JAMES T. KIRK, A CAPTAIN WHO OBEYS THE PRIME DIRECTIVE

 

Introduction

There are many myths about Captain Kirk, which is an odd thing considering he is a fictional character.  Nevertheless, there are a number of common misconceptions with the character’s popular image that don’t exist as part of the source material.  One example is what is typically dubbed “Shatner speak.”  This is explained as the act of talking as if there is a period after the end of every word.  This is most famous satirized by Jim Carrey during his time with Saturday Night Live.  Another myth is that he is frequent rule breaker, who does whatever he feels is right regardless of orders.  This is even popularized by the show itself most recently in the series Lower Decks where frequent rule-breaker Beckett Mariner calls herself a “Kirk-type” to justify her actions.  Then there of course the classical claim that he is a crazy womanizer as popularized most recently by the pregnant “Kirk was here” cosplayers.

  One of interesting things about the Star Trek franchise is it is so large that many fans, if not most, come into it sideways.  They don’t start at the beginning they start at whatever series was on when they begin watching.  When they come across the original series it is basically history for them.  It is not at all unusual to see on Star Trek fan forums this question posted, “So I just started watching the original series, pretty good so far, when does the whole Shatner-speak start?  I am almost through the first season and I haven’t seen it yet.” There are a few scenes where Kirk does talk slowly however these are normally in situations where the Captain has to be careful with his words.  He is in diplomatic situation or something similar.  The best example I think of is Kirk’s first scene with Khan in “The Wrath of Khan.”  

Over the years there have been many articles debunking these many myths.  Larry Womack of the Huffington Post wrote a great article in 2013 titled, In Defense of (the Original) James T. Kirk, where he tackles Kirk’s reputation of being a rule breaker and womanizer in the aftermath of the Kelvin Universe Star Trek films’ version of Captain Kirk, and John E Price of Medium wrote a similar piece called You Either Believe in Yourself or You Don’t: Star Trek Discovery, James T. Kirk, and the Power of Traditional Memory. Internet essayist and Star Trek enthusiast Steve Shives created a great video in 2018 titled Is Captain Kirk Actually a Womanizer to which he takes down that myth flat.

The myth that I want to tackle is the one that states Captain Kirk is not only a rule breaker but that he repeatedly violates Starfleet’s General Order Number One: The Prime Directive.  (As if you couldn’t tell that by the title.) As all fans know, the Prime Directive states that Starfleet will not interfere in the internal development of a foreign society, and if said society has not yet developed warp drive Starfleet is not even allowed to let that society know that Starfleet and the Federation exist.  The reason the Prime Directive exists is the Federation does not want the exploration of the universe to have the same devastating effect on alien societies that European exploration and colonization did to the many aboriginal societies of Earth.  However, it has it has its drawbacks and some would argue that Prime Directive itself is immoral.  For if a Starfleet vessel were to discover a world that was like 1930s Earth where fascist regimes were engaged in genocide of persecuted peoples.  Then that vessel would not do a thing to stop it.

"No identification of self or mission. No interference with the social development of said planet. No references to space, or the fact that there are other worlds, or more advanced civilizations." Dr. McCoy in "Bread and Circuses"

Kirk’s reputation of ignoring the Prime Directive is a recognized trait of his character and is mentioned both within Star Trek (Remember Janeway’s quote about 23^rd century officers being quick to draw their phasers and slow to invoke the Prime Directive?) and without.  There was an episode of JAG where the character Bud Roberts was able to get information from a terrorist by going over Star Trek trivia.  The incident is initiated by an argument over Kirk’s violation of the Prime Directive to which Bud says Kirk did “all the time.”

This is a myth.  Kirk only violated the Prime Directive once.  Yes, that is right I said it.  He only did it once, and it was under an extreme situation.  Now I know what you are thinking: “I have seen Star Trek X-number of times and I saw him violate the Prime Directive X-number of times much higher than 1.”  I know but you’re wrong and with that let’s go over Kirk’s relationship with the Prime Directive.             

When the Captain is Clearly Obeying

People are so caught up calling out Kirk for allegedly violating the Prime Directive that they forget how much he is a defender of it.  A good example of Kirk obeying is the episode “Bread and Circuses.”  In this episode the Enterprise travels to one of the many fake Earths that they encounter during Star Trek’s classical run.  On this fake Earth they find that the Roman Empire has survived until the 20^th century and they now have their gladiator games on TV.  A Federation merchant ship was stranded on the planet and Kirk is looking to retrieve them.  While they are there, they find some underground rebels.  After hanging out with the rebels they are captured by Roman authorities and taken to the Proconsul.  It turns out the Merchant Captain told the Proconsul everything about Starfleet and the Federation, including the Prime Directive.  In this episode Kirk has the means and the motive to overwhelm the Romans of Fake Earth with fire power and take the Federation citizens there by force.  However, Captain Kirk is restrained the by the Prime Directive, understanding that he and his crew will have to come up with a less direct way of getting the actions that they desire accomplished.  Which they do, they manage to remove the Federation elements from the Fake Earth with no one from the general population being the wiser.

Kirk is trying to find a way out of this mess without violating the Prime Directive

Another example is the episode “The Paradise Syndrome.” In this episode Kirk loses his memory and for a while is living with a Native American tribe whose ancestors were placed on this planet by the ancient Preservers.  There Kirk falls in love with a local woman named Miramanee and marries her.  When Kirk fails the tribe in a major way, they turn on him and stone him as a fraud, Miramanee tries to save him and is killed as a result.  Once Kirk’s memory is restored, he does not go back to the tribe and explain to them why they were wrong and blame them for killing Miramanee.  He recognizes the Prime Directive and ceases all contact with those people. He doesn’t even bother to explain to them how to turn on the Preserver device.

He interferes here but stops when his memory returns

Someone Else Already Interfered

The first batch of Captain Kirk’s so-called “violations” are actually already covered in an established portion of Starfleet law.  That if interference on an alien culture has already happened then a Starfleet crew is allowed to correct the imbalance, try to expunge the interference, or cut the losses and make the best out of a bad situation. The first of these can be seen in the episode “A Private Little War” here Captain Kirk returns to a planet named Neural that he once visited as a young lieutenant, I am assuming before he ran into the vampire cloud, only to discover that the Klingons have shown up and armed the villagers with advanced weaponry and sent them to attack the hill people. Upon confirming the Klingons involvement Kirk arms and trains the hill people with the same weapons that Klingons provided the villagers.  Kirk isn’t breaking the Prime Directive here; he is giving the planet a course correction due to Klingon interference.

Looks like we already have interference

  The next example of this is “A Piece of the Action.”  In this episode the Enterprise travels to the planet Sigma Iotia II.  The planet was last visited by the Horizon over a century ago. At the time the Prime Directive had yet to be established and the crew thought nothing about leaving behind a book called The Chicago Mobs of the Twenties, along with some manuals about early twentieth century technology.  Now the entire population of the planet is living a world based of the gang culture of Prohibition-era Chicago.  Instead of leaving Kirk decides to undo some of the damage done by the accidental interference.  He gathers all the gangs, impresses them with his technology and fire power of his ship, and informs them that the Federation is “taking over” as “the prime operator.”  All the gangs will now have to get in line, Kirk then reorganizes their entire government for them.  

Not good!

The third case of this is one not caused by a slight error but one caused by extreme stupidity.  In the episode “Patterns of Force” a historian named John Gill travels the planet Ekos and finds it divided by war and chaos.  Amid this chaos the award-winning historian decided what this planet truly needs is some Nazism.  Nope, not kidding that is what he did.  Naturally, when the Enterprise arrives, they are shocked to say the least.  So, as such Captain Kirk and Spock go to the planet and after some great difficulty find Gill, who was no a prisoner and puppet figurehead by his deputy, they have him give a public confession and turn on his party.  The leave the planet in the hands of two allies they feel they can trust and leave.    

Exposing the Nazis

Finally, we have the episode “Omega Glory” where Captain Ronald Tracey of the Exter goes to Omega IV.  Omega IV is another one of those Fake Earth, this one where the Cold War got hot the world was destroyed and the survivors are still fighting each other even though they don’t remember why.  Tracey becomes convinced he can become immortal on this planet so he tried to aid one side by helping them fight their war by using phasers.  Kirk having discovered this moves to stop him and then helps the people of Omega IV correctly interpret their own “holy words.” With Tracey now their prisoner, Kirk and crew leave.

Its the captain with the phaser who is breaking the rules.

That Depends What Your Definition of “Developing” is

In other cases where Kirk appears to violate the Prime Directive, he doesn’t due to some creative reading of the text.  The Prime Directive states that they shall not interfere with the internal development of another culture.  Kirk reasons if the culture isn’t doing any developing then all bets are off.  I am also convinced that by the TNG era this interpretation has been eliminated via legislation.  Kind of like how Kirk led his own away missions but by the TNG era the regulations forbade a captain from doing that.

First example of this is in the episode “Miri.”  This episode is also famous for giving us our first-of-many Fake Earths.  The Enterprise arrives at this fake Earth only to discover that they took a dramatic turn from the real Earth in their version of the 1960s.  Trying to extend their natural lives into the centuries, they failed miserably and caused every adult on the planet to turn into a rabid monster that would tear things apart then quickly die.  The children did get the life extension but when they reached a point where their biological age leads them into puberty and they turn into monsters too.  Captain Kirk not only has McCoy discover away to save the landing party from the virus but he gives it to the kids and Starfleet sends teams to help the children rebuild their society.  Fake Earth culture was a frozen corpse so Kirk decided to interfere. 

This culture clearly stopped working

The second of example of this is the classic episode “The Return of the Archons.”  Here Captain Kirk and his crew travel to the planet Beta III and encounter a society that is ruled and managed by a computer.  Most people are kept in an altered mental state where they came to be part of “the body.” Those who are not are quickly made that way upon discovery.  There is evidence that this society was more advanced until a ruler named Landru created the “the body” to prevent war and bloodshed.  Kirk decides that this society is stagnant under the rule of a machine and decided to break the people free. He leaves behind some advisors to help that now free Betans to take control once again.

Weird state!

This is repeated in the second season episode “The Apple.” One on hand the episode is a clone of the pervious one discussed a society has come under the rule of computer who keeps the people in a primitive state.  There are some key differences however. Where Landru kept his people trapped in a 19^th century type society where Vaal keeps them in a Garden of Eden state.  Like before Kirk determines that this society is stagnant and not developing.  Kirk ends up destroying Vaal freeing the people to control their own destiny.

Explaining orders from Vaal!

When Starfleet Command Decides to Ignore the Prime Directive

Then there are times where Starfleet Command and the Federation decide to override the Prime Directive in certain situations.  The first example of this is the episode “Errand of Mercy.”  This is the episode that was the first appearance of the Klingons.  War has been declared between the two powers.  Starfleet recognizes the strategic location of Organian system.  As such we no longer care if they are a bunch of pre-warp primitives.  It’s not our fault the Klingons are coming anyway so Organians aren’t going to be allowed to develop naturally so this is a primitive planet is going to get a sudden upgrade.  Call it a preemptive.  It turns out the reverse happened far from the Federation and Klingon Empire dictating to the Organians, the Organians revel themselves to be gods and dictate to the two space powers.  Treaty is forced upon them and peace is saved.

When you realize they are the ones doing the telling!

The second time we see this is in the episode “Friday’s Child.”  In this case contact has been made with the natives of Capella IV in a mission that did not involve the Enterprise but one that Dr. McCoy participated in.  The reason Starfleet authorized such contact is the planet is bursting with dilithium crystals.  When the Federation sees a planet that produces dilithium crystals like this they get the same feeling that the United States does when they find an oil rich nation: that is a nation that can use some “freedom.”  Starfleet looks at Capella IV as one that can use some “advancement.” To be fair Starfleet wants this to be a voluntary transaction and they are not conquering them.  In the end with the new leader, Leonard James Akaar, enthroned Starfleet will probably have an easier time. 

Yes, we have your crystals

Speaking of involuntary we have the episode “Spretre of the Gun.”  Starfleet wants contact with the Melkotians so bad that they won’t let Kirk take “no” for an answer.  The Enterprise heads to Melkos and when the Melkotians demand they leave, Kirk’s orders tell him he must proceed anyway.  This ends up with the landing party stuck in a Western.  It’s a strange episode. 

Go Away!

The One Time Kirk Did Violate the Prime Directive

There was this one time that Captain Kirk did out right violate the Prime Directive.  That was in the episode “A Taste of Armageddon.” In this episode the Enterprise is on a diplomatic mission to the planets Eminiar VII and Vendikar.  The two worlds claim to have been at war over centuries although there is no evidence of any such thing on the surface.  It turns out they fight their war in a computer simulation.  This gives them all the casualties with none of the destruction of infrastructure.  This also means that the war where people die not only doesn’t stop it never slows down.  When the simulation is made all of those reported “killed” must report to disintegration chamber to have their vaporized and recorded as such.  They also tell the Captain that his ship was one of the casualties and therefore his entire crew must submit to be killed.  Now at this point Kirk could just escape, return to the Enterprise, and get the hell out of there.  However, he has another plan in mind.  He decides to destroy their machines and force them to fight their war for real.  Panicking at the thought of all the coming destruction the leaders of Eminiar VII agree to have Ambassador Fox agree to open negotiations with Vendikar. 

"I'm going to teach you to fight your war for real"

Now let’s be clear, there was no outside interference from either aliens, such as Klingons, or stupid humans who messed up something that Kirk had to correct.  The society was not failing to develop, in fact the whole purpose for this set-up was to allow for the society to continue to grow despite the war.  There was no command from Starfleet to ignore the Prime Directive.  Kirk just decided that he didn’t like what these people were doing so he was going to end it.  Why did Starfleet get away with it?  A novel I once read—that I can’t recall the name of—stated that the Federation was so horrified at what was being described that they chose to look the other way on the matter.

"Planning their break out!"

Conclusion

                In conclusion I hope I have convinced you that far from being a rebel, Captain Kirk was in fact a defender of Starfleet highest command. The exceptions are just that, exceptions, the reason there happens be so much is because writers need drama to have characters go through in order to give us a story.

 

MCCOY DELIVERS A BABY AND THEY DODGE SOME NASTY KLINGONS

Episode Title:  Friday's Child

Air Date: 12/1/1967

Written by Dorothy C. Fontana

Directed by Joseph Pevney

Cast: William Shatner as Captain James T. Kirk    Leonard Nimoy as Commander Spock             DeForest Kelley as Dr. Leonard H. McCoy AKA “Bones”              James Doohan  as Lieutenant Commander Montgomery Scott AKA “Scotty”        George Takei  as Lieutenant  Hikaru Sulu              Nichelle Nichols as Lieutenant Nyota Uhura          Robert Bralver as  Lieutenant Grant            Eddie Paskey as Lieutenant Leslie                 Bill Blackburn as Lieutenant Hadley     Jay D. Jones as Lieutenant Jackson         Walter Koenig as Ensign Pavel Chekov      Frank Da Vinci as Capellan Warrior                Julie Newmar as Eleen                 Tige Andrews as Kras                    Michael Dante as Maab                    Cal Bolder as Keel                             Ben Gage as Akaar              Kirk Raymond as Duur           Walker Edmiston as the voice of SS Dierdre

Ships: USS Enterprise NCC-1701, unnamed Klingon battle cruiser

Planets:  Capella IV

My Spoiler filled summary and review: The Enterprise is headed to Capella IV to negotiate a mining treaty for a rare mineral that is desperately needed on many worlds in the Federation.  The good news is right before he came on the Enterprise, Dr. McCoy, spent a few months with the local population.  The Capellans are a tribal culture and are prone to violence.  They however are highly honorable people who feel individuals must always tell the truth.

Capellans with a surprise guest!

Kirk, Spock, and a security officer named Lt. Grant beam down to the surface with Dr. McCoy.  When they get there they discover a Klingon with among the Capellans.  Grant calls him out and reaches for his phaser this causes a Capellan warrior to kill him.  The Klingon named Kras points out that they are not at war and asks Kirk if it is their policy to kill Klingons on sight.  Kirk explains that his guard was young and when he saw their sworn enemy he was called to act.  The Capellans claim that the Klingon has come to negotiate and has voluntarily surrendered his weapon.   They demand Kirk and his party do as well and, following McCoy’s advice, Kirk agrees.

Reaching for ones phaser to fast!

Kirk relies on Dr. McCoy to guide him throughout his dealings, which is helpful in more than one way.  For example McCoy prevents Kirk from having to fight a duel that the Capellans “politely” offer.  McCoy’s biggest help is when they meet the High Teer of the Ten Tribes, Akaar.  Akaar is an older gentleman who has a young pregnant wife named Eleen.  Akaar is open-minded between the Klingons and the Federation.   Maab, a high ranking Capellan warrior, says he wants completion but clearly favors the Klingons.

Kirk almost gets in a "friendly duel"

Kras tries to convince the High Teer that their cultures are similar for each is warrior based.  Both believe that the weak should die and there is no point in taking care of them.   McCoy is able to outwit the Klingon by using his knowledge of local Capellan custom to dismiss Kras’s concerns as unimportant.  Kirk chimes in to remind the High Teer that Federation’s most important law is that of the Prime Directive, which states that Capella will always belong to the Capellans where the Klingons are a conquering empire who rule over subjected peoples.  To the annoyance of the warrior Maab, the High Teer seems to favor the Federation although he states he wants to think on it.  

Meeting the High Teer

On the bridge of the Enterprise, Lt Uhura tells Mr. Scott that she is receiving a distress call from a ship called the SS Dierdre.  The freighter claims to be under attack.  Following Starfleet regulations Mr. Scott orders the Enterprise to leave the system which has the effect of leaving the away team stranded.

That night a revolt breaks out against the High Teer’s rule.  In the confusion Kirk is forced to defend himself which he does using his superior fighting skills that are famed throughout the galaxy.  Akaar is killed and Maab is proclaimed the new High Teer.  Kras finds the new leader disappointing, where as a warrior Maab was a strong ally to the Klingons now as High Teer and flushed with power he sees things “differently.”  He no longer backs the Klingons blindly.   He becomes amused by Captain Kirk and when Kirk suggests that he and Kras should fight, Maab thinks he sees fear in the eye of the Klingon. 

This is good news for the away team but it suddenly comes to a quick end when Eleen is brought in to be killed.  As she is carrying a child with a strong claim to be High Teer she must die.  The laws of Capellans give the High Teer the legal right and their cultural norms the expectation to kill her.  This does not sit well with Captain Kirk and he prevents her from being killed.  Eleen reacts as if she had just been assaulted by Kirk.  Now Kirk is sentence to be killed and Eleen’s death is delayed so she can watch him die.

Seeing fear in the eyes of a Klingon

 With Spock’s Vulcan abilities and Captain Kirk’s famed fighting skills they are able to overpower their guards.  They reason Eleen’s action might have been her delaying her own fate and offer to take her with them.  She accepts and they are all off.  While on the run Dr. McCoy spends a good deal of time with Eleen where he learns that she hates the baby inside of her.  She is initially irrational as her culture teaches her medicine is for the weak.  At one point she slaps McCoy and he slaps her back.  This strangely causes her to trust him.  In his progress report to Kirk, McCoy reports to his Captain that Eleen is humanoid not human so there are differences he medically has to factor in. 

Kras finding his ally not so reliable 

Kras keeps trying to get his weapons back from Maab but the new High Teer is being very strict about their original agreement.  They continue the hunt for the fugitives but Captain Kirk is not one to always be on the retreat.  He and Mr. Spock take their recovered communicators and rig them to set off a sonic signal that causes a rock avalanche.   In the chaos Kras recovers a Starfleet phaser being held by a Capellan warrior and kills the warrior to assure his silence.

Attempting to treat the brainwashed!

 Back on the Enterprise the crew discovers that the SS Dierdre is nowhere to be found.  Scotty is convinced that they were lured out of the system by someone on purpose.  Sulu and Uhura are not as sure.  Scotty is determined to finish the search pattern and get back to the planet to help the landing party as soon as possible.  Later when the ship is heading back to its original location they get another distress signal.  Scotty takes responsibility and ignores the signal.  He reminds the crew of the old saying “fool me once shame on you, fool me twice shame on me.”  Chekov immediately recognizes that as a Russian saying, as he finds everything to be.

  

Scotty does not like being made a fool

 Back on the surface McCoy learns from Eleen that children belong to the mother’s husband not to the mother.  McCoy is irritated by that cultural tradition and also convinced that is the source of her detachment to the baby.  In the most hilarious part of the episode McCoy tries to get her to take ownership of the child and wants her to say “the child is mine.”  This backfires spectacularly leading Eleen to think McCoy is making a claim.  This wins her over and she proudly proclaims that the child belongs to Dr. McCoy.  By the time the baby arrives she is now referring to it as “their” child.  This is an improvement but it causes some confusion with Captain Kirk and Mr. Spock.  When McCoy says he can explain, Spock says he expects that to be most entertaining.

Getting ready for a fight!

  Kirk and Spock build some bow and arrows for the purpose of mounting a defense.  Eleen knocks McCoy out and sneaks off to her people.  While there she confides to the Maab that she had killed the baby and the Starfleet officers.  Kras demands that she prove it.  However as a wife of a High Teer she is not to be questioned.  However as soon as Eleen accepts her fate the Klingon causes a battle to occur between the Capellan warriors against Kirk and Spock, with the two Starfleet officers more than holding their own.  Kras at this point reveals his treachery and uses his phaser that he stole against both Starfleet and the Capellans. 

In space the Enterprise is intercepted by a Klingon battle-cruiser and Scotty is not backing down.  Fortunately for the crew the Klingon ship uncharacteristically yields.  I imagine the Klingon ship’s captain recognized the Enterprise as the ship that so easily destroyed their sister vessel in “Errand of Mercy” that he didn’t want to take his chances.

 Now fully aware of how badly he misjudged the Klingon, Maab tells Eleen her life is hers again and it is his that is forfeit.  Maab calls out to the Klingon who vaporizes him with the phaser.  Kras’s attention to Maab gives Kirk and Spock an opening.  They kill Kras with that opportunity.  With Kras’s death things quiet down and McCoy emerges with the baby.  Shortly after McCoy returns Scotty arrives with a security team.  All is well that ends well.

Back up on the Enterprise we learn that Eleen, now the regent for her son the new High Teer, has signed the mining treaty.  The Doctor and the Captain are quite pleased with the new monarch’s name: Leonard James Akaar.  Spock is now concerned about the ego of his two shipmates spiraling out of control.

Additional thoughts: Okay these Capellans are big and tall alright but it looks like they are still in tribal stages of their existence, I am not sure they even have the wheel. Isn’t the Federation not supposed to be interacting with these pre- warp societies?  I suppose it’s one of those situations where they came across a primitive culture that was already interfered with by others.  I would guess the Klingons made an earlier appearance on this world.

So the Klingons find a culture that is very much like their own and they screw up by sending the worst Klingon they possibly could to handle this.  Somehow I think this would have been a different story had Commander Kor been on the other side.  Between Kras and the battle-crusier running off with its tail between its legs: it was not a good day for the Empire.  I did feel a little for Kras for I do think Maab was going back on his word once he became High Teer.

 

This was such a great episode for Dr. McCoy.  From guiding Kirk and Spock through Capellan culture, to all his scenes with Eleen, and him almost becoming a daddy, it was a treat to see the good doctor take center stage.  I much prefer this than to him being so lovesick in “The Man Trap.” Some modern viewers might have an issue with him “forcing” treatment on Eleen without her consent but in my mind Eleen had so brainwashed into thinking she had to kill herself that her refusal of treatment wasn’t being made of sound mind and body.

   

I also enjoyed Scotty’s B-plot of having to outsmart the Klingons in space.  Not only did it help Scotty but the bridge scenes allow for some great screen time from the more supporting characters of Sulu, Uhura, and Chekov.

Personally I think Lt. Grant’s death was his own fault and Kirk was being kind of a dick about it.  Yes, no captain wants to lose a crewman but he pulled a phaser on the Klingon who was standing next to their escort.  What do you expect was going to happen?  If the shoe was on the other foot what would they have done?  I am sorry the Capellans haven’t developed enough technology to have stun setting.  Next time teach your man to keep his head and he won’t lose it.

 I wish Dr. McCoy had time to explain the government of the Capellans.  So the High Teer is their monarch which as a position seems hereditary.  Akaar states that is marriage to Eleen was arranged so he could produce an heir, and the little guy is High Teer by the end.  However Akaar is overthrown by Maab.  My question is do they Capellan as a culture recognize that sort of thing as valid?  Or would they all regard him as some sort of usurper?   Are Maab and Akaar related or can anybody go for the position of High Teer?  If the High Teer can be overthrown for being weak doesn’t that leave the baby High Teer in some sort of very vulnerable position?  Or do child Teers get a pass?  What is the final fate of High Teer Leonard James Akaar?

FINAL GRADE 4 OF 5