The Prime Directive How often have you Broken It?

VOY 5x26 Equinox, Part I

[@xaviervega468]

2:01 The fact Janeway was able to say this with a straight face is one of her most amazing accomplishments.

[@darthrevan1281]

The Prime Directive, how often have you broken it? “Yes!”

[@Omegatonboom]

Lol yeah but only a little. Darth?? You're in the wrong neighborhood m***********. 😂 Jk

[@laz7354]

Janeway: "The Prime Directive ... what is that?"

[@justtheaverageone3840]

I know equinox was slower than voyager, but having it around for a couple more episodes would have been nice :(

[@jacksonheathen2092]

Well said. That would have been a great attribute to the series to have several starfleet vessels traveling together for at least several episodes. Or maybe even a small fleet of alein vessels they meet in the Delta quadrant, shared technology with, and traveled together toward Earth (like in Battle Star Galactica).

[@Calzaki]

Incidentally Ron Moore pointed to exactly this point at a convention about why he only worked on Voyager for 6 months after DS9 finished. Everytime there was an idea that could be fleshed out over time on DS9 they took the best chance to do it. On Voyager Rick Berman shot them down and insisted it had to be weekly reset so anyone not watching regularly could switch on tv and know what the status quo was. He mentioned Equinox directly as a missed opportunity and pointed out how on Battlestar Galactica he actually replicated the story in a way... One warship, last humans, find another survivor ship (the Pegasus) his idea for this episode had been that the Equinox would be bigger than Voyager and so Janeway would be outranked and how would they react but that idea was also shot down. So he did that with Pegasus too... There was an Admiral on board who had gone insane through the experience of command but she was in charge (designed to be a joke at Janeways expense) and over the next few episodes the 2 ships worked together while also sending spies to assasinate each others captains in a power struggle

[@jimtaylor294]

Personally I try to forget that Glenn A. Larson's optimistic sci fi series about hope in the face of near extinction, was morphed into grim & depressing emo'fiction by Moore (instead of the direct sequel to the original that Richard Hatch proposed & filmed a promo for). Knowing that Moore parodied a Voyager arc whilst doing so doesn't sit any better.

[@jimtaylor294]

I also think heavily serialized storylines are not always a good idea. At the time Voyager was airing tv channels were quite poor at showing episodes in order, let alone doing reruns for those who'd missed one. In that I think Berman was right to focus on keeping arcs fairly short, though the detail that a lot of other oppotunities were missed is fair. As for the notion of two ships; might have worked for a little while, but with different top speeds and facilities that split resources, the greater difficulty doing storylines with multiple ships & the need for multiple sets... the smaller one would probably have ended up like the marquis ship, sacrificed to aid Voyager.

[@toomanyaccounts]

@@jimtaylor294 the year of hell was originally going to be an entire season but was nixed. Also B5 did long arcs and was applauded for it.

[@archades115]

"How often have you broken the Prime Directive?" "They don't call me Insaneway for nothing!"

[@SWIFTO_SCYTHE]

Lol Insaneway. Nice.

[@manteeification]

Insaneway 😂

[@drake8050]

Never. Except all those times where I broke it like a kit-kat.

[@jacksonheathen2092]

Yep.

[@ThePoshboy1]

Remember that time they involved themselves in the internal matters of the borg and species 8472.

[@rossy9095]

Remember that time they got involved in a conflict with the caretaker, the ocampa and the kazon? The show literally starts with her breaking the prime directive....

[@jacksonheathen2092]

@@rossy9095 I completely agree with you 100%. Janeway's decision to blow up the Caretaker's array was an obvious violation of the prime directive. But the prime directive isn't always black & white. The captain is supposed to be the "judge". There are plenty of dubious situations (as Picard discovered). Unfortunately Janeway was a really bad judge. It would have been a much better foundation for the series if they had come up with a different way for Voyager to have become stranded in the Delta quadrant .

[@rossy9095]

Jackson Heathen all they had to do was have the station auto destruct when the care taker died.... the kazon then think voyager did it and the story plays out the same way....

[@davidkay7389]

Damn, they don't know there is a cylon on board

[@williamcostigan91]

There are many copies.

[@jacksonheathen2092]

😁

[@jacksonheathen2092]

He also played a Klingon on DS9.

[@DustyGamma]

If he'd been honest about breaking the Prime Directive, and stated that he'd be fine with serving time back in the Alpha Quadrant, like a true Starfleet captain, this episode would have been very different.

[@dhinton1]

Oh yes ...... the Equinox saga. So many memories ...

[@swishfish8858]

Very few good c;

[@Calzaki]

If Janeway would have been honest here instead of taking a high horse named Ego the Magical Narcissist it may have helped avoid a lot of stress. I think among everything else just 'traded bio weapons technology to the Borg in an attempt to change the balence of power and get Voyager closer to home' actually is worse than anything Ransom ever did... It's just framed different because she's meant to be the hero.

[@SapphireCrusader1988]

Let's not forget that after Species 8472 finished with the Borg, the rest of the quadrant would be ripe for the slaughter. While it wasn't the most noble of actions, the Borg are easier to beat in the long run.

[@Calzaki]

@@SapphireCrusader1988 before you get into the details and right and wrong it's still a clear violation of the prime directive. So Janeway lied to Ransom. Second, Janeway exploited the deaths of a species from another dimension in order to facilitate her getting home faster so I don't see where she can judge what Ransom did in anyway. Ransom quoted a regulation in this episode which boiled down to 'in the face of immediate destruction a captain can do anything to protect his crews lives' Janeway didn't even have that defence and was in a much better position. And we saw in other episodes survivors from species whose entire worlds were assimilated after the Borg beat 8472 so that again is a much bigger impact than anything Ransom ever did

[@Calzaki]

@@TheBookOfAkersGaming we never saw any evidence of that. We know the Borg started the conflict and 8472 responded. Either way Janeway broke the prime directive then lied about it here because her interference changed the valence of power... Janeway used technology to exploit the weakness of another species in order to gain an advantage in getting home. Whether either captain is right or wrong in their actions is a different argument but Janeway is a hypocrite to judge Ransom on his actions while pretending she's clean. Imagine this different situation... Instead of Voyager meeting Equinox at the end end of Season 5. What if Voyager had met Enterprise E at end of season 4? When Janeway was facing the survivor whose entire world had been assimilated because she helped the Borg. What would Janeway do if Picard held her accountable for her actions in violating the prime directive? Probably same defense as Ransom

[@cmj0929]

Callum Armour true but 8472 did literally say that they wanted to purge our galaxy of all life because it wasn’t pure so.....

[@Calzaki]

@@cmj0929 I know saying "spur of the moment war talk would be an over simplification" and hindsight is 20/20 but all future encounters with 8472 indicate that their actions in our galaxy are geared towards self preservation. The only other time they were seen in any sort of force wasn't an invasion but a covert operation targeted solely at the federation who they foresaw as being a direct threat and ally of the borg. Then again in that episode they could replicate starfleet perfectly but not understand Voyager was one ship acting alone 70,000 light years away from Earth so as usual with Voyager cool ideas undermined by inconsistant writing... I'm willing to put the purge all life into the bravado box but even if you take it as serious the best thing to do would have been let the Borg and 8472 fight it out, let them wipe out the Borg and then if they continue being a threat use the nanobot weapons you know will destroy them. But really the argument is about Prime Directive violations and how Janeway has no right to sit in judgement over Ransom for doing anything to protect her crew. If we want to step away from the scorpion example I wonder what Year of Hell Janeway would have felt as her experience was much closer to Ransom?

[@alanb8884]

It broke my heart when the Equinox was destroyed. Think of how cool 2 Federation ships on the trek would have been.

[@tomv5988]

Lately I feel like Voyager should have taken more risks. Like Year Of Hell should have been an entire season. Equinox I wish we could have seen more of that ship and what that crew had to go through.

[@jimtaylor294]

Personally I think serialized storylines are not always a good idea. At the time tv channels were quite poor at showing them in order, let alone doing reruns for those who'd missed one. In that I think Berman was right to focus on keeping arcs fairly short.

[@BadWolf739]

@@tomv5988 Year of Hell was originally intended to be an entire season.

[@a6am3mn0n]

The name of the show is "Star Trek: Voyager" not "Equinox and Voyager's Super Happy Fun Time Adventure"

[@KenshiImmortalWolf]

I feel like if Voyager had the same type of bold writers that DS9 had they could of become a small flotilla of ships making their way home, maybe an actual cardassian galor, a klingon bird of pray, the equinox, all that, losing one of the ships could of been a big moment in the show and finding another ship could of been cause for celebration (we had moments like that with the equinox but they never stuck)

[@benyseus6325]

“How many times have you broken the prime directive?” Kirk: “more like the prime suggestion!” Janeway: “I use the heavily revised delta quadrant edition.”

[@gnp1117]

Did Ransom break the prime directive? if I remember he tried to communicate with the species? Didn't the Equinox crew think the were just animals at first? it wasn't until they started attacking in a coordinated manner that the Equinox crew realized the were dealing with a sentient species. Then it was too late and so Ransom just started using the bodies of the dead aliens.

[@123RADIOactive]

I honestly wish they had somehow found a way to continue to allow the Equinox to stick around instead of just making Captain Ransom fly it away so it doesn’t explode too close to voyager. Because seriously, given they had no backup, having a second Starfleet vessel makes sense. I get the crew there wanted to do things their way because they wanted to get home faster but still..... such a shame it was just tossed away and were forgotten, including the few that they managed to rescue.

[@ReaverLordTonus]

I feel at times that they made the Equinox crew evil for evil's sake. After what they've gone through you'd think survival on a larger ship with more resources, a larger crew, and a few creature comforts that they wouldn't want to throw that all away. IF Ransom had been up front with Janeway from the beginning, I think she would have been more understanding since they would have just found them in the state they were in. She even said herself that his ship and crew were no way prepared for such a long journey with so few resources, if he admitted to weakness in the face of loss and dread, she might have gone easier on him. She was only pissed at him later becasue he tired to keep it from her.

[@SWIFTO_SCYTHE]

I would have abandoned equinox, scuttle her AND the evidence of alien sacrifice and live on Voyager. They would have found a way to stop the alien incursions.

[@abloogywoogywoo]

@@SWIFTO_SCYTHE They wanted to use their method to get back to the Alpha Quadrant faster.

[@PassportBrosBusinessClass]

WHERE DID THE ROCKS AND DIRT COME FROM?

[@jacksonheathen2092]

That seems to happen a lot in star trek.

[@kirishima638]

Standard startfleet issue.

[@danmarsh7985]

Yeah, half of every Starfleet ship is pure explodium

[@jimtaylor294]

@@danmarsh7985 Not as much as the Jem Hadar's though XD

[@jacksonheathen2092]

@@kirishima638 Just like the all exploding bridge consoles. You would think by the 24th century they would have figured out how to install some kind of fuse box into the power systems so they wouldn't overload in your face. But I guess it was a cheap way to simulate battle damage on the show.

[@Hylanvahr]

3:25 Rick Worthy, one of the great character actors. Loved his sarcastic foul mouthed intellectual wit as Dean Fogg in The Magicians.

[@jacksonheathen2092]

I liked him too. He also played a Klingon on DS9.

[@vgernyc]

Also Cylon model 4 "Simon O'Neill"

[@trentb3148]

"Ohhhh, you said the *PRIME* Directive. I misunderstood the question. I wipe my ass with that thing lol"

[@annoyed707]

Of course Seven gets friendly with the walking (non)chrome toaster...

[@andrewdavis623]

I keep seeing people pointing out that Janeway gave tech to the borg interfering with their conflict with 8472. However I think a point should be made that 8472 was a threat to all species including the federation they saw all species in non fluidic space as needing to be wiped out which by extension made them a threat to Voyager/federation and were 10x more powerful than the Borg or the dominion. Janeway made a risky move to ally herself with one enemy to fight a much bigger enemy.

[@Friendly-Unit]

Janeway didn't have the right to condemn them and make that judgement. She handed bioweapons to their enemies to help her get home. She is just as bad as Ransom.

[@stars9084]

@@Friendly-Unit No she didn't. She made the call based on the messages the aliens had been sending to Kes, which was the only way she'd been able to communicate with them. They declared their intent to destroy more than the Borg

[@katherinkeegan8601]

The enemy of my enemy is my ally. Sound military strategy used on Earth for millennia. Janeway decided to help destroy the bigger threat to the Federation.

[@PMW3]

I don't envy the captain that has to make a choice between The Prime Directive and the health and safety of their crew

[@scottanderson691]

"How many? Ohh about once an episode. How about you?"

[@lordtutinean90]

EQUINOX...”...the time when the sun crosses the plane of the earth's equator, making night and day of approximately equal length all over the earth and occurring about March 21 (vernal equinox, or spring equinox ) and September 22 (autumnal equinox ).” Indeed. Now I see the relevance of the name of the vessel. And... GO MIKEY ‼️‼️‼️

[@CathrineMacNiel]

Mikey is losing moons left and right.

[@hebrewyisraeliteyahawadahite]

35,000 light-years? I can walk that distance......

[@jacksonheathen2092]

You must walk really fast. 😁

[@Peoples_Republic_of_Devonshire]

That's how far my parents had to walk to school through the snow apparently

[@jacksonheathen2092]

@@Peoples_Republic_of_Devonshire So if they could walk at the speed of light, then it would only take them 35,000 years to get to school every morning. 😁

[@Peoples_Republic_of_Devonshire]

@@jacksonheathen2092 apparently. And it was uphill in the snow. They certainly were tougher than us

[@jacksonheathen2092]

@@Peoples_Republic_of_Devonshire 👍😎

[@RobertoRodriguez-nb9my]

I,m starting to think 🤔 that Ramsom and his crew wanted to travel to the Gamma Quadrant to reach the Bajoran Wormhole to get Back to the Alpha Quadrant even if they were strictly told not to go to the Gamma Quadrant by Starfleet because of the Dominion Threat Ramsom left those orders behind the table in order to achieve success of his mission ,The Dominion have destroyed the USS Odyssey just a few months before Equinox and Voyager were transported to the Delta Quadrant by the Caretaker.Janeway and Ramsom knew about the Dominion even if they dont mention them Voyager is both a science and a warship so it could have been able to handle the Jem Hadar attacks but Equinox was a Science Vessel designed for shortterm missions just like the Daedalus and Oberth Classes ,i Pesonally think that The Series could have been much better if Voyager choose to go the Gamma Quadrant to use the Bajoran Wormhole to reach home

[@abletodoit3051]

2 uncharted quadrants vs 1 uncharted quadrant, there's a reason to prefer the Delta-Beta route.

[@iancypes5911]

Where do all these Rocks and dirt come from on a starship?

[@bulbasaurbrutal5137]

Janeway acting like she thinks it's such a big fucking deal to break the prime directive. Last night I was watching one of the last episodes and the dialogue went like: Neelix: You can't help me Captain, you'll break the Prime Directive! Janeway: Oh, I'm just helping a friend. LIKE WHAT???!!!!

[@arthurok327]

Howdy Mike, I liked this video too, and infact, I have this season on DVD, and because you uploaded these past few segments of this season, I've started watching this season again from the beginning, so I hope you don't delete this comment again, like you deleted my last positive comment, Thank you for sharing these segments of this season, it was a good season of Voyager.. Peace

[@user-mi9gr7or2q]

"WE ARE GOING TO RESCIND THE PRIME DIRECTIVE." Why do Start Trek episodes like to have another Star Fleet ship always about to explode or permanently damaged?

[@trunksbriefs6359]

How often have you broken the Prime Directive Janeway:.... That still exists ??

[@lucky1206]

It's interesting, in the beginning the captain didn't an want Janeway to know about the warp core, but at the end he felt bad abbot killing the alien to go further through space.

[@captainbryce1]

Janeway violated the Prime Directive in at least 8 episodes (including the pilot). "Caretaker" - Janeway destroys the Caretaker's array to prevent it from falling into the hands of the Kazon in order to protect the Ocampa. That is a clear violation of the Prime Directive! Tuvok even warns her that she's about to violate the Prime Directive by doing so, but she overrules him. "Basics" - By surrendering Voyager to the Kazon rather than destroying her, Janeway not only violated the Prime Directive by placing all of Voyager's technology in the hands of the Kazon (a less advanced race), but she also aided and abetted the enemy. "Scorpion" - Janeway made a deal with the Borg, confirmed enemies of the Federation, to help them destroy an enemy of their own in exchange for free passage through their space. She broke the Prime Directive by interfering in a war between Species 8472 and The Borg - her decision to help the Borg led to millions more races being assimilated. "Demon" - Janeway allowed a pre-sentient lifeform to sample the Voyager crew's DNA. The evolution of an entire species was irrevocably altered by Janeway's actions. "The Killing Game" - Janeway improperly gave Starfleet technology (holodeck) to a race called the Hirogen. Three years later, it was discovered that Hirogen abuse of that technology resulted in the creation of a sentient and violent breed of hologram. "Dragon's Teeth" - Janeway ordered her crew to revive a race called the Vaadwaur, who were found in suspended animation on a devastated planet. The Vaadwaur had in fact been a violent, predatory race that had been defeated and nearly wiped out by its victims centuries earlier. "Riddles" - Janeway negotiated with members of a paranoid and xenophobic race called the Kesat, offering them tactical data on neighboring races in exchange for information needed to treat Commander Tuvok. Even though a deal was not struck, Janeway's willingness to make such an arrangement demonstrates a disregard for Starfleet's principle of non-interference. "The Omega Directive" - Janeway destroys Omega particle that power an entire civilization (obeying Starfleet's Omega Directive, which apparently supersedes the Prime Directive). Tuvok once again reminds her that she's about to violate the Prime Directive, to which she says its rescinded for the duration of that mission.

[@MrJoeyWheeler]

Yeah the Omega Directive is a higher priority. The official starfleet message about it states that all other directives are rescinded until the Omega Directive is no longer active - and for good reason. If choosing between not interfering with foreign nations and wiping out all of subspace, the other civilisations will just have to suffer.

[@mobilizedpanda3795]

Starfleet is allowed to conduct diplomacy and "interfere" to enforce the results of that diplomacy with cultures that are considered their equal. Choosing to aid the caretaker against the Kazon is not necessarily a violation of the prime directive. As they are both warp capable. This is the "bending" she was talking about. Giving them technology would violate the prime directive however. Because rather than nudging events in a certain direction they would be creating new issues.

[@timyumichuck9262]

She broke it in the first episode

[@evanjohnson1299]

the Prime Directive seems more to protect less-advanced civilizations from contamination once a species becomes warp capable or in regular contact with other warp civilizations your ability to interact is greatly loosened.

[@RobertoRodriguez-nb9my]

Ramsom is The Benjamin Sisko of Voyager

[@jacksonheathen2092]

Asking how often you broke the prime directive is a joke when talking to Janeway. Just saying. 😁

[@archlorddestin]

"I'm not sure. What episode is this?"

[@jacksonheathen2092]

@@archlorddestin Equinox.

[@archlorddestin]

@@jacksonheathen2092 Funny.

[@RobertoRodriguez-nb9my]

We need to understand something about Sisko ,he had trouble with Picard and sure he would have had a troubling realtionship with Janeway

[@xadam2dudex]

I knew it .. When I saw the clip where Voyager found them I didn't trust them .. Something wasn't right .. My spidey sense was right on

[@vizpop18]

Janeway never broke the prime directive, lol, i guess she just forgot about the alliance with the enemy of the federation the borg

[@Nickolie216]

that has nothing to do with not interacting with pre warp peoples

[@r0bw00d]

Borg--weapon--assimilate--blah blah blah. Species 8472 was a threat to _Voyager,_ too. The enemy of my enemy is my friend.

[@KenshiImmortalWolf]

The prime directive is about not interfering with the development of pre-warp or even early-warp civilizations. Teaming up with the borg is unrelated.

[@FortoFight]

@@KenshiImmortalWolf The Prime Directive is about non-interferance. With pre-warp civilisations, this means not even contacting them, but the principle applies to all other civilisations. If the Federation took sides in a civil war for example, that would be a breach of the PD.

[@KenshiImmortalWolf]

@@FortoFight That is true but it's a rare situation and still doesn't apply to the borg alliance.

[@hazelwitherspoon2721]

The Prime Directive - bent it while drinking my coffee.

[@daydreamer8662]

She would break The Prime Directive to drink her coffee

[@vgernyc]

3:30 There's a Cylon skinjob Model 4 aboard Voyager

[@seraphinaaizen6278]

The very reason Voyager is stuck in the Delta Quadrant is BECAUSE Janeway violated the Prime Directive. And let's not forget the whole: "Gave a weapon to the Borg that would help them assimilate another species" thing. Which is pretty much genocide.

[@BadWolf739]

That's not a violation of the Prime Directive though. The Prime Directive is a general order that prohibits Starfleet personal from interfering in the internal development of a civilization. That definition doesn't apply to the Borg. You can argue that it was a terrible thing to do but you can't say it was a violation of the Prime Directive.

[@seraphinaaizen6278]

@@BadWolf739 It was actively interfering in a war between two other civilizations and giving one an advantage over the other. That is among the worst possible violations of the Prime Directive there is.

[@seraphinaaizen6278]

@Kai Houston Yes, it is. Have you ever WATCHED Star Trek? Remember when the Prime Directive prevented the Federation from interfering in the Klingon Civil War? Even when the Enterprise was sitting by watching as Gowron's cruiser came under attack? It has also been cited several times as to why Picard couldn't take action to interfere with internal disputes or wars between different warp-capable parties. Starfleet command ordered Benjamin Sisko not to interfere with the Bajoran civil war because of the Prime Directive. "The Prime Directive applies, Ben" - direct quote from the episode. There are multiple examples of the Prime Directive being applied to warp capable cultures. Not interfering with non-warp cultures is ONE aspect of the Prime Directive. It isn't the only one. I would suggest you actually watch the show. Because it really seems like you haven't.

[@r0bw00d]

Borg--weapon--assimilate--blah blah blah. Species 8472 was a threat to _Voyager,_ too. The enemy of my enemy is my friend.

[@seraphinaaizen6278]

@@r0bw00d Not really relevant to the point. Voyager still interfered in a war between two different cultures and furnished one of them with the means to commit genocide against another. What's the distinction between that and the Federation giving Federations weapons to a 3rd party so that they can fight the Romulan Empire? That would CERTAINLY be a violation of the Prime Directive. The point isn't whether or not Janeway made a tough decision that she had to make. The point was that Janeway violated the Prime Directive because the Prime Directive became inconvenient, and yet frequently lords it over others for doing the same thing.

[@BigT5]

Transfer to voyager, leave that small ship, the end.

[@ananousous]

And by "bent" she means she's treated that shit like it's Tuvix

[@lucastaylor2321]

“Never” 😂😂😂 Should’ve been “Never.... follow it”

[@SovereignStatesman]

Captain Smirkin' Smirkaway just makes me want to projectile-vomit.

[@scottl9660]

I lost 39, half my crew. A crew of 78 plus a captain seems a little light......After looking up some stuff it’s about right.

[@blppt]

Its a really tiny ship---makes the relatively small Voyager look huge in comparison when they're showing the layout of both ships inside the shield grid.

[@brianellinger6622]

Yrs ago... Alot. Now.... Maybe twice a year.

[@Yaapo]

Broken it? Never. Oh yeah, and how about the Temporal Prine Directive, huh?

[@hithere8753]

I would have broken the prime directive then fiddled 7 after her lobotomy.

[@AlfaPro1337]

I just hated Janeway because she's a little bit hypocritical--consistently, and I subscribe to SFDebris' theory of Psycho Janeway.

[@xn0gaming]

Terribly written episode. What Janeway did here was simply cold-hearted.

[@lonnybush5612]

What??

[@BattleshipAgincourt]

I hate how Janeway thinks very critically and then directly lies to his face... no matter how strongly she believes otherwise, it's still a lie. I would have loved to watch the Equinox's captain list off all the times she did it, claiming he read all her logs.