Temporal Prime Directive

From Memory Alpha, the free Star Trek reference.

The Temporal Prime Directive was a fundamental Starfleet principle.

All Starfleet personnel were strictly forbidden from directly interfering with historical events and were required to maintain the timeline and prevent history from being altered. It also restricts people from telling too much about the future, so as not to cause paradoxes or alter the timeline.

[edit] History

• In TOS: "The City on the Edge of Forever", although the Temporal Prime Directive is not mentioned by name, Captain Kirk acts to preserve the timeline by allowing Edith Keeler to be killed in a traffic accident, even though he had become involved with her romantically. This action preserved the timeline which culminated in the birth of the Federation and Starfleet.

• The events of the Temporal Cold War may suggest that the regulation has been rescinded, at least temporarily, by the 31st century. However, the human faction in the Temporal Cold War is dedicated primarily to keeping the timeline intact and preventing the other factions from interfering with it, which would be completely in keeping with the Temporal Prime Directive. On a few occasions, a temporal agent, Daniels, had to tell the Enterprise crew some things about the future.

• It is unclear exactly when the TPD came into effect. The first mention of a TPD was by Captain Jean-Luc Picard in 2368.(TNG: "A Matter of Time") Picard postulated that the existence of such a directive might be what was preventing a traveler from the future from aiding him avert the destruction of Penthara IV. It was clear that Picard was unaware of any formal Starfleet equivalent to a TPD at this date. In VOY: "Shattered", Janeway seemed to be aware of the directive's existence in 2371, long before "Future's End", which seemed to imply that the TPD was not only a 29th century regulation. Julian Bashir referred to the similar 'Temporal displacement policy', in "Past Tense, Part I", something taught at Starfleet Academy. Starfleet Regulation 157, Section 3, Paragraph 18 (quoted in DS9: "Trials and Tribble-ations"), also seemed to relate directly to time travel. Of course, determing exactly "when" a directive relating to time travel came about is difficult.

• This Directive was violated at least twice by USS Voyager crewmembers from alternate futures. First, Chakotay and Harry Kim from 2390 altered the past by preventing Voyager from crashing on a Class L planet and killing all aboard. Later, an Admiral Kathryn Janeway from the year 2404 went back in time and successfully assisted Voyager in returning some 16 years earlier than it had in her timeline. (VOY: "Timeless", "Endgame")

It appears that Starfleet had several overlapping rules relating to time travel.

[edit] References

• TNG:
  • "A Matter of Time"
• VOY:
  • "Future's End, Part II"
  • "Timeless"
  • "Relativity"
  • "Shattered"
  • "Endgame"