Should Star Trek Galaxy refute and end the Prime Directive?

[technobabbler]

don't blame me. I want an optimistic future. But there's no dramatic tension in everyone following all the rules, all the time.

And having a season's theme revolve around what is the "right Prime Directive" could make good episodes.

And the writers of DS9 painted the Trek universe into a corner. even 20 years on, you're telling me that you have a massive interstellar war with millions? billions? dead and everything is hunky dory? And the Federation reverted to a pre-Wolf 359 state?

that's one giant reset button. just sayin'

[Yukaphile]

I don't want the Dominion to play a key role in STG. I just know these incompetent writers will screw it up. God, can you imagine what the Jem'Hadar will look like? Or how they'll act?

[Karha of Honor]

Not gonna lie, the OP and the first responding post read like hilarious weapons grade grimdark wankery. There's just something about people who ironically confuse pessimism with realism or pragmatism.

Doubly funny when they're talking about twisting and retconning the terms of a fictional world because they know said wankery wouldn't actually follow from that world as its set up.

When talking about fictional TV worlds, I gotta say no thanks. We have quite enough artificially maintained wallowing pits for people who either enjoy that, or who for some reason mistake it for realism. Go watch GoT, or Walking Dead, or any number of of those. Trek is (well, was) one of the few that dares to explore the idea that maybe society can move forward (which historically it has), and therefore we can have a hypothetical better future.

We need that in our media. It's the glass of orange juice that makes your grimdark Chocolate Frosted Sugar Bombs into "part of a balanced breakfast" instead of just a lifespan-shortening self indulgence.

I would support rolling the PD back to the more consistences based idea it was in TOS, rather than the dogmatic pseudo-determinst one it became in later shows, but the rest of the stuff proposed sounds like mirror universe talk.

Is my post weapons grade grimdark wankery on it's own?

[clearspira]

Its not happening. It is a major Roddenberry era story point that they will be very scared to piss with. And for Picard to end it? After all of his sanctimonious speeches on it? You've just TLJ Luke Skywalkered Captain Picard by creating an in name only character. And I think you will also find the PD to have a lot of support from non SFDebris followers.

[technobabbler]

Its not happening.

this is true. PD is dogma. You can't question dogma, even for the purposes of triggering discussion or drama.

And especially in today's political climate, you can't use PD as an allegory for US involvement in Yemen or Syria. Reddit would go nuts and label Trek pro-Trump.

[Yukaphile]

God, the Picard series is going to tank, I can already feel it...

[BridgeConsoleMasher]

I support the Prime Directive, only so long as it's not allowed to become a straightjacket to prevent any and all humanitarian aid. It's like SF Debris says. Just because there are situations where a cop is not allowed to use lethal force it does not automatically follow there are no situations where a cop isn't allowed to use lethal force. It's also worth noting the Prime Directive in TNG was never followed to its logical conclusion - ie, where whole civilizations died out, like in Voyager and Enterprise, given that Picard and his crew were decent people, and sometimes broke it, or someone forced them to do so, which they never regretted, followed out to the best of their ability. If Janeway had been confronted with a situation like in "Homeward," she'd have probably just randomly beamed them down to whatever planet fit her whims, not caring if they lived or died.

Technically Janeway's personal prerogative had her pursuing a distress signal by the liquid species that copied the DNA of the crew and the inorganic composition of the ship. While she had broken the prime directive when she gave the species all the dna stamps etc... she was carrying out in her duty to handle the situation, had she gotten to the ship in time before it dilapidated upon itself.

[Yukaphile]

How is that remotely similar to beaming up primitive aliens to the holodeck and tricking them into thinking it's still their now-dead home planet?

[Karha of Honor]

Its not happening. It is a major Roddenberry era story point that they will be very scared to piss with. And for Picard to end it? After all of his sanctimonious speeches on it? You've just TLJ Luke Skywalkered Captain Picard by creating an in name only character. And I think you will also find the PD to have a lot of support from non SFDebris followers.

Space Hitlerina was on a Starfleet Bridge giving orders and stuff...

Would Mace Windu coming back post Order 66 and being okay with some changes to how Jedi are trained and selected be a betrayal of his character? Like being okay with how Luke did things before the Dark Nest Trilogy in Legends / EU ?

That is the scale we are talking about. Not turning Picard into a pedophile or a soulless Mercenary or something like that.

[BridgeConsoleMasher]

How is that remotely similar to beaming up primitive aliens to the holodeck and tricking them into thinking it's still their now-dead home planet?

I uh.. Why is it supposed to be? I'm talking about how she handles matters with respect to the Optimus Prime Directive. Not humanitarianism as some test of character with the directive being some obstacle to that.