10 Movie Rules That Make No Sense

In Star Trek, Starfleet is governed by the underpinning principle of the Prime Directive, which prevents personnel from interfering with the natural advancement of alien civilisations, even at the cost of a Starfleet vessel or crew member.

Fans have passionately debated its philosophical merits ever since it was first introduced in Trek's original series, and it's endured as a thematic mainstay of the various Trek shows and movies.

The problem, however, is that its treatment has proven thoroughly inconsistent across all Trek media, largely a by-product of the huge number of writers who have worked on the colossal sci-fi empire over the decades.

Without the Prime Directive ever being presented in its entirety to viewers, they've been left to debate whether it's as strict as some Trek media seems to imply, or more of a moral guideline.

This debate was ignited again with the release of Star Trek Into Darkness, which saw Kirk (Chris Pine) removed from commanding the Enterprise after violating the Prime Directive to save an indigenous species from an erupting volcano on their planet.

Comparatively, Captain Picard (Patrick Stewart) seems to hold the Prime Directive in extremely high regard, as seen in both The Next Generation series and the movie Star Trek: Insurrection, in the latter case being threatened with a court martial for refusing to disobey it.

The simple answer is that the Prime Directive is discretionary from captain to captain depending on their own respect for it, but more than a half-century on, we still don't have a concrete grasp of its full scope and utility.