By Chris Snellgrove
| Updated
Star Trek fans often debate the franchise’s themes, including the idea that advanced civilizations should not influence the development of less advanced civilizations. This is the Prime Directive, and it has caused more arguments in the fandom than almost anything else. Ironically enough, Star Trek: The Next Generation showrunner Michael Piller once confirmed that the show’s staff had this same debate about this theme when it came to the climax of the episode “The Hunted.”
This episode was about a planet that wanted to join the Federation, but they needed Captain Picard’s help to track down an escaped convict. It turns out that he was a former soldier enhanced by the government and then (like others of his kind) kept away from polite society when his war was over. By the end, these disgruntled veterans were storming the planetary capital, and leaders were horrified that Picard refused to help them out, all because this was an internal affair in which Starfleet had no business interfering.
Considering how Star Trek’s Prime Directive works, this ending is arguably in line with the franchise’s theme of noninterference. But “arguably” is the keyword here because Michael Piller revealed that “there are people on the staff” who hated the climax in which Picard clarified “this is not our affair” and “you guys are going to have to solve it.” As for the Star Trek showrunner, he felt that this was “an important enough theme” that The Next Generation “cannot explore enough.”
In our always humble opinion, this Star Trek episode hit on the theme of interference in a perfect way…not only is the captain’s decision to not help the government in line with the Prime Directive theme, but the planetary leader had previously insisted that this was an internal matter. However, we find it fascinating that this episode’s climax was so divisive among the show’s staff because it proves that those who bring these episodes to life are not very different from the passionate fans watching at home. They spend plenty of time behind the scenes, passionately debating the Prime Directive just like the rest of us.
And make no mistake: the Prime Directive is definitely worth debating. It makes sense that an advanced civilization like the Federation wouldn’t want to disrupt the evolution of a pre-warp planet, but it always seems monstrous to think about how many primitive planets Starfleet officers have left to die. Like, our heroes are just bombing around the galaxy and having debates about philosophy and honor, all while having the blood of millions or even billions of dead people on their hands because their bosses decided to condemn countless pre-warp planets to their grisly fates.
This is likely why Star Trek guru Michael Piller considers this noninterference policy the biggest theme of The Next Generation. This policy may effectively condemn living beings to death, but it’s also the only thing keeping the average Starfleet captain from playing God and deciding for himself who lives and who dies (a bit like the evil admirals of The Original Series). And considering how annoying he found Q, we can only assume the last thing Captain Picard wants to do is play God.
