13 Times Star Trek Broke Its Own Prime Directive
1. Homeward - The Next Generation
The point of the prime directive is to forbid any kind of interaction with pre-warp races, so as to not interfere with the growth of their culture and society, which does sound really good on paper. But if there was any example of the problems with the prime directive, it's the Star Trek TNG episode, Homeward.
The Enterprise comes across the planet Boraal II, which is facing a cataclysm that threatens to wipe out its entire populace. They have the ability to stop it, but that would be a breach of the prime directive, so Picard - master of integrity and champion of the inherent goodness of the human race - chooses to let them die instead of breaking a little rule that - as we have established throughout this list - starfleet officers break on a daily basis.
Of course, the people of Boraal II do make it, thanks to Worf's brother, which is a breach of the prime directive. But this one takes the top spot because it's not only a huge breach of the prime directive, but it's one that exposes the very problem with this rule in the first place.