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The first point about this episode is that it appears to be a retelling of another Star Trek episode entitled 'The Apple', but with a different ending, in which the Prime Directive is NOT violated. In 'The Apple', the people pray to a giant computerized god, which Kirk chooses to destroy, thus interfering with their culture. In 'Justice' their computerized god is left intact, and continues to govern their society.
The most confused aspect of this episode is over the meaning of the Prime Directive. The Prime Directive (a.k.a. non-interference directive) does not have anything to do with obeying the customs or laws of a planet per se, but has to do with not interfering with a culture's natural development. There are no precedents in Star Trek whereby the crew of a Star Ship has to obey the laws of any governmental body outside of the United Federation of Planets' member states, the laws and regulations of Star Fleet, and the laws of a non-member planet, if there is an explicit treaty with that planet. For example, in the episode of TOS 'Wolf in the Fold', Scotty is only put on trial after being accused of murder because there is a treaty with that planet. 'Justice' seems to show a muddled understanding by the writers about what the non-interference directive actually means.
Even in the event hypothetical case where a Star Ship crew should obey the laws governing a non-federation planet, simply breaking those laws would not, by itself, be a violation of the Prime Directive. This basic misunderstanding of the non-interference directive makes this episode extremely problematic.
The larger issue with 'Justice' is that there is no real literary value to the episode. Unlike the TOS episode 'A Private Little War', in which the prime directive is explicitly violated in order to balance a war on a primitive planet which, in turn, fights a domino-effect cold war between the Federation and the Klingon Empire thus explaining (justifying?) the Vietnam War, 'Justice' does little more than yank at the audiences' heart strings. While the audience may, or may not agree with the assertions made in 'A Private Little War', 'Justice' is little more than a Lifetime network production, where a mother is wringing her hands because she might lose her baby.
"the Captain is also bound by the laws of the Prime Directive, which states he must protect his people from harm" -- Does Riker actually say this in the episode, or was it just poorly written in the article? Either way, when did protecting his own people become part of the prime directive? If he did say it, then it's a valid part of the episode summary even if it's an incorrect statement about the prime directive. If he didn't say it, then it's just wrong and needs to be changed. LarryJeff ( talk) 14:38, 4 November 2010 (UTC)
I'd like to commend the guy who wrote this part.
Picard steps forward announcing that "life itself is an exercise in exceptions", and to every living creature within the sound of his voice, "there can be no justice so long as laws are absolute!" Riker adds, "When has justice ever been as simple as a rulebook?" —Preceding unsigned comment added by Chipotlehero ( talk • contribs)
I removed a comment (which had a "citation needed" placed on it) from the Trivia section. I just watched this episode on the G4 Network (USA) on Friday, March 8, 2007. When Dr. Crusher and Capt. Picard are discussing Wesley's fate on the planet, this conversation takes place:
CRUSHER: What do you intend to do about my son? PICARD: He's being held safely until sundown. CRUSHER: When he faces execution! Althought he's committed no crime, atleast not one any sane orreasonable person would... PICARD: You saw what that thing was about to do. CRUSHER: I apologize sir, but this is very difficult for me. If he were your son, you'd be as frightened ... PICARD: But I am.
This was not a reference to Wesley being his child, but Picard being able to empathize her pain. Dr. Crusher wouldn't have said "If he were your son" if he was.
Anyways. Just FYI. 68.198.34.245 21:09, 9 March 2007 (UTC)
(This was made by me, including the deletion... moved to another browser and didn't realize I wasn't signed in! Bsheppard 21:14, 9 March 2007 (UTC))
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Reviewing |
Reviewer: Viriditas ( talk · contribs) 01:52, 20 July 2013 (UTC)
GA review – see WP:WIAGA for criteria
Why are there only young people on the planet? Is there any explanation for this?-- 2003:CE:BBC6:6CED:4043:3D3C:A91C:35A3 ( talk) 16:34, 30 November 2018 (UTC)
Why did starfleet even visit this planet when the civilization was not warp capable. 2600:6401:A206:683:ED6C:677F:A836:EF26 ( talk) 14:41, 17 September 2022 (UTC)
![]() | Justice (Star Trek: The Next Generation) has been listed as one of the Media and drama good articles under the good article criteria. If you can improve it further, please do so. If it no longer meets these criteria, you can reassess it. | ||||||||||||
![]() | Justice (Star Trek: The Next Generation) is part of the Star Trek: The Next Generation (season 1) series, a good topic. This is identified as among the best series of articles produced by the Wikipedia community. If you can update or improve it, please do so. | ||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||
Current status: Good article |
![]() | This article is rated GA-class on Wikipedia's
content assessment scale. It is of interest to the following WikiProjects: | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
The first point about this episode is that it appears to be a retelling of another Star Trek episode entitled 'The Apple', but with a different ending, in which the Prime Directive is NOT violated. In 'The Apple', the people pray to a giant computerized god, which Kirk chooses to destroy, thus interfering with their culture. In 'Justice' their computerized god is left intact, and continues to govern their society.
The most confused aspect of this episode is over the meaning of the Prime Directive. The Prime Directive (a.k.a. non-interference directive) does not have anything to do with obeying the customs or laws of a planet per se, but has to do with not interfering with a culture's natural development. There are no precedents in Star Trek whereby the crew of a Star Ship has to obey the laws of any governmental body outside of the United Federation of Planets' member states, the laws and regulations of Star Fleet, and the laws of a non-member planet, if there is an explicit treaty with that planet. For example, in the episode of TOS 'Wolf in the Fold', Scotty is only put on trial after being accused of murder because there is a treaty with that planet. 'Justice' seems to show a muddled understanding by the writers about what the non-interference directive actually means.
Even in the event hypothetical case where a Star Ship crew should obey the laws governing a non-federation planet, simply breaking those laws would not, by itself, be a violation of the Prime Directive. This basic misunderstanding of the non-interference directive makes this episode extremely problematic.
The larger issue with 'Justice' is that there is no real literary value to the episode. Unlike the TOS episode 'A Private Little War', in which the prime directive is explicitly violated in order to balance a war on a primitive planet which, in turn, fights a domino-effect cold war between the Federation and the Klingon Empire thus explaining (justifying?) the Vietnam War, 'Justice' does little more than yank at the audiences' heart strings. While the audience may, or may not agree with the assertions made in 'A Private Little War', 'Justice' is little more than a Lifetime network production, where a mother is wringing her hands because she might lose her baby.
"the Captain is also bound by the laws of the Prime Directive, which states he must protect his people from harm" -- Does Riker actually say this in the episode, or was it just poorly written in the article? Either way, when did protecting his own people become part of the prime directive? If he did say it, then it's a valid part of the episode summary even if it's an incorrect statement about the prime directive. If he didn't say it, then it's just wrong and needs to be changed. LarryJeff ( talk) 14:38, 4 November 2010 (UTC)
I'd like to commend the guy who wrote this part.
Picard steps forward announcing that "life itself is an exercise in exceptions", and to every living creature within the sound of his voice, "there can be no justice so long as laws are absolute!" Riker adds, "When has justice ever been as simple as a rulebook?" —Preceding unsigned comment added by Chipotlehero ( talk • contribs)
I removed a comment (which had a "citation needed" placed on it) from the Trivia section. I just watched this episode on the G4 Network (USA) on Friday, March 8, 2007. When Dr. Crusher and Capt. Picard are discussing Wesley's fate on the planet, this conversation takes place:
CRUSHER: What do you intend to do about my son? PICARD: He's being held safely until sundown. CRUSHER: When he faces execution! Althought he's committed no crime, atleast not one any sane orreasonable person would... PICARD: You saw what that thing was about to do. CRUSHER: I apologize sir, but this is very difficult for me. If he were your son, you'd be as frightened ... PICARD: But I am.
This was not a reference to Wesley being his child, but Picard being able to empathize her pain. Dr. Crusher wouldn't have said "If he were your son" if he was.
Anyways. Just FYI. 68.198.34.245 21:09, 9 March 2007 (UTC)
(This was made by me, including the deletion... moved to another browser and didn't realize I wasn't signed in! Bsheppard 21:14, 9 March 2007 (UTC))
GA toolbox |
---|
Reviewing |
Reviewer: Viriditas ( talk · contribs) 01:52, 20 July 2013 (UTC)
GA review – see WP:WIAGA for criteria
Why are there only young people on the planet? Is there any explanation for this?-- 2003:CE:BBC6:6CED:4043:3D3C:A91C:35A3 ( talk) 16:34, 30 November 2018 (UTC)
Why did starfleet even visit this planet when the civilization was not warp capable. 2600:6401:A206:683:ED6C:677F:A836:EF26 ( talk) 14:41, 17 September 2022 (UTC)