Re: "Regeneration" revisited: Color me impressed, this one's a real th
Yeah exactly. According to the episodes logic, curing any disease of any population is preventing "natural extinction" and btw, isn't Star Trek about using technology to overcome the worst parts of nature and living in a higher state of society?
Why didn't Phlox say this about the Klingons he helped cure in the last season? :P
The Prime Directive is designed to protect the Federation from causing problems for itself later down the road. Note that the Prime Directive does not apply to non-native species, and also member planets. The idea is to prevent starship captains from potentally causing a problem for the Federation. Be it in one year, a hundred years, and a million years.
Yeah but the Prime Directive changes based on the episode, and the main characters throw it away to begin with. It makes no sense and doesn't usually succeed in adding ethical dilemmas that make sense. They just confuse the audience.
Actually the episode goes out of its way to show a distinction between what a Doctor does, and what Phlox's issues were.
He would have absolutely helped them if there was no other sentient race that was having (in his scientific opinion) it's potential evolutionary growth stopped by another, when that "other" culture was naturally at the end of it's existence.
The Klingon issue was decidedly different.
I like the fact that the choice is so controversial. That it brings into question, how unprepared Archer, and humanity itself is in making choices that are on such a large and long term scale.
i like that the audience can think it was a terrible choice, even Archer admits that he thinks its wrong. Now I could have done without the line about the "Directive", but at the heart of the issue Archer isn't prepared to make a choice that could have such huge ramifications eons after he is dust.
He played it safe, and for the fans with expectations for the Captain to find some way to save the day, its a bold and solid choice. it plays into the fact that these people are basically on their own, making it up as they go along, and have no long term experience to base choices on.
i mean sure we already saw in fight or Flight the crew and the Captain make a choice that the other Captains would never have made. Before Archer is so ashamed that he turns the ship around. But that shouldn't happen all the time. Sure some times archer and Company should get it right straight out of the box, others they should struggle and get to what we feel is the moral correct choice, and other times, they should struggle and make what we feel is the wrong choice. This is the show that should be doing that.
