I maintain that in "Dear Doctor", from a narrative standpoint, Archer should have given the Valakians the technology to develop a cure for their condition (Phlox wouldn't have finished developing it yet). The Enterprise would leave and a year later we would find out their scientists screwed up the process and wiped out both the Valakians and the Menk. Now there's a compelling reason to create the Prime Directive.
Might have made for a more compelling argument, to be sure. As it was, by withholding aid that they knew would work, Archer basically commits genocide. Which stands as a pretty convincing argument against the Prime Directive.
@@Peregrine57 To be fair, I only consider Archer an accessory to genocide. I place the primary blame on Phlox, who - either because he doesn't know what evolution is or he has some horrifying idea of eugenics - gave his captain absurd medical council.
The whole premise of the episode is a failure, they committed genocide out of the belief that the Menk would survive the collapse of the Valakian's civilization and emerge intellectually. Furthering StarTrek writers complete ignorance of evolution. If the Menk are getting smarter its because the environment(living in Valakian's Civilization) imposes a natural selection that promotes intelligence.
Archer "Someday, my people are going to come up with some sort of a doctrine, something that tells us what we can and can't do out here, should and shouldn't do. But until somebody tells me that they've drafted that Directive, I'm going to have to remind myself every day that we didn't come out here to play God."
The Prime Directive is one of those things I fully believed in as a kid watching reruns of TOS and new episodes of TNG. But I agree with Q. Just because the gadgets are better doesn't mean that people are. Letting a species or planet die because they "won't understand" is the height of arrogance. In many cases, it is just flat-out Techno supremacy. Just because a species has reached an arbitrary marker does not make them mature.
In my opinion the cure should have been given after making the agreement and signing a treaty agreement that the menk be given all the rights of the the Valankians and given the ability to live and develop like the Valankians and that for this cure and agreement the Vulcans or Humans would come checkup on them. For anyone about ro say well the humans couldn't really do that and the vulcans most likely would disagree with any interference at all, the Valankians don't know that and so they could always just show up later on when they are able. That way the Valankians don't have to die because "evolution deems it" (I hate that notion) and the menk get a chance to develop and live better lives with the freedom from the treaty.
It’s a very western style “developed/1st world” type of mindset, an aspect of pre-22nd century colonialism that the Federation never managed to completely shake
@@Cdr2002 Except that in the canon books, it was the Vulcan's who pushed for the Prime Directive out of their own 'bad experiences' thousands of years before.
@@christopherkidwell9817 I wasn’t talking about the Prime Directive itself so much as the “X level of tech = societal maturity” mindset. The rule does come from the Vulcans, yes. But the influence is the human writers is present in both groups. And with trek history mostly matching ours, it is more potent and beneficial to map certain attitudes to human history for the sake of analysis
The way The Orville tackles the Prime Directive is interesting. The Union - the Federation analogue in the show - has a similar principle. The directive was put in place in this universe after a species they “uplifted” ended up destroying each other shortly after contact.
Yeah but their one is relaxed, with their contact point being once interstellar communications are developed and used. Albeit its so the Union can intervene and protect them from more hostile civilisations.
@@MrLOLZdude15 I would have to admit that this one makes a lot of sense, both from a narrative standpoint, and a practical one in real life. Knowing that the local universe can hold some rather hostile species, any time a message has the wherewithal to reach out and ask, "Is anyone else out there?" the first people to answer "Yes," are going to hold a great deal of political and social importance. Having those first responses being friendly, and come from a generally peaceful Union (or United Federation of Planets in Star Trek) would have quite an enduring impact on a culture, would it not? Even in the Star Trek universe, you have the Vulcans peaceful greeting of Humanity in the wake of Zephram Cochrane's warp flight. How different would things have turned out if it had been the Klingons?
Something I always consider a very important data point in any discussion of the Prime Directive is that Picard (the ultimate stickler in many cases) had explicitly violated the Prime Directive 9 times by the TNG episode "Drumhead". And each case was investigated and determined to be appropriate. So even in the super dogmatic era there was some wiggle room. It is definitely a topic worthy of discussion because there are VERY good arguments that the principle works (no imposing our will and values on less developed worlds here thank you) and also that there are times to ignore it (We should probably do something about that rogue meteor guys". The discussion in the TNG episode Pen Pals includes some good ones, such as asking "do we intervene if there is a war?" because those are worthwhile discussion.
The problem is many cherry-pick to say it is evil. Plus there are a number of times that it becomes "drama for drama" that writer use. For me, it should be line that you need to stop and think.
As Archer said in Dear Doctor in ST Enterprise "Someday, my people are going to come up with some sort of a doctrine, something that tells us what we can and can't do out here, should and shouldn't do. But until somebody tells me that they've drafted that Directive, I'm going to have to remind myself every day that we didn't come out here to play God." As far as im concerned, thats the origin of the Prime Directive.
Thanks for reminding me of that episode. I just rewatched it again and found it quite fulfilling to think that there's some hidden message in daily life that will help us learn from our mistakes and keep us from our worst first impulses.
@@Cailus3542is that the episode where he refused to cure a disease , because the sub species of that planet had the potential to overtake the sickly primary species?
Captain Picard violated the Prime Directive nine times while commanding the Enterprise. When asked about these violations, Picard responded that his reports to Starfleet documented the circumstances of each incident.
@@UniversalChallenge4454 i always figure the directive was always a guideline. you are so far away from earth exploring. So if you break the directive you have to give a good reason to star fleet command or the throw the book at you. but it not a law. something like the rules for engament
It actually makes a great deal of sense why a principle of non-interference would become paramount in an society like the Federation. Federation worlds were sovereign entities, and the complex mix of cultures comprising the Federation would make internal conflicts inevitable if they didn't just agree to respect each other's autonomy. Seen in that light the Prime Directive is less a matter of benevolence and more a matter of political necessity.
Technically only Starfleet has to follow the Prime Directive, every other non-SF citizen is not beholden to it, although it would be difficult and frowned upon. Even Data pointed this out when they have guests on board.
@@Bruced82 True, and that makes sense on it's own level. The Federation can;t possibly police every one of it's citizens, and probably doesn't try. Private citizens would be beholden to the laws of their worlds. That said, an Astropolitical entity which enshrines self-determination as a basic right of it's member worlds, would sensibly demand non-interference be likewise enshrined in the regulations of the military forces it maintains. Like how the US military prohibits it's members from engaging in politics in uniform or while on duty.
@@theodoremccarthy4438 The Federation and Starfleet command will happily break it if it serves them, hide behind it it otherwise. Because the PD, while certainly useful (to avoid super interference), is overreach in itself, since it leaves no room for circumstances.
@@theodoremccarthy4438 "Like how the US military prohibits it's members from engaging in politics in uniform or while on duty." Apropos that you mention that today when the logic of that statement seems to depend on how and who you voted for in a recent election. Pete Hegseth as Secretary of Defense for example.
I feel like the Trill deserved a special mention, specifically because they made first contact by detecting the signals/communications of FTL species rather than developing FTL themselves
Yeah, this is one of the issues, just flying star ships around can 'violate' the Prime Directive by accidental exposure, as time goes on, it becomes impossible to uphold.
@@Eradicator-jv9xr And even civs on the cusp of Warp tech, thus 'ready' for first contact, can totally fail, as it did in one of the TNG episodes, following the PD by the book. It's this arbitrary readiness marker of warp tech (thus unavoidable contact), that is so laughable.
Star Trek: We don't have the right to interfere with the natural development of primitive cultures. Stargate: All your gods are fake. Have some machine guns.
Some of the beneficial races like the Asguard, and especially the Nox hold back on sharing/interfering. Even Earth's own populace is kept in the dark about the gates.
Like with most things in Trek it's probably time travel. Someone saw the Voth and realized if a compassionate and merciful society without a Prime Directive had saved them, humanity would never have arisen on Earth. So go back in time and make sure that's how the Federation develops.
6:33 Notable exceptions include: - official orders from the Federation Council (Insurrection; Pale Moonlight; every sanctioned espionage mission) - if someone asks for help (Pen Pals, Symbiosis, every time they answer a distress call) - removing others influence, as you mentioned
The TOS/Strange New Worlds prime directive that says not to interfere with a culture but lets you divert an asteroid or some such is a reasonable policy. The TNG era draconian interpretation that sometimes forbade this is type of planetary rescue is, of course, absurd.
I didn’t like that Pike used the PD to not take those humans back home, there ancestors were taken from earth and they might have family member descendants who are federation citizens. They should have been taken back home especially since some of them felt earth had survived. I maintain Captain Pike made the wrong decision 😔
Something I think is helpful to bring in is when the same principle gets turned on Starfleet, which happened a few times in Voyager. From the other side it just reads as cruelty; 'yeah, we COULD help you with your suffering, but we're just not gonna, you don't deserve it'.
Also in Enterprise season 4 with that silicon virus. Where Janeway reluctantly accepts equivalent PD-esque limitations, Archer vehemently (and successfully!) argues that the Organians should intervene.
Slight error at 7:20, It wasn't the, or any, U.S.S. Horizon that accidentally contaminated Sigma Iotia II and it was 10 years earlier according to memory-beta. It was actually the Mayweather's ship that had first contact with the iotians, the E.C.S. Horizon, after which it was hacked by Romulans and piloted into a star. but definitely still an issue that they did that and that happened. Source: ENT Novel "Kobayashi Maru".
It's only an error if you're allowing Beta Canon into the discussion, even if contradicts Alpha Canon. But if you go strictly Alpha Canon, then it was definitely the Horizon that was the source of cultural contamination.
What is never really followed up on in Trek is .. all of the instances where Star Fleet did interfere or interact with another culture (contamination) and the final results. For example how did the societies on Kiley 279 develop post Pike? What happened on Ekos (is it still the Nazi party in charge just more peaceful and did trade between the system worlds flourish again?). What happened to the planet where Kirk destroyed the Landru Computer in Return of the Archons? How about the world where they destroyed the Vaal Computer? (Do you notice Kirk had a way of tossing the prime directive out the window when he wanted to lol). So many untold stories.
Thank you for yet another excellent episode! The Prime Directive definitely feels like a guideline as often as an actual rule in the show, lol. God be with you out there, everybody. ✝️ :)
i always wondered why subspace coms was not developed before the friggin power to rip apart space and shove a hunk of metal through it. A people suddenly hear all this chatter and realize they are not alone. Is there an in universe explanations for that? (we touched a little bit on that with SNW )
Starships can generate a warp bubble to surf along towards their destination. Radio transmissions cannot. Sending a signal faster than light is difficult unless you're sending a faster than light probe that can generate the medium needed with the message onboard.
@@ArchOfWinter - i do like the idea that they are two fundamentally different forms of tech even if both seem to rely on the same mythical physics (subspace). @gileum also had a version of this.
Someone at Starfleet took things way too strictly with the Prime Directive in the episode "Homeward." Worf's brother was absolutely right in denying help to the natives being cruel and not in any way honorable, especially when Starfleet had given secret aid to primitive cultures in the past with the idea that the interference gave the natives a fair chance at growth rather than being snuffed out prematurely. Yes, that kind of clandestine help CAN be botched, such as what happened to that one native in that same episode, or when a callous younger Captain Kirk let the Enterprise be seen in Into Darkness. But, generally, it had been done, could be done, and could have been done for those natives in "Homeward", without even having to transport them off their world! (especially since the disaster in that episode sounds so damn contrived - the atmosphere was just dissipating??? Not being held by gravity like EARTH's is?? Really just bad writing to force a PD-themed crisis.)
Wasn’t it plasma storms causing the dissipation? Presumably by extreme ionisation and blowing away the atmosphere, kind of like Mars had its atmosphere blown-away by solar wind without a magnetosphere. Suggesting the plasma storm was more powerful than their magnetosphere, or perhaps it was a Mars-like planet which never had much of one to begin with and the storm merely accelerated the inevitable and natural process.
I think the bad thing is how damage control is performed, as during TNG, wiping the memory without the certainty of success and how to ensure a pre-warp species from not seeing anyone else to begin with...
You made a mistake at 9:15-9:30, they did not witness the Klingon war, they witness the war with control and they saw everything when they sent the Discovery and its crew to the future in order to protect the federation, Una Chin-Riley even mentions this in the episode.
I hate the idea of fixing a drought because it just opens up such a rabbithole. Fix disease, pollution, the very planet itself. Why is one planet spared while countless others ( including our own) went through multiple difficulties that ended up the people we are seen as in the shows.
An even more interesting topic would be how other empires dealt with pre-warp first contacts. Klingon raiding parties will not have bothered with such issues and greedy Ferengi will also not let a little detail stand in the way of a good profit. The huge Dominion will also not bother much, if it serves their needs. I bet many other species disregarded Federation rules and there must be hundreds of "contaminated" civilization on pre-warp level who are visited by aliens regularly or who may even be conquered by them.
Erh not entirely sure, but about the crashed Saucer-Section on Veridia 3 was it? I believe that was the planet that had a pre-warp species living there.
The Star Ocean series essentially has its prime directive because a primitive planet basically got ahold of their version of a warp core, and blew their planet up attempting to use it.
And then you have Janeway who was both solid on the Prime Directive and then the few times she did break it... she soon realized why it was not to be broken. xD
One thing I am curious about is how other civilizations in the Star Trek universe conduct first contact. The Prime Directive (which I disagree with) is the protocol for first contact for the Federation, not the Klingons, not the Romulons, not the Cardassians, not the Dominion, not the Breen, not the Ferengi, not the multitude of independent worlds or other empires.
I never heard of that episode, but I would imagine that civilizations that naturally discovered that there are other species in the universe are automatically exempt from being denied first contact since technically it has already been made. Other parts of the prime directive would still apply however, such as not providing them with a sudden and massive leap in technology to alter their natural development
You know with how often they violate the prime directive or general order one or whatever they call it I quote Barbosa. "The code is more like guidelines than actual rules...."
And then the Temporal Prime Directive, which every spacefaring Enterprise has interfered with to the point you'd think the name would be stricken from subsequent starship designations.
Another factor that could have lead Starfleet to give their captins more leash in the current era is the fact that by that time their would have serly been alot of "pre warp" societies deep in federation space making it extremely hard if even possible to protect them from outside influence given the fact 6that Starfleet never had many ships in active service in oeace time. Hince all the ancent frames in service post TOS... Which the only way I can see Star fleet being able to protect them is the fact that private vessals in the federation are seemly all merchants who could easly face harse punish ments if they go anywhere near a pre warp socity... If intergaltuic travel was like Star wars then I can't think of a way that Star fleet could do anything about someone in a junk star fighter with a warpdrive making contact with a pre warp socity... Also let's rember what Earth pre warp society was like just before first contact... We were very much a power in our solar system sure the apolptic wars of the late 20th century and early 21 first did us no favors. But still we already had the ability to get ships outside the system and very easly could have expanded to tthe near by stars with out warp with the cyro tech if not even generation ships. So given that half of the prime diractive incdents we know of involved Societies that could easl;y have been in space or were close to it and by the modern era were likely fully expanded in their home systems and could expand father... Not to mention they could easly have sensors to pick up Federation activity like commonly used routes and even Federation planets and systems.. So given the fact that before the dominion war the federation had no feasible way of keeping the prime diractive intact whith out massive steps like moves Spoace lanes and evacuating solar syetems or doing something to passily block the pre warp society from seeing out... Which is very much against the prime diractive... Which the domain war would make things so much worse given interfence and the federation going into their first total war stance in over 100 years... I highly doudt that anyone cared about the prime diractive anymore.
0.04 in, how?, by consensus and due process of course, I think you mean why and what circumstances lead up to the need for such a ducument to be drafted into law...
Can you imagine being a astronaut, landing on another planet in your solar system and you just see a saucer from a ship... Yeah imagine that. Starfleet admirals are gonna lose their marbles.
Hello .. wonder if you can help.. I was down the pub the other day when a friend asked me who was the first star fleet captain.. I admit I am not a huge treky but do enjoy it.. I recall being told by my farther years ago it was pike.. my friend said wrong.. it was archer.. lost me a pint.. but it digs me because my farther is a big treky.. who’s right?
A bit of context.. I’m 44 years old my father told me this when I was around 10 years old.. I used to watch the originals with Kirk as captain.. has there been lore added or changed since then?
In the original pilot for Star Trek that was not aired until years later, Pike was the original captain of the Enterprise. Your friend must have meant the first captain in the Timeline of the franchise which would be Archer.
I found it hard to believe that all warp capable species chose to leave pre-warp civilizations alone. Was there some kind of prime directive that all Alpha/Beta quadrant powers respected to some degree? What was stopping factions like the Tholians or Breen for example enslaving the numerous primitive planets that were not affiliated with the Federation or any other power? I doubt the Ferengi would have any issue visiting and trading with every pre-warp planet that was known to them.
The other races do not uphold a prime directive, this is for Starfleet and its allies mostly. Klingons would just enslave lower tech civs if deemed useful.
The PD in practice is only feasible for planets that are in uncharted space or well within Federation space. We've seen instances ("Errand of Mercy", "A Private Little War", "Friday's Child") where interference was permitted on worlds that lay in the crossroads of other spacefaring civilizations that didn't care about contamination.
It basically boils down to 4 points that should always guide the application of the Prime Directive: 1) We should not interfere with primitive cultures, and we should protect them from outside and existential threats. 2) We should respect other societies' right to self determination. 3) We should not expose the Federation to blowback or retaliation for interfering with other societies uninvited. 4) The Federation, not Starfleet, makes the final decisions about diplomatic relations.
I've always wanted to see an "Anti-Federation", who's prime directive was helping other cultures avoid the "growing pains" that it's members went through by uplifting a civilization to their standard of tech. This would be accomplished with numerous programs and institutions that would help guide a new member civilization into becoming a productive member of galactic society.
The real world inspiration for the Prime Directive could be seen with regards to decolonisation and proxy wars historically. Giving a nation or even a small faction technology they are not familiar with and are not equipped to responsibly manage is akin to giving a child the keys to Ferrari. We see this even in cases like the US military's foreign relations, where they'll spend years training allies on their weapons and technology before willingly handing over the tech permanently. And in the case of nuclear weapons, the closest equivalent to warp technology, the US still holds the keys even if allies house the weapons.
The federation must learn to respect all laws in a particular planet not just those that they find inconvenient. Take for an example when Wesley crusher broke a law on Rubicon lll, even though the event was accidental the law was broken and Wesley should have been punished and since the punishment of death by injection would have been painless and Picard would be seen as a individual who respected law regardless of his personal involvement, Wesley should have been punished. LLNP
They did respect the wishes of god entity on Rubicon III which was the planet's ruling authority. It was entirely capable of preventing Wesley from leaving and even destroying the Enterprise. Picard made an appeal and it was accepted, so no violation of the PD occurred.
that book must have been basically a how-to guide to make a mafia civilization because you know how would they know what cars look like the inside of buildings buildings tommy guns 45 how will they know what any of that stuff look like how would they know what the bullets look like you know how will they know how the guns work David maybe they already had some form of firearm like Kirk said the flintlock is generally the first but they developed which button right because people had matlock's wheel locks
I'm against the all-or-nothing nature of the Prime Directive. There should be a lot of caveats for specific situations or types of people they're dealing with.
Meanwhile, Gene Roddenberry, maybe from his military experience, was writing into his allegorical series a time when the ('Fed-eration)/CIA wasn't meddling:)
Personally I would have forced all species to join the Federation and made anime mandatory, even if they dont have eyes. That way, they will learn about the power of friendship.
And many officers since have bend that Directive when it came to saving lives, I get not giving them technology that they aren't ready for or would understand but letting them die over natural selection isn't benevolent.
Natural selection is occurring all the time in an alien ecosystem. Starfleet couldn't prevent every extinction even if it wanted to. Unfortunately the show almost always depicts aliens as essentially humans, so prime directive-driven decisions unavoidably appear monstrous by our 21st century standards.
I have issue with names like "General Order nr 1" or "Prime Directive". First sounds too militaristic for "peaceful and exploratory Starfleet", while "General" is too... general? Second sounds too much like Corpo talk, like something that should guide Starfleet to achive certain that thing rather forbid them to do something.
Since starfleet is the military arm of the UFP, it makes sense they would use terms common within Earth’s military (General Order) as Earth is the HQ of the UFP and by extension Starfleet
I have to admit that I'm a Chakotayist when it comes to the Prime Directive. My moral code will not let me stand by while evil is being done. I have ignored this principle in the past and I live the consequences of that lapse to this day. There comes a point where you MUST draw a line and say, "This far, but no further!" or else you fail to get the correct answer to the trolley problem when you could've actually made a difference. Your own humanity is risked every time that voice cries out for justice, and you still stand there and do nothing. What's even the point, in that case?
Maybe because you're framing PD scenarios around aliens that look & behave like humans. If it were a more realistic alien world with millions of different species, none of which look or act remotely human, would you go out of your way to save every single species from dying out....from algae up to alien dolphins? If rising temperatures on a planet wipe out a species of fish, is that an evil that requires outside intervention?
"I'm a citizen of the UFP, but I'm not with Starfleet. I didn't swear any oaths to uphold your Prime Directive. F your General Order 1, I'm going to help these people!" Who am I?
The problem with the prime directive, is that it’s completely unenforceable there explorations and presence they just do that because they don’t have the manpower for all the planets and they’re a space fearing civilization
To a large extent, true. The PD is a moot point for planets that lie in the crossroads of other spacefaring civs that don't refrain from interference. This is why Kirk was able to offer the Organians in "Errand of Mercy" wide-ranging social & technological assistance.
Imagine the tables being turned and an advanced species arived in Earth orbit in 1940. And then they decide to stop the RAF from introducing leaded fuel, because of the environmental and mental hazard it poses. Sidenote: leaded fuel was necessary for the RAF to make the Merlin competetive with german Engines, giving the Spitfire about 200 much needed horsepowers.
I maintain that in "Dear Doctor", from a narrative standpoint, Archer should have given the Valakians the technology to develop a cure for their condition (Phlox wouldn't have finished developing it yet). The Enterprise would leave and a year later we would find out their scientists screwed up the process and wiped out both the Valakians and the Menk. Now there's a compelling reason to create the Prime Directive.
Might have made for a more compelling argument, to be sure. As it was, by withholding aid that they knew would work, Archer basically commits genocide. Which stands as a pretty convincing argument against the Prime Directive.
@@Peregrine57 To be fair, I only consider Archer an accessory to genocide. I place the primary blame on Phlox, who - either because he doesn't know what evolution is or he has some horrifying idea of eugenics - gave his captain absurd medical council.
The whole premise of the episode is a failure, they committed genocide out of the belief that the Menk would survive the collapse of the Valakian's civilization and emerge intellectually. Furthering StarTrek writers complete ignorance of evolution. If the Menk are getting smarter its because the environment(living in Valakian's Civilization) imposes a natural selection that promotes intelligence.
Archer "Someday, my people are going to come up with some sort of a doctrine, something that tells us what we can and can't do out here, should and shouldn't do. But until somebody tells me that they've drafted that Directive, I'm going to have to remind myself every day that we didn't come out here to play God."
@AzguardMike I think it was way too early for Archer to get to that conclusion. We really needed to see him play god and get it very wrong first.
Comparable to First Contact rules of the SGC. "HI, all your Gods are fake. Here's some guns."
SGC is chaotic good for the win
First Contact rules of SG Atlantis: "Sure, we'll use our superior scientific expertise to help you make that genocide weapon"
So what you're saying is that the oppressed have a diametrically different view on morality than the oppressors?
@Veritas.0 Morality is relative just like everything else
@@CardenV2 Whoops. I'll take "statements made to justify damned distasteful things" for 500, Alex.
The Prime Directive is one of those things I fully believed in as a kid watching reruns of TOS and new episodes of TNG. But I agree with Q. Just because the gadgets are better doesn't mean that people are. Letting a species or planet die because they "won't understand" is the height of arrogance. In many cases, it is just flat-out Techno supremacy.
Just because a species has reached an arbitrary marker does not make them mature.
You made a great point!
Ironically, this is the same mistake the Borg made.
In my opinion the cure should have been given after making the agreement and signing a treaty agreement that the menk be given all the rights of the the Valankians and given the ability to live and develop like the Valankians and that for this cure and agreement the Vulcans or Humans would come checkup on them. For anyone about ro say well the humans couldn't really do that and the vulcans most likely would disagree with any interference at all, the Valankians don't know that and so they could always just show up later on when they are able. That way the Valankians don't have to die because "evolution deems it" (I hate that notion) and the menk get a chance to develop and live better lives with the freedom from the treaty.
It’s a very western style “developed/1st world” type of mindset, an aspect of pre-22nd century colonialism that the Federation never managed to completely shake
@@Cdr2002 Except that in the canon books, it was the Vulcan's who pushed for the Prime Directive out of their own 'bad experiences' thousands of years before.
@@christopherkidwell9817 I wasn’t talking about the Prime Directive itself so much as the “X level of tech = societal maturity” mindset. The rule does come from the Vulcans, yes. But the influence is the human writers is present in both groups. And with trek history mostly matching ours, it is more potent and beneficial to map certain attitudes to human history for the sake of analysis
The way The Orville tackles the Prime Directive is interesting. The Union - the Federation analogue in the show - has a similar principle. The directive was put in place in this universe after a species they “uplifted” ended up destroying each other shortly after contact.
Yeah but their one is relaxed, with their contact point being once interstellar communications are developed and used. Albeit its so the Union can intervene and protect them from more hostile civilisations.
@@MrLOLZdude15 I would have to admit that this one makes a lot of sense, both from a narrative standpoint, and a practical one in real life. Knowing that the local universe can hold some rather hostile species, any time a message has the wherewithal to reach out and ask, "Is anyone else out there?" the first people to answer "Yes," are going to hold a great deal of political and social importance. Having those first responses being friendly, and come from a generally peaceful Union (or United Federation of Planets in Star Trek) would have quite an enduring impact on a culture, would it not?
Even in the Star Trek universe, you have the Vulcans peaceful greeting of Humanity in the wake of Zephram Cochrane's warp flight. How different would things have turned out if it had been the Klingons?
Something I always consider a very important data point in any discussion of the Prime Directive is that Picard (the ultimate stickler in many cases) had explicitly violated the Prime Directive 9 times by the TNG episode "Drumhead". And each case was investigated and determined to be appropriate. So even in the super dogmatic era there was some wiggle room.
It is definitely a topic worthy of discussion because there are VERY good arguments that the principle works (no imposing our will and values on less developed worlds here thank you) and also that there are times to ignore it (We should probably do something about that rogue meteor guys". The discussion in the TNG episode Pen Pals includes some good ones, such as asking "do we intervene if there is a war?" because those are worthwhile discussion.
The problem is many cherry-pick to say it is evil. Plus there are a number of times that it becomes "drama for drama" that writer use.
For me, it should be line that you need to stop and think.
As Archer said in Dear Doctor in ST Enterprise
"Someday, my people are going to come up with some sort of a doctrine, something that tells us what we can and can't do out here, should and shouldn't do. But until somebody tells me that they've drafted that Directive, I'm going to have to remind myself every day that we didn't come out here to play God."
As far as im concerned, thats the origin of the Prime Directive.
Named such after the arrest of Phlox for refusing to treat people due to a pseudo-religious misinterpretation of evolution.
@@Cailus3542 Phlox became my hero from that ep.
Thanks for reminding me of that episode. I just rewatched it again and found it quite fulfilling to think that there's some hidden message in daily life that will help us learn from our mistakes and keep us from our worst first impulses.
@@Raja1938 ...You do understand what happened, right? That Phlox had the cure that would save an entire species, but didn't give it to them?
@@Cailus3542is that the episode where he refused to cure a disease , because the sub species of that planet had the potential to overtake the sickly primary species?
Seeing Archer mention it as a concept to be explored was a fun nod.
It might as well be the "Prime suggestion" with how often it's freely violated. lol
Captain Picard violated the Prime Directive nine times while commanding the Enterprise. When asked about these violations, Picard responded that his reports to Starfleet documented the circumstances of each incident.
guidelines more like in the 23rd century
@@UniversalChallenge4454 i always figure the directive was always a guideline. you are so far away from earth exploring. So if you break the directive you have to give a good reason to star fleet command or the throw the book at you. but it not a law. something like the rules for engament
Doood i toll yoo aull Kapptyn Kurk envyntid thee PRYUM DYREKTSHAN yo!!!!111111
“It’s really more a guideline than a directive” -Cpt Barbarossa of the USS Black Pearl lmao
Just waiting for the laundry list of Janeways violat- line walking.
It actually makes a great deal of sense why a principle of non-interference would become paramount in an society like the Federation. Federation worlds were sovereign entities, and the complex mix of cultures comprising the Federation would make internal conflicts inevitable if they didn't just agree to respect each other's autonomy. Seen in that light the Prime Directive is less a matter of benevolence and more a matter of political necessity.
Technically only Starfleet has to follow the Prime Directive, every other non-SF citizen is not beholden to it, although it would be difficult and frowned upon. Even Data pointed this out when they have guests on board.
@@Bruced82 True, and that makes sense on it's own level. The Federation can;t possibly police every one of it's citizens, and probably doesn't try. Private citizens would be beholden to the laws of their worlds. That said, an Astropolitical entity which enshrines self-determination as a basic right of it's member worlds, would sensibly demand non-interference be likewise enshrined in the regulations of the military forces it maintains. Like how the US military prohibits it's members from engaging in politics in uniform or while on duty.
We know those in star fleet will violate the prime directive when they think they should but first they need to debate it.
@@theodoremccarthy4438 The Federation and Starfleet command will happily break it if it serves them, hide behind it it otherwise. Because the PD, while certainly useful (to avoid super interference), is overreach in itself, since it leaves no room for circumstances.
@@theodoremccarthy4438 "Like how the US military prohibits it's members from engaging in politics in uniform or while on duty."
Apropos that you mention that today when the logic of that statement seems to depend on how and who you voted for in a recent election. Pete Hegseth as Secretary of Defense for example.
I feel like the Trill deserved a special mention, specifically because they made first contact by detecting the signals/communications of FTL species rather than developing FTL themselves
Yeah, this is one of the issues, just flying star ships around can 'violate' the Prime Directive by accidental exposure, as time goes on, it becomes impossible to uphold.
@@Bruced82 To be fair, the federation wasn't trying to hide from the primitive species, more so just not actively trying to be seen.
@@Eradicator-jv9xr And even civs on the cusp of Warp tech, thus 'ready' for first contact, can totally fail, as it did in one of the TNG episodes, following the PD by the book. It's this arbitrary readiness marker of warp tech (thus unavoidable contact), that is so laughable.
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@@joerussell9574 I feel ya, bro.
Star Trek: We don't have the right to interfere with the natural development of primitive cultures.
Stargate: All your gods are fake. Have some machine guns.
Some of the beneficial races like the Asguard, and especially the Nox hold back on sharing/interfering. Even Earth's own populace is kept in the dark about the gates.
tbf in stargate the fake gods were subjugating people. SG1 had every right to interfere and were morally obligated to do so.
the satan jesus jehovah allah and all the rest of the galaxy are the same ole same ole.
How would a crossover of those 2 series look?
@@Ggdivhjkjl the borg know. oooooooooooooooh the queen knows.
I'm surpised you didn't mention the PD violation by Adm. Mark Jameson when he armed both sides of the conflict on Mordan IV..
It wasn't the Klingon War that gave the Kiley warp drive/reactors.. It was the Battle of Control.
Spot on
and they used to make a bomb
Since the events surrounding Control's attempt at insurrection is classified, I'd take the Klingon War was used as an in-universe explanation instead.
And everyone knows also that the "Prime Directive" won't stick as a name....
10:20 Ooo a Gundam reference before Gundam became Gundam
Sieg Zeon!!! LoL 😆
Char was right
I know it's gamma canon, but the orville had a great episode about it.
Rick, this was a cool exposé. Captain Kirk played very fast and very loose with the Prime Directive. 🇺🇸🤝🇬🇧
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Live Long And Prosper my friends!!!!
Good health and long life 🖖
Yes, Watching the show it does seem more like the Prime Suggestion. :p
Maybe too many Canadians in Starfleet
General Order 1 is referred by Spock as the Prime Directive in Shot Treks Q&A several years before Strange New Worlds
Like with most things in Trek it's probably time travel. Someone saw the Voth and realized if a compassionate and merciful society without a Prime Directive had saved them, humanity would never have arisen on Earth. So go back in time and make sure that's how the Federation develops.
Love your content! Thanks for being a great content creator?
Just out of curiosity who is you fav Captain? Mine is either Sisko or Pike (SNW).
6:33 Notable exceptions include:
- official orders from the Federation Council (Insurrection; Pale Moonlight; every sanctioned espionage mission)
- if someone asks for help (Pen Pals, Symbiosis, every time they answer a distress call)
- removing others influence, as you mentioned
Seeing the 2 extremes in subsequent videos would be Facinating
Love the glamour shots of STO. Wish I could fly around Las Angeles like that.
The TOS/Strange New Worlds prime directive that says not to interfere with a culture but lets you divert an asteroid or some such is a reasonable policy. The TNG era draconian interpretation that sometimes forbade this is type of planetary rescue is, of course, absurd.
Yeah the astroid diversion thing unironically invokes the concept of destiny to sound like it isn't monstrous.
Picard went overboard with it, then violates it a few times anyway.
I didn’t like that Pike used the PD to not take those humans back home, there ancestors were taken from earth and they might have family member descendants who are federation citizens. They should have been taken back home especially since some of them felt earth had survived. I maintain Captain Pike made the wrong decision 😔
You mean the TNG where the have violated it to save species with not punishment?
@@jaklinhyde What people?
It's a good breakdown. Props.
Something I think is helpful to bring in is when the same principle gets turned on Starfleet, which happened a few times in Voyager. From the other side it just reads as cruelty; 'yeah, we COULD help you with your suffering, but we're just not gonna, you don't deserve it'.
IIRC every time Janeway & co although disappointed, respect and accept the decision of the superior civ not to provide help.
Also in Enterprise season 4 with that silicon virus. Where Janeway reluctantly accepts equivalent PD-esque limitations, Archer vehemently (and successfully!) argues that the Organians should intervene.
Keep up the good work Rick.
Slight error at 7:20, It wasn't the, or any, U.S.S. Horizon that accidentally contaminated Sigma Iotia II and it was 10 years earlier according to memory-beta. It was actually the Mayweather's ship that had first contact with the iotians, the E.C.S. Horizon, after which it was hacked by Romulans and piloted into a star. but definitely still an issue that they did that and that happened.
Source: ENT Novel "Kobayashi Maru".
The book on Chicago gangsters of the 20's can be seen in the background in a scene on an Enterprise episode.
It's only an error if you're allowing Beta Canon into the discussion, even if contradicts Alpha Canon. But if you go strictly Alpha Canon, then it was definitely the Horizon that was the source of cultural contamination.
What is never really followed up on in Trek is .. all of the instances where Star Fleet did interfere or interact with another culture (contamination) and the final results. For example how did the societies on Kiley 279 develop post Pike? What happened on Ekos (is it still the Nazi party in charge just more peaceful and did trade between the system worlds flourish again?). What happened to the planet where Kirk destroyed the Landru Computer in Return of the Archons? How about the world where they destroyed the Vaal Computer? (Do you notice Kirk had a way of tossing the prime directive out the window when he wanted to lol). So many untold stories.
Thank you for yet another excellent episode! The Prime Directive definitely feels like a guideline as often as an actual rule in the show, lol.
God be with you out there, everybody. ✝️ :)
Rick, a video on other space going races view on this, or what they do, would be interesting.
i always wondered why subspace coms was not developed before the friggin power to rip apart space and shove a hunk of metal through it.
A people suddenly hear all this chatter and realize they are not alone. Is there an in universe explanations for that? (we touched a little bit on that with SNW )
We set sail across the oceans long before telegraph, let alone radio, so not inconceivable FTL travel gets developed first before FTL communication.
Starships can generate a warp bubble to surf along towards their destination.
Radio transmissions cannot. Sending a signal faster than light is difficult unless you're sending a faster than light probe that can generate the medium needed with the message onboard.
@@ArchOfWinter - i do like the idea that they are two fundamentally different forms of tech even if both seem to rely on the same mythical physics (subspace).
@gileum also had a version of this.
Someone at Starfleet took things way too strictly with the Prime Directive in the episode "Homeward." Worf's brother was absolutely right in denying help to the natives being cruel and not in any way honorable, especially when Starfleet had given secret aid to primitive cultures in the past with the idea that the interference gave the natives a fair chance at growth rather than being snuffed out prematurely. Yes, that kind of clandestine help CAN be botched, such as what happened to that one native in that same episode, or when a callous younger Captain Kirk let the Enterprise be seen in Into Darkness. But, generally, it had been done, could be done, and could have been done for those natives in "Homeward", without even having to transport them off their world! (especially since the disaster in that episode sounds so damn contrived - the atmosphere was just dissipating??? Not being held by gravity like EARTH's is?? Really just bad writing to force a PD-themed crisis.)
Wasn’t it plasma storms causing the dissipation?
Presumably by extreme ionisation and blowing away the atmosphere, kind of like Mars had its atmosphere blown-away by solar wind without a magnetosphere. Suggesting the plasma storm was more powerful than their magnetosphere, or perhaps it was a Mars-like planet which never had much of one to begin with and the storm merely accelerated the inevitable and natural process.
You forgot the Omega Glory TOS episode? Not bad though.
12:43 Man… if only Picard had said “Sorry, Wesly, Prime Directive.”
I think the bad thing is how damage control is performed, as during TNG, wiping the memory without the certainty of success and how to ensure a pre-warp species from not seeing anyone else to begin with...
Was Archer ever officially accredited for naming it and being the first to use it?
You made a mistake at 9:15-9:30, they did not witness the Klingon war, they witness the war with control and they saw everything when they sent the Discovery and its crew to the future in order to protect the federation, Una Chin-Riley even mentions this in the episode.
RIP TONY TODD
I hate the idea of fixing a drought because it just opens up such a rabbithole. Fix disease, pollution, the very planet itself. Why is one planet spared while countless others ( including our own) went through multiple difficulties that ended up the people we are seen as in the shows.
No mention of the Capellans, and Leonard James Ak'aar?
Where did you get those visuals of the NX 01 from? Star Trek Online?
An even more interesting topic would be how other empires dealt with pre-warp first contacts. Klingon raiding parties will not have bothered with such issues and greedy Ferengi will also not let a little detail stand in the way of a good profit. The huge Dominion will also not bother much, if it serves their needs. I bet many other species disregarded Federation rules and there must be hundreds of "contaminated" civilization on pre-warp level who are visited by aliens regularly or who may even be conquered by them.
I can’t believe the dear doctor episode wasn’t mentioned
Erh not entirely sure, but about the crashed Saucer-Section on Veridia 3 was it? I believe that was the planet that had a pre-warp species living there.
Right off the bat, first time for everything.
The Star Ocean series essentially has its prime directive because a primitive planet basically got ahold of their version of a warp core, and blew their planet up attempting to use it.
Where do you get this art from for the thumbnails?
Wasn't it the battle at the end of Discovery season 2 that the Kiley observed?
Question: If you had to create the Prime Directive today, is there any changes you believe that should, or could, be made to it?
And then you have Janeway who was both solid on the Prime Directive and then the few times she did break it... she soon realized why it was not to be broken. xD
One thing I am curious about is how other civilizations in the Star Trek universe conduct first contact. The Prime Directive (which I disagree with) is the protocol for first contact for the Federation, not the Klingons, not the Romulons, not the Cardassians, not the Dominion, not the Breen, not the Ferengi, not the multitude of independent worlds or other empires.
We got a look at the Cardassians in the form of Bajor through DS9.
good video
Commenting to feed the algorithm 🙃
Worst breaks of Prime Directive, half the list is just Janeway.
😂
There’s the right way, the wrong way, and the Janeway
When you're so far away from home, there IS no Federation.
Do what you gotta do.
Not to go too Disney about it but it really is more of a guideline in practice anyway.
I vaguely recall a story where the Prime Directive was waived, due to the natives mistaking Dilithium for Quartz and picking up stray communications?
I never heard of that episode, but I would imagine that civilizations that naturally discovered that there are other species in the universe are automatically exempt from being denied first contact since technically it has already been made.
Other parts of the prime directive would still apply however, such as not providing them with a sudden and massive leap in technology to alter their natural development
You know with how often they violate the prime directive or general order one or whatever they call it I quote Barbosa.
"The code is more like guidelines than actual rules...."
the prime directive should only apply when interaction with a culture would be more harmful then beneficial
Early European colonizers believed that they were saving the savages of the New World.
The problem is that you can't always tell when that would be
Horizon was also a freighter, not a Starfleet vessel.
And then the Temporal Prime Directive, which every spacefaring Enterprise has interfered with to the point you'd think the name would be stricken from subsequent starship designations.
Another factor that could have lead Starfleet to give their captins more leash in the current era is the fact that by that time their would have serly been alot of "pre warp" societies deep in federation space making it extremely hard if even possible to protect them from outside influence given the fact 6that Starfleet never had many ships in active service in oeace time. Hince all the ancent frames in service post TOS... Which the only way I can see Star fleet being able to protect them is the fact that private vessals in the federation are seemly all merchants who could easly face harse punish ments if they go anywhere near a pre warp socity... If intergaltuic travel was like Star wars then I can't think of a way that Star fleet could do anything about someone in a junk star fighter with a warpdrive making contact with a pre warp socity... Also let's rember what Earth pre warp society was like just before first contact... We were very much a power in our solar system sure the apolptic wars of the late 20th century and early 21 first did us no favors. But still we already had the ability to get ships outside the system and very easly could have expanded to tthe near by stars with out warp with the cyro tech if not even generation ships. So given that half of the prime diractive incdents we know of involved Societies that could easl;y have been in space or were close to it and by the modern era were likely fully expanded in their home systems and could expand father... Not to mention they could easly have sensors to pick up Federation activity like commonly used routes and even Federation planets and systems.. So given the fact that before the dominion war the federation had no feasible way of keeping the prime diractive intact whith out massive steps like moves Spoace lanes and evacuating solar syetems or doing something to passily block the pre warp society from seeing out... Which is very much against the prime diractive... Which the domain war would make things so much worse given interfence and the federation going into their first total war stance in over 100 years... I highly doudt that anyone cared about the prime diractive anymore.
0.04 in, how?, by consensus and due process of course, I think you mean why and what circumstances lead up to the need for such a ducument to be drafted into law...
Live long and prosper
The Horizon's visit to Sigma Iota 2 took place before the Prime Directive went into effect.
This is the way.
Just like the pirate's code from Potc movies 🤭
I suspect Picard may have been more strict with the Prime Directive than Starfleet actually required
Can you imagine being a astronaut, landing on another planet in your solar system and you just see a saucer from a ship...
Yeah imagine that.
Starfleet admirals are gonna lose their marbles.
The Prime Directive is somewhat similar to how we view nuclear power(weapons or energy)
Hello .. wonder if you can help.. I was down the pub the other day when a friend asked me who was the first star fleet captain.. I admit I am not a huge treky but do enjoy it.. I recall being told by my farther years ago it was pike.. my friend said wrong.. it was archer.. lost me a pint.. but it digs me because my farther is a big treky.. who’s right?
A bit of context.. I’m 44 years old my father told me this when I was around 10 years old.. I used to watch the originals with Kirk as captain.. has there been lore added or changed since then?
In the original pilot for Star Trek that was not aired until years later, Pike was the original captain of the Enterprise. Your friend must have meant the first captain in the Timeline of the franchise which would be Archer.
@@cormacmacsuibhne2867 so we were both right I guess.. lol thank you
I found it hard to believe that all warp capable species chose to leave pre-warp civilizations alone. Was there some kind of prime directive that all Alpha/Beta quadrant powers respected to some degree? What was stopping factions like the Tholians or Breen for example enslaving the numerous primitive planets that were not affiliated with the Federation or any other power? I doubt the Ferengi would have any issue visiting and trading with every pre-warp planet that was known to them.
The other races do not uphold a prime directive, this is for Starfleet and its allies mostly. Klingons would just enslave lower tech civs if deemed useful.
The PD in practice is only feasible for planets that are in uncharted space or well within Federation space. We've seen instances ("Errand of Mercy", "A Private Little War", "Friday's Child") where interference was permitted on worlds that lay in the crossroads of other spacefaring civilizations that didn't care about contamination.
It basically boils down to 4 points that should always guide the application of the Prime Directive:
1) We should not interfere with primitive cultures, and we should protect them from outside and existential threats.
2) We should respect other societies' right to self determination.
3) We should not expose the Federation to blowback or retaliation for interfering with other societies uninvited.
4) The Federation, not Starfleet, makes the final decisions about diplomatic relations.
I've always wanted to see an "Anti-Federation", who's prime directive was helping other cultures avoid the "growing pains" that it's members went through by uplifting a civilization to their standard of tech.
This would be accomplished with numerous programs and institutions that would help guide a new member civilization into becoming a productive member of galactic society.
Star Wars não existe, isso todos tem armas 😂
The real world inspiration for the Prime Directive could be seen with regards to decolonisation and proxy wars historically.
Giving a nation or even a small faction technology they are not familiar with and are not equipped to responsibly manage is akin to giving a child the keys to Ferrari.
We see this even in cases like the US military's foreign relations, where they'll spend years training allies on their weapons and technology before willingly handing over the tech permanently.
And in the case of nuclear weapons, the closest equivalent to warp technology, the US still holds the keys even if allies house the weapons.
It started after Dr. Phlox decided to play god with a world’s 2 competing species?!
What about the temporal prime directive rick.
Just don't interfere in the timeline please. That's all they are asking
The federation must learn to respect all laws in a particular planet not just those that they find inconvenient. Take for an example when Wesley crusher broke a law on Rubicon lll, even though the event was accidental the law was broken and Wesley should have been punished and since the punishment of death by injection would have been painless and Picard would be seen as a individual who respected law regardless of his personal involvement, Wesley should have been punished. LLNP
They did respect the wishes of god entity on Rubicon III which was the planet's ruling authority. It was entirely capable of preventing Wesley from leaving and even destroying the Enterprise. Picard made an appeal and it was accepted, so no violation of the PD occurred.
“Prime suggestion” more like with all the loopholes, posthoc justifications and mental gymnastics employed to skirt around it.
If another power was already involved didn't it negate the primedirective
that book must have been basically a how-to guide to make a mafia civilization because you know how would they know what cars look like the inside of buildings buildings tommy guns 45 how will they know what any of that stuff look like how would they know what the bullets look like you know how will they know how the guns work David maybe they already had some form of firearm like Kirk said the flintlock is generally the first but they developed which button right because people had matlock's wheel locks
The prime directive did not apply to the Baku
I'm against the all-or-nothing nature of the Prime Directive. There should be a lot of caveats for specific situations or types of people they're dealing with.
It should be a major like that the officers should be careful about crossing.
SPACE!!!
Meanwhile, Gene Roddenberry, maybe from his military experience, was writing into his allegorical series a time when the ('Fed-eration)/CIA wasn't meddling:)
The Capellans were a pre-warp culture but they knew about the existence of Starfleet so wasn't that a violation of the Prime Directive?
No. If a pre-warp culture discovers the existence of interstellar life on its own, then the no-contact component of the PD doesn't apply.
Personally I would have forced all species to join the Federation and made anime mandatory, even if they dont have eyes. That way, they will learn about the power of friendship.
Probably should of mentioned the Omega Directive and how it relates to the Prime Directive.
And many officers since have bend that Directive when it came to saving lives, I get not giving them technology that they aren't ready for or would understand but letting them die over natural selection isn't benevolent.
Natural selection is occurring all the time in an alien ecosystem. Starfleet couldn't prevent every extinction even if it wanted to. Unfortunately the show almost always depicts aliens as essentially humans, so prime directive-driven decisions unavoidably appear monstrous by our 21st century standards.
I have issue with names like "General Order nr 1" or "Prime Directive".
First sounds too militaristic for "peaceful and exploratory Starfleet", while "General" is too... general?
Second sounds too much like Corpo talk, like something that should guide Starfleet to achive certain that thing rather forbid them to do something.
Since starfleet is the military arm of the UFP, it makes sense they would use terms common within Earth’s military (General Order) as Earth is the HQ of the UFP and by extension Starfleet
I have to admit that I'm a Chakotayist when it comes to the Prime Directive. My moral code will not let me stand by while evil is being done. I have ignored this principle in the past and I live the consequences of that lapse to this day. There comes a point where you MUST draw a line and say, "This far, but no further!" or else you fail to get the correct answer to the trolley problem when you could've actually made a difference. Your own humanity is risked every time that voice cries out for justice, and you still stand there and do nothing. What's even the point, in that case?
Maybe because you're framing PD scenarios around aliens that look & behave like humans. If it were a more realistic alien world with millions of different species, none of which look or act remotely human, would you go out of your way to save every single species from dying out....from algae up to alien dolphins? If rising temperatures on a planet wipe out a species of fish, is that an evil that requires outside intervention?
...And then there is the Temporal Prime Directive...
Don't forget about The Omega Directive
"I'm a citizen of the UFP, but I'm not with Starfleet. I didn't swear any oaths to uphold your Prime Directive. F your General Order 1, I'm going to help these people!"
Who am I?
The problem with the prime directive, is that it’s completely unenforceable there explorations and presence they just do that because they don’t have the manpower for all the planets and they’re a space fearing civilization
To a large extent, true. The PD is a moot point for planets that lie in the crossroads of other spacefaring civs that don't refrain from interference. This is why Kirk was able to offer the Organians in "Errand of Mercy" wide-ranging social & technological assistance.
Imagine the tables being turned and an advanced species arived in Earth orbit in 1940. And then they decide to stop the RAF from introducing leaded fuel, because of the environmental and mental hazard it poses.
Sidenote: leaded fuel was necessary for the RAF to make the Merlin competetive with german Engines, giving the Spitfire about 200 much needed horsepowers.
The RUclips Friendly LOL. You should do a video on every time in cannon it was broken.
SCIENCE!!!
Im curious what your throughts are about Robert Beltran's comments on the Prime Directive. He had some pretty strong views on it.
It all started with that damn gorilla…