posted
It would seem that something like it is already in place, at least generally. (Thou shalt not screw with the timeline.) I would imagine it doesn't become an actual General Order until time travel becomes an easy and routine affair.
posted
One would assume that the TPD was not in force during the Kirk era. Not that Kirk really cared about the regular Prime Directive either, so he may have just chosen to ignore it.
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posted
I just had to post before watching Voyager. Anyway, considering that Janeway of seven years ago mentioned it, I'd like to revise my statement and put the formalization of the order, like so many other wonderful things, somewhere between TOS and TNG.
posted
Now, is the TPD its own standalone document, or an ammendment of the Prime Directive?
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posted
And does it override the regular prime directive?
Also, since the temp investigations dudes in "Trials" said Kirk had over a dozen violations of a specific temporal regulation on file, it seems that the regulation did exist back then. Then again, it could just be things that would have been violations, had the regulation existed.
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posted
And since it is a TEMPORAL regulation, with the inherent implication of time travel, who says if it shouldn't be applied retroactively?
Anyway, I guess that the things called "Directives" are extensive and complicated documents with dozens of subparagraphs and procedures and rules and exceptions. It just so happens that Starfleet's General Order Number One reads "Thou Shalt Obey the Prime Directive (which thou findeth in Appendix A)". That is, it is a pointer to a document, not the document itself. The document can exist independently.
The TPD probably is not referred to this way in all the editions of Starfleet's General Orders, since it would be a really obscure rule back in Kirk's time - it would do more damage than good to tell the average Starfleeter "Yes, time travel is possible, but please don't do it". By Janeway's time, the average Starfleeter must already know that time travel is possible and is practiced by potential adversaries and allies, so a General Order might be added that says "Thou Shalt Also Obey TPD (which thouh findeth in Appendix B)"...
posted
I'd say it's certainly post-Kirk. Dulmer and Lucsly were well aware of his many misdeeds, but in a way that seemed more like they'd reviewed his career (due to his many involvements with time travel) and come to the conclusion that if they could they'd charge him with at least twelve violations - but that was all in the past, so they couldn't!
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I believe the 24th century agents of Temporal Investigations were referring to records of Kirk's historical missions. Not necessarily of Kirk violating a Directive of the 23rd.
I had understood the TPD to be a directive of the future. Janeway had repectfully awknowledged its principle in "Future's End, pt II". So I was annoyed when I also saw the recent Voyager episode depicting multiple timelines. As Sol noted, Janeway (pre-Delta Quadrant) mentions the TPD as something she was expected to enforce.
Assuming this is the case, Caretaker took place prior to Trials and Tribble-ations. And since TNG never makes use of the directive, I assume the TPD was inacted in early 2371. This places it about the time Starfleet made other changes, i.e. new emblems, etc. Perhaps Janeway was briefed on TPD when she was assigned command of Voyager?
[This message has been edited by Psi'a Meese (edited February 07, 2001).]
posted
In Trials and Trib, someone made a reference to an existing protocol that expected SF officers to take all necessary precautions to avoid altering the time line.
Did someone already mention that? This thread got bumped from a while ago...
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