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The Prime Directive and other regs
Topic Started: Sep 30 2003, 12:32 PM (363 Views)
Hoss
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Don't make me use my bare hands on you.
Captain Janeway made a strong point through-out the series of not letting their desire to get home interfere with keeping to the prime directive. She also made a big deal out of adhering to Star Fleet norms and regs as much as possible.

I always kind of thought that in a position like that I would have thrown out a lot of that kind of stuff rather than risk being destroyed by the Kazon or not finding allies to help or not trading for technology. Perhaps there would have been repercussions when the ship got home, but at least the crew got home. Sheeze, Kirk violated the prime directive and Star Fleet regs more often that he kept them and they made him Admiral.

What would you have done?
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gdog243
Rear Admiral
A few weeks ago, I was watching the episode "State of Flux" (The one that makes Seska the Traitor) and she mentioned something I actually was agree with. She mentioned that because they have no way to contact home, and its more about survival, that Janeway was a fool not throwing out some Starfleet regulations and making allies in the Delta Quadrent. I mean yeah, you want to conform to regulations and keep your starfleet ideals true, but when you being threatened and struggling for survival, than you need to bend some of the rules. That should only happen though as a last resort.

Also, take the Equinox for example. They are out for several years actually struggling for thier lives and they did have to take an unmoral act just to survive. I don't agree with thier motives, but playing devils advocate, I understand Captain Ransom's reasons.
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Fesarius
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Admiral
Quote:
 
...  that Janeway was a fool not throwing out some Starfleet regulations and making allies in the Delta Quadrent.

Gdog,

I don't have VOY production/air order committed to memory yet. ;) Do you happen to know if this episode predated Alliances? It would make sense, but I don't know which came first.

BTW, I know it's odd, but I get goosebumps whenever I watch Alliances and hear Tuvok mention Spock's name. :)
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gdog243
Rear Admiral
Fesarius
Sep 30 2003, 01:21 PM
Quote:
 
...  that Janeway was a fool not throwing out some Starfleet regulations and making allies in the Delta Quadrent.

Gdog,

I don't have VOY production/air order committed to memory yet. ;) Do you happen to know if this episode predated Alliances? It would make sense, but I don't know which came first. :)

Yeah

State of Flux was a first season episode, and a very good one at that.
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Fesarius
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Admiral
Gdog,

Please stop knowing the answers to my questions before I post the question. LOL! ;)
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Hoss
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Don't make me use my bare hands on you.
I guess an interesting alternate timeline type episode would be what would Janeway do if the federation were destroyed or assimilated in her absense. No more federation, no more regulations.
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bonja
Commodore
38957
Sep 30 2003, 05:22 PM
I guess an interesting alternate timeline type episode would be what would Janeway do if the federation were destroyed or assimilated in her absense.  No more federation, no more regulations.

Then we see how her moral system worked. Would it be ok to destroy a few cities on Madeupia II to force them to turn over technology she needs? Would it be permissible to kill an ensign to harvest organs to save a more critical (favored) crew member? Of course we saw what hapened to Tuvix, so we have that answer.

That's why Starfleet regulations are in place. No matter where in the universe a starship is the rules must be obeyed. A captain is supposed to sacrifice the ship and crew before violating the Prime directive.

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captain_proton_au
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A Robot in Disguise

In Enterprise Admiral Forest gives a lot of leeway to Archer with the "youre out there , we're not" line , even though Prime directive etc wasnt in place at that time, I think if Voyager had been able to contact Starfleet early on they would have given her instructions to use her own judgement.
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vold
Cadet 2nd Year
Janeway did her best in upholding the prime directive & she made it back home,

Ransom broke tons of them & he barely survive any longer then Janeway in the Delta Quadrant.

Without a moral hold & right path, the path taken is most likely to lead to disaster.

I agree with Janeway on up holding their principles as much as possible.

This way, also the Delta races know how the Feds work, & may be ready to make a deal with them when the Feds made it to the Delta Quadrant. It is also a matter of future results. The long Run

I'd stick with the rules myself, to remember where we're heading. If we go around killing mindlessly or the sort, then there be the greatest guilt of all haunting every second till if made it back home. That ain't a life anyone want to live in.
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Swidden
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Adm. Gadfly-at-large; Provisional wRench-fly at large
This is something that has been running through my head for a few days. In the case of Janeway and the other Starfleet personnel on board Voyager were expected to follow Starfleet regulations wherever they went. The Maquis that joined the crew apparently agreed to follow these rules and regs as a way of getting home. It's about principle and adhering to it regardless of the cost to oneself and crew. There series depicted some points where tradeoffs were bound to happen. Tuvix has been cited, but that is not a Prime Directive issue. That is an ethics issue, something that if it had happened in Federation space would very quickly have been taken out of Janeway's hands.


It is amazing how perception of the Prime Directive has evolved over the years. As I thought about this I thought of TOS episodes like Private Little War and Friday's Child. By current standards the Federation should not have had any contact with either of the worlds shown in these shows. They were both largely preindustrial let alone pre-warp. Maybe it was due to Klingon involvement with b th worlds that persuaded the Federation to contact these worlds. Still the point is the Prime Directive.
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Dandandat
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Time to put something here
To Janeway it wasn’t about survival - it was staying true to what/who they where no matter what difficulties came along. She would rather die or not get home then to do the wrong things morally. It is true to the fact of all star fleet persons of the time.

Kirk is a whole different ball of wax, we are to assume that Kirk was out there on the frontier during a time when the rules weren’t set in stone yet. Janeway comes from a time when the rule are what she believes in first and foremost. Besides that I do not think Kirk would have stopped at nothing to get home, yes he play long and lose with the rules but he never stepped over the mark when it came time to chose between right and wrong.

In the end if I had to make the same decision that Janeway did, I hope that I have the same strength as she did.
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