13 Times Star Trek Broke Its Own Prime Directive
11. Return Of The Archons - Original Star Trek
Sometimes rules are made to be broken, and for these first few entries, we're starting off light by looking at the times the prime directive kinda needed to be broken.
Return Of The Archons sees the enterprise crew land on the planet Beta III, in search of a Federation ship called the Archon, which had disappeared a century prior. What they find is a planet in a state of mindless obedience to the supercomputer Landru.
Kirk, being Kirk, decides that something must be done, justifying his actions by saying that the prime directive applies to cultures that have a chance at growth INTO warp-level technology. But the way Landru is running the show on Beta III makes it clear to Kirk that he'd never afford his little subjects such a luxury as "progress". So with that in mind, freeing them from Landru would in fact be FOLLOWING the prime directive by giving the people of Beta III the chance to grow and thrive on their own.
This entry is so low because it is by far the most justified breaching of the prime directive in the franchise's history. Sometimes, a rule really is made to be broken.