William Shatner’s View of the Prime Directive Is Pure Kirk

Starfleet Common Order One—higher generally known as the Prime Directive, the rule that Federation members can’t intrude with the event of pre-warp civilizations in a approach that will expose them to the galaxy of societies past their worlds—is among the most defining guidelines of Star Trek, metatextually or in any other case. However, most of the time, Star Trek‘s heroes deal with this purportedly most sacred of all guidelines as much less of a guiding level and extra of a pesky roadblock. And in response to the franchise’s first captain, that’s type of the purpose of the entire thing.

“Was the Prime Directive violated? By who? The Directive was infinitely malleable,” William Shatner not too long ago opined on the ST: CHI conference in Chicago (by way of TrekMovie), when requested by a fan in regards to the moral dilemma on the coronary heart of the unique collection episode “The Apple,” which sees Captain Kirk, towards Spock’s recommendation and Starfleet orders, intrude to free the denizens of Gamma Trianguli VI from the rule of the sinister supercomputer Vaal.

“Should you didn’t enhance—I feel one among them was: you’ll be able to’t intrude with a civilization. Sorry, no present. That was the plot! You’ve acquired to go down there and kick anyone’s ass. That was the present! You’re worshiping a rock? Are you loopy. Blow the rock up.”

“In fact we interfered with the Prime Directive. How do you spell Prime Directive?” Shatner’s amusing rant continued, evaluating it to the Christian commandment towards taking an individual’s life. “I imply it was a wonderful—’Thou shalt not kill.’ Besides in warfare. Besides if you find yourself offended. Besides when you’ll be able to’t management your self. Besides in self-defense. I imply, you’ll be able to go on, ‘Thou shalt not kill.’ The worst factor, to kill somebody, take anyone’s life? Yeah! Self-defense!”

The jokiness of all of it apart, there’s one thing splendidly apt about Shatner and Kirk himself being extra aligned on this topic than most Starfleet officers after his time ever had been. Ethical quandaries about find out how to get across the Prime Directive, or work with it in summary, and even to place apart your ethical grievances and comply with it even in remorse, have lengthy been dilemmas on the coronary heart of many a classic Star Trek story, the push and pull between doing what you are feeling is true within the second versus doing one thing that finally advantages the higher good. However within the unique Star Trek, and undoubtedly in Kirk’s personal perspective, not giving a rattling in regards to the Prime Directive, penalties be damned, was the best way of issues most of the time.

Probably the greatest and most enduring issues about Captain Kirk as a personality is his personal recognition that he, and humanity normally, was a work in progress. He might need helmed the flagship of a utopian society, however Kirk was nonetheless flesh and blood, flawed and carrying a legacy that human civilization had striven to rise above for lots of upon lots of of years earlier than him and would proceed to take action for lots of and lots of of years after. He acquired mad, he was aggressive, and he didn’t play by the foundations, however he accepted that a part of himself was there, slightly than denying that his place and humanity’s place within the galaxy at massive meant that base a part of him had been erased. After which he tried to be higher anyway.

It didn’t all the time work, after all—nobody can deny that Kirk behaves very in a different way from lots of the captains that will come after him in Star Trek, and Trek itself has acknowledged that at occasions, with characters trying again and speaking in regards to the days of cowboy diplomacy outlined by that golden age of Federation exploration.

We regularly bear in mind Kirk’s braggadocio earlier than we keep in mind that half about him, however that doesn’t imply it wasn’t there beneath the floor (and on the floor proper alongside that charming playfulness, too). And it’s clearly one thing that’s part of Shatner all these years later, too.

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