Discovery: Sound of Thunder

[Mickey_Rat15]

So the resolution s that Saru's sister can keep the Kelpians on the straight and narrow path of not trying to take revenge when the have all had their capacity to fear excised from their brains? Fear in overlarge doses can be crippling, but at low levels inspires caution to not do something foolish. If the Kelpians act fearless, the Ba'ul may believe they will have to oppress the Kelpians more openly and honestly. The ending is hopeful but it depends a great deal on Kelpian self control for it to not go completely off the rails, when they do not necessarily have the emotional capacity to maintaiin that kind of self discipline across their entire species.

[CrypticMirror]

I wonder what will be the repercussions for Kaminar and maybe the galaxy. I hope we learn about it in Season 3. It could be a great story arc for Saru.

Since we never saw them again after the Discovery-contact era, we can safely assume that they took the Cheron approach to interspecies relations. And too good fer 'em, I say. Either that or the Ba'ul decided to say Phlox it, as soon as they saw what was happening.

We never saw the Denobulans after Enterprise-era (for obvious reasons). That does not mean the Denobulans suddenly got isolationistic.

Wiped out by the Breen?

Chuck's theory about the Breen's origin after he watched ENT's Dear Doctor, they were the aliens that Phlox genocided and out for revenge against the Denobulans; which is why we never saw them in the TNG or TOS era.

[Thebestoftherest]

Personally I feel if Alex Hurtsman is ever fired Michelle will never be mentioned again.

[Deledrius]

Personally I feel if Alex Hurtsman is ever fired Michelle will never be mentioned again.

What? Who are any of these people? Was this posted in the wrong thread?

[AdditionalGribble]

So regarding the Prime Directive issue...

Has there ever been a canon exploration (prior to this episode, obviously) of what happens when you have two sentient races sharing the same world? Because the Ba'ul seem to possibly be warp capable, even if the Kelpians are not. So would the PD even apply? They're not separate societies, even if there is little-to-no direct interaction most of the time.

[Deledrius]

The warp-capable clause only seems to apply to the "don't reveal yourself" aspect of the PD. The "don't interfere in internal matters" rule still applies.

[AdditionalGribble]

That half of the PD seems to be far more loosely enforced than the former, though.

... It would be really helpful if at some point Roddenberry or one of the original talents would have actually codified exactly what the PD says.

[Linkara]

So regarding the Prime Directive issue...

Has there ever been a canon exploration (prior to this episode, obviously) of what happens when you have two sentient races sharing the same world? Because the Ba'ul seem to possibly be warp capable, even if the Kelpians are not. So would the PD even apply? They're not separate societies, even if there is little-to-no direct interaction most of the time.

...Sort of. There was a TNG episode where there were two different nations at war on a planet, with one of those nations applying for membership in the Federation. Usually it's policy that the Federation only admits members if the planet is entirely united under one government, but they decided to examine it anyway, leading to shenanigans and Riker's recommendation against their admission because of how distrustful and uncooperative they are.

The only other time I can think of was during Dear Doctor, where we had that race that was dying of a genetic disease but there was another species on the planet that might develop if they were gone. And, well, we all saw how that shitshow went down.

[Trinary]

So regarding the Prime Directive issue...

Has there ever been a canon exploration (prior to this episode, obviously) of what happens when you have two sentient races sharing the same world? Because the Ba'ul seem to possibly be warp capable, even if the Kelpians are not. So would the PD even apply? They're not separate societies, even if there is little-to-no direct interaction most of the time.

...Sort of. There was a TNG episode where there were two different nations at war on a planet, with one of those nations applying for membership in the Federation. Usually it's policy that the Federation only admits members if the planet is entirely united under one government, but they decided to examine it anyway, leading to shenanigans and Riker's recommendation against their admission because of how distrustful and uncooperative they are.

The only other time I can think of was during Dear Doctor, where we had that race that was dying of a genetic disease but there was another species on the planet that might develop if they were gone. And, well, we all saw how that shitshow went down.

The TNG situation with the divided world of Kesprytt III was a bit different since it wasn't two species, but one species divided into two states (named the Kes and the Prytt Alliance--which would be like naming Earth 'Amerussia' instead or something) which had fairly similar technological levels.

If one you a planet with two indigenous species with one ruling over the other, I imagine the Federation would regard it as being a case of the internal politics of that world and not get involved with how one treated the other. If the dominant species wanted to keep the subordinate one in isolation and ignorance from the wider galaxy, I doubt the Federation would say boo. I mean, just look at when the Cardassians occupied Bajor, and they sure as hell weren't indigenous to it!

Edit: Now that I think about it, today's episode with the two species reminds me a bit of the situation in Star Wars: KOTOR and TOR with the planet Voss and its two species, the Voss and the Gormak with
Voss insisting the Gormak not be taken off world or get a hold of that kind of technology lest they overwhelm the Voss.

[hypocratus]

As I understand the Prime Directive, it mainly applies to non-warp capable species. The idea being that being exposed to alien species with seemingly miraculous technology can cause massive harm socially to a species. The only time that I think they actually explored this in any depth is in the TNG episode 'First Contact'.
I do have to wonder how the Kelpians are going to adjust to not only finding out that there is a whole new stage of life, all of them at once, but the fact that there are aliens with that miraculous technology. I'm sure that it will go swimmingly.