some people have been going on about the prime directive and i was wondering when its ok to break it and when its not!
The perfect example of this is of course the captain know as Janeway! with the caretaker

It's Ok to break it in defence of the life of an innocent victim, to prevent massive colateral damage. Like Janeway.

Not Ok to break it cause some little idiot got himself sentenced to death for braking the law. Like Picard with Crusher.

Of course, there's always the odd dillema like Archer and the planet of the apes...

Do you mean if the law itself (in theory) always applies or are you asking wheter we think it is ok to break that law in certain circumstances.

If it is the first then the answer is 'no'. Simply because the Prime Directive is targetted at primitive pre-warp civilisations. It doesn't apply to spacefaring civilisations. Furthermore there are other laws overruling the prime directive. The Omega Directive, for instance, overrules the Prime Directive.

Thus as a fact: the Prime direcive does not always apply.


If you are wondering wheter it is ok to break the law, I'd say it isn't. Look at the incident with the Baku (ST: Insurrection) and the examples CVN stated.
I still do not think that destroying the caretaker is a breach with the Prime Directive, btw!

Archer realy had no dilemma, btw! Since the Prime Directive didn't even exist when he faced that problem. Spoken of which... I wouldn't be surprised if the entire prime directive was his idea!

lucky archer!!!!!!! but didnt he think it up? im sure he did in an episode ???

asking if you think it is ok to break that law in certain circumstances

Didn't T'Pol, at the end of that ep, say something like; one day your societly will make laws to govern these encounters. Maybe he took her advice as you say.

Also, don't forget Picards little joy-ride in the Argo (Nemesis)
Now THAT's the kind of thing to court-marshall

lol, i'd have loved doing that

Naw, the Feds stole it from the Vulcans, like just about everything else they have. Anyway, as I recall the only good idea Archer had was to sacrifice his puny life on the Xindi weapon, and he couldn't even get that right



Anywho:

"As the right of each sentient species to live in accordance with its normal cultural evolution is considered sacred, no Starfleet personnel may interfere with the normal and healthy development of alien life and culture. Such interference includes introducing superior knowledge, strength, or technology to a world whose society is incapable of handling such advantages wisely. Starfleet personnel may not violate this Prime Directive, even to save their lives and/or their ship, unless they are acting to right an earlier violation or an accidental contamination of said culture. This directive takes precedence over any and all other considerations, and carries with it the highest moral obligation."

A nice little loophole there - "unless they are acting to right an earlier violation or an accidental contamination". Its suggesting that an 'accidental contamination' could happen, so if you ever broke it you could always try saying "oops"

I think it was Archer who said that: "One day, our society blabla..."

About the topic, i think the answer would be NO. The Prime Directive works (in my opinion) as a paramether. Captains in first contacts or contacts with already known pre-warp civilizations must have the Prime Directive in mind all the time. But, if the situation requires it, the captain should act according to the best interest of the civilization and, if possible, his crew and ship.
My two cents ^^

I mean it's actualy suprising how many PD violations they do. You'd think it was easy enough NOT to come into contact with a pre-warp, since... Erm... They don't have warp-ships

Being such a cardinal regulation that must appear relatively infrequently, you'd also think that as soon as a ship captain saw any sign of a pre-warp society, he'd sit down and re-read all the 47 PD articles again.

Or, alternatively, take an oversized buggy and an away team on a joy-ride

just watched nemise and picard broke prime directive in first 30min lol