Enterprise: weekly discussion [prob spoilers too]

[Furn_Darkside]

Salutations,

Saving the one species would not destroy the other species, but it would keep them in servitude, and prevent them from reaching their own potential.

Heh. Of course, that assumes, like the show did, that evolution is a "hard" scientific theory.. meaning formulaic. Since Phlox found proof the Minks (or whatever the slave race was called) was already evolving, to state they wouldn't while the other race was hanging around is silly.

What irritated me most was their decision not to "play god", even though that is just what they did when they decided not to help out the dying race. Instead of a benevolent god, they played an uncaring one.

IMO, they were already involved and it is a little late to take a moral high ground after that fact to stay uninvolved.

FD

 

[JacktheRabbit]

Maybe the episode was wrong but I remember Picard specifically said that the Prime Directive made it impossible for StarFleet to interfere in what was a purely internal Klingon problem.

That was one of the reasons that Worf had to quit StarFleet to go and fight for Gowron.

Sorry, but this is incorrect. The Prime Directive only applies to pre-warp cultures. ST:TNG Klingons are certainly not pre-warp.

The Federation stayed out of the Klingon civil war for other reasons - IIRC, they were bound by treaty. The Klingons were not actually members of the Federation, and were supposed to be allowed to govern themselves. Until Data proved that the Romulans were interefering, any intervention by the Federation would have caused the Federation favorite (Gowron) to lose popular support. Interfering in that war would have been shooting themselves in the foot.

I am such a geek...

 

[A2Z]

Though they didn't come out and say it, I got the impression that the "inferior" species was actually the cause of the plague.

I don't think they caused it. I think the dying race just wasn't addapting well enough to survive new diseases and such. It wasn't caused by anyone. Remember they said this had been going on for thousands of years.

As to the Ferengi, did anyone else notice them mentioned as one of the races the dying aliens had encountered?

 

[Ashtal]

Hrmmmm...

I am very torn about this ep (and I only saw the second half).

I liked the character development and I loved the doctor but I can't get around the choices and decisions made.

They've played god on regular occasions, when it suits them. The Prime Directive generally gets thrown around when they want to make a social comment in the context of the story.

To me, the bottom line here was that Enterprise denied humanitarian aid to people who desparately needed it. Yes, they were given a stop-gap measure, but their reasoning was faulty. By that rational, every people who can contribute humanitarian aid *shouldn't* because it becomes playing god. What about the humanitarian aid given to other cultures in our own world? Just because they are human doesn't count - these aliens are sentient beings. Human's also make an effort to interfere, both positively and negatively, in the evolution of non-sentient species with regularity. (Not that I am saying humanity can do whatever the hell it wants and destroy whole species - no, they must be careful and minimize their impact when they can.)

And there was no guarantee that the intelligent species of the planet would remain dominent forevermore. The secondary species may have evolved and surpassed the first, either demanding peace or through violence.

The way they talk about evolution is that there is an overwhelming 'plan' in place, stretching from the beginnings to their endings, as if directed by fate. And that's not the case. Evolution is about events that happen - and stuff happens 'cause it happens, not because of some preordained plan. For example, let's say the subservant species ends up dying due to plague, but the intelligent species still ends up dying out. Both cultures are lost. Any number of things "might" happen. If we're going to play the what if game...what about the lives and culture that will be lost if these people AREN'T helped? Who knows what great discovery they may make in the future that can help others?

Giving them warp drives? No. Weapons, aiding in a war, no...but this is humanitarian aid! Aleviate suffering where you can, without strings attached (like pushing your faith or putting conditions on it), if the people ask for it. I love the show, but I don't like how Star Trek, in many of it's incarnations, apply the Prime Directive only when it suits them for story episodes.


Ashtal

 

[Wolf72]

yup! I heard the Ferengi mentioned ... even better when T'pol didn't know who they were either.

of course the Ferengi weren't going to help ... poor b's!