate, it violated the Prime Directive. So he left them to die.

In theory, Star Trek The Prime Directive is an excellent guideline for avoiding interference with the development of a culture or the value of a culture as a whole. In practice, following instructions to the letter can be recklessly reckless which calls into question the values ​​of Starfleet.