Alien Non-Interference Clause: Difference between revisions
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== Live-Action TV == |
== Live-Action TV == |
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* ''[[Star Trek]]'' is the [[Trope Codifier]]: whether or not they did it first, they're the one most people have likely heard about. The series has been [[Continuity Snarl|somewhat inconsistent]] over where the borders of the rule lie. There is usually a hole somewhere "big enough to fly the ''Enterprise'' through". [[Star Trek: The Original Series|The Original Series]], at the very least, typically bypassed the Prime Directive by placing the ship and/or the crew in dire peril, with the only solution being one that would devastate/completely change the local society (see "[[Star Trek/Recap/S2 |
* ''[[Star Trek]]'' is the [[Trope Codifier]]: whether or not they did it first, they're the one most people have likely heard about. The series has been [[Continuity Snarl|somewhat inconsistent]] over where the borders of the rule lie. There is usually a hole somewhere "big enough to fly the ''Enterprise'' through". [[Star Trek: The Original Series|The Original Series]], at the very least, typically bypassed the Prime Directive by placing the ship and/or the crew in dire peril, with the only solution being one that would devastate/completely change the local society (see "[[Star Trek/Recap/S2/E05 The Apple|The Apple]]" or "[[Star Trek/Recap/S1/E23 A Taste of Armageddon|A Taste Of Armageddon]]"). |
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** One ''[[Star Trek: The Next Generation|Next Generation]]'' episode, "First Contact" (no relation to [[Star Trek: First Contact|the movie]]) deals with the justified aspects of the Prime Directive. The ''Enterprise'' crew are on a secret [[First Contact]] mission to the Malcorians, a species on the verge of discovering [[Warp Drive]]. Over wine with the planetary Chancellor, Picard discusses with him the justifications of the Prime Directive and their obligation to leave the Malcorians alone if that is their wish. The Malcorians, who mirror 20th century humans in many ways, are undergoing cultural turmoil because of their rapid march of technology. Meanwhile, Riker was doing covert surveillance when he was injured and hospitalized: it becomes [[Human Outside, Alien Inside|difficult to hide the fact that he's not one of them]] and he almost dies because the distrustful minister of security tries to use him to convince the Chancellor not to trust the humans. Because of this, Chancelor Durken ultimately decides that his people are not ready to learn they're not alone, though he promises to spend money and effort on education so they'll be prepared when the time comes. |
** One ''[[Star Trek: The Next Generation|Next Generation]]'' episode, "First Contact" (no relation to [[Star Trek: First Contact|the movie]]) deals with the justified aspects of the Prime Directive. The ''Enterprise'' crew are on a secret [[First Contact]] mission to the Malcorians, a species on the verge of discovering [[Warp Drive]]. Over wine with the planetary Chancellor, Picard discusses with him the justifications of the Prime Directive and their obligation to leave the Malcorians alone if that is their wish. The Malcorians, who mirror 20th century humans in many ways, are undergoing cultural turmoil because of their rapid march of technology. Meanwhile, Riker was doing covert surveillance when he was injured and hospitalized: it becomes [[Human Outside, Alien Inside|difficult to hide the fact that he's not one of them]] and he almost dies because the distrustful minister of security tries to use him to convince the Chancellor not to trust the humans. Because of this, Chancelor Durken ultimately decides that his people are not ready to learn they're not alone, though he promises to spend money and effort on education so they'll be prepared when the time comes. |
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** In some instances, though, there have been [[Sufficiently Advanced Alien|Sufficiently Advanced Aliens]] who use a similar rule on the Federation protagonists, just to point out how douchey it looks when you're on the short end of it. Big example being "Prime Factors" in ''[[Star Trek: Voyager|Voyager]]'', where aliens that were entirely aware of and even sympathetic to ''Voyager'''s situation and capable of transporting most of the way across the galaxy decided that they had to be [[Lawful Stupid]] about sending the ship well on its way home. Of course, part of it was that they were just unwilling to lose a potential source of entertainment that ''Voyager's'' extensive database could provide. In the end groups of low ranking crew and citizens from both sides just trade for it, and the tech turns out to be incompatible. |
** In some instances, though, there have been [[Sufficiently Advanced Alien|Sufficiently Advanced Aliens]] who use a similar rule on the Federation protagonists, just to point out how douchey it looks when you're on the short end of it. Big example being "Prime Factors" in ''[[Star Trek: Voyager|Voyager]]'', where aliens that were entirely aware of and even sympathetic to ''Voyager'''s situation and capable of transporting most of the way across the galaxy decided that they had to be [[Lawful Stupid]] about sending the ship well on its way home. Of course, part of it was that they were just unwilling to lose a potential source of entertainment that ''Voyager's'' extensive database could provide. In the end groups of low ranking crew and citizens from both sides just trade for it, and the tech turns out to be incompatible. |
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