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.

 

KIRK AND SPOCK GO GANGSTA STYLE!

 

Episode Title:  A Piece of the Action

Air Date: 1/12/1968

Written by David P. Harmon and Gene L. Coon

Directed by James Komack

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”        Nichelle Nichols as Lieutenant Nyota Uhura                 Eddie Paskey as Lieutenant  Leslie                 Frank Da Vinci as Lieutenant Brent       Bill Blackburn as Lieutenant Hadley           Walter Koenig as Ensign Pavel Chekov                Jeannie Malone as unnamed Yeoman          Anthony Caruso as Bela Oxmyx            Victor Tayback as Jojo Krako            Lee Delano as Kalo             John Harmon as Tepo             Sheldon Collins as unnamed Tough Kid                Dyanne Thorne as  unnamed First Girl                      Sharyn Hillyer as unnamed Second Girl             Buddy Garion as unnamed Hood                Steven Marlo as Zabo        Diego Barquinero as unnamed Radio Voice               Nick Borgani as unnamed Hood                           Marlys Burdette as unnamed Krako's Girl                            Tony Dante as unnamed Hood                Jay D. Jones as Mirt        Jim Michael as unnamed Hood                

Ships: USS Enterprise NCC-1701

Planets:  Sigma Iotia II

My Spoiler filled summary and review: The Enterprise is heading toward Sigma Iotia II a planet that was last visited a hundred years ago by the Horizon. The Horizon’s mission took place a before the Prime Directive was established.  Because the Horizon did not have a subspace radio a century ago it took that amount of time for its logs to reach the Federation after the ship was destroyed.  Uhura is able to get communication with one of Iotia’s leaders, a man named Bela Oxmyx whose only title is “Boss.”  The conversation between Kirk and Oxmyx is rough but they are able to arrange a meeting.  As Spock and McCoy enter the bridge and Kirk then literally grabs and leads them back to the turbo lift to accompany him on the leading party to meet with “the Boss.”

The Bela Oxmyx greeting party

                The three men beam down and to their astonishment it appears that they have beamed down into Earth back during the 1920s.  Everything the buildings, the vehicles, and the clothing all say the 1920s.  McCoy makes note that it is just as he always read about, momentarily forgetting about the time where all three of them did go back to Earth in the 1920s.  (McCoy can be forgiven for this oversite he was drugged for a good deal of the time.)   There are some differences for every single man without exception wears a suit and carries a Tommy gun.   Granted those things were popular but not everyone would be dressed and openly carried like that.

A very stereotypical 1920s group of people

                When the three head to the arranged meeting place the landing party is shocked when the individuals sent out to meet them point their guns, which they call heaters, and take them hostage.  The armed party forces the Starfleet trio to hand over their weapons and their communicators.  As they begin to bring the three to their Boss, suddenly there is drive by shooting!  One of the men is killed as the other fires back.  Kirk wants to know the meaning of this to which his captor responds by asking if he has never seen a hit before.   

The three Starfleet officers arrive in the office of Bela Oxymx.   This planet has no real government save for gangs.  These gangs provide all the services from money from their “protection” tributes and other forced taxes, such as taking a ‘piece’ of all business that is done in their territories. Oxmyx gloats that he has the biggest territory on the planet but the problem with having the biggest is that everyone wants to challenge him.  When Spock mentions Krako Oxymx immediately demands to know how they know of him.  His own men inform him of the earlier hit to which Oxymx orders retaliation.

No choice but to go with them!

Oxmyx invites Captain Kirk to play pool with him. Oxmyx has no real idea how to play pool as he just randomly hits balls that have nothing to with one another.   Kirk just holds his pool stick while Oxmyx talks.  The Boss figures that the Federation must have its have improved on its technology in the last hundred years and would like assistance from the Federation in taking over the rest of the planet.  If they do this he would cut Kirk in for a percentage.  Kirk of course refuses and with that Oxmyx tells Kirk that he is going keep all three of them hostage until the Enterprise hands over what they want.

With landing party “on ice” Oxmyx uses Kirk’s communicator to call up Scotty to make his demands.  Scotty wouldn’t give in anyway, if he were inclined to however he would have been delayed as he can’t truly understand what it is Oxmyx is trying to tell him about “heaters.”  While being held prisoner Kirk discusses with Spock and McCoy what it is they saw in there.  The Iotians have based their entire culture on a book that they saw in Oxmyx’s office.  The book was titled the Chicago Mobs of the Twenties and it was written in 1992.  Using that book and some technical manuals left behind the Iotians organized their planet into mafia territories of the 1920s, except there isn’t any actual government but the said gangs.  They Federation are the “the Feds” and the gangs handle all the issues in their territory.  International diplomacy is all on a 20^th century gangsters’ code of honor.  Nevertheless Spock points out that Oxmyx is correct in wanting to unify the planet.

You are an effective Mafia Leader, but as pool player you leave a lot be desired!

Kirk notices that Oxmyx’s men are as at good at playing cards as their boss is at pool.   So he decides to teach them the game of Fizzbin, a fictitious game that he just made up.  While distracting them with the confusing rules Mr. Spock is able to apply his never pinch on one and the trio defeat the rest using normal fisticuffs.  Kirk orders Spock and McCoy to return to the ship.  They achieve this by going to a local radio station and contacting Lt. Uhura who was monitoring the transmissions.  Kirk heads out to Oxmyx’s place but he is then captured by man from the rival gang of JoJo Krako. 

When Kirk is brought to Krako the new boss behaves in a predictable manner, in fact Kirk is able to tell him his plan before Krako gets it out of his mouth.  Krako does offer better terms but Kirk is no more tempted then before.  Krako decides to have his men hold Kirk but with the Captain’s quick wit and fighting skills that are unequaled anywhere in this galaxy he easily beats up his capturers and has an escape.

Kirk gets back to Oxmyx’s office just in time to rescue Spock and McCoy who had for some reason allowed Oxmyx to talk them into beaming back down.  (Say what you want about Mr. Spock, but you can’t say he is not an optimist.)  Kirk pulls a terminator-like strip and swap, sixteen years before first the Terminator movie came out.  Then Kirk and Spock leave McCoy to watch Oxmyx why they head over to Krako’s to kidnap him and force him and Oxmyx to talk.  They decide it would be better to take one of Oxmyx’s cars.  Captain Kirk demonstrates an equal talent to me when it comes to driving a stick.  He barely gets the car to Krako’s place without casualty.  Then Spock delivers one of his best lines.  He shows a great and excellent way to give constructive criticism.  “Captain, you are an excellent starship commander, but as a taxi cab driver you leave a lot to be desired.” 

With the help of a smart young kid Kirk and Spock get into Krako’s place and stun a few of his men.  However Krako then gets the drop on them and has them out numbered. Kirk then tricks Krako into letting him talk to his ship and he has Scotty beam him up.  Then Kirk and Spock use their supreme fighting skills to defeat Krako’s men.

A kid wants a piece of the action!

To Spock’s horror they get to go on another car ride.  They get back to Oxmyx’s place where McCoy was still holding them.  They have Oxmyx call the all the other bosses and Scotty uses transporter to beam them all into Oxmyx’s office.  Using his new found gangster talk Kirk explains to the bosses that the Federation is taking over and they are going to form a syndicate.  A discussion does begin between the bosses but part way through they start questioning Kirk.  None of them have seen this ship, except Krako and he only saw two guys up there.  This is strange considering that Kirk brought all these people to the office via a transporter.  You would think that someone who can apparently make a person else magically appear miles away in mere seconds would be an individual you didn’t want to mess with.  Nevertheless Krako gets excited when his men come to spring him by attacking Oxmyx’s headquarters.

Kirk is once again uses his communicator to get himself out a jam with Krako by ordering the Enterprise to fire phasers with a stun setting on the streets knocking out all of Krako’s men.  With that the bosses capitulate a syndicate is formed with Oxmyx as the chairman and Krako the deputy chairman. 

Kirko the big winner! A front man for the Federation

As the Enterprise gets set to leave Captain Kirk explains to Spock that the 40% cut that the Federation agreed to receive and collect would go into a public treasury for the planet’s development.  Spock is reassured as he was wondering how he was going to explain that part to the Starfleet Command.  McCoy is more concerned.  It turns out the Doctor left his communicator behind.  Given the Iotians ability for mimicry there is now the legitimate concern that they may disassemble the communicator and learn the basis of their technology.  Kirk jokes that in the near future they may start looking for a piece of their action.  

Additional thoughts: I was very disappointed when I went on Amazon and looked up “Chicago Mobs in the Twenties 1992.” Try as I might I couldn’t find this book.  I couldn’t believe it; with a twenty-four years notice and not a single Star Trek fan-20^th century historian thought to write a book about Chicago mobs of 1920s and give it this title.  How foolish, you would have had a built in audience you silly professional historians.  Although I think that a 20th century gangster book would have been somewhat incomplete with no information about the Five Families of New York.

Someone should have written this twenty-eight years ago!

               What I think I love most about this episode is the Iotians try to replicate 1920s gangster culture so much that they are complete parody of it.  It was amusing that every man was dressed in a suit and carries a Tommy gun.  Even more amusing is that fact that each boss gangster has a sign on the front announcing who they are and that this place is theirs. Krako has a plaque and Oxmyx goes so far as to have photograph of himself holding a Tommy gun!

Oxmyx, explaining the book!

What strikes me as odd is that each of the gangster’s territory is supposed to be like a nation state, yet the distance between the headquarters of Oxmyx and Krako is only a few blocks from the other.  Also Krako talks about not getting arrested.  Who arrests anyone? Last I checked they don’t have a Federal Government to make arrests.  In fact they seem to view the Federation as “the Feds.”

The Big Boss: Bela Oxmyx

In real life under the leadership of Lucky Luciano a national syndicate was formed that governed gangland activity amongst the mafia in the United States.  The unnamed committee would be the deciding factor in dividing up the criminal action among the various families and would meditate any disputes. They had an enforcement arm called Murder Inc. that would deal with wayward members.  They didn’t give us too many details about the organization except Oxmyx as the Chairman, but it seems strange the ultimate solution of Captain Kirk was out of the page of Lucky Luciano. 

Lucky Luciano

I liked when Krako’s men woke up after getting their butts kicked by Kirk and Spock a second time and one of them mutters “not again.”  You would have thought they learned something but they knocked out one more time with the power of the Enterprise. 

Spock didn’t like Kirk’s driving but I noticed he didn’t volunteer to drive himself.  You would think being able to master a stick is something a Vulcan would be good at.  It wasn’t Spock’s best episode seeing as he was successfully conned by Oxmyx when he clearly should have known better. In this episode Spock seems to have picked up Kirk’s bad habit of entering official logs at weird times, such as about to be in the middle of duel with Trelane.  Spock thinks a good time to make a log entry is while he is captured by Oxmyx. 

A good way to ignore the prime directive by showing that is doesn’t apply in pre-contaminated cultures.  It is also way more creative than just coming up with another fake Earth.  I really enjoyed this episode it was funny without being out right silly.  Star Trek can be great served either funny or serious.  

FINAL GRADE  5 of 5