Talk:Prime Directive

message: This article takes the view that the Prime Directive applies only to pre-warp civilizations. That is not the case. The Prime Directive applies to any civilization with which Starfleet comes into contact.
Pre-warp cultures are the focus of so many Prime Directive stories in Star Trek simply because interference by Starfleet in a pre-warp culture is most likely to cause irreparable damage.
With warp-capable cultures, the Prime Directive guarantees that Starfleet cannot intervene without the express invitation by that culture, as usually represented by its leaders.
Could lead to problems - consider the number of cases where the elected body/political leader decide one way and the general populace (as reflected in "stop you in the street opinion polls") wants something different.
What about "soft imperialism" (TV/radio program equivalents)? Jackiespeel 22:05, 3 May 2006 (UTC)
replies: text: The problem is that the Prime Directive has never been fully explained and seems to change depending on the episode.  There also seems to be a major change in interpritation from Kirk's time to that of Picard and Janeway.--BruceGrubb (talk) 05:56, 19 July 2009 (UTC)

text: JesseG 22:32, 9 Jun 2004 (UTC)

text: A better example is the likes of Cyrano Jones and Harcourt Fenton Mudd.  You know from what we see that either of these two or anyone like them would break the Prime Directive either out of stupidity (Jones) or because they have a total disregard for the law in general (Mudd).  Also Janeway's trading of technology between races who that wouldn't have had contact with each other show just how loose the Prime Directive is.--BruceGrubb (talk) 07:17, 23 July 2009 (UTC)
thread_title: Old discussions

message: Several  possibilities:
A person involved in technical development is "almost there"/has followed a slightly wrong path. Can the visitor point out what to do next?
The society is going to hell in the proverbial handcart - under what circumstances can the PD be overriden to get the society, group or whatever out of the situation that is being created. Alternatively "disaster and emergency relief operations."  (For example a spaceship can blast the terrain to create a channel to divert a lava flow from a centre of population.)
The society requests/wishes to buy in relevant technology/ equipment (it could develop them from its own resources, but does not wish to reinvent the wheel).  
At what point of development does the Prime Technology become irrelevant?
The Prime Directive is possibly fine in theory, but there may be good reasons to be flexible about its application - and could the concept of cultural imperialism (or reverse such) be thrown into the discussion?
(Anyone wishing to use the above elsewhere can do so with an hon mention and a note to me (g).
Jackiespeel 21:42, 1 May 2006 (UTC)
thread_title: Comments on Prime Directive

message: This article needs to be edited to match Wikipedia guidlines WP:LAYOUT WP:1SP WP:WAF so added "In-universe" tag.Halfblue 18:04, 10 September 2006 (UTC)
replies: text: There is much discussion about the PD's development as an "out of universe" creative concept, as well as references in other sci-fi, so removing "in-universe" tag as unnecessary. Replacing w/ cleanup tag. Wl219 08:40, 15 September 2006 (UTC)
thread_title:  Some cleanup needed Re: In-universe 

message: It was stated pretty clearly at the start of the episode Bread and Circuses that the PD meant; "No identification of self or mission. No interference with the social development of said planet. No references to space, other worlds, or advanced civilizations". I'll look for more text from the episode, also mention from the episode The Apple and others that it doesn't apply to stagnating societies. Probably not completely fair to say its not defined within the show. Alastairward 15:51, 17 January 2007 (UTC)
replies: text: Even so, at some point between TOS-era and TNG-era, probably as a result of the Federation coming into contact with more worlds, the definition was expanded to include the Westphalian. The expanded PD to my mind has never been fully defined in post-TOS canon. What do you mean by "stagnating societies"? Wl219 14:41, 28 January 2007 (UTC)
thread_title:  References to the Prime Directive in show 

message: I found a great quote from Olaf Stapledon's 1937 novel Star Maker which almost perfectly describes a Prime Directive situation, so I added a note. The full extract is here. Steve (talk) 07:58, 6 January 2008 (UTC)
thread_title: Olaf Stapledon

message: This article needs reliable sources, at present it is entirely unverified. If no reliable, secondary sources are added, it may be deleted. Tim Vickers (talk) 20:00, 4 February 2008 (UTC)
thread_title: Original research

message: This article is very long compared to its notability. Shouldn't it be shortened, or am I missing something here? Niczar ⏎ 21:31, 6 July 2008 (UTC)
thread_title: Too long

message: Among literary predecessors in English I would count Asimov's robot rules - none are exactly a prime directive, but all are very much exploring moral issues in interference.
I wonder what literature in other languages predates?
Or is this just laissez faire economics of a new empire in the stars?
unsigned comment added by 207.6.224.243 (talk) 05:14, 27 January 2011 (UTC)
thread_title: Literary Precursors

message: I'm saddened that this article, and its talk section, appear to have been written by adults.  — Preceding unsigned comment added by 65.113.40.1 (talk) 01:40, 13 March 2012 (UTC)
thread_title: Is it too late for genocide?

message: There's a song which contains the phrase, 'I've lost sight of the Prime Directive, used to be much more selective' ... Is that worth adding to the article?  It's un-geek-ing when a beautiful singer makes ref like that. Mwr0 (talk) 02:26, 29 March 2012 (UTC)
thread_title:  Whaddaya think, include song ref or not? 

message: I'm trying to figure out what episode originated this phrase.  Is it "The Return of the Archons"? 66.66.149.221 (talk)  —Preceding undated comment added 00:52, 12 September 2012 (UTC)
thread_title:  First Star Trek use of phrase "prime directive"? 

message: Don't remove the Criticism section under the guise of "original research" when it has a third part reference (ie Phil Farrand; The Nitpicker's Guide for Classic Trekkers; Dell Publishing; 1994) and when the material is obviously from the show itself don't throw "citation needed" in there...the episode itself is the reference.--216.31.124.32 (talk) 05:00, 18 February 2014 (UTC)
replies: text: That criticism section is abominable - it's a laundry list of fancruft. -mattbuck (Talk) 09:40, 18 February 2014 (UTC)
replies: text: Considering it comes mostly from a third party source that claim in nonsensical as there is a reference for all that stuff. The Technical manuals are a laundry list of nerd "fancruft" but they are considered "canonal" material.--67.42.65.212 (talk) 12:44, 18 February 2014 (UTC)
replies: text: That section seems to cite every single episode in TOS - it's not a summary, it's a thesis! -mattbuck (Talk) 13:15, 18 February 2014 (UTC)
replies: text: There are only 9 TOS episodes cited while the series had 79; that is just over 10%-- hardly "every episode".  Moreover not every TOS episode regarding the Prime Directive is even presented (2 mentioned elsewhere are not in that section).  More over the As allegory section is longer and has far less to support what it is saying.  Again both claims shown to be nonsense.--67.42.65.212 (talk) 13:27, 23 February 2014 (UTC)
thread_title:  Criticism section 

message: I was shocked -- shocked! -- to see the robot use the term on an early Lost in Space ("His Majesty Smith", s01e24).  While it was a fairly minor point there, the ep was broadcast 16 mar 1966, a full YEAR before Coon OR Sturgeon supposedly "came up" with the term!
And the robot said it rather nonchalantly, leading me to suspect it may have been brought up in one of the earlier 23 eps as well.  I dunno.  Not going to wade thru them at this point; ep 24 alone predates Trek.
Whole article needs to be rewritten.  The "although there is some contention" part is just laughable in light of this.  173.9.95.217 (talk) 23:31, 24 March 2015 (UTC)
thread_title:  Plagiarism, Thy Name Is... 

message: "The Prime Directive closely mirrors the zoo hypothesis explanation for the Fermi paradox" has a [citation needed] tag on it. In view of the way the Prime Directive works in almost every single episode where it is brought up, especially for pre-warp cultures, I don't feel like this needs a citation...unless it's something to do with WP:ORIGINAL research, but this doesn't seem like the kind of claim that can be distorted like the examples on the page about original research. 74.37.10.138 (talk) 06:06, 11 March 2017 (UTC)
thread_title:  Uh...citation needed that it mirrors the zoo hypothesis? wut? 

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thread_title:  External links modified 

message: Recently, the lead section and material under the section "Notable on-screen references" has been blanked by an anonymous user whose edit summaries have requested sourcing the information. I attempted to provide more source material in my edit summaries but perhaps this was not seen. Regardless, ample sourcing exits within the article as it stands to support the information contained within. I am unsure what the anonymous editor's objections to the material is; however, their edit summaries seem to point to that they, themselves, have been unable to remember or find the material within an episode. This is not the article, the source, or editors like myself's problem. If the editor's objection is to a source not provided in the lead, please note that citations are rarely given in the lead, especially when supporting citations are given elsewhere in the article. Please see WP:WHENNOTCITE. To be clear, the episode itself, The Apple is the source material, it is referenced under the section "Notable on-screen references", as well as the quote from one of the characters. The time reference in the episode is approximately 38:30, though this is not given in the reference, I list it here for other editors to easily verify, though it is not common in referencing Star Trek episodes to give a time stamp of where material or quotes come from. I am unsure what effect it will have to post this notice on the anonymous user's talk page, but I will do so. I urge any other editors to weigh in on this subject as I want to make sure the right thing is being done here. StarHOG (Talk) 00:07, 24 February 2019 (UTC)
thread_title:  Source material 

message: in the Animated Series episode "The Magicks of Megas-tu", a little after 19 minutes in, Captain Kirk says "Look at General Order Number 1: No starship may interfere with the normal development of any alien life or society"70.137.128.107 (talk) 08:40, 9 October 2021 (UTC)
thread_title:  Another reference in the animated series 

message: Unfortunately the only source I can find is one is this page from facttrek.com which probably wouldn't make the cut for what's considered a reliable source by wikipedia standards, but they are diligent researchers with access to the Roddenberry archive at UCLA (one of the site authors was a consultant on some licensed Trek books), and the "No Laughing Matters" section of that page posts screenshots of two pages of Roddenberry's early script draft of The Omega Glory dated April and May 1965 (before Coon joined the show), which refer to a violation a regulation which forbids them to "contaminate another civilization" or "interfere in a struggle between two societies", which Spock later refers to a "violation of galaxy patrol Regulation One." I wonder if anyone can find a different source on this early draft that could be added to the article? Hypnosifl (talk) 19:17, 28 August 2023 (UTC)
thread_title:  Coon didn't originate the Prime Directive