TOS Non-Interference Directive versus Prime Directive?

[Robert Comsol]

Inspired by recent discussions in the “general section”, retcon influence, and in general allegations I read that the TOS protagonists rather violated than upheld the Prime Directive, I felt compelled to take another look at what we actually do know about the Prime Directive of the TOS era and what we can conclude from the information provided in the episodes.

The implementing regulations may have gotten stricter by the 24th Century to the point where a Vulcan first contact philosophy had finally suceeded (no contact before warp capability), but our TOS protagonists cannot possibly be hold responsible for that (although it could partially explain why Spock and Sarek fell out.
Maybe Spock chose a Starfleet career because on an Earth ship he had more opportunities to interact with less-advanced cultures than on a vessel operated by the Vulcan Science Academy).

Interestingly, “prime directive” was mentioned the first time in “Return of the Archons” (# 22) but in a completely different context:

LANDRU: Your statement is irrelevant. You will be obliterated. The good of the Body is the prime directive.
KIRK: Then I put it to you that you have disobeyed the prime directive. You are harmful to the Body.

Apparently, the term somehow stuck to the TOS producers, as it is rather obvious, that the Prime Directive, as we come to understood it, didn’t yet exist in their minds.

In the next episode Captain Kirk also freed the citizens of Eminiar VII from the computers that were controlling their fate (“A Taste of Armageddon”).
On Beta III Landru had been in control for approx. 6,000 years, on Eminiar VII the computers had send people into disintegration boxes for 500 years, both cultures had essentially become stagnant and dependent on A.I. control.

Although “Errand of Mercy” (# 27) didn’t make any references to the TOS Prime Directive, it looked like a violation of the Prime Directive (suspended for planets in a conflict zone?) but Spock’s report sounded like a relief (and possible exception):

SPOCK: Captain, our information on these people and their culture was not correct. This is not a primitive society making progress toward mechanisation. They are totally stagnant. There is no evidence of any progress as far back as my tricorder can register.
KIRK: That doesn't seem likely.
SPOCK: Nevertheless, it is true. For tens of thousands of years, there has been absolutely no advancement, no significant change in their physical environment. This is a laboratory specimen of an arrested culture.

Assuming Spock’s observations retroactively applied to Beta III and Eminiar VII and the yet to come Gamma Trianguli VI in “The Apple” (# 38), Kirk didn’t violate the Prime Directive because of the aforementioned exceptions.

But none of these exceptions applied to Capella IV in “Friday’s Child” (# 32). The Capellans were obviously nomadic tribes with swords and knives.
However, probability is high that their planet fell under the stipulations of the Organian Peace Treaty, according to which “one side or the other must prove it can develop the planet most efficiently.” (“The Trouble With Tribbles”).
I think it’s highly unlikely that the Organians volunteered as arbitrators to decide which side had the better claim, and it was probably the decision of the indigenous leaders, such as suggested in “Friday’s Child”.
Spock considered Sherman’s Planet was undeveloped and the Federation’s key to winning this planet was the grain quadrotriticale, thus, it stands to reason that food shortage was an issue for its native population. Apparently, the Organian Peace Treaty suspended the application of the Prime Directive for disputed planets and less-advanced civilizations.

“Bread and Circuses” (# 43) revealed the basics of the Prime Directive:

SPOCK: Then the Prime Directive is in full force, Captain?
KIRK: No identification of self or mission. No interference with the social development of said planet.
MCCOY: No references to space, or the fact that there are other worlds, or more advanced civilisations.

(TAS General Order # 1: No starship may interfere with the normal development of any alien life or society.)

Curiously, six episodes later (“A Piece of the Action”), our protagonists do not refer to the Prime Directive, but instead to the “Non-Interference Directive”:

KIRK: The Horizon's contact came before the Non-Interference Directive went into effect.
MCCOY: They must have interfered with the normal evolution of the planet.
SPOCK: It will be interesting to see the results of the contamination.
KIRK: We don't know there is contamination. The evidence is only circumstantial.
MCCOY: What was the state of the Iotian culture before the Horizon came?
KIRK: The beginnings of industrialisation.

„Prime Directive“(the highest directive) had been established a couple of episodes earlier and now it’s just the „Non-Interference Directive“(i.e. one of many). Did continuity guru Bob Justman have another bad day, or are they actually talking about a predecessor to the Prime Directive?

I think that is the inevitable conclusion, because otherwise the mere fact that a younger McCoy spent a few months on Capella IV (before the conflict with the Klingons and the Organian Peace Treaty!) would be quite a violation of the Prime Directive, just as Kirk’s friendship with the indigenous leader Tyree (“A Private Little War”) on the planet Neural.

From “Friday’s Child” (# 32):
KIRK: We need our communicators, those devices on our belts. If there's a Klingon ship somewhere
AKAAR: The sky does not interest me. I must consider the words I have heard.

From “A Private Little War” (# 45):
KIRK: We're simply strangers from
NONA: From one of the lights in the sky, and you have ways as far above firesticks as the sky above our world.
TYREE: You will not speak of this to others. (understanding the intention of the Prime Directive and/or having given Kirk his “promise of silence”).

Further, notice that Kirk “recommended” not interfering with the social development, which doesn’t sound like the rigid Prime Directive which apparently leaves little room for recommendations:

KIRK: No interference with normal social development. I'm not only aware of it, it was my survey thirteen years ago that recommended it.
MCCOY: I read it. Inhabitants superior in many ways to humans. Left alone, they undoubtedly someday will develop a remarkably advanced and peaceful culture.

In episode # 52 (“Patterns of Force”), we learn that Kirk’s instructor at the Starfleet Academy, Professor John Gill, had been sent to the Planet Ekos a “few years” earlier as a cultural observer, but not to interfere.
Asked by Kirk why he did, Gill responded:

GILL: Planet fragmented. Divided. Took lesson from Earth history.
KIRK: But why Nazi Germany? You studied history. You knew what the Nazis were.
GILL: Most efficient state Earth ever knew.
GILL: I was wrong. The non-interference directive is the only way.

Again, a reference to the “non-interference directive” and the suggestion, that the “Prime Directive” is apparently rather young by the time of TOS, probably not older than six years (destruction of the SS Beagle in “Bread and Circuses”, reference to “oath regarding non-interference with other societies”, commendation that Scotty obeyed the Prime Directive).

But just two episodes after “Patterns of Force” we are back again to the “Prime Directive” in “The Omega Glory”:

A growing belief that Captain Tracey has been interfering with the evolution of life on this planet. It seems impossible. A star captain's most solemn oath is that he will give his life, even his entire crew, rather than violate the Prime Directive.

Since Captain Tracey and his landing party showed up on Omega IV in standard uniforms with field equipment it stands to reason (just as in “Bread and Circuses”) that this itself didn’t constitute a violation of the Prime Directive but Tracey assuming a leadership position among the natives and revealing to these how phasers work.

Captain Merik violated the Prime Directive, too (telling the proconsul of that Roman planet about alien worlds, explaining why he immediately could identify Spock as a Vulcan), but in his case the impact is probably negligible as the proconsul himself was keen on shielding the knowledge from his citizens, yet Kirk makes a rather big fuzz about it (although he did the same to some extent on the planet Neural as Tyree obviously knew where Kirk had come from).

Summary:

• The Prime Directive is the successor of the older Non-Interference Directive, which apparently was essentially a recommendation but not yet a rigid rule.
• There is no evidence, that Kirk and crew ever violated the Prime Directive. Kirk and McCoy’s original interaction with the natives on Neural and Capella IV was probably in accordance with the tolerance limits of the earlier Non-Interference Directive.
• According to Spock in “A Private Little War” the use of phasers against the natives of a planet was “expressly forbidden” (presumably only allowed as a defense against indigenous animals like the Mugato – and probably based on Kirk’s own and earlier recommendation! ), thus it’s only Kirk’s reflex to draw his phaser when being fired upon in “Bread and Circuses” that would beg for explanation.

Bob

 

[Timo]

I don't quite understand why Eminiar would be exempt from the rule above. It's not unnaturally stagnated, save perhaps for being stuck in doing a certain type of warfare and foreign policy for a few centuries. But the Klingon Empire and indeed the Federation can be argued to be that, and Earth for certain has spent centuries or millennia doing the same stupid thing...

As for the nature of the General Order 1 at the time, I doubt the wording in "Bread and Circuses" really gives any meaningful hints. Spock would only quote the parts relevant to the mission, the ones that both kick in when the PD applies "in full" and apply to landing party conduct.

Significantly, nothing in TOS suggests that primitive cultures categorically should not be communicated with. It seems to be more an exception than a rule that Starfleet or the Federation would refrain from contacting their technological and scientific inferiors; indeed, it is an occasion specifically worth pointing out when the PD is in full force regarding a culture of any sort!

And why is the PD in full force in "Bread and Circuses"?

McCoy: "Jim, is there anything at all we know about this planet?"
Kirk: "The SS Beagle was the first ship to make a survey of this star sector when it disappeared."
Spock: "Then the Prime Directive is in full force, Captain?"

So the Prime Directive begins to matter solely because our heroes don't know anything about the planet! This apparently does not apply to any of the primitive worlds our heroes exposed themselves to in the other episodes.

Seems Starfleet simply errs on the side of caution when intel is missing, but moves on to more active strategies once the basic facts are known.

yet Kirk makes a rather big fuzz about it

Well, he would, if that's how he best gets to arrest Merrick. Clearly, the directive, whatever its name, doesn't require a Starfleet officer to speak the truth with natives...

Timo Saloniemi

 

[Robert Comsol]

I don't quite understand why Eminiar would be exempt from the rule above. It's not unnaturally stagnated, save perhaps for being stuck in doing a certain type of warfare and foreign policy for a few centuries.

FOX: Captain, in the past twenty years, thousands of lives have been lost in this quadrant. Lives that could have been saved if the Federation had a treaty port here. We mean to have that port and I'm here to get it.
KIRK: By disregarding code seven-ten, you might well involve us in an interplanetary war.

It never became clear why and how "thousands of lives" were lost in this (TOS) quadrant with Eminiar VII (and Vendikar aka Eminiar III?) possibly being the only inhabited planets in a larger interstellar void.

Almost sounded like a Bermuda Triangle to me and I can't shake that feeling, that the "evil" computers were programmed to label any alien vessel arriving on either of the two planets as a target that got eventually destroyed.

In this case the people ... computers ... on Eminiar III and VII would have been the ones to have thrown the first stone and Kirk's "interference" merely put an end to that.

As for the nature of the General Order 1 at the time, I doubt the wording in "Bread and Circuses" really gives any meaningful hints. Spock would only quote the parts relevant to the mission, the ones that both kick in when the PD applies "in full" and apply to landing party conduct.

Spock asked the question and next Kirk and McCoy quoted the regulation. I may be wrong but was there a hint of sarcasm in their voices? Like I tried to illustrate, both Kirk and Spock had interfered with our cultures in their younger days under the Non-Interference Directive, so it sounded a little like "...yada-yada-yada" to me.

And why is the PD in full force in "Bread and Circuses"?

McCoy: "Jim, is there anything at all we know about this planet?"
Kirk: "The SS Beagle was the first ship to make a survey of this star sector when it disappeared."
Spock: "Then the Prime Directive is in full force, Captain?"

So the Prime Directive begins to matter solely because our heroes don't know anything about the planet! This apparently does not apply to any of the primitive worlds our heroes exposed themselves to in the other episodes.

Yes. However, once the damage has already been done (e.g. "A Piece of the Action", "A Private Little War") measures taken to undo that damage are apparently acceptable.

yet Kirk makes a rather big fuzz about it

Well, he would, if that's how he best gets to arrest Merrick. Clearly, the directive, whatever its name, doesn't require a Starfleet officer to speak the truth with natives...

Yes, but here Kirk is a bit hypocritical from a retroactive point of view. Basically in episode # 43 he criticizes a guy for all the things he had been doing himself in episode # 45 with his native friend Tyree.

In both cases, him and Merik volunteered information about the world "above" to an alien individual who fortunately wouldn't pass this kind of knowledge on to somebody else.

Kirk's doing was okay because it apparently occurred under the Non-Interference Directive 13 years earlier, Merik's doing was inacceptable because the Prime Directive had become effective prior to his arrival on the Roman planet 6 years earlier.

IMHO, the only one entitled to hold Merik a lecture would have been Spock, because McCoy had already spoiled the Capellans.

Oh, wait a minute. While Kirk was getting buddy-buddy with Tyree, Spock got himself an injured leg while getting trapped inside a deserted fortress with Captain Pike on Rigel VII. Looks like he, too, interfered with a less-advanced species there.

Bob

 

[T'Girl]

SPOCK: Then the Prime Directive is in full force, Captain?

Spock question suggests that there are time when the PD isn't in "full force,"and also that it up to the Captain to determine when it is and when it isn't. And to what degree?

probability is high that their planet fell under the stipulations of the Organian Peace Treaty, according to which “one side or the other must prove it can develop the planet most efficiently.”

My feel is that the "develop the planet most efficiently" thing applied to planets without sapient life, and not worlds with indigenous populations.

Apparently, the Organian Peace Treaty suspended the application of the Prime Directive for disputed planets and less-advanced civilizations.

Disputed planets yes, less-advanced civilizations I don't think so.

Kirk “recommended” not interfering with the social development

Which suggests (again) that there are levels and degrees to the PD. It isn't "all or nothing."

Captain Tracey

Captain Tracey said that he was going to (probably did) interact with the village native leadership openly, so the PD wasn't in full force.

Spock chose a Starfleet career because on an Earth ship he had more opportunities to interact with less-advanced cultures than on a vessel operated by the Vulcan Science Academy

Interesting idea.

on Eminiar VII the computers had send people into disintegration boxes for 500 years

While the computer were selecting people to die (people in the area of the "attack?") I don't believe they were overtly in control of things. It was societal pressure that drove the selected into the death chambers. I do wonder if they also had "Sandmen" for those who refused?

he Prime Directive is the successor of the older Non-Interference Directive, which apparently was essentially a recommendation but not yet a rigid rule.

In the 23rd century, the PD is subject to constant change and revision. Starfleet and the Council kept fiddling with it trying (unsuccessfully) to get it perfect.

I don't quite understand why Eminiar would be exempt from the rule above.

Political pressure.

Significantly, nothing in TOS suggests that primitive cultures categorically should not be communicated with.

The PD might really be the exception, and not the rule. Certain the "full force" version.

Janeway's interpretation might be in some ways be the best, no transfer of advanced technology.

 

[BillJ]

Janeway said there were 47 subsections to the Prime Directive. So obviously it isn't an 'all or nothing' rule. Even excluding that reference, it's obvious that there is an incredible amount of nuance to the rule and that starship commanders have a great deal of latitude when dealing with less advanced cultures.

 

[Timo]

In this case the people ... computers ... on Eminiar III and VII would have been the ones to have thrown the first stone and Kirk's "interference" merely put an end to that.

I can appreciate that - but the PD should stop Kirk from putting anything to local affairs, be it ends or beginnings or middles. If refraining from doing anything meant dying, then he should die; that much was clear from "Omega Glory". Eminiar still doesn't appear exempt from the non-interference clause by any standard.

However, once the damage has already been done (e.g. "A Piece of the Action", "A Private Little War") measures taken to undo that damage are apparently acceptable.

In both of those episodes, parties associated with the UFP apparently did manage to report back (Kirk knows about Sigma Iotia thanks to the Horizon, he has personal experience from an earlier mission to this planet that may or may not be called Neural), so that would preempt the "Bread and Circuses" reason for applying PD in full.

Yes, but here Kirk is a bit hypocritical from a retroactive point of view. Basically in episode # 43 he criticizes a guy for all the things he had been doing himself in episode # 45 with his native friend Tyree.

Indeed so, if we assume that "interfering with the affairs of others" is defined as speaking with others about anything at all. But it might well be that interference is defined as taking an active role in local politics, and Kirk supposedly didn't do that on Tyree's planet. He probably didn't "interfere" even on Capella until he got a treaty signed with the locals; the negotiations and the fight with the Klingon would be activities unrelated to interference, and even saving a child's life might be exempt from PD bans, never mind whether he or she grows up to be High Teer or Low Haar.

In both cases, him and Merik volunteered information about the world "above" to an alien individual who fortunately wouldn't pass this kind of knowledge on to somebody else.

But that as such need not have been Merrick's violation of the Prime Directive, considering how Kirk only cared about volunteering information once, in this episode where the PD uniquely was in "full" force.

Of course, Merrick's ship and crew may have studied the planet to some degree, meaning that for them, the PD would not be in full force...

And never mind that he and his crew were civilians. The TOS rules actually appear stricter than the TNG ones, as civilians in TNG were not charged with PD violations - significantly in "Angel One" where their interference was actually sanctioned by the PD, and also in "Homeward" where the only reason Nikolai Rodzhenko was bound to honor the PD was because Picard had specifically told him to.

Janeway said there were 47 subsections to the Prime Directive. So obviously it isn't an 'all or nothing' rule. Even excluding that reference, it's obvious that there is an incredible amount of nuance to the rule and that starship commanders have a great deal of latitude when dealing with less advanced cultures.

I'd also argue that the nuanced rule goes by many different names. Non-Interference Directive and Prime Directive may be synonyms, while General Order 1 may read "Starfleet personnel must obey the Prime Directive at all times", etc.

We don't really hear of other Starfleet Directives at any point in TOS, but General Orders abound. So perhaps the Directives are civilian rules, applying to all aspects of the UFP society (much like EU Directives tell how member nations must adjust their local legislation to meet EU ideals and standards).

TNG adds the Temporal Prime Directive and the Omega Directive, but those, too, would have an impact across the entire society, and thus might be civilian rules. Okay, then there's the "In The Flesh" Directive 010 that speaks of combat and seems to be a Starfleet rule...

FWIW, it might also be that starships in certain eras are more distanced from the home base than in others. In TOS, starship missions might have ranged far while communications were slow; in TNG, distances might be greater but communications faster in relation, so TNG actually has Picard less distanced from his bosses than Kirk ever was, hence under stricter supervision.

Timo Saloniemi

 

[Robert Comsol]

SPOCK: Then the Prime Directive is in full force, Captain?

Spock question suggests that there are time when the PD isn't in "full force,"and also that it up to the Captain to determine when it is and when it isn't. And to what degree?

"Full force" apparently means

• No identification of self or mission
• No interference with the social development of said planet
• No references to space, or the fact that there are other worlds, or more advanced civilisations

In "A Piece of the Action" it was apparently the captain's choice how to proceed. The damage ("contamination") had been done by the Horizon crew. How widespread is the damage? Will the native society eventually correct it itself? Does it require participation of Starfleet personnel to put things "back on track"?

In "Bread and Circuses" we saw an advanced 20th Century Roman society. Did they believe in aliens, had they been visited by other aliens before? We don't know how many TV broadcasts the experts on the Enterprise watched to evaluate this particular society (more advanced than a medieval one in a certain manner of speaking), but I think Spock's question was valid and appropriate.

Somehow the aforementioned "three Nos" rather sound to me like the architects of these rules had cultures in mind less advanced than our 20th Century.

In this case the people ... computers ... on Eminiar III and VII would have been the ones to have thrown the first stone and Kirk's "interference" merely put an end to that.

I can appreciate that - but the PD should stop Kirk from putting anything to local affairs, be it ends or beginnings or middles. If refraining from doing anything meant dying, then he should die; that much was clear from "Omega Glory". Eminiar still doesn't appear exempt from the non-interference clause by any standard.

That's where I have to disagree. There was no "social development", they had become totally stagnant, and already knew very well about "space" and "other worlds" (at least from the USS Valiant 50 years earlier).
Besides, the civilization on Eminiar VII appeared to be on an average 22nd or 23rd Century technical level.

Indeed so, if we assume that "interfering with the affairs of others" is defined as speaking with others about anything at all. But it might well be that interference is defined as taking an active role in local politics, and Kirk supposedly didn't do that on Tyree's planet. He probably didn't "interfere" even on Capella until he got a treaty signed with the locals; the negotiations and the fight with the Klingon would be activities unrelated to interference, and even saving a child's life might be exempt from PD bans, never mind whether he or she grows up to be High Teer or Low Haar.

Yes, regarding Captain Tracey in "The Omega Glory" I think it was obvious that his active role in local politics constituted a violation of the Prime Directive.

With Merik in "Bread and Circuses" the issue is somewhat obfuscated, IMHO. He had assumed a status of an imperial advisor of sorts but otherwise seemed pretty powerless.

Non-Interference Directive and Prime Directive may be synonyms, while General Order 1 may read "Starfleet personnel must obey the Prime Directive at all times", etc.

I don't think they can be synonyms for the reasons I mentioned in the first post.

• No references to space, or the fact that there are other worlds, or more advanced civilisations

The Capellans probably knew that McCoy was from outer space (he didn't dress or look like the average Capellan) and Kirk had taken Tyree into his confidence 13 years earlier.

Apparently admitted by the earlier "Non-Interference Directive", then, but strictly prohibited by the Prime Directive, "now".

And General Order 1 was quoted in "The Magicks of Megas-Tu":

KIRK: The records of the Enterprise are open for your inspection. All the history of Earth and the Federation is at your disposal. Look, look at General Order number One. No starship may interfere with the normal development of any alien life or society. Compare that with the Earth you once knew.

(Put simply, first there has to be "development" and second it has to be "normal" in order to merit protection from the TOS and TAS Prime Directive)

Bob

 

[LMFAOschwarz]

The Prime Directive, or whatever variation of it is mentioned, cannot possibly apply across the board to everyone starships encounter. In a conventional sense, it's understandable if one thinks of new life as being people living on planets. I see no reason, for example, why one of those weird energy-based creatures they encounter might be ignorant of other life in the universe. Should it not be investigated? What if some civilization had never left its home world, yet had an array of unmanned craft exploring the unknown? Should a starship conceal itself from the probes' cameras?

My point is that there are just too many variations in what is called 'life' for a single rule to apply to. And if (according to The Next Generation) the Prime Directive doesn't apply to non-Federation ships...then what's the point?

I accept the stories told as told: however, realistically, I ask myself these questions.

 

[Timo]

There was no "social development", they had become totally stagnant

There was nothing holding back social development - no Landru, no Vaal, no drugs or alien psychoparalysis fields. If the rule indeed says "whenever you feel the locals are slacking, please interfere", it's a frighteningly despotic one...

In other words, it's not a non-inteference rule if any state of affairs differing from Earth's own development requires interference. It's an obligatory-without-exceptions-interference rule!

I don't think they can be synonyms for the reasons I mentioned in the first post.

• No references to space, or the fact that there are other worlds, or more advanced civilisations

But that applies to the rare "full force" situation, and in itself demonstrates that the rule is actually a long list of sub-clauses. Since activities taken under the "non-interference rule", "Prime Directive" and "General Order 1" all take different forms in different episodes, we could just as well bunch them up as one and the same thing, with nuances.

And if (according to The Next Generation) the Prime Directive doesn't apply to non-Federation ships...then what's the point?

The point could always have been a simple one: starship skippers are already way too powerful for anybody's good, so they and they alone have to be put on a short leash by imposing harsh rules. Harry Mudd can only wreak so much havoc with his sales pitches; Kirk can destroy a continent if he thinks that would best wake a planet from its stagnation.


In this model, the PD only protects planets and civilizations indirectly, almost incidentally. Chiefly, it protects the Federation, by keeping its warriors from turning their strategic weapons against UFP interests.


(This means that Kirk's arguments in trying to secure the extradition of Merrick would be complete bull. I can forgive him that, considering what he knew Merrick had done to his own crew.)



Timo Saloniemi

 

[Robert Comsol]

There was nothing holding back social development - no Landru, no Vaal, no drugs or alien psychoparalysis fields. If the rule indeed says "whenever you feel the locals are slacking, please interfere", it's a frighteningly despotic one...

Of course, that's not what the rule says in reverse, it's merely a hint that in "A Taste of Armageddon" the Prime Directive was not in "full force".

Again, judging by the wording in "Bread and Circuses" it apparently applies to a) less advanced cultures which, understandably, have not yet mastered space travel and b) therefore couldn't possibly pose a threat to Federation interests.

In the case of Eminiar VII that was different. We know at least that the Valiant was destroyed and its crew killed. Possibly the inhabitants of the Eminiar star system were also responsible for the disappearance of thousands of space travelers.

In short, the two planets had characteristics of pirate hideouts along interstellar commercial lanes. In earlier times any naval commander had a clear job description: Pound 'em and hang 'em.
Thus Kirk giving General Order 24 was somewhat in the best of naval traditions since the leaders of Eminiar VII weren't considering to abandon their practices.

I don't think they can be synonyms for the reasons I mentioned in the first post.

• No references to space, or the fact that there are other worlds, or more advanced civilisations

But that applies to the rare "full force" situation, and in itself demonstrates that the rule is actually a long list of sub-clauses. Since activities taken under the "non-interference rule", "Prime Directive" and "General Order 1" all take different forms in different episodes, we could just as well bunch them up as one and the same thing, with nuances.

Didn't you suggest that the "full force" situation is usually applied when it's a planet that's visited for the very first time?

Yet, Kirk became friend with a native leader ("A Private Little War"), obviously told him he came from the stars but eventually recommended "No interference with normal social development."

The "full force" of the Prime Directive expects Kirk not to tell anybody where he came from and not to interfere with normal social development, so why was he even in a position to "recommend" this, unless the original "Non-Interference Directive" was not synonymous with the later Prime Directive?

I think the original TOS concept was hinting a credible evolution towards the Prime Directive (which has somehow gotten lost in the GUT view of things):

22nd Century: Starship captains (e.g. Horizon) are encouraged to provide less advanced civilizations with scientific knowledge to speed up the process ("contamination"). It's expected that the less advanced civilizations will later reveal gratitude and become members and partners of the UFP.

This concept backfired and let to the creation of the "Non-Interference Directive"

late 22nd / early 23rd Century: Starship captains are encoraged to survey and examine the less advanced civilizations. Interaction with influential local leaders is permitted to evaluate prospects how advanced knowledge might impact such a society. Starship captains will make recommendations whether aforementioned civilization should receive assistance or not (e.g. Kirk on Neural - the planet was named in the screenplay! - and McCoy on Capella IV.

Apparently, that wasn't a good thing either, thus

mid 23rd Century: Implementation of the Prime Directive, interference with the normal social development of a less advanced civilization is prohibited, unless exonerating reasons can be provided (e.g. conflict zone, no normal social development etc.)

Bob

 

[Timo]

In short, the two planets had characteristics of pirate hideouts along interstellar commercial lanes. In earlier times any naval commander had a clear job description: Pound 'em and hang 'em.
Thus Kirk giving General Order 24 was somewhat in the best of naval traditions since the leaders of Eminiar VII weren't considering to abandon their practices.

In any other space adventure, this would be so. But in Trek, this would ignore the very issue of the non-interference directive, which stops heroes from being heroic in that manner. If the locals threaten the lives of Starfleet personnel, the correct course for Starfleet personnel is to withdraw. If withdrawal is not an option, then the mandated course of action is to die! And while civilians would not be required to give their lives, they could well be told to stay away from this risky area of space, or else face the consequences.

If Eminiar forms an exception to the rule, it invalidates the rule altogether.

Didn't you suggest that the "full force" situation is usually applied when it's a planet that's visited for the very first time?

More exactly, it would apply when intelligence is woefully lacking. This would cease to be a problem after, say, a couple of weeks of covert surveillance, which may well be what preceded the Tyree revelations.

Hit-and-run type exploration that doesn't allow for any groundwork surveillance is not what we see Kirk perform. He doesn't idly survey strange new life and civilizations, like, ever: that apparently is the job for other ships. Kirk puts out fires, rushing in to respond to distress calls or other signs of distress ("Bread and Circuses", "Paradise Syndrome"), or old mysteries ("Return of the Archons"), or to extract UFP operatives ("Patterns of Force"). Or then he stumbles upon civilizations when expecting to either find none, or to be able to steer clear of them (say, "The Apple", but also "Return of the Archons", "Omega Glory" and the like).

Kirk's first visit to Tyree's planet is never indicated to have been Starfleet's first, mind you. His second is suggested to be "scientific research", or that's what is mentioned as the apparent context when the Klingons arrive, but it could well be in a series of missions exploiting early intel on how not to interfere. In "Bread and Circuses", such intel would be missing - heck, our heroes don't even have a name for the planet they find, beyond "planet four"!

I think the original TOS concept was hinting a credible evolution towards the Prime Directive

...In light of which TNG just adds the fourth level: all interference with all other civilizations courts disaster, and general isolationism thus is preferred. Information must be obtained by covert means only.

It's TNG "First Contact" that first really "redefines" the history of the non-interference approach, by establishing that "centuries" prior, thus in pre-TOS times, a rushed contact with Klingons led to a disaster, and the PD (or its possible predecessor) was the way to prevent further such disasters. Since it subsequently becomes clear that Klingons weren't primitives at that era, a further redefining takes place: early PD becomes the same as TNG PD in intent and content.

Yet we could say that this is just Picard seeing things through 24th century glasses (or insincerely wearing those glasses in order to make the right impression on the aliens he's spying on). Or we could widen the scope of the "centuries" involved and refer to an ancient contact (by Vulcans, quite probably) that launched the primitive and planet-bound Klingons on a galactic conquest spree. Either way, early PD could still have been different in both intent and content, and nothing need contradict TOSor the evolution model thereof.

It's ENT that first strongly suggests otherwise, then. And not explicitly, because it adheres to there having been no PD or PD-analogue back int he 2150s yet. It's merely implicit in the demonstration of a Vulcan PD that is the same as the TNG PD. And we still could argue that the conservatively human-led UFP only adopted the Vulcan version in the 24th century, and the evolution from TOS held true.

Timo Saloniemi

 

[Robert Comsol]

In any other space adventure, this would be so. But in Trek, this would ignore the very issue of the non-interference directive, which stops heroes from being heroic in that manner. If the locals threaten the lives of Starfleet personnel, the correct course for Starfleet personnel is to withdraw. If withdrawal is not an option, then the mandated course of action is to die! And while civilians would not be required to give their lives, they could well be told to stay away from this risky area of space, or else face the consequences.

If Eminiar forms an exception to the rule, it invalidates the rule altogether.

The wording according to "Bread and Circuses" makes it rather clear that the Prime Directive had been designed to protect less advanced cultures, namely those that don't have the faintest ideas about alien worlds (and could be tempted to worship our heroes as gods and else).

Spock's question in "Bread and Circuses" (i.e. is the Prime Directive in "full force" for the Roman planet?) suggested that with a late 20th Century development stage such a culture could be advanced enough to accept the concept of alien life on other worlds.

Obviously, the inhabitants of Eminiar VII were even more advanced than the Roman planet, posessed weaponry (i.e. technology) to "totally disrupt" an orbiting spacecraft and showed no interest whatsoever in Federation technology or science or exchange of any sort (maybe their contact with the Valiant revealed there wasn't much to be learned from the Federation).

I'd say that the Prime Directive was not applicable. Whether Kirk had the right to interfere or not in their domestic matters is another issue.
But like I said, possibility is high that the Eminiar star system started the interstellar conflict by seizing space vessels and killing its crews.

Kirk's first visit to Tyree's planet is never indicated to have been Starfleet's first, mind you. His second is suggested to be "scientific research", or that's what is mentioned as the apparent context when the Klingons arrive, but it could well be in a series of missions exploiting early intel on how not to interfere.

Well, then Starfleet should have probably sent a starship not commanded by James T. Kirk.

I think the episode tells us more than once, that Kirk was the first to ever survey the planet and eventually make his recommendation to put the Prime Directive into "full force" or contribute to its actual and final wording (!):

SPOCK: Aside from that, you say it's a Garden of Eden?
KIRK: Or so it seemed to the brash young Lieutenant Kirk on his first planet survey.

I think the original TOS concept was hinting a credible evolution towards the Prime Directive

...In light of which TNG just adds the fourth level: all interference with all other civilizations courts disaster, and general isolationism thus is preferred. Information must be obtained by covert means only.

It's TNG "First Contact" that first really "redefines" the history of the non-interference approach, by establishing that "centuries" prior, thus in pre-TOS times, a rushed contact with Klingons led to a disaster, and the PD (or its possible predecessor) was the way to prevent further such disasters. Since it subsequently becomes clear that Klingons weren't primitives at that era, a further redefining takes place: early PD becomes the same as TNG PD in intent and content.

It's more like "rewrite" or retroactive continuity, not "redefine".

From "Errand of Mercy":

KIRK: We have legitimate grievances against the Klingons. They've invaded our territory, killed our citizens. They're openly aggressive. They've boasted that they'll take over half the galaxy.
KOR: You've tried to hem us in, cut off vital supplies, strangle our trade! You've been asking for war!

From "The Trouble With Tribbles":

SPOCK: Under dispute between the two parties since initial contact. The Battle of Donatu Five was fought near here 23 solar years ago. Inconclusive.

According to TOS the conflict started with invading Klingons (Kor does not deny that but instead uses an excuse!) and both powers apparently had equally advanced military, considering the outcome of the Donatu V Battle was "inconclusive".

I don't know what the "First Contact" screenplay writer was thinking or what Captain Picard had been reading, but it should have little bearance on the actual historic TOS events.

Bob

 

[Timo]

The wording according to "Bread and Circuses" makes it rather clear that the Prime Directive had been designed to protect less advanced cultures, namely those that don't have the faintest ideas about alien worlds (and could be tempted to worship our heroes as gods and else).

Oh, how so? It sounds like your standard military precautionary steps to me: don't let the potential enemy know what you are doing, who you are, or even that you are there. And that's all, basically, even if words like "advanced civilizations" are included.

Spock's question in "Bread and Circuses" (i.e. is the Prime Directive in "full force" for the Roman planet?) suggested that with a late 20th Century development stage such a culture could be advanced enough to accept the concept of alien life on other worlds.

And Starfleet would have experience on such, from Capella and Tyree's planet at least. Although it remains to be shown that Starfleet would have been the one responsible for introducing the concept to those planets.

I'd say that the Prime Directive was not applicable.

And even if its applicability is tech-unrelated, as with TNG, the threshold question would be "Do they already know?" - and the Eminians did. But "stagnation" would not enter the picture. Not unless, say, Kirk also is assumed to have the right and therefore the duty to take dilithium from the stagnated Halkans. Refusing to trade is un-humanlike behavior and must be ended, even with force if necessary; establishing a treaty port would be the stagnated Halkans' own damn fault.

I think the episode tells us more than once, that Kirk was the first to ever survey the planet and eventually make his recommendation to put the Prime Directive into "full force"

I can't find actual references to Kirk's having been the first survey (except for Kirk!), or to Kirk's recommendation having the "full force" effect (only "normal development" is said to be protected; stealth of surveys is not emphasized).

According to TOS the conflict started with invading Klingons

Naah. All we know is that they invaded. Probably multiple times. We don't know if the Federation also invaded, nor who did it first. Or when.

If anything, the "taking over half the galaxy" boast might paint the UFP/KE squabble as a relatively minor aspect to the general Klingon conquest spree. Certainly there is room for it to have begun "centuries ago", as even late TOS, let alone other incarnations of Star Trek, takes us away from the model where Earth invented and started everything in the universe, no more than 150 years prior to the show. Aliens did it first, and aliens make up much of UFP, even if they aren't significantly represented aboard Kirk's ship.

Timo Saloniemi

 

[drt]

It could be there is a subgroup of worlds that had to be treated differently due to contamination occuring before NI/P directives being put in place, with Capella as the most primitive of these, with perhaps the seemingly mid-21st centuryish Troyius/Elas perhaps being one of the more advanced.

This starts to get into a point I posted in the GD "Federation membership" thread, where it starts getting nebulous with late-20th century plus planets, which should be able to detect the galactic civilization and effectively be contaminated without ships actually visiting the planets.

 

[Timo]

I guess we have to assume that late 20th, early 21st century tech is fundamentally incapable of detecting warpships or inhabited worlds.

While the former might be because

a) it's virtually impossible to see something as small and mobile as a starship,
b) shields automatically defeat all currently known methods of electromagnetic observation, active or passive (they are used to that effect in several "heroes visit old Earth" episodes) or
c) something about the structure of the Trek universe is less transparent than ours,

in the latter case the answer must be c). Somehow, emissions from faraway worlds are dampened by a natural phenomenon that surrounds Earth or infests the entire galactic medium and cannot be observed. Perhaps "dark matter" or "subspace" absorbs electromagnetic radiation but then dumps it in some exotic form so that we don't detect the increase in temperature that current laws of physics would suggest?

In contrast, it's easy to postulate that working warp drives are always discovered long before working subspace communicators or sensors; since it's all fully fictional, we can say the latter would be a demanding refinement of the comparatively crude former technology. Hence, cultures don't learn of the interstellar community by tapping into its communications, but always by sending out warpships or being visited by those. (Except every rare now and then when a culture sends out sublight ships and those reach alien worlds or ships before the culture manages to develop warpships that outfly the early sublight explorers - say, ENT "Dear Doctor").

Timo Saloniemi

 

[drt]

It's really more of an issue with the later series, as in the original series, they seemed to routinely be in contact with non-warp systems that were otherwise reasoanbly advanced. And from our perspective, I think there were only three habitable systems around real stars mentioned that are within 50 light years of Earth: Capella, Pollux and Sigma Draconis - Pollux was just Apollo, while the other two wouldn't have civilizations that would be detectable by us today. The trade off is that Vulcan, Andoria and Tellar would all likely have to be further away than depicted in later series.

 

[Robert Comsol]

It could be there is a subgroup of worlds that had to be treated differently due to contamination occuring before NI/P directives being put in place, with Capella as the most primitive of these, with perhaps the seemingly mid-21st centuryish Troyius/Elas perhaps being one of the more advanced.

I agree, should the natives already know of alien life, then trying to pretend differently would constitute an act of insult and deception.

Troyius and Elas had only achieved interplanetary spaceflight.

Yet, I wouldn't exclude the possibility they had become stagnant in their conflict, so either they appealed to the Federation or the Federation offered to mediate.

This starts to get into a point I posted in the GD "Federation membership" thread, where it starts getting nebulous with late-20th century plus planets, which should be able to detect the galactic civilization and effectively be contaminated without ships actually visiting the planets.

I think Timo is right that this mustn't necessarily be the case.

However, I think that by the time an alien civilization has reached 20th Century level, there is an increasing chance that they have become familiar with the concept of alien worlds and thus any kind of first contact wouldn't be as disastrous as it would otherwise be for a civilization that is still on a 15th Century level or younger.

The one thing that still disturbs me is Spock's participation on the Roman planet without any attempt to cover his alieness.

Unless, of course, they watched a TV program and found that there are sects among these Romans that have their appearance surgically altered to resemble Faunus.

FLAVIUS: Who are you?
KIRK: We come from another province.
FLAVIUS: (to Spock) Where are you from? What do you call those?
SPOCK: I call them ears.

The police officer who arrests them later is apparently content assuming he has captured a barbarian once he sees the pointed ears.

Bob

 

[Timo]

I think that by the time an alien civilization has reached 20th Century level, there is an increasing chance that they have become familiar with the concept of alien worlds

...On the other hand, educated people here on Earth were very familiar with the concept of alien worlds and civilizations in the 16th century already, and it was actually downhill from there when science gradually began demonstrating that Mars, Venus and the Moon might not be inhabited after all.

It shouldn't come as a greater culture shock to Louis XIV than to Francois Hollande if aliens landed on Place de la Concorde, quite the opposite...

The one thing that still disturbs me is Spock's participation on the Roman planet without any attempt to cover his alieness.

I gather the idea was not to be seen at all. It's just that our heroes hadn't watched their Monty Python carefully enough.

I mean, Spock says "We should not be observed" with (misplaced) confidence, while also indicating they are close to the big city, suggesting this was their target. If nothing of the planet is known, then a survey from afar would make sense, and beaming down next to the city but unseen and then pointing a pair of binoculars (okay, a standard field tricorder) at it would remove some of the heroes' ignorance. Starfleet uniforms, openly carried tricorders and weapons, and Spock's ears would all be equally practicable.

The next step could be infiltration with period clothing, based on what the initial recce team found out. Apparently, studying from orbit would not be quite as expedient, for reason X.

It seems Kirk feels there's a reason for extreme haste: after seeing the evidence of Beagle survivors under mortal threat, he orders an immediate beamdown, and it falls upon Spock to point out after beaming down what the atmosphere is like!

The other possibility is that Kirk initially thinks he could waltz in shouting "I'm from Earth, I want my kinsmen back, now bring 'em here or I'll start phasering things! Any complaints you can send to the nearest UFP consulate, now move!", and is first convinced otherwise by Spock's atmospheric analysis: "Yeah, I guess they looked kinda retro, but SMOG is proof positive they must be primitive barbarians - let's proceed with caution from now on."

But that doesn't make much sense. Any evidence from watching the television broadcast surely trumps the smog thing - and OTOH, Kirk doesn't proceed with greater caution after Spock's analysis, he merely quotes PD-related platitudes and then keeps going. (okay, Spock quotes, and McCoy urges that they go on, but Kirk approves.)

Timo Saloniemi

 

[Robert Comsol]

On the other hand, educated people here on Earth were very familiar with the concept of alien worlds and civilizations in the 16th century already, and it was actually downhill from there when science gradually began demonstrating that Mars, Venus and the Moon might not be inhabited after all.

It shouldn't come as a greater culture shock to Louis XIV than to Francois Hollande if aliens landed on Place de la Concorde, quite the opposite...

Voltaire's Micromegas or Jonathan Swift's Gulliver's Travels were satires with no serious intention to actually present or depict alien life. Johannes Kepler invoked some alien lifeform to carry his protagonist to the moon and back and guess what happened - his mother was accused of witchcraft!

This just illustrates how people of the 16th Century would have dealt with non-human life: For the religious fanatics aliens would have been "their" proof for the actual existence of demons from Hell and would have kept us much longer in the Dark Ages than without alien "interference".

It stands to reason the same applies for other less-advanced alien cultures, so it makes perfect sense for the Prime Directive to prohibit any references to alien worlds to such cultures.

The one thing that still disturbs me is Spock's participation on the Roman planet without any attempt to cover his alieness.

Any evidence from watching the television broadcast surely trumps the smog thing - and OTOH, Kirk doesn't proceed with greater caution after Spock's analysis, he merely quotes PD-related platitudes and then keeps going. (okay, Spock quotes, and McCoy urges that they go on, but Kirk approves.)

Quite possible Spock felt the need to ask Kirk whether the Prime Directive was in "full force" because no attempt had been made to disguise them (and especially him) as local "tourists".

Maybe Kirk was thinking they could make up an instant excuse for Spock's pointed ears if that situation ever happened. Well, at least on their second encounter with the natives, they tried to cover his ears

I will have to agree that the context of this situation in "Bread and Circuses" wasn't exactly the optimal way to introduce the rules of the Prime Directive, but I have no doubts whatsoever that our protagonists quoted the rules correctly (and again, Spock asks, Kirk replies and McCoy adds...)

Bob

 

[Timo]

Voltaire's Micromegas or Jonathan Swift's Gulliver's Travels were satires with no serious intention to actually present or depict alien life.

...Yet for example Robert Hooke was dead serious in writing about the possibility of extensive plant life on the Moon, despite (that is, thanks to) recent advances in optics. Johannes Hevelius, before said optics, didn't settle for possibilities - he was dead certain. And Kepler himself definitely believed in a humanlike culture or several dwelling on the surface of the satellite, regardless of how he applied that belief in written fiction.

This is why satire as mentioned could be written: because it found fertile ground in "common knowledge". By the 19th century, technology had made it possible to disprove civilizations on the Moon, but that only meant that scientists began believing in civilizations on the planets. Gauss and Littrow were proposing serious CETI with Martians or Venusians, using large scale landscaping to send visual messages. Had they received an answer, they'd probably have written it down in their notebook and moved on to the next planet, nodding with satisfaction.

I really doubt the average dweller would have been more excited about such discoveries than these scientists. At most, there could have been some riots on the subject of who gets to buy these fantastic alien devices called hair dryers and refrigerators and at what price.

Sure, religious fanatics would have gone apeshit and politicians would have worried. But the former played little role beyond the 1300s, except as supporting cast for the latter. And the farther back we go, the easier it actually is likely to become to contact a civilization. So what if they believe the newcomers are gods? That's a familiar reference frame and helps the contact along.

Timo Saloniemi