a high-level summary was "no identification of self or mission; no interference with the social development of said planet; no references to space, other worlds, or advanced civilizations."
So yeah, if you don't mention who you are, where you're from, or how you got there, and you don't interfere in any way with the cultural or technological development of a pre-warp species, you could technically make contact without violating the directive. You could disguise yourself as a local and go on vacation, that's about it.
I did just watch a TOS episode where not respecting the legal authority of a planet by beaming out prisoners on death row was considered a violation.
This seems like standard even for peer civilizations. The Federation is pretty good about abiding by the laws of the jurisdiction they're in, regardless of circumstances. I don't know that the Prime Directive even needs to be invoked here.
I don’t know that the Prime Directive even needs to be invoked here.
Well it was - that's the thing. The original series prime directive when it's referenced doesn't line up with that Memory Alpha definition, and I don't think canon Star Trek ever actually laid it out. They reference it in a wide range of situations that don't neatly fall under one rule.
There's a lot about the original show that isn't internally consistent.
TOS is riddled with inconsistencies, to the extent that it's more of an anthology than a coherent narrative. That's one of the charms of Star Trek, imo. It's more like a comic book series than a rigid canon. The characters and universe and events are all sort of consistent, but with so much time and so many writers there's a bit of drift (which is better for actual storytelling, imo).
It's pretty broad in scope. From Memory Alpha:
So yeah, if you don't mention who you are, where you're from, or how you got there, and you don't interfere in any way with the cultural or technological development of a pre-warp species, you could technically make contact without violating the directive. You could disguise yourself as a local and go on vacation, that's about it.
This seems like standard even for peer civilizations. The Federation is pretty good about abiding by the laws of the jurisdiction they're in, regardless of circumstances. I don't know that the Prime Directive even needs to be invoked here.
Well it was - that's the thing. The original series prime directive when it's referenced doesn't line up with that Memory Alpha definition, and I don't think canon Star Trek ever actually laid it out. They reference it in a wide range of situations that don't neatly fall under one rule.
There's a lot about the original show that isn't internally consistent.
TOS is riddled with inconsistencies, to the extent that it's more of an anthology than a coherent narrative. That's one of the charms of Star Trek, imo. It's more like a comic book series than a rigid canon. The characters and universe and events are all sort of consistent, but with so much time and so many writers there's a bit of drift (which is better for actual storytelling, imo).