quote:The Prime Directive, as the writers will freely admit, is an artificial and flawed way to create tension; it's not meant to be any more logical than, say, the frequency with which the holodeck breaks down.
Really? I could swear I've read interviews with Rodenberry where he thought it was the morally correct way to behave.
I can see current writers treating it that way, but if so, then it would be very cool to have a character who is adamantly morally opposed to its restrictions. Not someone who just ignores it without comment sometimes.
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One of the many ways that the Prime Directive shows up as a flawed, artificed plot-device is the assumption that once other cultures have acquired the technology on their own, they're sufficiently moral to use it wisely.
Hello? Romulans, Klingons, Ferengi? All of these cultures acquired warp tech. and were hardly 'moral' in their use.
Posts: 17164 | Registered: Jun 2001
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So, how about those Ferengi? Personally I don't like their voices. Or their ears. And their ship-design is pretty damn stupid, and those ridiculous weapons they had first episode?
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It seems like it would make more sense to intervene in a culture before they developed warp drive. That way, maybe you can guide them to be productive little members of the Federation before they can go all Klingon on your butt.
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quote: The Prime Directive, as the writers will freely admit, is an artificial and flawed way to create tension; it's not meant to be any more logical than, say, the frequency with which the holodeck breaks down.
Really? I could swear I've read interviews with Roddenberry where he thought it was the morally correct way to behave.
I heard him say as much in person, IIRC.
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"I can see current writers treating it that way, but if so, then it would be very cool to have a character who is adamantly morally opposed to its restrictions."
*grin* There have been both episodes and books on this topic. Posts: 37449 | Registered: May 1999
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I've seen episodes where there's a particular instance in which they violate it or dither back and forth about it. But there's no one campaigning to have it undone, or an aid group going around interfering and the fleet officially listing it as criminal and trying to stop it.
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"But there's no one campaigning to have it undone, or an aid group going around interfering and the fleet officially listing it as criminal and trying to stop it."
I'm actually almost certain that this IS present in the books. In fact, it's treated like a joke; I remember a flashback about Amanda -- Spock's mom -- in which she attends a student rally all about getting rid of the Prime Directive. *grin*
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Didn't Janeway break the Prime Directive? No wait, she broke another race's Prime Directive type law.
Posts: 5422 | Registered: Dec 2001
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The Prime Directive *was* primarily a creator of artificial tension. I was recently watching some old TOS (in broadcast order, *I think*) and after numerous incidents of INTERFERENCE with alien cultures (Landru, etc) suddenly the Prime Directive appears as if it has always been Starfleet's most sacred rule. It was the episode where the crew discovered a planet that had a Roman empire in the 20th century. The 'emperor' turned out to be a former ship captain and friend of Kirk. Kirk and co are kidnapped (as usual ) and they are unable to force their way out using their technology or stop the 'emperor' or his behind the scenes advisor because the prime directive forbade it.
It wouldn't have been so bad except that in the previous few episodes he did just that right and left- destroying entire cultural structures so they were more in line of how he (and Rodenberry) thought they should be. The Prime Directive was, *I THINK*, created simply to have a reason why Kirk and Co couldn't act directly and to create an artificial moral dilemma.
That said, and freely admitting how bad TOS was (with their static characters- a very good observation- with the exception of Ellison's(?) brilliant and moving 'City on the Edge of Forever' episode, which still left the characters exactly where they were before), ST still trancended it's cheapness. I wonder that OSC does not use the same terms to describe ST as he does Edgar Rice Burrough's Tarzan- a cheaply written pulp tale whose power trancends the medium- the myth was larger than the show. ST didn't just appeal because it was the ONLY SF on TV (Twilight Zone had some good eps). It presented to large audiences a vision of the future where man had trancended his tribalism and where, by and large, he had no limits- where he could explore and find adventure and the tension was not in the human family. And some of the episodes, like the one paralleling the cold war as well as the one about racism, were very effective, I thought. Yes it was lamely written, yes it was extremely hokey and formulaic.
But Galaxy Quest (indeed, the best ST movie) answered the question as to why it was so popular even as it was lame. It gave some people meaning and purpose and examples of human ability (though not intelligence or morality ). Even as we are able to laugh at it, we can still be motivated by it. How many people entered scientific fields (or SF ones) because of having the sparks fanned by ST?
Is it time for ST to be let go as SF childhood? I don't know. I liked Voyager (and the superior DS9 and also TNG, as formulaic as many of it's episodes were) though I will admit their were crap episodes in all of them. Enterprise didn't grab me, but then I didn't watch it enough to understand the huge story archs either. Perhaps it can still be done. Or maybe he is right and it should be let go.
But I don't think disdain and elitist attitudes toward it do anyone any good. Laugh at it, sure. But recognize it for what it was and is, even as the actors of Galaxy Quest did the same with their show.
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) and they are unable to force their way out using their technology or stop the 'emperor' or his behind the scenes advisor because the prime directive forbade it.
