William Shatner, who famously played Captain Kirk in Star Trek: The Original Series, admitted that the show would not work if it did not violate the Prime Directive.
During a panel appearance at ST-Chi: Trek to Chicago Convention, Shatner was asked about the fifth episode of Season 2 “The Apple” where the crew of the Enterprise arrive at Gamma Trianguli VI and encounter a machine named Vaal that has created a sort of paradise for the local villagers with perfect weather, food, and eternal life, but forbids love, reproduction, violence and advancement.
The landing crew disrupts this paradise as it introduces kissing between Chekhov and Landon and questions the villagers blind obedience to the machine. Eventually, Kirk orders the ship to destroy Vaal and in the process the Garden of Eden that it had created and maintained for them.
After Shatner playfully shared he had no recollection of the episode and specifically did not remember a giant rock machine god, the question was re-asked to generally ask if the Prime Directive was ever violated.
He answered, “By who? The Directive was infinitely malleable. If you didn’t improve- I think one of them was: you can’t interfere with a civilization. Sorry, no show.”
“That was the plot,” he continued. “You got to go down there and kick somebody’s ass. That was the show! You are worshiping a rock? Are you crazy. Blow the rock up.”
“Of course, we interfered with the Prime Directive,” he reiterated. “How do you spell Prime Directive? I mean it was a beautiful-. ’Thou shalt not kill.’ Except in warfare. Except when you are angry. Except when you can’t control yourself. Except in self-defense. I mean, you can go on. ‘Thou shalt not kill.’ The worst thing, to kill someone, take somebody’s life? Yeah! Self-defense!”
Shatner is not the only one to call into question the philosophy of the Prime Directive. Stargate producer Joseph Mallozzi told Fandom Pulse in September, “SG-1 was the antithesis to what I’ve always considered a (debatably) problematic guiding principle. Theoretically commendable but practically thorny. I mean, I looking back at the original series, I can remember at least a half dozen episodes where Kirk and co. flout the Prime Directive.”
He added, “On Stargate, we adhered to a more…er…fluid approach, allowing SG-1 the autonomy to assess and evaluate the situation on a case by case basis. In the end, I’m not sure how many times SG-1 flouted the Prime Detective, but I bet you it was a hell of a lot more than a half dozen times.”
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The key to these great rules - Prime Directive or "thou shalt not kill" - is to have the wisdom to know when to adhere to them and when to cross that line, but never to lose respect for them or the self-restraint they impose. They may be broken under certain circumstances, but they should never be casually tossed aside.
Thou shalt not kill - wasn't the prime directive. The Prime Directive was "Do not interfere with civilizations that don't have FTL drive." It was why Captains got in trouble for violating the Prime Directive.